>> They could be replaced by UNC, FSU, or ND tomorrow. <<
You’re arguing that the best team in the conference.... one of only three top forty teams in the conference.... could be replaced by a decent basketball team, a moribund athletic program that, or a team that they have salivated over for decades?
The addition of the four Pac-8 teams makes Big Ten too big to be destroyed by any one single departure, but it’d be like Disney losing Florida.
Michigan is a better academic fit for the ACC, anyway. If ND gets full membership in the ACC and SC/UCLA flip the league is competitive with the Big 10, IMO.