I got one question for Big East basketball fans!

[Dave]

If you want to go out with a dog, be our guest. I don't get the repeated harping on this issue. We aren't expanding immediately. They play football. We are basketball only. They would fall all over themselves to get into the ACC. I don't see it happening. Can we just enjoy the birth of the new league without hearing you moan about UCONN every other post? You want to add them. You love dogs. We get it.

Go picket in front of the Big East offices or something. The messageboard is not in charge of adding teams.

Husky = Dog. Yes, I'll take it. 11 Teams. 20 games.

Add UConn.

[Bill Marsh]

I would rather have Kansas, who really doesn't have a football team(Charlie Weiss pays for student tickets from time to time). That is a basketball first school and always will be Uconn is trying to be a football first school.

Apparently it appears to you that UConn is trying to be a football first school although, given their 0-6 record, I have no idea why. But UConn started football to protect their basketball program. 20 years ago, then AD, Lew Perkins, recommended that Uconn start up football because he anticipated the development of a break away all sports division as we are on the verge of now. He said that if UConn wanted to be part of that, they would have to have football or be relegated to second class status. UConn remains a basketball first school.

The conversation about going after UConn is completely pointless. Even though basketball remains their top priority, they do now have football and they have invested a lot of money in it. They aren't simply going to down grade it. Their goal is to be in a n all sports conference and they will continue to pursue that in the AAC where they will remain unless a better opportunity arises.

[Dave]

The conversation about going after UConn is completely pointless. Even though basketball remains their top priority, they do now have football and they have invested a lot of money in it. They aren't simply going to down grade it. Their goal is to be in a n all sports conference and they will continue to pursue that in the AAC where they will remain unless a better opportunity arises.

I agree, UConn is not going to downgrade. That would be pointless. Asking them to downgrade isn't even a thought.
I agree, basketball is their top priority. A basketball first conference would be a good fit.
I agree, the should stay AAC until a better opportunity arises. Like an invite to the Big East, while staying AAC for football. Better for basketball (basketball first). More money. Better for non-rev.

The adds of Creighton, Butler, and X were done before we had a commissioner. Safe, predictable adds, That is OK.

Val is a professional. Seems like she has marketing depth and she is diplomatic. If she can manage the Presidents, who are not sports interested or market savvy, then maybe she can get the green light to court UConn.

If you think it's not possible... UConn to the Big East makes a lot more sense than Rutgers to the B1G! Most anything is possible in this environment.

[handdownmandown]

Question for the UCONN backers: how much of your support for them joining the conference is due to the fear of the new BE being 'diminished'? (I won't use the midm**** word).

My take on this is different I'm sure since Creighton is one of the new adds and not, say an original invitee (so if it sounds overly harsh I apologize), but to me this almost sounds like a guy who's trying to hang on to a girlfriend who's super hot solely because he knows he can't do better, even though he knows that she'll be spending every moment with him wishing she was somewhere else.

Who on Earth would to live like that? Not me.

[DumpsterFireA10]

For schools whose athletic teams don't have a conference, what else are you going to do?

Play in a league where winning it is completely irrelevant? Go independent?

Neither is appealing.

[Noonzy]

UConn has had football for many more than 20 years. They used to play in the Yankee conference. I know that if they were invited to the Big East they would decline. The posters in the Providence area understand what goes on with them-they are a 45 minute drive from PC. They will be hurting in the next 2-3 years. They play basketball in a curmmy conference. After UL leaves and Rutgers leaves they will be playing the likes of Tulsa, Tulane and East Carolina. Their recruitng will suffer. They are running on the fumes of their past. Calhoun isn't walking through that door. They want football to run the show and they suck at football. They WILL NOT get rid of football. They think they will become a football power one day. College football in the Northeast is not the way to go. People in the Northeast could care less about college football. VCU is a much better option the way they are recruiting and might come if invited. Coach Cooley is recruiting their best kids from their backyard. Providence is the new way to go-UConn is a has been. That is what I have heard the BB kids are saying.

[Dave]

The Top Tier of the Big East IS obviously diminished with the loss of Cuse, UConn, and Ville. Yes, UConn strengthens the top of the conference. That should be the goal with any expansion now that we have 10. No other potential program does that today.

The pruning of the teams that didn't fit geographically is a good thing. The new Big East is better for that.

Dumpsterfire, I feel your pain. Seems the best for now may be to make the best of the A10 and do what you can with OOC.

[TheHall]

UConn has had football for many more than 20 years. They used to play in the Yankee conference. I know that if they were invited to the Big East they would decline. The posters in the Providence area understand what goes on with them-they are a 45 minute drive from PC. They will be hurting in the next 2-3 years. They play basketball in a curmmy conference. After UL leaves and Rutgers leaves they will be playing the likes of Tulsa, Tulane and East Carolina. Their recruitng will suffer. They are running on the fumes of their past. Calhoun isn't walking through that door. They want football to run the show and they suck at football. They WILL NOT get rid of football. They think they will become a football power one day. College football in the Northeast is not the way to go. People in the Northeast could care less about college football. VCU is a much better option the way they are recruiting and might come if invited. Coach Cooley is recruiting their best kids from their backyard. Providence is the new way to go-UConn is a has been. That is what I have heard the BB kids are saying.

At some point the folks at Yukon are going to realize every doom & gloom point you & others have highlighted & this exactly captures where the potential leverage will come from for the BE going forward (buy low!). VCU would be an awesome consolation prize if we go to 12 but they are not Uconn, no "available" program is and I'm speaking strictly from a BE fan POV.

[handdownmandown]

The Top Tier of the Big East IS obviously diminished with the loss of Cuse, UConn, and Ville. Yes, UConn strengthens the top of the conference. That should be the goal with any expansion now that we have 10. No other potential program does that today.

So going after a program that sees us (due to a lack of football) as a crappy consolation prize is the way to go?

Why not admit it's over, and build up the brand you now have in a similar manner to the way that happened 35 or so years ago?

[DumpsterFireA10]

The Top Tier of the Big East IS obviously diminished with the loss of Cuse, UConn, and Ville. Yes, UConn strengthens the top of the conference. That should be the goal with any expansion now that we have 10. No other potential program does that today.

The pruning of the teams that didn't fit geographically is a good thing. The new Big East is better for that.

Dumpsterfire, I feel your pain. Seems the best for now may be to make the best of the A10 and do what you can with OOC.

I don't have a problem with UConn per se, as they have proven themselves on the floor. In the end, both schools (SLU/UConn) are in conference arrangements that they more or less didn't want, and hope that they get out of it. SLU has been taking steps backwards since 2005, and at least at this point there's no further backwards steps we can even take. The Atlantic 10 move was part of Father Biondi's "Little Blue Lie" that he would give us a great basketball program set up for future success. That is why he looked East then, and why Saint Louis is in the A-10 to this day. I think UConn would be a fine addition to the Big East if they could put football somewhere. But that specter is always going to hang over their heads (fairly or not).