UNC should be able to recruit better than most ACC teams, so should Virgina, and it's a fact the fan base is not very fervent there.
That's how I got to 8-9 wins in many years, and yes it means other teams like Wake and Duke would be worse.
Illinois is a populous state, I presume they play football there even if Chicago is basketball oriented. I'm mainly looking at recruiting potential, the University OF is usually the flagship in most states and has the largest appeal.
NC has ten million residents and some good HS football. I think CMB can pull in some of them on name power alone if he's competing with Wake and Duke and NCSU and VaTech and Maryland. Oh yeah, UMd is in the B1G now, I forgot. I think Rutger may be as well.
I can't keep up with these late shifts in conferences.