Conference Realignment: What Next?

[kayako]

Potentially big for Boise St here-
https://twitter.com/BroncoSports/status ... 8823450626

Could they be going indy in football and WCC for everything else, basically replacing BYU?

SLU trolled everyone like this just a few months ago. It could just be some kind of facility upgrade announcement.

[Jet915]

Potentially big for Boise St here-
https://twitter.com/BroncoSports/status ... 8823450626

Could they be going indy in football and WCC for everything else, basically replacing BYU?

SLU trolled everyone like this just a few months ago. It could just be some kind of facility upgrade announcement.

I think its some type of NIL announcement/partnership....if it was realignment rumors would have spread by now.

[Husky_U]

Like I said months ago, the BE and Gonzaga have been chatting on back-channels for some time now. Val been BUSY. FOX wanted to take UCONN from ESPN. Now they want Gonzaga. $$$.

For those wondering why Gonzaga wants to make this happen:
1. Similar to UCONN WBB in the AAC, the Gonzaga brass believes playing a WCC schedule is detrimental to their March preparation,
2. Gonzaga wants to be in the best position possible post-Mark Few (the WCC ain't it), and
3. There is a belief that the power conferences will eventually seize control of March Madness, determining future participants and payouts.

This story got legs for days.

[stever20]

Potentially big for Boise St here-
https://twitter.com/BroncoSports/status ... 8823450626

Could they be going indy in football and WCC for everything else, basically replacing BYU?

How is WCC any better for Boise State though?

It's not that much weaker than the MWC. And also MWC is trying to stop that agreement they had where Boise gets more money by contract.

Do agree with you and Kayako that it's probably NIL or facility upgrade. But the Indy/WCC result wouldn't be shocking at all.

[billyjack]

I found this on the UConn Boneyard board with the thread title "Gonzaga". I think this is a good summary of Gonzaga's 23 year run.

Funny, in 2007 i would be up carrying my then-14-month-old late night, trying to get him to sleep, pacing the living room watching the WCC on ESPN past midnight.

Zags had a very likeable roster that season in particular, with a great center who midseason was suspended for using magic mushrooms (Heytveldt or something), and another nice guy, a local high-rated SF-PF named Pendergraft who mightve been in the Partridge family.

The Zags recent years have been top level.

Also, in Gonzaga's two National Finals, and other recent tourneys, they've been hosed by the refs:

- 2017 finals vs UNC, under a minute Meeks on UNC was laying down with ball, with his butt out of bounds. Refs blew it.

- 2021, first 10 minutes Baylor was allowed to play aggressive Pitino-on-roids defense.

- the year they lost to Texas Tech, 2019 maybe, late game huge possession, our old Johnnies friend Tariq Owens saved a ball after totally stepping out of bounds near the bench. Huge possession.

Anyway, here's the summary by a poster named "Kemba Time" :

Gonzaga | The Boneyard
https://the-boneyard.com/threads/gonzaga.180250/

... "What makes Gonzaga so hard to evaluate here is that somewhere in this 24-season run of relevance, they went from plucky mid-major pulling 8-10 seeds to nationally recognized power getting 1-seeds every year -- and you can't really judge the results the same throughout.

1999-2003: Very much a mid-major team (seeds: 10, 10, 12, 6, 9) with no realistic expectation of winning a championship or even making Final Fours. These were the years when the Zags winning a couple games become a big deal because they were a true mid-major -- and their name was fun for people to say.

2004-06: Morrison and Turiaf came along and the conversation shifted to Should Gonzaga actually get a top 2-3 seed? 2004 was the first legitimate disappointment (Nevada in second round), '05 similar (two-point loss to Texas Tech) and the '06 team lost a 2 vs. 3 matchup by 2 to an absolutely loaded UCLA team that ended up in the title game.

2007-12: Much more of the mid-major version again. (seeds: 10, 7, 4, 8, 11, 7) We're talking about guys like Matt Bouldin and Austin Daye as their premium recruits. The best team of this group was a 4-seed in 2009, which won a couple games and then got run out of a 1-vs.-4 game by eventual champion North Carolina -- who ran over everyone they played that tourney. Really not an expectation of a champion or a huge disappointment in the group.

2013-2016: 2013 was the real turning point team in Gonzaga's stature. First time getting a 1-seed, first No. 1 ranking in school history. Olynyk, Harris, Pangos core. That loss to Wichita State was the first time since Adam Morrison left the court in tears it really felt like the Zags disappointed with a chance to go really deep. 2014 was an 8-seed. Then 2015 (Wiltjer) was a 2 seed that lost a 1 vs. 2 Elite Eight game to the eventual national champ Duke team. 2016 was an 11 that actually overperformed by a couple rounds (beat a 6 and a 3) before losing to a Final Four team in Cuse, in a strange 11-vs.-10 Sweet 16 game.

2017-2022: OK, now this is where things really changed for good in national perception. Few started pulling national recruits and big-time transfers regularly -- 2017 team had Williams-Goss, the big big Polish center, Williams, Collins and Perk. And they started regularly collecting 1 seeds. With a few exceptions above, this is when it's fair to really saying not winning or at least making the Final Four was a disappointment (and of course 2020 was a 31-2 team that got no tournament). The results?

2017: 1-seed, made the national championship game. Lost to UNC
2018: 4-seed, made the Sweet 16. Lost to (9) Florida State
2019: 1-seed, made the Elite Eight. Lost to (3) Texas Tech
2020: No tourney. Would have been another 1-seed, KenPom No. 2 when season ended.
2021: 1-seed, made the national championship game. Lost to Baylor
2022: 1-seed, made the Sweet 16. Lost to Arkansas.

So all in all, they've had 8-10 teams with realistic expectation of a Final Four or title going into the tourney (8 1-3 seeds; 10 if you add 4-seed years) resulting in a couple title game losses, some Sweet 16/Elite 8 losses (including 2 to eventual national champions, 4 if you add the title game losses to that) and a few clear seed disappointments." ...

[Hall2012]

Personally, I can't say I'm fully on-board the add Gonzaga hype train. Can I learn to live with it? Sure. Will I be excited about Gonzaga coming to the Rock? Yeah. Will I be excited about the Pirates going to Spokane? Eh, maybe the first time. Will I be excited about playing Gonzaga in anything other than mbb regardless of location? Not particuarly. The biggest thing though, is that I love the double round robin and will be disappointed to see it go.

Assuming Gonzaga does indeed join, my preferred solution would be going the divisional route. Play your division home and away every year and the play the other division once a year, alternating home and away. In general it should keep balanced schedule for each division. We'd also lose the regular season conference championship to 2 divisional championships, but I can live with that. The problem with that proposal right now is that with 12 teams it leaves us with only a 16 game conference schedule. With 14 teams, we could have a reasonably balanced 19 game league schedule. Is it worth adding another 2 teams to keep the schedule balanced? Personally, I'd argue yes. If we're going to scrap the home and home for a 12th team, I think we may as well go all in and expand to 14.

[kayako]

If realignment is driven by TV execs, I doubt they limit inventory by creating divisions. Imagine top 2 teams only playing against each other once because of divisions.

[Jet915]

If realignment is driven by TV execs, I doubt they limit inventory by creating divisions. Imagine top 2 teams only playing against each other once because of divisions.

You can play everyone in our "division" twice, everyone in the other division once which makes it 16 games and then have 2 "extra" games against your other division for TV/matchups for total of 18.

[Hall2012]

Personally, I can't say I'm fully on-board the add Gonzaga hype train. Can I learn to live with it? Sure. Will I be excited about Gonzaga coming to the Rock? Yeah. Will I be excited about the Pirates going to Spokane? Eh, maybe the first time. Will I be excited about playing Gonzaga in anything other than mbb regardless of location? Not particuarly. The biggest thing though, is that I love the double round robin and will be disappointed to see it go.

Assuming Gonzaga does indeed join, my preferred solution would be going the divisional route. Play your division home and away every year and the play the other division once a year, alternating home and away. In general it should keep balanced schedule for each division. We'd also lose the regular season conference championship to 2 divisional championships, but I can live with that. The problem with that proposal right now is that with 12 teams it leaves us with only a 16 game conference schedule. With 14 teams, we could have a reasonably balanced 19 game league schedule. Is it worth adding another 2 teams to keep the schedule balanced? Personally, I'd argue yes. If we're going to scrap the home and home for a 12th team, I think we may as well go all in and expand to 14.

And of course the natural follow up question is - who else? Who else moves the needle? Well...nobody. But does Gonzaga move the needle enough for 3? And as far as moving the needle financially - the extra 2 would add a Tuesday Big East Tournament game, regardless of who they are. So with that in mind, strategic options IMO - to select 1 east and 1 west

East: I'd love to get back into Boston

Boston College - they've struggled in the ACC, are they interested in a lifeline? Probably not but a call doesn't hurt
Northeastern - Again, Boston
Boston University - Another Boston Option
UMass - leaving Boston but close enough?
Temple or St. Joe's? - I'd rather not double up on a market we're already in, but outside of Boston or expanding south it's pretty much our only option
Richmond or VCU? - Another market double up


West: Can go a few different directions

Saint Mary's - Another west coast school for Gonzaga
Portland - If the goal is a "travel partner" for Gonzaga, they make much more geographical sense than Saint Mary's
UNLV - Fun city, here because I saw the name floated but honestly don't really see the fit
Saint Louis - I still think it's an ideal location / market for the Big East to get into
Dayton - I don't like the market double up but accept that with the UD posters on this board, the conversation simply can't exist without them
Loyola Chicago - Another double up and unlikely because of their recent move, but the recent success is hard to ignore
Notre Dame - Extreme long shot, but a program that would actually move the needle

[Hall2012]

If realignment is driven by TV execs, I doubt they limit inventory by creating divisions. Imagine top 2 teams only playing against each other once because of divisions.

It could easily happen anyway without the double RR. Look at this year - Providence and Creighton were picked 7th and 8th. If the goal was to schedule the top of the league to play each other twice and the bottom once, Villanova very realistically could have ended up playing Creighton and PC only once each.