ACC basketball is the big loser.

This season's ACC opener will send Wake Forest over to North Carolina's Smith Center on December 20. The Demon Deacons and Tar Heels are expected to be among the leading contenders for the conference championship, so it is an appropriate beginning to such a significant season. This is the last season of genuine ACC basketball, before the league is diluted and polluted in a manner that ought to make Phil Ford, Len Chappell, David Thompson and Christian Laettner ill. So we should savor every game on the schedule.

Fans of other conferences have grown weary of being reminded how special this league has been. This is a good time for them. Soon, they will see the ACC surrender its double round-robin schedule, its distinct regional flavor, its prominence as a basketball-first coalition. These detractors are among the beneficiaries of the colossal conference reshuffling that commenced with the ACC's expansion invitations to Virginia Tech and Miami last spring and climaxed with Boston College's recent decision to become its 12th member.

There are winners and losers throughout the sport.

WINNERS

The ACC elite. Making conference membership less exclusive decreases the ability of other members to trade on their affiliation in recruiting. Thus, established programs (such as Duke, Maryland and North Carolina) with established coaches (such as Mike Krzyzewski, Gary Williams and Roy Williams) have a more distinct advantage. In the eight years before the Big East expanded in 1995-96, five of the league's nine members made at least five NCAA appearances. In the eight years since, only Connecticut and Syracuse have.

Conference USA refugees. Marquette, DePaul, Cincinnati and Louisville merely are awaiting their confirmation hearings for Big East membership. It only was two years ago that the Cardinals lost recruit Sean May partly because he couldn't see himself playing Southern Mississippi and Tulane. Prospects should be more impressed by the chance to play UConn, Syracuse and Notre Dame.

The Bigger East. The four new members will bring a combined five national titles and 18 Final Fours, the most recent being Marquette's trip last April. Based on the 2002-03 Ratings Percentage Index, the new Big East would have had the most top 70 teams (11), the most top 50 teams (eight) and the most top 15 teams (five). The league now has the potential to be the best basketball conference.