Charlotte, N.C. ? In theory, I’ve long liked the idea of ACC expansion.

In reality, I’m glad I don’t have to clean up the mess.

It now looks like Virginia Tech and possibly Miami will join the league to form an 11-team ACC, but it has also become apparent the ACC has done a fine imitation of a bumbling bully.

Nobody likes a bully. Bumbling ones are even worse. They invoke more laughter than fear. They eventually must change, or everyone grows up and just hammers them.

Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, the league’s most prominent voice, said Tuesday: “I hope we mend fences, because we’ve obviously gone into another person’s yard with our tractor-trailer and knocked down a few trees.”

More than that. The ACC CEOs have clumsily leveled forests from Boston to Blacksburg to back yards all over America. Fans who once gave the league unquestioned respect are now full of skepticism.

Don’t get me wrong. I remain an expansion advocate. The ACC has stumbled into a decent place with these 11 teams.

The league’s geographic sanctity is preserved. The football improves dramatically. Miami is a national plum and Virginia Tech a regional one. Both deserved to be chosen over Boston College and Syracuse.

But the ACC — particularly its presidents — made so many unnecessary and hurtful mistakes. It took site visits to two schools it didn’t invite (B.C. and Syracuse) and yet had to scramble Wednesday to work one in to Virginia Tech.

The league has looked disorganized, hypocritical and extremely greedy. Everything from 10 to 13 was bandied about for the number of schools. The speculation won’t stop now even if we assume Miami and Virginia Tech enter the league smoothly and that pesky Big East lawsuit goes away.

Why? Because “11” is a beg-the-question number for any conference. It means uneven divisions. It leaves the ACC one team short of having enough teams by NCAA rules to stage a lucrative football conference title game. It means the question, “When will you get that 12th team?” hangs around until the ACC goes to 12, which it will do.

Unceremoniously dropping both Boston College and Syracuse on Tuesday wasn’t a terrible move, but trying to add both of them in the beginning was. One northern school in the ACC wouldn’t have caused as much fuss, but trying to get two was unreasonable.

The ACC didn’t anticipate the backlash, managing to seem arrogant and foolish. Krzyzewski likened the idea of adding Syracuse and Boston College to the United States’ establishing states in France and Venezuela.

So now we’re at 11, and nobody’s terribly happy.

ACC commissioner John Swofford didn’t get the 12-team conference he wanted. Duke and North Carolina didn’t get the 10- or nine-team conference they wanted. Miami didn’t get partnered up with Boston College and Syracuse like it wanted. Virginia Tech finally got the prom date it wanted, but not until the ACC blew the Hokies off so many times Virginia Tech actually joined the suit against the conference. Thousands of other people got their feelings hurt.

It’s a mess. And it will take years to clean up. And there’s no rug big enough to sweep it under.