Gonzaga Next?

[quote="IDRAFT" post=352961][quote="Moose" post=352958][quote="SJU14" post=352957][quote="SJUFAN2" post=352934][quote="Adam" post=352878]With UConn now on board and the 20 games double round robin in place, we don't need a 12th member.

Gonzaga would have been fine as the 11th member (all the other options besides UConn sucked), but now there is no reason to add them. They are a long-term risk and 10-15 years from now could be a horrible addition.[/quote]

Totally disagree.

12 teams give two divisions. You play home and home in your division and the 6 other teams once. That's 16 games.

Leaves you 11 or 12 non conference matchups instead of just 7 or 8. That's a much better option because you have more control of strength of schedule that way.[/quote]

A typical non-conference schedule is already 12-13 games. Also, many conferences are moving towards a 20 game conference schedule, not going down like your idea suggests. I think 11 is the perfect number, even if it may make the conference tournament bracket a little messed up.[/quote]

I know B10 went to 20. Have other conferences?[/quote]

ACC goes to 20 this year.[/quote]

There seems to be a general push towards that 20 games
 
[quote="IDRAFT" post=352961][quote="Moose" post=352958][quote="SJU14" post=352957][quote="SJUFAN2" post=352934][quote="Adam" post=352878]With UConn now on board and the 20 games double round robin in place, we don't need a 12th member.

Gonzaga would have been fine as the 11th member (all the other options besides UConn sucked), but now there is no reason to add them. They are a long-term risk and 10-15 years from now could be a horrible addition.[/quote]

Totally disagree.

12 teams give two divisions. You play home and home in your division and the 6 other teams once. That's 16 games.

Leaves you 11 or 12 non conference matchups instead of just 7 or 8. That's a much better option because you have more control of strength of schedule that way.[/quote]

A typical non-conference schedule is already 12-13 games. Also, many conferences are moving towards a 20 game conference schedule, not going down like your idea suggests. I think 11 is the perfect number, even if it may make the conference tournament bracket a little messed up.[/quote]

I know B10 went to 20. Have other conferences?[/quote]

ACC goes to 20 this year.[/quote]

So a school can schedule 29 games with no tournaments or 27 games + 1 or 2 tournaments that don't total more than 4 games played.

Its a bit of a crap shoot as to how good any team is year to year, but for me If I'm in one of the top 3 conferences I want 20 games in conference. MY SOS won't suffer with just 9-11 out of conference games/ & tournaments.

If I'm in one of the next group of conferences I want more control over my SOS so I want more out of conference games I can schedule at my discretion. I'd rather have the 16 games in conference, two good tournaments, and 11 more non-conference games against the best teams I can schedule. This way I have the ability to both ease a team into a season building momentum AND I have the ability to play teams that will improve our rankings, even with a loss.
 
Gonzaga turned down an invitation from the Mountain West Conference two years ago. The West Coast Conference agreed to a number of changes which had been requested by Gonzaga regarding scheduling and finances, so I don't think the Zags are looking to move to all their teams to a distant conference. They make the ncaa tournament every year, get a desirable seed and made it to the final a few years ago. They recruit very well and can schedule challenging OOC games. Also, their home court has a capacity of only six thousand, which would not work for Big East play.
 
[quote="Las Vegan" post=352984]Gonzaga turned down an invitation from the Mountain West Conference two years ago. The West Coast Conference agreed to a number of changes which had been requested by Gonzaga regarding scheduling and finances, so I don't think the Zags are looking to move to all their teams to a distant conference. They make the ncaa tournament every year, get a desirable seed and made it to the final a few years ago. They recruit very well and can schedule challenging OOC games. Also, their home court has a capacity of only six thousand, which would not work for Big East play.[/quote]

Maybe not.

But there's a HUGE difference between joining the Mountain West Conference and the BE with Uconn already in the fold.

The Mountain West TV deal that just expired paid its member teams 1.1m a year. That's not much of an incentive for Gonzaga when it made its decision 2 years ago. They were wise to wait for a better deal.

Conversely, the BE's current deal pay $4.2M per team annually and according to moose's earlier post, that is undervalued and will be renegotiated with the addition of Uconn and hopefully Gonzaga.

What would a new deal with those two teams in the fold pay out? $5...6m or more a year per school?
 
[quote="SJUFAN2" post=352986][quote="Las Vegan" post=352984]Gonzaga turned down an invitation from the Mountain West Conference two years ago. The West Coast Conference agreed to a number of changes which had been requested by Gonzaga regarding scheduling and finances, so I don't think the Zags are looking to move to all their teams to a distant conference. They make the ncaa tournament every year, get a desirable seed and made it to the final a few years ago. They recruit very well and can schedule challenging OOC games. Also, their home court has a capacity of only six thousand, which would not work for Big East play.[/quote]

Maybe not.

But there's a HUGE difference between joining the Mountain West Conference and the BE with Uconn already in the fold.

The Mountain West TV deal that just expired paid its member teams 1.1m a year. That's not much of an incentive for Gonzaga when it made its decision 2 years ago. They were wise to wait for a better deal.

Conversely, the BE's current deal pay $4.2M per team annually and according to moose's earlier post, that is undervalued and will be renegotiated with the addition of Uconn and hopefully Gonzaga.

What would a new deal with those two teams in the fold pay out? $5...6m or more a year per school?[/quote]

You are right about the money. Geography and history are on the side of the WCC. I just hate to see us hurt the WCC by taking their headline member. We didn't like it when the ACC raided our Big East.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=352940]From what I hear, Gonzaga doesn't see it as crazy as some consider it to be potentially. They want in badly. The pressure is on them to settle in a nice home before it's too late. I believe they will be able to hire another good coach too even after Few. Maybe they join as basketball only. You still get 10+ yrs of Few as someone else said.[/quote]

You would have to think that once Few hangs it up, one of his assistants will be the logical choice to replace him. I don't see too many big names willing to go to Gonzaga, so the admin may make the safe, easy choice and pick someone already familiar with the program.
 
[quote="Eric Williamson" post=352998][quote="Mike Zaun" post=352940]From what I hear, Gonzaga doesn't see it as crazy as some consider it to be potentially. They want in badly. The pressure is on them to settle in a nice home before it's too late. I believe they will be able to hire another good coach too even after Few. Maybe they join as basketball only. You still get 10+ yrs of Few as someone else said.[/quote]

You would have to think that once Few hangs it up, one of his assistants will be the logical choice to replace him. I don't see too many big names willing to go to Gonzaga, so the admin may make the safe, easy choice and pick someone already familiar with the program.[/quote]

Just like it didn't make any financial sense for UCONN to be in the AAC, it makes less sense for Gonzaga to join the BE.
 
[quote="thetux1" post=353001]Why don’t we add Hawaii to the big east. Or China? Yeah that’s it China[/quote]

Meh. You always feel like you lost about an hour after you've beaten them.
 
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Gonzaga basketball as of a couple years ago made more than $12 million, more than $4 million in profit. How does that line up with Big East?
 
[quote="Red Bloods" post=353410]Screw Gonzaga. Not worth the cross country travel.[/quote]

Yeah...why would we want to add a perennial top 20 team to our conference and strength of schedule...:pinch:
 
[quote="SJUFAN2" post=353423][quote="Red Bloods" post=353410]Screw Gonzaga. Not worth the cross country travel.[/quote]

Yeah...why would we want to add a perennial top 20 team to our conference and strength of schedule...:pinch:[/quote]

Play 'em non conference then. Many of the BE schools don't want to be paying to sending their girl's softball and tennis and whatever else teams across country once or twice per year.
 
A week ago I would've said our best options for immediate expansion would be:

1. UConn
2. Gonzaga
3. VCU
4. St. Louis
5. Dayton

Expansion is dead now that we have our 11th team. UConn was easily the most desirable addition out of a pool of mediocre options. Also, the coaches want to keep the double round-robin and we can do that by expanding to 20 games. If we added Gonzaga then everyone would need to eliminate 2 BE games from their schedules. When Val said we are staying at 11 she meant it.
 
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[quote="Adam" post=353431]A week ago I would've said our best options for immediate expansion would be:

1. UConn
2. Gonzaga
3. VCU
4. St. Louis
5. Dayton

Expansion is dead now that we have our 11th team. UConn was easily the most desirable addition out of a pool of mediocre options. Also, the coaches want to keep the double round-robin and we can do that by expanding to 20 games. If we added Gonzaga then everyone would need to eliminate 2 BE games from their schedules. When Val said we are staying at 11 she meant it.[/quote]

And if we did at some point go to 12, it would have to be for a school that can really bolster our league. Cincy and Memphis come to mind. The others mentioned just scream mid-major to me. Not worth it unless we find a school on the eastern half of the US that also decides to drop a D1 football program. More than 11 teams and you get diminishing returns unless a very strong school is added. Nobody other potential addition has the cache’ of UConn.
 
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Can we just end this debate now. This is not going to happen. Every single Big East president and AD is dead set against going to 12 members as it would get rid of the round robin formula. That's been made clear repeatedly.
 
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[quote="austour" post=353424][quote="SJUFAN2" post=353423][quote="Red Bloods" post=353410]Screw Gonzaga. Not worth the cross country travel.[/quote]

Yeah...why would we want to add a perennial top 20 team to our conference and strength of schedule...:pinch:[/quote]

Play 'em non conference then. Many of the BE schools don't want to be paying to sending their girl's softball and tennis and whatever else teams across country once or twice per year.[/quote]

Ok...that's a fair point, but we are talking about 1 trip there every two years for the eaast coast teams and 1 per year for the teams in the mi-west. Our Tennis team traveled to Malibu, CA last season and the Softball team spent a month in Florida and traveled as far west as Omaha, NE last year. How much more is it going to cost to make one trip to Spokane, WA once every two years?

If adding Gonzaga raises the conference profile to the point it adds $500k+ a year per school to the current Men's basketball contract, that's $1m+ over the two years that each girls sport has to make ONE trip out west.

Lets say there are what...100 female athletes at St John's outside of basketball?? Airfare, Meals and hotel for 2-3 days in Spokane are what...$2500 max per person per trip...so a rough estimate of around $250k for all the female athletes to go there once every two years.

What am I missing? How does that not work for everyone??
 
[quote="SJUFAN2" post=353436][quote="austour" post=353424][quote="SJUFAN2" post=353423][quote="Red Bloods" post=353410]Screw Gonzaga. Not worth the cross country travel.[/quote]

Yeah...why would we want to add a perennial top 20 team to our conference and strength of schedule...:pinch:[/quote]

Play 'em non conference then. Many of the BE schools don't want to be paying to sending their girl's softball and tennis and whatever else teams across country once or twice per year.[/quote]

Ok...that's a fair point, but we are talking about 1 trip there every two years for the eaast coast teams and 1 per year for the teams in the mi-west. Our Tennis team traveled to Malibu, CA last season and the Softball team spent a month in Florida and traveled as far west as Omaha, NE last year. How much more is it going to cost to make one trip to Spokane, WA once every two years?

If adding Gonzaga raises the conference profile to the point it adds $500k+ a year per school to the current Men's basketball contract, that's $1m+ over the two years that each girls sport has to make ONE trip out west.

Lets say there are what...100 female athletes at St John's outside of basketball?? Airfare, Meals and hotel for 2-3 days in Spokane are what...$2500 max per person per trip...so a rough estimate of around $250k for all the female athletes to go there once every two years.

What am I missing? How does that not work for everyone??[/quote]

your Missing the cost for Gonzaga to travel east 2 times a week with all their teams. They are a great team but the travel and expense for them is too much
 
[quote="fan5577" post=353442][quote="SJUFAN2" post=353436][quote="austour" post=353424][quote="SJUFAN2" post=353423][quote="Red Bloods" post=353410]Screw Gonzaga. Not worth the cross country travel.[/quote]

Yeah...why would we want to add a perennial top 20 team to our conference and strength of schedule...:pinch:[/quote]

Play 'em non conference then. Many of the BE schools don't want to be paying to sending their girl's softball and tennis and whatever else teams across country once or twice per year.[/quote]

Ok...that's a fair point, but we are talking about 1 trip there every two years for the eaast coast teams and 1 per year for the teams in the mi-west. Our Tennis team traveled to Malibu, CA last season and the Softball team spent a month in Florida and traveled as far west as Omaha, NE last year. How much more is it going to cost to make one trip to Spokane, WA once every two years?

If adding Gonzaga raises the conference profile to the point it adds $500k+ a year per school to the current Men's basketball contract, that's $1m+ over the two years that each girls sport has to make ONE trip out west.

Lets say there are what...100 female athletes at St John's outside of basketball?? Airfare, Meals and hotel for 2-3 days in Spokane are what...$2500 max per person per trip...so a rough estimate of around $250k for all the female athletes to go there once every two years.

What am I missing? How does that not work for everyone??[/quote]

your Missing the cost for Gonzaga to travel east 2 times a week with all their teams. They are a great team but the travel and expense for them is too much[/quote]

I suppose they could always decline the invite if its too expensive...but how many of their away games in any sport do they NOT get on an airplane to travel too? For example:

Their women's soccer team traveled to Texas 3x, SoCal 2x, N. Cal 2x, Kansas and Nebraska.

How much of a difference in cost to Gonzaga if they change that to 5x in the Chicago area and 3 trips to the east coast every year? Heck, you could cut that down to two or even one trip to the east coast with smart scheduling.

Still not seeing a legit financial obstacle.
 
[quote="thetux1" post=353001]Why don’t we add Hawaii to the big east. Or China? Yeah that’s it China[/quote]Exactly tux.

Either stay at 11 or take your time(BE commissioner) sorting out the best programs in this hemisphere who want in the conference.

Gonzaga in the Big EAST is just plain asinine imo. With Pukon we are back to being a perennial top 3 basketball conference in the country. No need to add a team that’s just going to impede us or one of the other original members from getting a ticket to the Big Dance.

Once again, screw Gonzaga!
 
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