Big East Map

Could be an omen but RED really stands out! LOL!

BTW, I like all three additions but SLU and VCU would best balance the conference IMO.
For those making an issue out of travel costs because of Creighton, had we stayed in the old league we would have been flying to many more distant places like Tulane, SMU, Houston, USF, UCF and Memphis.
 
St. Louis looks like they will be added next year, but by all accounts Dayton is the 12th team which IMO is a big mistake. VCU HAS to be in this new conference.
 
learn from the past problems were non-Catholic school. VCU would in time be a problem.
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Past problems were because of football. Not any religious affiliation.

At this point if the goal is to get to 12, it is semantics on who to pick. There's no wrong choice from the current pool of candidates, particularly because none of them would be joining as a stepping stone somewhere else.
 
We really better have a top notch OOC schedule. We won't benefit from the natural RPI and SOS bump that Cuse, Louisville and ND gave us.
 
We really better have a top notch OOC schedule. We won't benefit from the natural RPI and SOS bump that Cuse, Louisville and ND gave us.
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Not necessarily. With the round-robin format, you are looking at more games against better competition top to bottom.

10-8 in the new Big East is still going to carry the same weight as in the old one.

Based on this season, you are still looking at eight games against the top 100 with the holdover schools. All six games against the newcomers are top 100, including four top 25. So that's 12 of the 18 against the top 100, essentially 10 in the top 50 counting Nova at 52.

SJU's current Big East schedule is 12 of the 18 against the top 100, 11 in the top 50.

The only team in the new Big East outside the top 140 is DePaul. And since SJU played them twice this season, it's not like they are adding a terrible opponent like some of the other schools are.
 
Creighton is in Nebraska? WTF, should have taken Gonzaga and St.Marys if we're gonna travel that far.
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From Marquette, it's a three-hour trip
From DePaul, it's an hour and a half trip

DePaul to Creighton is an hour less than same travel time that it was for SJU to West Virginia.

Marquette to Gonzaga is an extra two and a half hours, plus crossing an extra two time zones. Plus you'd have to fly from Spokane to NYC (six and a half hours, crossing three time zones) as opposed to Creighton to SJU, which is just under three hours and one time zone crossing. So a road trip with the west coast schools is adding an extra six hours of travel, plus crossing four extra time zones. And that has to be done twice a year, so that's 12 hours.

Except it's not about making SJU do that. It's about Gonzaga and St. Mary's doing that. For when they come to SJU, and Georgetown, and Nova, and Providence. And Seton Hall. That's an extra 60 hours of travel needed just for those five trips because they are so far away compared to what Creighton will travel.

And it's not about the travel for basketball. It's for all the other sports.
 
Don't understand your point that it's only 2 1/2 hours west of Depaul. If it is about travel, then that's an extra 2 1/2 hours travel time for all schools east of Chicago,( for all sports). Why pay 100 million for the Big East name, when we're out west? Travel was about to get ridiculous with football, we were returning to our roots, a more compact east coast basketball league. Sorry, but to me this makes no sense, there are many good programs closer to home. After Creighton looses their best player to the NBA this year, how good will the school be going forward that would justify the extra cost of travel.
 
And it makes for easy round trips for the most part.

SJU-Hall
SJU-Prov.
SJU-Nova
Prov-Hall
Nova-Prov.
Nova-Hall
Nova-Gtown
Gtown-Hall
Xavier-Butler
Butler-DePaul
Marquette-DePaul
Marquette-Creighton
Creighton-DePaul
 
Don't understand your point that it's only 2 1/2 hours west of Depaul. If it is about travel, then that's an extra 2 1/2 hours travel time for all schools east of Chicago,( for all sports). Why pay 100 million for the Big East name, when we're out west? Travel was about to get ridiculous with football, we were returning to our roots, a more compact east coast basketball league. Sorry, but to me this makes no sense, there are many good programs closer to home. After Creighton looses their best player to the NBA this year, how good will the school be going forward that would justify the extra cost of travel.
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The point is, it's not about just flying to and from Creighton. You are making a stop along with it. And just because something is closer, doesn't mean it lessens the travel. Getting to West Virginia is a pain but geographically it looks good. Do you think DePaul and Marquette enjoyed having to try and get to Storrs? If a school is going to play DePaul or Marquette anyway, the trip to Creighton is nothing. Whereas throwing out stupid locales to the West underminds your point.

It actually does make sense to put Creighton in the mix. I know it's not a lot of people's first choices, but how much do you wanna bet the talk in the room for those schools, in addition to reps from Butler and Xavier wanted someone out in their neck of the woods to make travel a little more balanced for them? It's a compromise, especially since there is no guarantee on who the next two additions will be. Everyone knew Butler and Xavier were going to join.
 
And at worst, it sets up the chance at creating divisions when they go to 12 teams

East
SJU
Hall
Nova
GTown
Prov.
Latest Addition (VCU, George Mason, St. Joe's, Siena, whomever)

West
Marquette
DePaul
Creighton
Butler
Xavier
St. Louis (which everyone assumes is one of the two to be added)

Easy road trip pairs and the geographical balance is there. Home and home in your divison. Everyone in the other division once for 16-game schedule
 
First of all WV and UConn are no longer in the league so using them as an example is moot and undermines your point. Secondly 2 1/2 hours is not nothing, it takes less time to fly from NY to Florida. There are literally dozens of schools 2 hours east of Depaul that would fit the bill
 
The reason "stupid locales to the west" were mentioned was because it was commonly assumed that the travel was just too much. The point being if we would not go out west to get Gonzaga , why would we go to Nebraska to get an inferior program.
 
it is more south of Chicago then west. It is not a terrible fit for the western branch of the new Big East
 
all I know is that the new map has me driving an hour and 15 minutes from an away game at Xavier and not even 5 minutes away from Butler!!!! I still can't believe it and had I known Butler was joining the (real) Big East, I would have contested the marital home (only half a block from Hinkle) or just stuck it out with the ex solely for the games :p
 
We really better have a top notch OOC schedule. We won't benefit from the natural RPI and SOS bump that Cuse, Louisville and ND gave us.
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Not necessarily. With the round-robin format, you are looking at more games against better competition top to bottom.

10-8 in the new Big East is still going to carry the same weight as in the old one.

Based on this season, you are still looking at eight games against the top 100 with the holdover schools. All six games against the newcomers are top 100, including four top 25. So that's 12 of the 18 against the top 100, essentially 10 in the top 50 counting Nova at 52.

SJU's current Big East schedule is 12 of the 18 against the top 100, 11 in the top 50.

The only team in the new Big East outside the top 140 is DePaul. And since SJU played them twice this season, it's not like they are adding a terrible opponent like some of the other schools are.
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You're implying that Creighton and/or Butler will either be ranked and/or have a strong RPI. I don't want to assume that.

That being said, the hit to our RPI will still be more because of how strong Cuse, Louisville and ND were. We can't replace that in-conference.

I don't want to mess around and become the SEC.

SJU 'should' be Top 4 perennially in the conference.
 
First of all WV and UConn are no longer in the league so using them as an example is moot and undermines your point. Secondly 2 1/2 hours is not nothing, it takes less time to fly from NY to Florida. There are literally dozens of schools 2 hours east of Depaul that would fit the bill
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Your geographical skills leave a lot to be desired and your knowledge of available basketball schools even less!
Gonzaga has a great program WITH Mark Few. My worry would be if he leaves. Flying to the west coast would be a nightmare for all the other sports teams and Spokane requires a stop-over for most schools to boot. You literally lose an eniire travel day to and from Sopkane.
Omaha is a Midwest commercial hub city and Warren Buffett has no problems calling it home. Creigthon has a long history of basketball excellence. They are not Syracuse or Louisville but they have been much better than DePaul or Seton Hall over the years.
There are not many schools with basketball programs left that would light up the TV screens so there are only 5 or 6 schools worth pursuing and not "dozens". Unless those schools included Memphis, Uconn or Temple, the rest would have to be non-BCS schools and the ones already under discussion are the only viable choices.
Finally, had the C7 not broken away and the old Big East stayed stable for the next 10 years, you would be looking at trips to Houston, Dallas and New Orleans....all longer plane trips for all the other sports teams plus trips to central Florida.
You should be thrilled the C7 pulled this thing off! Fox, MSG, and great exposure! I never dreamed it would happen and I was wrong.
 
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