COLLEGE ATHLETICS ACC ready to sink teeth into Orangemen

The member-hunting conference completed visits to Miami and Boston College.
NEWTON, Mass. (AP) -- It's two down and one to go for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
A delegation from the league wrapped up its visit to Boston College on Monday, touring athletic and academic facilities as the ACC prepares to create a superconference by enticing three Big East schools to defect. Having already visited Miami, the only school remaining on the agenda is Syracuse.
"If indeed this works out ... this is a good marriage," ACC commissioner John Swofford said at a news conference. "Boston College would be an excellent fit for the ACC in every regard."
The conference bylaws require a campus visit before an actual invitation. Swofford said he couldn't think of an instance in which the ACC has gotten to the point of visiting prospective members and not closed the deal.
"If you reach the point of site visits there's a certain level of mutual interest ... or we wouldn't be here. That's obvious," he said. "But it's not the completion of the process yet."
Fallout
Boston College is a charter member of the Big East, which would be decimated by the defection of three prestigious members. BC would increase its national exposure and likely reap more money from a move, but it would lose traditional regional rivalries with Providence and Connecticut.
Athletic director Gene DeFilippo said he feared that if Miami left, the Big East would be devastated anyway and BC would be left out.
"In most anything we do, there are going to be some good things and some bad things. This secures our future, and that is very important," DeFilippo said. "This has been very hard. There are some great people in the Big East. We have some great rivalries. ... That weighs on me."
Another issue for Boston College is longer travel time to conference games that would be mostly outside the Northeast, and how that will affect the school's budget and the players' schoolwork. DeFilippo said he will have to examine the whole department, and decide whether it's worth making those trips in some non-revenue sports.
But he dismissed talk that travel was a major problem.
"Notre Dame isn't the easiest school to get to. Nor is Virginia Tech," DeFilippo said.
ACC representatives were scheduled to leave BC today for Syracuse before voting on a formal invitation.
Although no timetable has been set, Swofford said the whole thing could be wrapped up within the next month. The schools would probably begin ACC play in the 2005-06 season.
The ACC delegation arrived in Chestnut Hill on Sunday and had dinner with BC officials in the Bapst Art Library, one of the oldest buildings on campus. On Monday, the group took a tour of both the school's main campus and one a few miles away where the law school, soccer fields and freshman dorms are located.
Visitors impressed
In addition to Swofford and three members of his staff, the ACC contingent included two professors, two athletic directors and a senior women's administrator. They met with a variety of BC's academic and athletic officials, including the Rev. William P. Leahy, the school's president.
Although Swofford had been to Boston College before, some visitors were here for the first time. Jeff Elliott, an associate commissioner, had been to Boston but never to Chestnut Hill.
"It's a beautiful campus," Elliott said.