DanofXav76 wrote:ArmyVet wrote:Bill Marsh wrote:BTW, for all the reasons that UConn is increasingly unattractive to the P5, would the Big East really want them anyway?
This. I still don't understand why some Big East fans hold UCONN in such high regard and would be willing to cave on what they've accomplished without them.
Bill,
From all I read on line, the strong sentiment for bringing them back to the fold comes from the fan bases of the C7. I don't get that feel from X, Butler or Creighton fans at all. I'm greedy in that, like most here, absolutely love the ten we have and the true round robin schedule. Now if you'd like to revisit that other favorite thought of yours, adding Gonzaga, then I'm all ears.
We talk about this a lot on the PC board. I would say it's 50-50 who would take them back or not.
Personally, they can get effed, in my opinion.
From a practical standpoint it wouldn't be great for PC, IMHO. New England Prep schools are our prime recruiting targets, and we have a conference (and recent performance) advantage over UConn now.
If they were invited into the BE, and didn't have to drop football down a division or all together, I wouldn't be pleased. Football schools make decisions based on (and bring to any negotiating table) football considerations first and foremost. UConn would always be a bad fit in that sense.
I am not keen on Gonzaga. Travel is brutal. They would probably find it to be a tall order to fly east of the rockies for every away game, and in some cases all the way to the East Coast. That's grueling and expensive.
I think the urban thing is as important, if not more so than the private/Catholic school thing. All our teams reside in big cities (which was one of the identities of the original BE. So the first place I would look for potential candidates (one team would be enough - that way you still do the round robin, which is so crucial to conference morale, IMHO) in cities, already within or close to our footprint.
Nothing attractive in Pittsburgh (Duquesne? No thanks). Nothing attractive in Cleveland. Dayton makes sense, but I respect Xavier's objections. Detroit? Richmond? Davidson? VCU? St Bonaventure? Please don't say Wichita. Hard to find really attractive candidates.