passitback
Well-known member
Gonzaga is headed to the B12 - St. Mary's may very well follow, along with Zona. They just added Cincy and Houston. They are not playing around...
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Gonzaga is headed to the B12 - St. Mary's may very well follow, along with Zona. They just added Cincy and Houston. They are not playing around...
And they’ll make mega money but the basketball league will suffer for it IMO. All those schools can’t remain as good with that many teams.
passitback
Well-known member
Relative to who? The conference members or the field of D1 teasm at large?
I get what you're saying, and don't necessarily disagree with the less is more notion. I do believe opportunities to strengthen the conference should be considered. It seems like the B12 may not keep the RR format. Will it be to their detriment? I don't know...
What I do know is if a team like Duke is available to join the Big East, should we really be turning them down?
I think this is exactly what we are seeing unfold with the B12. Let's not underestimate the talks with ACC schools that are certainly taking place. Louisville, Duke, etc., are alllll mindful of the Magnificent Seven's plans to leave the ACC.
I’m not sure any of those ACC schools are realistically ever going to be available, unless they’re willing to be independent in football or downgrade their program. I think the Big 12 will be ready to pounce on the Pittsburgh/Louisville. And if basketball is a really important IP for them, why wouldn’t they take the plunge for Duke, and even Syracuse?
I think our only realistic opportunity was adding a Western pod of Gonzaga/St. Mary’s/San Francisco. The ACC scraps will be seeing if Boston College or Wake Forest are worth having a UCONN arrangement for, which is pretty underwhelming imo
Gonzaga is not coming if they are the only team we take from the West Coast. Need to add another team from there.
passitback
Well-known member
You're right. They really aren't. However, we have seen it done with ND (I know, just saying)...
Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Dayton, etc. are the type of schools we should be targeting... Add a few A10 schools into the mix and we are cooking. The idea is to keep the Big East intact, even if that means switching some things up.
passitback
Well-known member
St. Mary's is rumored to be their traveling partner if they go Big 12.
I mean to the the teams within the conference. With huge conference numbers (14+) there’s just no way to avoid a large basement. And stack a couple of those up in a row and a team starts to struggle.
Cinci might be a better program overall but is finishing 11th in the B12 better than finishing 2nd in the AAC? Maryland may have a good year and finish 9th in the B10, I bet their fans would rather the same team finish 4th in the old ACC. St Mary’s will be able to build a new areana but are their fans going to enjoy watching them claw to finish in the top 10 of their conference?
passitback
Well-known member
Great questions. I don't know. I do believe it is worth the gamble for some provided the ever-changing landscape of college athletics.
What do you think B!G and SEC football is going to look like down the line?
Gonna have MEGA CONFERENCES stacked to the gills with NFL talent.
Only one will be the champ! I think just making the playoffs will be sufficient for most teams, never mind winning it all.
If uconn left, you could add st Mary’s with them and keep a 22 game RR schedule. Either way I don’t see it happening.
I just think the “add a few A10 schools” part is where things get shaky. Dayton, I agree. They add to the product and have been consistent.
After that, the other options are all meh. Davidson is really small, and now they’re post McKillop. But adding NC can have advantages and they have a dedicated fan base. VCU is huge, and doesn’t fit the profile of schools here, but have been consistently pretty good. St. Louis is more about projecting future potential, that’s a risky move.
Unfortunately I think we’re stuck as a conference to really grow, unless we do more arrangements like we’re doing with UCONN. Memphis, Temple, even FAU, would be interesting, but it’s a ticking time bomb situation.
The bloated conferences are designed for football. Losing a Villanova or Georgetown game every other year so that the Big East can add schools to the schedule like Dayton or VCU? If SJU wants to play them they can add them to the non-conference as they would never say no.
10000%
St. Louis vs anyone in the big East is a worse game than any other Big East game currently.
It’s an easy rule of thumb. Would you like to see them added to the non-conference? Despite my personal objections it’s easy to see how UCONN met this standard. Personal grudges aside, the ACC schools, and Gonzaga, are about the only schools that meet this standard.
I don’t know where the next round of this is headed but I’m not in a hurry to have the Big East become the American Athletic Conference.
I’d certainly want Gonzaga, St Mary’s, Davidson or Dayton added to our schedule. But I also think that a program like San Francisco or St Louis is more about projecting what Big East membership would do for their program. Can they get to the next level with more money invested and a higher conference? I wouldn’t say it’s a guaranteed yes but I don’t think it’s worth dismissing.
With my luck we’ll add Davidson the year after my wife convinces me to move back to Jersey!
While all this is pure speculation and some wishful thinking on our part , anything is possible in this day and age .
Gonzaga and St Mary’s would be very nice additions , With Air travel what it is today and Charter Flights the norm , scheduling issues could be resolved . East Coast teams could play both on 1 trip. A Thursday and Saturday or Sunday afternoon game and then fly home in time for classes.
The same for the West Coast Schools . Play a Thursday game against us and a Sunday game against Seton Hall or Nova and fly home .
The same could be done for the other Schools .
Both Gonzaga and St Mary’s have built excellent Programs . But, they haven’t had the top to bottom competition that the BE would provide . Just saying
Gonzaga and St Mary’s would be very nice additions , With Air travel what it is today and Charter Flights the norm , scheduling issues could be resolved . East Coast teams could play both on 1 trip. A Thursday and Saturday or Sunday afternoon game and then fly home in time for classes.
The same for the West Coast Schools . Play a Thursday game against us and a Sunday game against Seton Hall or Nova and fly home .
The same could be done for the other Schools .
Both Gonzaga and St Mary’s have built excellent Programs . But, they haven’t had the top to bottom competition that the BE would provide . Just saying