Mark Few was quoted the last realignment that it wasn’t the Zags that had a problem with travel. The implication at the time was that a good east coast conference didn’t want to have to travel west. At the time it was assumed to be the big east (around the time UConn came back in).
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Mark Few was quoted the last realignment that it wasn’t the Zags that had a problem with travel. The implication at the time was that a good east coast conference didn’t want to have to travel west. At the time it was assumed to be the big east (around the time UConn came back in).
I don’t assume any of that. It’s actually quite the opposite. I’d bet anything they have been speaking with multiple conferences.
I think the Big East leadership is utterly incompetent when it comes to realignment. The only administrator I have faith in is Father Shanley. I think we are extremely fortunate to have Shanley and Pitino at this pivotal moment.
Gonzaga is the top non-football program in the country by almost every metric. We are the top non-football conference by a mile. It’s really not that difficult.
Your comment on incompetence actually dovetails nicely with my post. At the time that Few was quoted it struck me that the BE administration should be talking sense into membership that a nice trip out west each year would be in everyone’s best interest.
Agreed. It’s such a dumb argument too. If we went two divisions, that would be a trip an eastern team would make once every two years. Just lighten up your OOC travel that year. We have Big East teams traveling 15 hours to play in Maui voluntarily.
UConn is flying past Spokane to Seattle to play Gonzaga this year.
Gotta disagree with all of this.
The Big East has won 3 of the last 7 Tournaments, easily the most important metric. Sure UConn won 1 of those, but this past Tournament we had 3 teams make the Sweet 16, the most of any conference (also the most Elite 8 teams with 2). The past 2 Tournaments roughly HALF (5/11) the conference made the Sweet 16. Who cares how we did in 2013-2015? We're much stronger now. Compare that to the Big 10 which hasn't won it in decades.
The Big 10 tournament at MSG wasn't successful which is why they haven't been back. I'm not impressed that the Big 10 sold out their championship game. because the Big East sells out every session. From their website: The 2023 BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden was a complete sellout. Each of the five sessions was filled with 19,812 fans. The Big East Tournament is also the best attended of any conference.
MSG would not automatically bounce if the ACC landed UConn. The ACC already played at Barclays and drew mediocre attendance. Those figures for the southern schools in particular were brutal. UConn fans would not fill MSG when Georgia Tech plays Wake Forest, and that's not even to mention the southern replacements they'll likely add such as USF and SMU. Big East schools are far closer in proximity to MSG than most ACC schools.
We'll be fine, we're in good hands and will prove how valuable St. John's is to MSG and NYC basketball.
I think you would agree that Villanova with Jay Wright is a different animal entirely.
With Jay Wright Nova was a blue blood for sure IMO. Without him they are Xavier.
3 seed xavier or A10 xavier?
Of course losing an all time great like Wright has an impact, can’t dismiss that.
Too far. Too far.
When did Xavier win a title in the 80s?
But for John Wooden what is UCLA?
But for Coach K what is Duke?
Also I’m not even sure what the argument is. I’m certainly not on anyones side here.
Still too early to say how Nova will be, they've attracted a very strong transfer/recruiting class for next year and will be ranked again preseason. So many of the top coaches, such as Coach K and Williams, also retired the past year or two, and I wouldn't automatically devalue those teams yet either.
That said though, we still sold out all sessions this year in the BET even with Nova being mediocre. That's the main purpose of my post, to show how well current BE teams fill up MSG. The ACC 2.0 is guaranteed to take teams in the most lucrative football markets (Florida, Texas, Southeast in general) and attendance for those teams would be horrendous.
I'm with you on Gonzaga, especially if UConn leaves, but I'm very confident in St. John's retaining MSG for whatever conference we're in.
Fair point about Wright but Xavier with Miller is a different Xavier and Maquette with Smart is a different Marquette
And St John’s with Pitino well this is going to be a different era we have ever seen IMO
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A-10 Xavier was a beast too. They are still a great program, but nobody would put them in the blue blood category.
Villanova was in the same category as Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke with Wright. Now they are in the second tier that we might be knocking on the door of.
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Absolutely. We have some monster programs.
Marquette, Creighton, Villanova, Xavier, UConn…St. John’s and Georgetown when they are really good?!
You look at average attendance and size of the markets and we were top 4 conferences. So why sit on our hands and wait for other conferences to decide our future for us? We just went out and plucked three of our top programs in Creighton and Xavier in 2013 because they fit our profile perfectly. Gonzaga is the same.
Originally I didn’t care so much because I’m figuring cost of travel for all the other sports to Gonzaga and in my mind just don’t see how the numbers can work but if we get them plus revitalized St John’s with Pitino and Big East firing on all cylinders the 2 conference thing can work and higher tv contract
Like SJU85 mentioned I have no doubt we’ve at least explored talks with them in the end they are going to do what’s in their best $ hopefully it’s part of our conference
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I didn't take a deep dive, but it looks like a decent amount of the non-revenue sports do a lot of invitationals on the West Coast. That wouldn't necessarily need to change.
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All this talk about realignment…we all better hope the Power 5 (make that Power 4 since the Pac10 is dead) don’t LEAVE the NCAA and start their own organization. Then they have their own basketball championship (and you know where the TV dollars too) As well as College World Series and all the other money making championships. Leaving the scraps for non football schools . There is nothing like a contract between these Power 5 schools tying them to the NCAA. They could bolt in a heartbeat. We all better hope this money grab of realignment and the millions out there doesn’t leave us in the cold.
A new championship would not be as successful as the current format. March Madness is one of the premier sporting events in the country.
Everyone has a vested interest because upsets are common and exciting.
If the power conferences want to start something on their own, it will never replicate the popularity of the current make up.
The college football playoffs are different. Even after expanding, only two or three teams (at the most) have a chance of winning it all.
Notre Dame for example, will not beat Georgia. ND will consider it a victory if they keep the spread under 21 points.
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Very unlikely the Power 5/4 would create their own tournament. There is talk of expanding to 96 teams, not downgrading, because expanding to 96 would mean more at-large bids which mostly go to Power schools already. Also more TV inventory. If only ~65 Power schools were eligible then you'd need to remove the extremely lucrative first round and start at 32 teams. That's not even to mention decreased viewer interest from lack of Cinderellas/alumni schools.
Saint Peter's Sweet 16 win was the most watched Sweet 16 game in a decade. The Power schools are greedy but they're not stupid enough to eliminate 300 teams from contention, especially not teams like Nova, Gonzaga, UConn, Georgetown, Memphis, Marquette, Xavier, etc. We need to start winning to ensure we're part of that group, but I'd be shocked if any Big East team is excluded from the Tournament.
Out of our own self respect, I would be happy without
U-Conn.
Don't give them a recruiting weapon in saying
that they are part of our dominating BIG-EAST.
What we lose from not having CON-YOU, we
more than gain with our great coach and maintaining
our self respect with some payback time.
There is a reason why we get so
stirred up when we play them.
Think about it !
U-Conn.
Don't give them a recruiting weapon in saying
that they are part of our dominating BIG-EAST.
What we lose from not having CON-YOU, we
more than gain with our great coach and maintaining
our self respect with some payback time.
There is a reason why we get so
stirred up when we play them.
Think about it !
I don’t remotely get the rabid “Uconn is the 2nd coming of all that is evil” so I am certainly out of step with a large % of posters here but IMO, the BE is CLEARLY a better, more attractive league with them in it. To me, rationalize all you want, but it is an undeniable no-brainer.
As for them being a state school, you can’t have it both ways, desire and root for SJU to be a legitimate national player, and then be afraid of ANYONE. The Johnnies have always had the very real potential to be what we all have rooted for but they have been their own problem forever, it has had absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. Regarding college sports, as has been posted, IMO, and that opinion has changed over the last six months or so, March Madness is not going anywhere. In fact, the possibility it just becomes an open tournament with all D1 schools eligible is way more likely than the possibility of a “football only” incestuous snooze fest. The only challenge to the open tourney is for someone to figure out how to keep the conference tournaments relevant. But with all that $ involved, eventually they will.
As for them being a state school, you can’t have it both ways, desire and root for SJU to be a legitimate national player, and then be afraid of ANYONE. The Johnnies have always had the very real potential to be what we all have rooted for but they have been their own problem forever, it has had absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. Regarding college sports, as has been posted, IMO, and that opinion has changed over the last six months or so, March Madness is not going anywhere. In fact, the possibility it just becomes an open tournament with all D1 schools eligible is way more likely than the possibility of a “football only” incestuous snooze fest. The only challenge to the open tourney is for someone to figure out how to keep the conference tournaments relevant. But with all that $ involved, eventually they will.
