Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal sent a letter Sunday to the ACC, Miami and Boston College in response to the conference calls dealing with expansion. Blumenthal is heading the lawsuit filed by the five Big East football schools -- Connecticut, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers and Virginia Tech -- that weren't invited to join the ACC. He wrote:

Gentlemen:

Your respective letters and pleadings of the past 48 hours – seeking to delay any progress in this litigation – leave me profoundly disturbed. I would have thought that as the Atlantic Coast Conference ("ACC") moves hurriedly and precipitously to court Big East institutions – including one of the plaintiffs to this lawsuit – that the defendants would welcome in a prompt determination of whether their conduct is legal or not.

The ACC's attempt to change the assignment of the judge, Miami's objection to the plaintiffs' noticed depositions of the "highest ranking officials at major universities" and Boston College's desire to delay any discovery in this case all obviously seek to postpone any meaningful proceeding. These efforts to slow the case are entirely at odds with the ACC's relentless, aggressive tactics and breakneck speed in raiding the Big East and seeking to induce defections. Notably, even as the defendants have urged that there is no need for the Court to hasten the pace of litigation in this case, an ACC college president has contacted one plaintiff institution with an urgent plea to defect from the Big East in favor of the ACC.

I fully understand and respect the needs of your clients to defend themselves, just as I understand that delay of the litigation matter works to their advantage. Your pleadings and correspondence indicate that your clients will seek to claim various jurisdictional defenses, designed to avoid any ultimate determination of whether the defendants' past and continuing conduct is in fact legal. Your clients have a right to pose these defenses, but their tactics must also be measured by standards of fairness and public interest -- standards that the public rightly expects of institutions of higher learning, and that students are presumably taught on their campuses.

In this regard, I hope you will join me in requesting that Judge Sferrazza convene a status conference as quickly as possible – perhaps as early as Monday – where we can discuss a speedy and orderly schedule to resolve these issues.

Very truly yours, RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

Blumenthal said there was no indication from Virginia Tech that it was abandoning the legal cause even though the ACC is now looking at adding the Hokies in a 13-team ACC or replacing Syracuse or BC in a 12-team ACC. The one constant is Miami, which could be added as the lone expansion move to the nine-team ACC. "As far as we know, Virginia Tech remains firmly committed to our lawsuit and is continuing contact with the Big East schools. We're prepared to take action if Virginia Tech does defect. We have no reason to detect Virginia Tech has been swayed from its position.''

Blumenthal admitted that it isn't illegal to withdraw from the Big East, but "we say they failed to play by the rules. They knew that there was reliance on their false promises in upgrading football programs. Our claims are based on existence of conspiracy.''

Blumenthal is hoping to get the case heard Monday in Hartford and if the ACC announces an expansion plan and goes through with the invitations, "then we'll file a motion to halt,'' with a temporary or permanent injunction.

Blumenthal said the ACC was stymied and in "disarray, rudderless and leaderless.'' He said the ACC was seeking to expand at any cost with no apparent strategy.

"They appear to be in desperate disarray,'' Blumenthal said. "But we're prepared to act if necessary.''