The photos from tip-off of Syracuse–Cal hit the timeline and the reaction was immediate.
Shock.
Embarrassment.
Sadness.
A mostly empty Dome — once the loudest building in college basketball — staring back at the internet like a ghost of Big East past.
And then came the takes.
Syracuse sold its soul to join the ACC.
They abandoned rivalries.
They chased football money and lost basketball identity.
They can’t compete in either sport anymore.
It’s a clean narrative. It feels right. And honestly? There’s some truth baked in.
When Syracuse University left the old Big East Conference for the ACC, it ripped apart decades of regional blood feuds. No more Georgetown twice a year. No more annual grudges with UConn. Instead? Cross-country trips to play Cal and Stanford in games that feel like they belong on a streaming service at 11:30 p.m.
That hurts the soul of the program. No denying it.
But here’s the question nobody can answer:
What was the “better” option? The problem is football.
At the time of the departure, the overwhelming fear was being left out of the shifting power conferences. When UConn was left behind, the football program essentially died. If Rutgers wasn’t in a maor market and given a lifeline by the Big Ten, what would’ve happened to their athletic department? The Big East doesn’t sponsor FBS football. It doesn’t have the TV deal to support a Power Conference athletic department. So what’s the alternative — drop football to the MAC? Join the Sun Belt? Go independent like Notre Dame without the Notre Dame brand? UConn tried that. They still haven’t recovered.
While the Dome would feel alive again in the Big East for hoops, what would football be with Tuesday night MACtion against Toledo? Would that restore the “cache”?
Let’s be honest. The empty seats against Cal weren’t only about geography. They were about apathy.
The program hasn’t won consistently. Football hasn’t broken through. Basketball hasn’t felt nationally relevant. Fans don’t abandon rivalries — they abandon mediocrity.
Yes, the ACC move changed the vibe. Yes, something intangible was lost when Syracuse left the Northeast-centric brawl of the Big East. But blaming conference affiliation alone ignores reality. College athletics is a money-driven ecosystem. Syracuse chose survival and revenue stability over nostalgia.
You can argue they haven’t capitalized on that stability. That’s fair.
But the idea that there was some romantic alternate timeline where Syracuse stays in a football-playing Big East powerhouse simply doesn’t exist. That league is gone. The sport evolved.
The Dome looked empty Saturday. That’s uncomfortable. It should be.
Just don’t confuse discomfort with a viable time machine.
Because unless someone has a Delorean parked behind the Dome, the ACC wasn’t the betrayal.
It unfortunately was the only card on the table.
