The ACC's reported stunning move to invite Miami and Virginia Tech to go to an 11-team conference raises a host of questions that won't be easily answered by an official announcement from the league Wednesday:

What happens next?
Under the ACC bylaws, the conference has to visit Virginia Tech for a site survey and continue official dialogue with the two schools (they already visited Miami). Miami and Virginia Tech have to deliberate and decide if they want to accept.

Will Miami and Virginia Tech accept the offer?
Miami wanted to join the ACC with Boston College and Syracuse because the Hurricanes don't want to lose their trips to the Northeast to appease an alumni base. Miami also didn't buy into the expansion plan for an 11-team league without a football championship game and the expected revenue that would come from that deal. The Big Ten, which has 11 members, doesn't have a football championship game so there is no reason to believe the NCAA would automatically change the rule to allow a conference with fewer than 12 teams to hold an event.

If the ACC did have 11 teams then the question remains, how would the divisions be divided? One with six and one with five would lead to an imbalanced schedule and the failure to crown a true champion.

Miami has to decide if the Big East has gone too far in its comments and with a lawsuit before opting to return. But the Hurricanes might find the money is a wash and simply wants to get out of the Big East.

Personal relationships would also be burned. Miami president Donna Shalala is a close friend of Syracuse chancellor Buzz Shaw. Leaving Syracuse behind could leave scars in the relationship.

Virginia Tech would be in the awkward position of joining a conference that it is a plaintiff against in a lawsuit with four other Big East members. The Hokies would take a public relations hit as being hypocrites if it were to immediately join the ACC. Virginia Tech is only in this position because its rival Virginia was pressured into voting for the Hokies.

What happens to men's basketball with 11 teams?
The product is diluted. The ACC would be like the Big Ten and have no-play games during the season. The ACC coaches were willing to go from 16 to 18-league games if the conference added just Miami. But the ACC wouldn't play 20 league games. That means adding four more conference games.

ACC schools like Duke or North Carolina value their non-conference schedules for TV games, neutral court games and a few guaranteed- win games. They won't sacrifice their non-conference schedules for the sake of having a true champion in a complete round-robin format.

The conference tournament would have an opening round and last four full days with no day off and that's if everyone was invited to the event.

And what does the ACC get in hoops? Not much. Virginia Tech has been one of the worst programs in the Big East. Miami turned the program around under Leonard Hamilton with a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2000 and Perry Clark was able to keep the 'Canes in NCAA contention the following season. But the 'Canes missed the NCAAs last season.

Adding Syracuse would have made a significant difference to the basketball power rating. Expanding to Virginia Tech and Miami does very little.

What happens to the lawsuit?
Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal said Sunday that he was waiting for the ACC to move before the plaintiffs filed a motion to halt the expansion. He said he would seek damages and continue the lawsuit even if only one team left. Sources close to the process said that adding Virginia Tech was also an attempt to weaken the lawsuit but Blumenthal's camp believes it would strengthen their case.

What happens to Boston College and Syracuse?
If they are in fact left out of the expansion then they have no choice but to go back to the Big East. The conference won't treat them poorly because it needs them more than they need the Big East. But there will be some awkward moments during any conference meetings.

When would the change take place?
The more likely scenario is for the 2005-06 season. The television contracts with the ACC and the Bowl Championship Series expire after the 2004-05 season. They'll want to use the leverage of Miami and Virginia Tech to get a new deal. But that means likely two years of lame-duck status if they left the Big East.

What does the Big East do?
If this occurs then the Big East will go after Louisville and sources say the Cardinals would join if Syracuse and Boston College were still in the league with Connecticut and Pittsburgh. But the Big East can't stop with just one team for seven football/basketball programs.

They would have to go to eight or possibly 10 schools and that means looking at Cincinnati, South Florida, Central Florida, East Carolina and Marshall. The Big East has discussed a 16-team model that has eight football/basketball schools and eight non-football, basketball schools. If that were to occur then the Big East would look at Marquette and Xavier.

If all these dominoes were to fall then Conference USA suddenly becomes the carcass in the middle of college athletics, with little left to stand by itself but a gripe like the Big East to file suit against a hostile takeover.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com