Week 2 Rankings

[notkirkcameron]

If it was 3/11- that is very close to 4/14(what CUSA was back then). Temple may not have made it past 1st weekend since 2001, but they had 7 straight tourney appearances going into this year. So it's pretty easily to see them pick it back up. As far as SMU- Don't see much for them to go up from the AAC quite frankly. Big 12 not an option nor SEC. Houston has looked a lot better now(in Ken Pom they've gone up 54 spots in the last 8 days). And the other programs have a chance. UCF is a good program overall(they're the one that I think is the major flight risk quite frankly).

Any salient points made are immediately undermined by this last sentence. I'm not sure what the other conferences would see in UCF that would make them a flight risk. Conference membership is a two-way street, and while I'm sure UCF would love to move up conferences, another conference has to want them, too. In that regard, there are two factors driving any major conference expansion.
1.) On-field success
2.) Opening new TV markets to the league

Where does UCF move the needle for either of those criteria? Until last week's Fiesta Bowl, their football program really hadn't won anything. At all. Unless the Beef-O-Brady's Bowl means more than I thought it did. Their basketball team has never won an NCAA Tournament game at the Division 1 level. Ever. They're 129 in the KenPoms right now, so I'm guessing that streak is going to continue.

And as far as opening up new markets for another major conference, the ACC and SEC both already have a much more established, popular, and successful team in the State of Florida (the ACC has two.) Geographical concerns aside, Big Ten membership is probably off the table for UCF because they're not an AAU member. Orlando is beyond the pale for the Pac-12. Really, the only scenario that sees UCF going to a larger conference is if the Big 12 decides to take in more football-centric members of the ACC like Clemson and Florida State, and the ACC needs replacements. Even then, the ACC would be looking towards UConn and Cincinnati (and hell, maybe even Memphis) first. UCF needs the bigger conferences way more than the bigger conferences need UCF.

[stever20]

If it was 3/11- that is very close to 4/14(what CUSA was back then). Temple may not have made it past 1st weekend since 2001, but they had 7 straight tourney appearances going into this year. So it's pretty easily to see them pick it back up. As far as SMU- Don't see much for them to go up from the AAC quite frankly. Big 12 not an option nor SEC. Houston has looked a lot better now(in Ken Pom they've gone up 54 spots in the last 8 days). And the other programs have a chance. UCF is a good program overall(they're the one that I think is the major flight risk quite frankly).

Any salient points made are immediately undermined by this last sentence. I'm not sure what the other conferences would see in UCF that would make them a flight risk. Conference membership is a two-way street, and while I'm sure UCF would love to move up conferences, another conference has to want them, too. In that regard, there are two factors driving any major conference expansion.
1.) On-field success
2.) Opening new TV markets to the league

Where does UCF move the needle for either of those criteria? Until last week's Fiesta Bowl, their football program really hadn't won anything. At all. Unless the Beef-O-Brady's Bowl means more than I thought it did. Their basketball team has never won an NCAA Tournament game at the Division 1 level. Ever. They're 129 in the KenPoms right now, so I'm guessing that streak is going to continue.

And as far as opening up new markets for another major conference, the ACC and SEC both already have a much more established, popular, and successful team in the State of Florida (the ACC has two.) Geographical concerns aside, Big Ten membership is probably off the table for UCF because they're not an AAU member. Orlando is beyond the pale for the Pac-12. Really, the only scenario that sees UCF going to a larger conference is if the Big 12 decides to take in more football-centric members of the ACC like Clemson and Florida State. Even then, the ACC would be looking towards UConn and Cincinnati (and hell, maybe even Memphis) first. UCF needs the bigger conferences way more than the bigger conferences need UCF.

Could easily see UCF going to the Big 12. I think for one, Texas hiring Strong for football with his Florida recruiting ties means could easily see Texas advocating a Florida expansion. And the fact is UCF did win last week and they have built a pretty good program. They are a huge university. Big 12 easily could want to get into Florida for recruiting purposes. Won't get FSU or Miami- but UCF is a viable option.