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For several years, I posted occasionally that letting UConn back in the BEAST was unlikely, and would be a big mistake if we ever to do it, and I still have a concern about "institutional fit" here.

Only time will tell if re-admitting UConn is a bad move for our other sports programs, academic reputations, shared "values" orientation, ability to govern without govt. interference, and other "fit" factors, but it sure looks like a winning move for men's basketball -- both on the court and in a bump to our presence in the Northeastern US market. For example, UConn vs. XU (second meeting all time last night, with neither program really caring about the other until now) now looks like a pair of sellouts next year!

I suppose we can all now start debating whether adding a 12th school, presumably one more geographically aligned with our midwestern members, is eventually gonna happen. If so, entering the St. Louis market is probably the best approach for expansion, even if it means we have to suffer with a weak SLU basketball program until they catch up. I do agree that there is absolutely no need to expand, unless/until the media outlets push us to that.

xusandy wrote:For several years, I posted occasionally that letting UConn back in the BEAST was unlikely, and would be a big mistake if we ever to do it, and I still have a concern about "institutional fit" here.

Only time will tell if re-admitting UConn is a bad move for our other sports programs, academic reputations, shared "values" orientation, ability to govern without govt. interference, and other "fit" factors, but it sure looks like a winning move for men's basketball -- both on the court and in a bump to our presence in the Northeastern US market. For example, UConn vs. XU (second meeting all time last night, with neither program really caring about the other until now) now looks like a pair of sellouts next year!

I suppose we can all now start debating whether adding a 12th school, presumably one more geographically aligned with our midwestern members, is eventually gonna happen. If so, entering the St. Louis market is probably the best approach for expansion, even if it means we have to suffer with a weak SLU basketball program until they catch up. I do agree that there is absolutely no need to expand, unless/until the media outlets push us to that.

Sandy, bringing UCONN into the BE should never be viewed as a big mistake.

UCONN in the BE is a strategic no brainer.

And you’re right: we’re most likely locked at 11 teams for a long while.

The next move will IMO also be about burnishing the league’s national profile, as I think this one was.

It’ll be Gonzaga. Their AD is on record as saying the holdup is due to the BE not wanting to adopt a team that far out, and they’d go in a second.

There will be some sort of impetus to add them at some point, and those keeping them out will bend.

Last night was such a fun game - one of many that I have seen over the years that screamed "BIG EAST BASKETBALL". Fact of the matter is that UConn has always been a Big East school. Their tenure in the AAC was unsustainable (as I have been on record numerous times over the years, much to the disagreement of other certain specific posters), and it was only a matter of time until they returned home. Their addition adds not just another institutional fit to our collective (basketball first, strong NE-presence), but it adds an elite-level team that will only strengthen our top - perception-wise and competitively. Once Hurley gets an entire team of his players, under the Big East banner, they will be a force nationally annually.

Regarding expansion, I made this point on the other board, but - other than UConn - there has only been one school that has/had been scheduled multiple times for home/home series with any of our teams (not including Gavitt Games/B12 Challenge/Rivalry games). That team averaged 10k fans when a Big East team played there, and is continuing to put the resources necessary to being a Big East-style men's basketball program. That program is Saint Louis. SLU is not going to be added now, this year, or in the intermittent future, but SLU definitely looks like it is the "on-deck" school if/when Fox pushes for more content. The other interesting aspect to keep an eye on is the round-robin format under a 20-game schedule. While I have disagreed many times with Stever over the years, his data and opinions regarding bids/seeding with the 11 team/20 conference games/round robin set up are sound. In theory, in order to maximize the number of bids with seeds (we have not had any issue getting bids), twelve teams appears to be the way to go.

Butler, Creighton and Xavier are now viewed as legitimate and consistent Big East programs year-to-year. They have been assimilated and embraced wonderfully. UConn, which has always been viewed as a Big East program, will quickly get back to being viewed a Big East program. If/when the time comes, another program will need to take that same challenge to further the Big East brand.

xusandy wrote:For several years, I posted occasionally that letting UConn back in the BEAST was unlikely, and would be a big mistake if we ever to do it, and I still have a concern about "institutional fit" here.

Only time will tell if re-admitting UConn is a bad move for our other sports programs, academic reputations, shared "values" orientation, ability to govern without govt. interference, and other "fit" factors, but it sure looks like a winning move for men's basketball -- both on the court and in a bump to our presence in the Northeastern US market. For example, UConn vs. XU (second meeting all time last night, with neither program really caring about the other until now) now looks like a pair of sellouts next year!

I suppose we can all now start debating whether adding a 12th school, presumably one more geographically aligned with our midwestern members, is eventually gonna happen. If so, entering the St. Louis market is probably the best approach for expansion, even if it means we have to suffer with a weak SLU basketball program until they catch up. I do agree that there is absolutely no need to expand, unless/until the media outlets push us to that.

The Fighting Irish...

marquettewarrior wrote:While I have disagreed many times with Stever over the years, his data and opinions regarding bids/seeding with the 11 team/20 conference games/round robin set up are sound. In theory, in order to maximize the number of bids with seeds (we have not had any issue getting bids), twelve teams appears to be the way to go.

JP Schmack had good inputs regarding bids/seeding as well.

Who is the X fan Fran Fraschilla just roasted?

https://twitter.com/franfraschilla/stat ... 2808547329

Soooooooooooooooooooo glad you came to your senses.

handdownmandown wrote:The next move will IMO also be about burnishing the league’s national profile, as I think this one was.

It’ll be Gonzaga. Their AD is on record as saying the holdup is due to the BE not wanting to adopt a team that far out, and they’d go in a second.

There will be some sort of impetus to add them at some point, and those keeping them out will bend.

Repeating myself, but Gonzaga individually and the Big East at the conference level should sign a four-games-a-year (2H/2A) scheduling agreement through 2025 where the Zags are used to offset the one team annually that won't be in the Big 12 challenge and the three teams annually who won't be in the Gavitt Games.

That’s an interesting idea but I have a few questions on how it would work. Maybe these arnt an issue since I don’t know how the schedules are worked by the conferences.

1. What if the same team is left out of both b12 and b10 games? Would they then play twice? Would another team have room on schedule with 20 game season?
2. Does it mutually benefit both sides? It doesn’t help the bottom of the barrel teams get smacked by Gonzaga 4 time zones away as much as it doesn’t really help Gonzaga as they’ve been successful in scheduling blue bloods lately. It would seem to only favor about the top 4-6 teams giving how strong the conference is that specific year

Bogg wrote:

handdownmandown wrote:The next move will IMO also be about burnishing the league’s national profile, as I think this one was.

It’ll be Gonzaga. Their AD is on record as saying the holdup is due to the BE not wanting to adopt a team that far out, and they’d go in a second.

There will be some sort of impetus to add them at some point, and those keeping them out will bend.

Repeating myself, but Gonzaga individually and the Big East at the conference level should sign a four-games-a-year (2H/2A) scheduling agreement through 2025 where the Zags are used to offset the one team annually that won't be in the Big 12 challenge and the three teams annually who won't be in the Gavitt Games.

Not a bad idea. Much better than actually adding the Zags to the league. There are just too many drawbacks to adding a team so far away. You're making the assumption that Gonzaga will remain the power they are now. DePaul, Georgetown, and St. John's say hello. Anyone can fall off, but at least those schools fit the footprint, and history nicely. Georgetown hasn't been awful, just okay. Do you want to travel out to Spokane for "just okay"? Imagine making that trip out there to play the equivalent to DePaul (until this year anyway). 30 years ago there was this monster program called UNLV. Not so scary anymore. The point is, only a handful of the bluest of blue bloods have such strong advantages, that they basically can't fall. Hell, even mighty Indiana isn't the powerhouse it used to be. I would hate to see Gonzaga fall off after Few, and us be stuck with them. No to Gonzaga!