Memphis and Cincy to Big 12?

[billyjack]

And my point is plain and simple. It's got nothing to do about basketball. NOTHING. If VCU was private, they would be in the conference in 15 minutes. Period. So everyone saying that their resume doesn't deserve to get in the Big East is frankly full of it. It's got EVERYTHING to do with public/private, NOTHING to do with basketball.

If any 2015 Big East team had VCU's non-conference results since their 2011 Final Four, you'd be killing them.

They're not bad, they're good but not overwhelming, they take care of business in conference, but if any 2015 Big East team had these results, they'd be totally dumped on as a bubble team or worse... for example, Creighton, in this season alone (Oklahoma, Nebraska), has as many impressive non-conference wins as VCU has in the last 4 years combined (Virginia, unranked Memphis maybe, maybe vs depleted Oregon last month...?)...

2015:
L Villanova <--- by 24.
L Old Dominion <--- bad loss.
L Virginia <--- by 17, at home.
W Tennessee <--- who lost to Marquette, beat Butler.
W Oregon.
W Northern Iowa <--- who are ranked though they've beaten absolutely no one.

2014:
L Florida State by 30.
L Georgetown <--- in loser's bracket.
L Northern Iowa.
W Virginia <--- by 3, at Virginia <--- nice win.
NCAA: L Stephen F Austin.

2013:
L Wichita State.
L Duke.
L Missouri.
W Memphis <--- C-USA version.
NCAA: W Akron, L Michigan by 25.

2012:
L Seton Hall <--- wait, they suck...!
L Georgia Tech.
L Alabama.
L Georgia State, L Drexel, L George Mason, in CAA.
W Northern Iowa.
NCAA: W Wichita State, L Indiana.

I mean, VCU is a good team, but seriously, if these results came from any Big East team, they would get heavy criticism by our resident VCU fan. They would get ROASTED as underperforming... ask St John's...

VCU has had 1 impressive win since 2011... at Virginia last year (... and maybe over Thanksgiving vs Oregon...)

Now, Gonzaga... they're the bad asses in non-conference... an amazing string of "P-5" wins every year... but, no, you have this "Distance Litmus Test...!"

[marquette]

SLU essentially has tanked at this point (perhaps they have some good recruits coming in, but they aren't demonstrating that they can be consistent).

I have tried to keep out of the expansion threads (not necessarily successfully), but SLU is kind of my favorite expansion prospect.

For whatever it is worth, SLU should be much better going forward. Their seniors this season are a cobbled-together group that were the best Crews could get after Marjerus' unfortunate passing. Their current freshmen are the best class SLU has brought in in years. They are far and away the best on the team, but are somewhat undisciplined and not yet adjusted to the college game. They will be good in the future.

SLU has also put a ton of resources into their basketball program in recent years. They more or less copy/pasted Cintas with Chaifetz, they are paying their coaches more, recruiting better, drawing bigger crowds. I really think SLU has one of the highest ceilings of any expansion prospects. I don't think we should jump the gun and add them right now, but I think it is a mistake to discount them.

As to other expansion prospects, I don't really care who gets that 11/12 spot. I do think we should not limit ourselves to 12 forever. The other major conferences have not hesitated to expand to 14. This would obviously not happen until the FS1 contract is up, but I think we could potentially use a 13/14th expansion possibility as a bargaining chip in the next negotiation.

[stever20]

If VCU this year was in the Big East, right now they would be 7-3 with the #1 SOS. Pretty much if they got 9 conference wins to get up to 19-12, they would be a lock for the tourney. Creighton has the same number of losses, but their SOS is #127. If they go 9-9 in conference play to get to 19-12, they would be lucky to get in the tourney. OOC schedule matters- VCU has a real good one, and Creighton doesn't.

Also you saying that Creighton has as many good wins this season alone vs VCU last 4- that's a joke...

Creighton to you-
Oklahoma 7-2 RPI 27 right now
Nebraska 6-3 RPI 120 right now.

let's see how many VCU wins are better than Nebraska THIS year alone-
Tennessee 68 right now
Illinois St 47 right now
Northern Iowa 22 right now
Belmont 109 right now

So that's 4 right now better than Nebraska. with Cincy coming on Saturday in what should be a good game.

St John's problem has been that before this year they just didn't beat anyone OOC. Last year their best OOC win was against #80 San Francisco. Lost to Penn St. They were 20-13 last year with the #67 SOS. VCU was 26-9 with the #25 SOS. HUGE difference there.

btw billyjack- I love your distance litmus test!!!!

[Omaha1]

Creighton to you-
Oklahoma 7-2 RPI 27 right now
Nebraska 6-3 RPI 120 right now.

let's see how many VCU wins are better than Nebraska THIS year alone-
Tennessee 68 right now
Illinois St 47 right now
Northern Iowa 22 right now
Belmont 109 right now

You know that the RPI after a month isn't going to look the same as it will at the end of the season. Nebraska will improve dramatically and Tennessee, Illinois St, and Belmont will likely drop. And beating an okay UNI team at home in 2OT isn't exactly a crown jewel victory.

VCU is a nice program. Great fit in the A-10. I hope you do well there.

[R Jay]

If VCU this year was in the Big East, right now they would be 7-3 with the #1 SOS. Pretty much if they got 9 conference wins to get up to 19-12, they would be a lock for the tourney. Creighton has the same number of losses, but their SOS is #127. If they go 9-9 in conference play to get to 19-12, they would be lucky to get in the tourney. OOC schedule matters- VCU has a real good one, and Creighton doesn't.

Also you saying that Creighton has as many good wins this season alone vs VCU last 4- that's a joke...

Creighton to you-
Oklahoma 7-2 RPI 27 right now
Nebraska 6-3 RPI 120 right now.

let's see how many VCU wins are better than Nebraska THIS year alone-
Tennessee 68 right now
Illinois St 47 right now
Northern Iowa 22 right now
Belmont 109 right now

So that's 4 right now better than Nebraska. with Cincy coming on Saturday in what should be a good game.

St John's problem has been that before this year they just didn't beat anyone OOC. Last year their best OOC win was against #80 San Francisco. Lost to Penn St. They were 20-13 last year with the #67 SOS. VCU was 26-9 with the #25 SOS. HUGE difference there.

btw billyjack- I love your distance litmus test!!!!

Seriously, stop. Creighton's schedule was DESIGNED TO BE EASY THIS SEASON BECAUSE OF THE TURNOVER. VCU returns a decent portion of their team and scheduled accordingly.

[stever20]

Creighton to you-
Oklahoma 7-2 RPI 27 right now
Nebraska 6-3 RPI 120 right now.

let's see how many VCU wins are better than Nebraska THIS year alone-
Tennessee 68 right now
Illinois St 47 right now
Northern Iowa 22 right now
Belmont 109 right now

You know that the RPI after a month isn't going to look the same as it will at the end of the season. Nebraska will improve dramatically and Tennessee, Illinois St, and Belmont will likely drop. And beating an okay UNI team at home in 2OT isn't exactly a crown jewel victory.

VCU is a nice program. Great fit in the A-10. I hope you do well there.

expected RPI's of teams beaten so far-
Tennessee 131.7
Oregon 95.4
Illinois St 67.4
Northern Iowa 36
Belmont 131.1

for Creighton-
Oklahoma 19
Nebraska 105.7

Got to remember- Nebraska is only projected to be 12-16 this year and 6-12 in conference play. It's no transcendent win by any stretch.

[NJRedman]

I honestly think we will sit at 10 and see what happens when the next round of FB realignment shakes out. I also really believe that if memphis and cincy go to the Big XII and UConn is left out the BBall boosters will put pressure on the school to drop FB to FCS or all together. Not saying they will but I think the pressure will be ratcheted up on the administration and the BOT. If I was in charge of the league i'd be sending them messages letting them know if they drop from being FBS they can rejoin the conference. I would also let them know that if they decline it will be much harder for them to schedule our members in OOC games. We'd all have to agree to play hardball with them like only accepting 2 for 1 series or other concessions that highly favored us. "Well welcome you with open arms but if you turn your back to us again you'll regret it."

With all of this we'd also let their boosters know our position so they can put more pressure on the school to put priority on their top notch BBall program.

If they decide to rejoin us then great, we bring in SLU to get to 12 and bring in another big TV market and balance the league geographically.

If they don't agree and decide that they are all in for FB for the long haul then we expand with the best two LONG TERM additions we can find. SLU who has a good TV market and whomever would be the best long term addition, be it VCU, Dayton, UMass or who ever else is available.

[ElDonBDon]

If VCU this year was in the Big East, right now they would be 7-3 with the #1 SOS. Pretty much if they got 9 conference wins to get up to 19-12, they would be a lock for the tourney. Creighton has the same number of losses, but their SOS is #127. If they go 9-9 in conference play to get to 19-12, they would be lucky to get in the tourney. OOC schedule matters- VCU has a real good one, and Creighton doesn't.

Also you saying that Creighton has as many good wins this season alone vs VCU last 4- that's a joke...

Creighton to you-
Oklahoma 7-2 RPI 27 right now
Nebraska 6-3 RPI 120 right now.

let's see how many VCU wins are better than Nebraska THIS year alone-
Tennessee 68 right now
Illinois St 47 right now
Northern Iowa 22 right now
Belmont 109 right now

So that's 4 right now better than Nebraska. with Cincy coming on Saturday in what should be a good game.

St John's problem has been that before this year they just didn't beat anyone OOC. Last year their best OOC win was against #80 San Francisco. Lost to Penn St. They were 20-13 last year with the #67 SOS. VCU was 26-9 with the #25 SOS. HUGE difference there.

btw billyjack- I love your distance litmus test!!!!

Part of the reason their SOS is so strong is the fact that they have to make up for the weak AAC opponents. If they were in the BE, they may not have scheduled so strongly. So saying "if they were in the BE this year" is not holding all else equal.

VCU is a solid program, but IMO it doesn't "make a splash" like Nova's AD said a new program should/would.

Anyway, I'll own up to it. I can't stand VCU. Maybe it's irrational, but I actively root against them when I can (this is even before Shaka burned MU). And, FWIW, for some reason I also hate Mizzou. I enjoy seeing them lose.

[R Jay]

And, FWIW, for some reason I also hate Mizzou. I enjoy seeing them lose.

That's funny, I've long stopped cheering for Nebraska Football, but I still hate Missouri, too.

[DudeAnon]

Can we make it a rule to not reference RPI this early in the season? It haseems no merit. Fact is, you don't know how gois a win is until the season has been played out.