The Ball talks Big East basketball

[Omaha1]

I don't recall the exact numbers but last year Creighton fans bought around 2500 all session BET tickets and that was some kind of record. It seemed to me that fans of the C7 schools must not have bought them in years past if we set a record in our first season.

[gosports1]

if the P5 did some kind of radical breakaway, and the BE went along, what do you all think about going to 14/16 to match the P5?
Would it be best to become a more national league, coast to coast, or focus on current footprint? UConn/UMass wouldnt be an option, what with the whole FB thingy

[R Jay]

No current league is "coast-to-coast." While conferences cover more ground than they used to, they are still pretty regional. I expect the Big East to remain in its current footprint.
Also, if they wanted any of the current expansion candidates (Gonzaga, Richmond, Dayton, St. Louis, VCU), why wouldn't they take them and just go to 12 or 14 now? If none of the F5 schools are kicked out or drop their football programs, I think we stay at our current 10.

[TheBall]

Omaha, regarding the 2500 Tickets sold:
First, the school alotments were smaller prior to last year. Second, the local fans if C7 schools knew they could always grab big east tourney tickets in the secondary market. They were never available on theprimary market, but they were easy to find on the secondary market. And outside of the friday double header, you never really had to go much above face (and early rounds were always below face). And let's face it, not too many of the C7 teams were playing on the weekend the past decade.

This is part of the reason I think the event will get stronger. The local C7 schools who were used to watching louisville play uconn and cuse olay gtown are now going to have more opportunity to actually watch their teams play, and there areplenty of local fans to make it work at a 20k arena for a long weekend in March.

As far as the question about if the football five breakaway: first, I don't worry about that. I don't find it likely that the tourney will cut its inventory in half from 64'ish games to 32 games but cutting the field in half. And I don't think they will advocate a tournament where everyone qualifies. Some other schools would be invited, if a split were to happen (I don't think it will outside of football, which is already fragmented). But if something happens where we are invited along for some new sub division of the ncaa and encouraged to expand, I'm all for it. Add whatever basketball schools fit.

Regarding the coast to coast idea: again, I am not against it. If the conference announced it was adding BYU and gonzaga to,orrow I would celebrate the additions. I just don't think it is likely to happen, and I don't think it needs to happen in 2015, if at all. We can be patient, build from within first, and if at some point the right teams for the right reasons become logistically and realistically possible (and by right teams I mean gonzaga/BYU or uconn), then I am all for it. But right now there aren't any expansion candidates to take seriously and would just be expansion For the sake of expansion.

Time to start this georgetown game. Thank you TiVo for allowing me to adjust to my time zone. A little coffee, some breakfast, and some good old big east basketball from madison square garden!!

[TheBall]

And Bill marsh, regarding BYU/zags:
If those two schools were to call Val and say: "hey Val, you got a great thing going, we want in, we think we can make it work, let's do this..."

Then I think we should absolutely consider them and try to make it happen.

I am not sure I think that call has been made. It is actually a much bigger burden on those two than it is in the current ten schools, and I am not sure they are committed to, or ready, for it to happen. Maybe they will decide it makes sense at some point, but as of today I don't know if that opportunity has even presented itself to the conference.

[Hall2012]

I understand. I have not wanted, or been able, to get the entire tournament package. The point is, however, that the BET has always been sold out. The previous posts make it sound as if the tickets aren't sold. Of course, fans may not attend each session, even if they have the ticket package. As a result, some seats may be empty during certain games, but the tickets are all sold.

But they haven't been all sold. Only full tournament passes were sold through the primary market, and they were all distributed to the schools. So yes, the tickets were all "sold" to the schools making the event "sold out," but they weren't all sold to fans. A decent bunch of them ended up just sitting on desks in the DePaul, USF, and Rutgers athletic departments. Single game tickets were only available through the secondary market.

[ivet]

And Bill marsh, regarding BYU/zags:
If those two schools were to call Val and say: "hey Val, you got a great thing going, we want in, we think we can make it work, let's do this..."

Then I think we should absolutely consider them and try to make it happen.

I am not sure I think that call has been made. It is actually a much bigger burden on those two than it is in the current ten schools, and I am not sure they are committed to, or ready, for it to happen. Maybe they will decide it makes sense at some point, but as of today I don't know if that opportunity has even presented itself to the conference.

Morman's and Catholics do not go together. Scrap BYU. More likely to pick up university of San Diego than BYU.

[Jet915]

And Bill marsh, regarding BYU/zags:
If those two schools were to call Val and say: "hey Val, you got a great thing going, we want in, we think we can make it work, let's do this..."

Then I think we should absolutely consider them and try to make it happen.

I am not sure I think that call has been made. It is actually a much bigger burden on those two than it is in the current ten schools, and I am not sure they are committed to, or ready, for it to happen. Maybe they will decide it makes sense at some point, but as of today I don't know if that opportunity has even presented itself to the conference.

Don't know about BYU but there are quotes from the Gonzaga AD saying they want in the Big East and that logistically, it would work for them. The east coast Big East presidents are the ones holding it up. I think in the long run, we do need to get to 14 teams to compete with the F5 but if their names aren't UCONN, Gonzaga or BYU, we can wait....

[DudeAnon]

And Bill marsh, regarding BYU/zags:
If those two schools were to call Val and say: "hey Val, you got a great thing going, we want in, we think we can make it work, let's do this..."

Then I think we should absolutely consider them and try to make it happen.

I am not sure I think that call has been made. It is actually a much bigger burden on those two than it is in the current ten schools, and I am not sure they are committed to, or ready, for it to happen. Maybe they will decide it makes sense at some point, but as of today I don't know if that opportunity has even presented itself to the conference.

Don't know about BYU but there are quotes from the Gonzaga AD saying they want in the Big East and that logistically, it would work for them. The east coast Big East presidents are the ones holding it up. I think in the long run, we do need to get to 14 teams to compete with the F5 but if their names aren't UCONN, Gonzaga or BYU, we can wait....

Source?

[NJRedman]

Not even a little bit concerned about the big ten in 2018. I look at that as a way to increase college hoops vibe in early March and will actually help the big east tourney among casual fans. New York city is unique in that it doesn't have a finite amount of fans. It is all about buzz. If the big ten tourney increases the buzz, then so be it, we benefit.

I'm not holding my breath on uconn, but they are one of the few teams I would actually consider. They are not going to stay in conference of Americans for longer than they have to, and the footballs five aren't knocking down their door. In five years they max out in their divorce settlement, and anything is possible. Conference of Americans is not their long term goal, and if the footballs five don't come calling then anything is possible. But I am not banking in them, just noting they are not off the table.

The conference should not expand just to expand. And adding teams like St. Louis or umass or even vcu constitutes expansion just for the sake of expansion. I am against that.

Big ten is looking to have a east coast tournament two or three times a decade. And that includes dc. They are never going to give the long term commitment that the big east has. I am comfortable knowing that. I don't think the sky is falling here, as I don't think the acc and big ten are committed enough to the northeast to really pose a long term threat. Embrace them as partners who can increase overall interest in northeast hoops, but at the end of the day their home bases are elsewhere.

As far as gonzaga, sign them up if it works. I would love it. Add st Mary's and BYU and St. Louis if need be. I am not against that. But again, I'm not sure if that is likely logistically possible.

But all this conference realignment is out of our control. Mental masturbation. Let's enjoy what we have, the rest is out if our control.

I agree that the conference should not expand just for the sake of expanding. I like the 10 team format.

But if you don't think that this is a war of attrition, then you haven't been paying attention. The Power 5 want to control college athletics and keep for themselves as much of the money as they can grab. Even then Big XII is on shaky ground. The power 5 is really trying to squeeze everyone else out.

So, it's not expand for the sake of expanding. It's expand for the sake of surviving as a power basketball conference. The Tournament - in the Garden - is a key piece of the formula that puts the Big East in the unique position that it holds as the only conference able to successfully challenge the P5.

VCU is a program that has averaged 25 wins per year and has gone to 7 tournaments since 2004 under 3 different coaches. Their 2011 Final Four legitimized them and made them a household name in a way that only a Final Four appearance can, in the same way that 2 such appearances did for Butler. Added to that were the signature wins over Duke in the 2007 tournament and over Wichita State in the 2012 tournament. There is absolutely no doubt that their presence would elevate the profile of the conference.

But even more important is that they are a school of 30,000 students just a few hours down I-95 and down the Amtrak line from MSG. They have the ability to put fans in the seats at tournament time and that is very important.

As for the Big Ten, I don't know what their plans are other that they are in fact moving their tournament to the Garden in 2018, that NYC is far more important to them than DC, as evidenced by the fact that they've opened an league office in Manhattan, and that they are in this fight to win. The Big East must fight back or it will suffer the same fate as the old Big East football coalition and will be destroyed as a viable competitor.

Gonzaga is absolutely doable. This is the 21st century. The conference schedule kicks off on New Year's Eve and is followed by 3 weeks of intercession when long distance travel presents absolutely no disruption to academics. They could even start conference schedule a few days earlier to ease travel even more. Presidents' Day weekend provides another day off when long distance travel is less burdensome. In the fall, schools are flying their teams to Alaska, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands to get in "pre-season" tournaments. But they can't fly their teams to Spokane for one game? Notre dame flies it's entire football team with its entourage of cheerleaders, band, etc. to Ireland every year, but Big East schools can't fly to Spokane for one game? Seriously?

My questions are rhetorical and don't reflect on anything you've posted. I'm just making an argument the way a lawyer might.

OTOH, St. Mary's is out of the question. I don't believe their attendance has ever topped 3500. Despite some success in recent years. They're simply not a big time program. Gonzaga sells out every home game. They have a rabid following, some of whom would without doubt travel to NYC. St. Mary's simply does not have that kind of following, nor do they have the brand that Gonzaga does to attract casual fans in NYC to the tournament. And that after all is the goal.

You do know it's not just BBall right? We would be sending baseball, soccer, field hockey etc etc etc across the country constantly. We're not in fear of being raided and in our world we are a destination conference. Every school who plays bball but not FBS FB wants to be in our conference. We have time to wait. We need to see how the final Football 5 realignment shakes out. The Big XII could be expanding soon, we could see more schools dropping or deemphisizing FB like UAB.

We have a contract with MSG that can only be broken if we lose members of the conference. Thats not happening so they can't just boot us for the ACC and B1G. If they could or wanted to the B1G wouldn't be playing a week early in 2018.