Big East Conference Realignment v2018

[handdownmandown]

...and yet, that'd be cool with a vocal minority of CU fans.

That we are in a league with nine other teams trying to do the same as they're expecting us to accomplish isn't recognized.

[JPSchmack]

At Larges. Gonzaga, Wichita State and Rhode Island won the WCC, MVC, A-10 autos last year. Saint Mary’s (1), VCU (2) and Dayton (3) got at-larges

No mention of the top mid-majors joining BCS conferences because five brackets ago was the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Only Wichita State has moved up (and they didn’t have an at-large in 2014).

You paid attention, I stand corrected. So what's your stance on the Bonnies' placement in the bracket now? Are they better off being in Seton Hall's position?

I’m GLAD we’re an 11 and not an 8, because of that second round game… but my program hasn’t been in the Round of 32 since 1978 (When that was the first round). And I’m kinda stoked we’re already at 2 NCAA units (especially with the A-10 split being 75% keep, 25% share).

But that’s not the same thing as my viewpoint on the Committee’s turn for the worse since dismissing Greg Shaheen. In ONE tournament, you’d rather be an 11 than an 8. But when your team IS a 6-Seed Team and they give you a First Four game, in the third or fourth consecutive year of disrespecting your conference, it’s more about “Is it even possible to GET a four-seed ever again, if this is how they view everyone outside the BCS?”

I mean, we’re talking about a conference that averages 3+ bids, and they’re treating us like we’re Murray State.

How often do the Bonnies play in Buffalo?
And how many of those are A-10 games?
For this year and in past years?

Buffalo: We play there every year OOC. We have Canisius, Niagara and Buffalo on the schedule every year; some year’s it’s 2 of them in Buffalo, 1 of them at home. A while back, the four of us did a four-team doubleheader at the NHL arena. But we don’t play neutral A-10 games in Buffalo because we’re usually visiting once or twice in November/December.

Rochester: We basically play a game there every year when our students are on break. It’s been 13 games in 17 seasons, mostly OOC: St. John’s, Syracuse, NC State, Charlotte, Va Tech. But we’ve played a couple conference games recently: St. Joe’s in 2016, George Mason in 2015. (This year was Vermont, OOC.

The major places our alumni live are Buffalo, Rochester (and of course, NYC). Buffalo and Rochester are similar sized markets, Rochester has no D-I team. So it’s important to us to play there.

Playing in Rochester and Buffalo are a big part of our athletics fundraising, branding/image/marketing for the school.

So, if you’re saying “Hypothetically, would you play one January holiday break Big East game and one Spring Break Big East Game in Buffalo and Rochester?” I’d say that would be a great strategy to turn those two markets into Big East territory. The Rochester news would definitely be running “Bona is in the Big East and playing Georgetown/Nova while Syracuse is playing in South Carolina; SU never should have left the BE” stories every year.


I’m headed to Dallas, so best of luck to you fellow Catholic hoops junkies the next couple days, specifically Butler. My wildest (basketball) fantasy would be Bona wins over Butler and Nova in Boston, and Val flirts heavily with us in San Antonio.

[JPSchmack]

My stance has always been along the lines of: St. John's beat Duke and Nova, they could be deserving of a bid, but losing to 15 BE opponents makes it impossible. Some might call that "not deserving a bid" and I call it "limitations on your 7-8-9-10 programs due to conference configuration."

But sweet merciful crap, Marquette deserved a bid. All the stuff I talk about with “too many BE losses = off the bubble RPI” ? Marquette had none of those woes. They got hosed. Compare the resumes of TCU, K-State, Marquette and Oklahoma, and there’s no criteria you could use to put Marquette fourth.

[Edrick]

All-time the league averages 56% of its teams making the Tournament per year. Your thought process is, forgive me, silly.

[stever20]

My stance has always been along the lines of: St. John's beat Duke and Nova, they could be deserving of a bid, but losing to 15 BE opponents makes it impossible. Some might call that "not deserving a bid" and I call it "limitations on your 7-8-9-10 programs due to conference configuration."

But sweet merciful crap, Marquette deserved a bid. All the stuff I talk about with “too many BE losses = off the bubble RPI” ? Marquette had none of those woes. They got hosed. Compare the resumes of TCU, K-State, Marquette and Oklahoma, and there’s no criteria you could use to put Marquette fourth.

Marquette's OOC sabatoged their chances. They had 2 good OOC games, and lost both of them by 14 and 15 points. You go 9-9 in conference play(10-10 including the BET) and your OOC will determine everything. They had 2-3 losses that if they get 1 of those as wins- they're in tourney. Georgia, @ DePaul, and @ St John's.

Only 8-12 vs RPI top 100 teams. TCU was 11-10, K-St was 10-11, Oklahoma was 10-12. Oklahoma had 5 top 25 wins. Marquette had 0.

[GoldenWarrior11]

As a Marquette fan, I can unequivocally state with 100% belief that we did not deserve a bid this year. Yes, it hurts - but it is the reality. We had some bad losses this year, DePaul especially. If we beat DePaul, we are in, period. In a big home conference game against Butler, we got blown out. On National Marquette Day, we lost to Providence. To beat Providence on the road, we needed every single point of Markus Howard's 52 points just to beat the Friars in OT. We were/are an NIT team - and an average one at that.

We do not have any lock-down defenders. Our best, perception-wise, defender (Anim) gets into early foul trouble consistently. Other than the road game at Creighton, he has not been consistent on the offensive end. Our two best offensive players (Howard and Rowsey) are very poor defenders and are undersized. Our big man (Heldt) provides size, but is very slow and often gets caught over-helping and being out of position. Our best all-around player (Hauser) has slow shuffle speed and often gets beat on drives to the basket.

My complaint would be why can't Marquette be one of the top 68 teams in the country to qualify for the tournament, not that they were "hosed" from being included in the tournament.

[marquette]

As a Marquette fan, I can unequivocally state with 100% belief that we did not deserve a bid this year. Yes, it hurts - but it is the reality. We had some bad losses this year, DePaul especially. If we beat DePaul, we are in, period. In a big home conference game against Butler, we got blown out. On National Marquette Day, we lost to Providence. To beat Providence on the road, we needed every single point of Markus Howard's 52 points just to beat the Friars in OT. We were/are an NIT team - and an average one at that.

We do not have any lock-down defenders. Our best, perception-wise, defender (Anim) gets into early foul trouble consistently. Other than the road game at Creighton, he has not been consistent on the offensive end. Our two best offensive players (Howard and Rowsey) are very poor defenders and are undersized. Our big man (Heldt) provides size, but is very slow and often gets caught over-helping and being out of position. Our best all-around player (Hauser) has slow shuffle speed and often gets beat on drives to the basket.

My complaint would be why can't Marquette be one of the top 68 teams in the country to qualify for the tournament, not that they were "hosed" from being included in the tournament.

This pretty much sums up my view. This year was a crazy one on the bubble, and most years we probably would deserve a bid. This year we did not.

[kayako]

Overall and at any rate, if we truly had to expand for any reason, then:

1. Make it by one team to protect the round robin; and

2. Make it an impactful addition, consistent with Ackerman's statements.

I highly doubt that most dismiss my thoughts on expansion around here at this point. Perhaps you were thinking about JP's ideas.

F**k the round robin, it doesn't help us in the tournament. I'd rather see 11 teams, home or away, than 9 teams.

And this tournament is the last straw for me, bring Uconn if they're willing, no questions asked. We're losing so many close games (Nova included) I'm starting to think it isn't just bad luck.

[kayako]

My stance has always been along the lines of: St. John's beat Duke and Nova, they could be deserving of a bid, but losing to 15 BE opponents makes it impossible. Some might call that "not deserving a bid" and I call it "limitations on your 7-8-9-10 programs due to conference configuration."

But sweet merciful crap, Marquette deserved a bid. All the stuff I talk about with “too many BE losses = off the bubble RPI” ? Marquette had none of those woes. They got hosed. Compare the resumes of TCU, K-State, Marquette and Oklahoma, and there’s no criteria you could use to put Marquette fourth.

I have a feeling they kind of wing it after the cutoff line. I'm sure there's some thought to it, but not as rigorous as the main bracket. And as much as I wanted them to be in the tournament, Marquette's case was really weak. You barely see any Marquette fans complaining.

What do you think about A10's championship game being held on Sundays? It didn't matter to you guys, but I thought going from sunday to dayton to the tournament game would be rough for any team. Sucks that Adams went into a funk late season, I was rooting for the Bonnies.

[stever20]

Overall and at any rate, if we truly had to expand for any reason, then:

1. Make it by one team to protect the round robin; and

2. Make it an impactful addition, consistent with Ackerman's statements.

I highly doubt that most dismiss my thoughts on expansion around here at this point. Perhaps you were thinking about JP's ideas.

F**k the round robin, it doesn't help us in the tournament. I'd rather see 11 teams, home or away, than 9 teams.

And this tournament is the last straw for me, bring Uconn if they're willing, no questions asked. We're losing so many close games (Nova included) I'm starting to think it isn't just bad luck.

The reason why the round robin sucks is if you're getting 6 or 7 teams in the tourney, the records pretty much have to be close to what the Big East had this year. a lot of 10-8 or 9-9. If that happens, you're going to have a ton of poor seeds. Between Big East and Big 12- those 2 conferences had 7 teams finishing with 9 or 10 wins. The seeds those got- 6,9,8,8,10,10. 1 team NIT. Those 6 teams in the tourney are all but 1 done now- and went only 3-3 in 1st round and 0-2 so far in rd 2.

Meanwhile, look at the AAC standings. They had 4 teams finishing with 12 or more wins, with 2 more at 10-8 or 9-9. If that's the Big East- you still get 6 teams in, but instead of having 4 teams in the 7-10 range, you only have 2, but you have 2 teams in the 4-6 range(with a chance of even up to a 3 seed I think).