Revisionist History - What if Big East had added more teams

[herodotus]

I come in peace, The Big East is a terrific conference and a perfect landing spot for Dayton. I had posted in July that this season and the future for UD is very promising. This years team is very strong and the recruiting for next year will keep the ball rolling for years to come. Our arena after it’s 80 mill redo is simply terrific and we just announced our 11 sellout of the year. Our attendance would rank us 3rd and the endowment is larger than 6 of the member schools. We have played in more NCAA games the last 10 years then 6 of the member schools. The profile of the school and the travel also are a good fit. We travel better than any school in the BIg East, we are already invited back to Maui in 4 years because of the enormous turnout ESPN saw this year and last year in the Bahamas. We also would be in full force at MSG for the tourney. A huge portion of our alumni base resides in NJ/NY and Conn so our games with Seton Hall/St John and UConn would draw a large Dayton crowd. Last year we brought over 1000 to the Fordham game in the Bronx. The natural rivalries with Butler and our good friends at Xavier would receive National attention and be good for the conference. Some worry about recruiting and going after the same kids... the big boys do that very day and we have only 3 kids from Ohio on this years team not including walk ons. You will hear a lot about us this year And next if you haven’t already and would be a great new member for The conference and TV. So leave your guns at the door and turn a game on this year from Dayton arena, you will be impressed and also watch Obi Toppin candidate for Player of the year. The good news we will be better the next 2 years on a National level. Dayton would mean more money and success for each member....Perfect Fit.

Joining the Big East is about a lot more than a relatively brief period of success on the court. It took Butler 25 years of building on an ok history to even be considered - and that took multiple seismic events to make that happen. If this was 2009, Dayton would be looking good. They’re 10 years too late to the realignment party.

They were the epitome of mid major in 2009. They were about to make their fourth NCAA in 20yrs. Hadn't yet won a tournament game since the 80s. Back then Dayton fans the most inflated view of their program of any school. At least now they've had a more consistent solid run to be proud of.

I can understand why they'd want to join though. Marquette had fallen to mid major status after Al retired. Joining the BE restored them to the big boy table. I remember Big East fans being annoyed when Pitt lost to the Wade team in the NCAA's. How could Pitt lose to a mid major; they said. No one knew then what Wade would become, but the timing was perfect for Marquette, as the BE would soon need some additions, and I'm not sure that the 90s version of Marquette would have gotten an invite.

[MUBoxer]

I can understand why they'd want to join though. Marquette had fallen to mid major status after Al retired. Joining the BE restored them to the big boy table. I remember Big East fans being annoyed when Pitt lost to the Wade team in the NCAA's. How could Pitt lose to a mid major; they said. No one knew then what Wade would become, but the timing was perfect for Marquette, as the BE would soon need some additions, and I'm not sure that the 90s version of Marquette would have gotten an invite.

Of course they'd want to join. But between Al and The BE we had a decent 11 NCAA appearances and 11 NITs. Great? Nope but still better than Dayton's 5 and 9

As far as the BE being what restored us I respectfully disagree it was CUSA which while not the Big East was certainly a great conference. In 2003 if they didn't know what Wade would become then that's Howland's fault, all time top 5 shooting guard? Nope but sure fire draft pick to lead us to another tournament and be a star doing it? Absolutely people knew that after 2002.

The 90s version probably doesn't get an invite but they had 4 NCAA appearances, including a sweet 16, 3 NITs, 4 NBA draft picks and were ranked in 5 of the years. People want SLU to be considered currently with less of a resume than that in almost 20yrs so I'd say we at least get a look. Plus I mean that's also better than the Big East's former Boston College was in the 90s and back in 05 y'all were heartbroken about losing them.

[herodotus]

I can understand why they'd want to join though. Marquette had fallen to mid major status after Al retired. Joining the BE restored them to the big boy table. I remember Big East fans being annoyed when Pitt lost to the Wade team in the NCAA's. How could Pitt lose to a mid major; they said. No one knew then what Wade would become, but the timing was perfect for Marquette, as the BE would soon need some additions, and I'm not sure that the 90s version of Marquette would have gotten an invite.

Of course they'd want to join. But between Al and The BE we had a decent 11 NCAA appearances and 11 NITs. Great? Nope but still better than Dayton's 5 and 9

As far as the BE being what restored us I respectfully disagree it was CUSA which while not the Big East was certainly a great conference. In 2003 if they didn't know what Wade would become then that's Howland's fault, all time top 5 shooting guard? Nope but sure fire draft pick to lead us to another tournament and be a star doing it? Absolutely people knew that after 2002.

The 90s version probably doesn't get an invite but they had 4 NCAA appearances, including a sweet 16, 3 NITs, 4 NBA draft picks and were ranked in 5 of the years. People want SLU to be considered currently with less of a resume than that in almost 20yrs so I'd say we at least get a look. Plus I mean that's also better than the Big East's former Boston College was in the 90s and back in 05 y'all were heartbroken about losing them.

LOL! No one was heartbroken about BC leaving, they added little. People were indeed concerned about the departures leading to the league falling apart, which eventually happened. Look, everyone is happy about the way things have worked out, as we could easily have fallen into mid major hell, but there is no point in lying, the teams that were struggling may feel differently, but I would bet most Villanova, and Georgetown fans would have preferred to keep the previous configuration. The old BE was simply a force of nature. Something almost too good to be believed. I miss it terribly! As for Marquette's timing, hey, sometimes you're lucky. They couldn't have picked a better time to pop back into the mix. Timing is everything. It's hard to imagine the BE without Georgetown, but had the BE been formed even 8 years earlier, Georgetown would have NEVER gotten an invitation, and it's hard to imagine that Syracuse would have gotten in over St. Bonaventure. In fact, a BE formed in 1970 would likely have been an all Catholic affair. Teams like St. Bonaventure, and especially Duquesne, couldn't have picked a worse time to fall off from their historic level than the late 70s. On the other hand, Louisville, a long time hoops power, but historically a lightweight in football, picked the perfect time to start making some noise in the sport. Of course this was a break for us, as UConn is probably in the ACC had this not happened. Sorry for rambling, but I love some sports history!! Had Al Maguire not retired early, we might have seen a midwest league that gave the BE a run for it's money in the 80s.

[MUBoxer]

I can understand why they'd want to join though. Marquette had fallen to mid major status after Al retired. Joining the BE restored them to the big boy table. I remember Big East fans being annoyed when Pitt lost to the Wade team in the NCAA's. How could Pitt lose to a mid major; they said. No one knew then what Wade would become, but the timing was perfect for Marquette, as the BE would soon need some additions, and I'm not sure that the 90s version of Marquette would have gotten an invite.

Of course they'd want to join. But between Al and The BE we had a decent 11 NCAA appearances and 11 NITs. Great? Nope but still better than Dayton's 5 and 9

As far as the BE being what restored us I respectfully disagree it was CUSA which while not the Big East was certainly a great conference. In 2003 if they didn't know what Wade would become then that's Howland's fault, all time top 5 shooting guard? Nope but sure fire draft pick to lead us to another tournament and be a star doing it? Absolutely people knew that after 2002.

The 90s version probably doesn't get an invite but they had 4 NCAA appearances, including a sweet 16, 3 NITs, 4 NBA draft picks and were ranked in 5 of the years. People want SLU to be considered currently with less of a resume than that in almost 20yrs so I'd say we at least get a look. Plus I mean that's also better than the Big East's former Boston College was in the 90s and back in 05 y'all were heartbroken about losing them.

LOL! No one was heartbroken about BC leaving, they added little. People were indeed concerned about the departures leading to the league falling apart, which eventually happened. Look, everyone is happy about the way things have worked out, as we could easily have fallen into mid major hell, but there is no point in lying, the teams that were struggling may feel differently, but I would bet most Villanova, and Georgetown fans would have preferred to keep the previous configuration. The old BE was simply a force of nature. Something almost too good to be believed. I miss it terribly! As for Marquette's timing, hey, sometimes you're lucky. They couldn't have picked a better time to pop back into the mix. Timing is everything. It's hard to imagine the BE without Georgetown, but had the BE been formed even 8 years earlier, Georgetown would have NEVER gotten an invitation, and it's hard to imagine that Syracuse would have gotten in over St. Bonaventure. In fact, a BE formed in 1970 would likely have been an all Catholic affair. Teams like St. Bonaventure, and especially Duquesne, couldn't have picked a worse time to fall off from their historic level than the late 70s. On the other hand, Louisville, a long time hoops power, but historically a lightweight in football, picked the perfect time to start making some noise in the sport. Of course this was a break for us, as UConn is probably in the ACC had this not happened. Sorry for rambling, but I love some sports history!! Had Al Maguire not retired early, we might have seen a midwest league that gave the BE a run for it's money in the 80s.

This is unreadable you should try breaking things into paragraphs. But what is your overall point? Because this post and the one prior have nothing to do with what I posted.

As far as BC leaving I can only go off of what people on here write, the old ESPN pregame chats and that stupid requiem for a Big East doc. And every one of those have had people express that they preferred the pre 05 version for some odd reason.

[Bogg]

I agree 100% with poster above. As much as I’d like to see the BE expand and a school like Dayton would be a good fit, it just doesn’t make sense. Sticking at 11 and round robin should work. Now we’ll see what happens over the next few years but BE has no reason to expand before the curren contract is up

This is almost certainly the correct take. The next potential period of instability is right around that 2025 window, and it gives the Big East a few seasons to gauge the 20-game round robin, the new NCAA metrics, and how player compensation stuff shakes out. That 23/24 window will be when you start figuring out what's going to happen with the Big 12 and AAC, as well as what the next media deal might look like and how potential media partners would feel about different additions and volume numbers.

If in the lead-up to the next media deal it makes sense to expand, that's where you'd start looking at schools like Dayton or St Louis, or seeing if any Big12/AAC instability shakes loose a school that gets a football-only invite somewhere. Now probably isn't the right time.

[ChestRockwell85]

I love you all but I want to scream at some of you. JESUS F'ING CHRIST. ENOUGH OF THESE THREADS! You are in the Big East now, put on your F'ing Big Boy pants and act like it. Stop recommending shitty MID-MAJOR crap teams. And some of you making the recommendations are fans of Old School BE Teams! COME ON!!!!! The 3 teams we added fit and that is that. UConn coming back is cream cheese. Gonzaga, if they were closer, perfect. All these other teams can take a hike.

What if uhhhhhh we added Dayton, and St. Bonaventure, and Canisius and Siena and Iona and Tokyo Clown College. I don't even know if VCU had a team before 1980 and besides 2011 they NEVER made it past the 2nd weekend. ENOUGH. ENOUGH. ENOUGH.

The train has left the station. Big East stays at 11. Thanks for coming out!

[MUBoxer]

I love you all but I want to scream at some of you. JESUS F'ING CHRIST. ENOUGH OF THESE THREADS! You are in the Big East now, put on your F'ing Big Boy pants and act like it. Stop recommending shitty MID-MAJOR crap teams. And some of you making the recommendations are fans of Old School BE Teams! COME ON!!!!! The 3 teams we added fit and that is that. UConn coming back is cream cheese. Gonzaga, if they were closer, perfect. All these other teams can take a hike.

What if uhhhhhh we added Dayton, and St. Bonaventure, and Canisius and Siena and Iona and Tokyo Clown College. I don't even know if VCU had a team before 1980 and besides 2011 they NEVER made it past the 2nd weekend. ENOUGH. ENOUGH. ENOUGH.

The train has left the station. Big East stays at 11.

Tokyo clown college has some sick jerseys though

[thunderbird]

[scoscox]

I love you all but I want to scream at some of you. JESUS F'ING CHRIST. ENOUGH OF THESE THREADS! You are in the Big East now, put on your F'ing Big Boy pants and act like it. Stop recommending shitty MID-MAJOR crap teams. And some of you making the recommendations are fans of Old School BE Teams! COME ON!!!!! The 3 teams we added fit and that is that. UConn coming back is cream cheese. Gonzaga, if they were closer, perfect. All these other teams can take a hike.

What if uhhhhhh we added Dayton, and St. Bonaventure, and Canisius and Siena and Iona and Tokyo Clown College. I don't even know if VCU had a team before 1980 and besides 2011 they NEVER made it past the 2nd weekend. ENOUGH. ENOUGH. ENOUGH.

The train has left the station. Big East stays at 11. Thanks for coming out!

preach

[Xudash]

I love you all but I want to scream at some of you. JESUS F'ING CHRIST. ENOUGH OF THESE THREADS! You are in the Big East now, put on your F'ing Big Boy pants and act like it. Stop recommending shitty MID-MAJOR crap teams. And some of you making the recommendations are fans of Old School BE Teams! COME ON!!!!! The 3 teams we added fit and that is that. UConn coming back is cream cheese. Gonzaga, if they were closer, perfect. All these other teams can take a hike.

What if uhhhhhh we added Dayton, and St. Bonaventure, and Canisius and Siena and Iona and Tokyo Clown College. I don't even know if VCU had a team before 1980 and besides 2011 they NEVER made it past the 2nd weekend. ENOUGH. ENOUGH. ENOUGH.

The train has left the station. Big East stays at 11. Thanks for coming out!

This.

We virtually could not be set up any better for moving forward with UCONN joining us.

Besides, you would have to pick one between Tokyo and Dayton. We can’t have clown college redundancies.