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Thanks Gopher Ram fan- US News had your endowment wrong and I edited it. I see it had nearly doubled in 2014 alone..

I don't think that Gonzaga or St Mary's are actually viable candidates because of location, but if they are going to be included I think BYU should be included. An academically strong, fiscally sound, faith based institution checks most of the boxes. Plus, because BYU is unique in that since it is really the only D1 school affiliated with that particular religion, it automatically has a national and international following. I know in the past when Creighton has played BYU in Omaha, local mormons have turned out in droves to support BYU. While football will always be important to BYU, if they keep that program independent like it is right now, there would be a lot of value in that add...assuming one could work around the no Sundays rule.

Bluejay wrote:I don't think that Gonzaga or St Mary's are actually viable candidates because of location, but if they are going to be included I think BYU should be included. An academically strong, fiscally sound, faith based institution checks most of the boxes. Plus, because BYU is unique in that since it is really the only D1 school affiliated with that particular religion, it automatically has a national and international following. I know in the past when Creighton has played BYU in Omaha, local mormons have turned out in droves to support BYU. While football will always be important to BYU, if they keep that program independent like it is right now, there would be a lot of value in that add...assuming one could work around the no Sundays rule.

Makes a lot of sense. The two could be travel partners. And after the Big XII deciding to take expansion off the table, it seems like BYU football will be independent for a long time.

I wonder how conferences could deal with 8-10 hour bus and train trips 50-75 years ago, and even 100 years ago, but can't deal with 5-6 house plane flights.

If the BE wants to make the appropriate headline statement when/if expansion is warranted, here's a thought (remember the BE had 16 teams for many years):

BE EAST Conference (8)
Villanova
Providence
Seton Hall
Georgetown
St Johns
Xavier
Marquette
??

BE WEST Conference (8)
Butler
Creighton
DePaul
Gonzaga
St Marys
Dayton
BYU
St Louis

Keeps the league in private faithbased hands. If Publics deemed OK, just add VCU. I added the profile for BYU and UCONN in my table previous page.

UD Flyer Fanatic wrote:If the BE wants to make the appropriate headline statement when/if expansion is warranted, here's a thought (remember the BE had 16 teams for many years):

BE EAST Conference (8)
Villanova
Providence
Seton Hall
Georgetown
St Johns
Xavier
Marquette
??

BE WEST Conference (8)
Butler
Creighton
DePaul
Gonzaga
St Marys
Dayton
BYU
St Louis

Keeps the league in private faithbased hands. If Publics deemed OK, just add VCU. I added the profile for BYU and UCONN in my table previous page.

St Mary's doesn't work. Too small a fan base. Move Marquette to the West and Butler to the East, and stop at 14.

The Big East/West Conference? I like it.

BE EAST Conference (7)
Villanova
Providence
Seton Hall
Georgetown
St Johns
Xavier
Butler

BE WEST Conference (7)
Marquette
Creighton
DePaul
Gonzaga
Dayton
BYU
St Louis

OK Bill. Well I guess we can offically close this 2016 expansion thread. Our work here is done

UD Flyer Fanatic wrote:BE EAST Conference (7)
Villanova
Providence
Seton Hall
Georgetown
St Johns
Xavier
Butler

BE WEST Conference (7)
Marquette
Creighton
DePaul
Gonzaga
Dayton
BYU
St Louis

OK Bill. Well I guess we can offically close this 2016 expansion thread. Our work here is done

Nothing against the state of Utah (if I ever move back to the states again, I'd like to try living in SLC), but BYU would have to be close to Duke-level program for the BE to ignore the logistics and expand that far out. No chance of this happening. BTW I'm a big fan of Dayton if and only if I know Miller is staying to build that program long term. With such assurance, I can probably get behind something like:

BE OLD

Nova
Providence
St. John's
Seton Hall
Georgetown
UCONN (it's not like I am dying to have them back, but it seems like UCONN continues to keep the BE as an option for their non-football programs according to documents.)

BE NEW

Depaul
Marquette
Xavier
Butler
Creighton
Dayton

Divisions are for football. There is no need to do divisions in basketball. The ACC, SEC, PAC-12, and B1G all do not follow divisions for basketball purposes. Heck, the old Big East didn't even use divisions. Why would the new Big East need to do that???

If the Big East were to expand, there would be no need to create a divisional breakdown for the increased membership. Keep it as is.

Bluejay wrote:I don't think that Gonzaga or St Mary's are actually viable candidates because of location, but if they are going to be included I think BYU should be included. An academically strong, fiscally sound, faith based institution checks most of the boxes. Plus, because BYU is unique in that since it is really the only D1 school affiliated with that particular religion, it automatically has a national and international following. I know in the past when Creighton has played BYU in Omaha, local mormons have turned out in droves to support BYU. While football will always be important to BYU, if they keep that program independent like it is right now, there would be a lot of value in that add...assuming one could work around the no Sundays rule.

Religious yes, but big city CATHOLIC schools and rural MORMON aren't exactly apples to apples. The Big East schools while Catholic have mostly diverse student bodies. I doubt the large BE schools like SJU, DePaul and GTown would want to be associated with BYU and it's church officials. I know the Priests involved wouldn't want to rub elbows with the mormon church officials.

UD Flyer Fanatic wrote:BE EAST Conference (7)
Villanova
Providence
Seton Hall
Georgetown
St Johns
Xavier
Butler

BE WEST Conference (7)
Marquette
Creighton
DePaul
Gonzaga
Dayton
BYU
St Louis

OK Bill. Well I guess we can offically close this 2016 expansion thread. Our work here is done

This isn't football. No one does divisions in basketball not even the 16 team Big East. Divisions are a no go, why do people still bring them up when only the OVC still uses them?