Conference Realignment: What Next?

[Jet915]

I’m in favor of the Zags going Indy in men’s basketball and having a scheduling arrangement with the Big East. Just like Notre Dame does with the ACC in football. All the rest of their sports stay in the WCC. So we all would play the Zags once every year and rotate home and away.

Im not sure what benefit a scheduling agreement is for Gonzaga. They can pretty much schedule whoever they want for non-conference. Being in the Big East gives the school long term security in the only major basketball only conference while they provide us a marquee name that can increase our television rights.

[GoldenWarrior11]

PSA (again): the NCAA requires that the conference you play basketball in is where you house all of your sports, unless of course that conference does not sponsor a particular sport. For example, how are Kentucky and South Carolina able to play men’s soccer in C-USA? Well, the SEC does not sponsor men’s soccer; thus schools that participate in men’s soccer are free to be affiliates in other conferences. Similarly, only Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia sponsor wrestling in the Big 12. Air Force, Missouri, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming are all affiliates in the Big 12 for wrestling, because their default conferences do not sponsor wrestling.

There are many reasons why it wouldn’t work, the above among them. However, let’s ignore the above - and Gonzaga is permitted to be a men’s basketball-only member in the Big East. Does anyone really think that our East Coast schools would be in favor of 7pm PT start times (10pm ET) when in Spokane? Or how about 7pm start times ET for Gonzaga, which would be 4pm PT. It’s the geography, it’s the time change, it’s the logistics, it’s the reality.

Or what about this - what conference would willingly house Gonzaga Olympic sports (minus basketball) and allow their money maker to freely play in the Big East? What value, if any, does that provide to the WCC, the MWC, the Big Sky, etc.?

Look, last year, Gonzaga (as #1) played Kansas (#6), West Virginia (#11), Iowa (#3), Auburn and Virginia (#16) in non-con, and had scheduled Baylor (#2) as well. They had the number two overall non-con SOS in the country, and 11th overall SOS including conference play. BYU isn’t radically changing that. Gonzaga, if it wanted, could easily slide into the MWC and not miss a beat. Between SDSU, Utah State, Nevada, UNLV and New Mexico, without Gonzaga, it is a 2-3 bid league. With Gonzaga, it would jump to 3-4 per year. Ultimately, that is probably where Gonzaga ends up.

Too many are thinking like fans here, and aren’t thinking like university presidents or athletic directors. If there was any way Gonzaga could be in the Big East, it would have happened already.

[Django]

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#1405
7 hours ago
What we need to do is get our OOC schedule on point. We're gonna have to go the Gonzaga route. Hopefully we've built up enough reputation to keep scheduling many top 40 programs. And while we're at it, let's start scheduling Big Pee teams (Creighton?). They need to feel us out in their barns. Then if it ever comes time to talk, many of the AD's will have personal experience with our program. Let's do home/homes with the bottom 4-5 teams in the Pee and smash them every time we play. That will get the message across.

The Wichitard dumpster fire is a fun read these days.

[GampelCrazies]

PSA (again): the NCAA requires that the conference you play basketball in is where you house all of your sports, unless of course that conference does not sponsor a particular sport. For example, how are Kentucky and South Carolina able to play men’s soccer in C-USA? Well, the SEC does not sponsor men’s soccer; thus schools that participate in men’s soccer are free to be affiliates in other conferences. Similarly, only Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia sponsor wrestling in the Big 12. Air Force, Missouri, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming are all affiliates in the Big 12 for wrestling, because their default conferences do not sponsor wrestling.

There are many reasons why it wouldn’t work, the above among them. However, let’s ignore the above - and Gonzaga is permitted to be a men’s basketball-only member in the Big East. Does anyone really think that our East Coast schools would be in favor of 7pm PT start times (10pm ET) when in Spokane? Or how about 7pm start times ET for Gonzaga, which would be 4pm PT. It’s the geography, it’s the time change, it’s the logistics, it’s the reality.

Or what about this - what conference would willingly house Gonzaga Olympic sports (minus basketball) and allow their money maker to freely play in the Big East? What value, if any, does that provide to the WCC, the MWC, the Big Sky, etc.?

Look, last year, Gonzaga (as #1) played Kansas (#6), West Virginia (#11), Iowa (#3), Auburn and Virginia (#16) in non-con, and had scheduled Baylor (#2) as well. They had the number two overall non-con SOS in the country, and 11th overall SOS including conference play. BYU isn’t radically changing that. Gonzaga, if it wanted, could easily slide into the MWC and not miss a beat. Between SDSU, Utah State, Nevada, UNLV and New Mexico, without Gonzaga, it is a 2-3 bid league. With Gonzaga, it would jump to 3-4 per year. Ultimately, that is probably where Gonzaga ends up.

Too many are thinking like fans here, and aren’t thinking like university presidents or athletic directors. If there was any way Gonzaga could be in the Big East, it would have happened already.

My problem Gonzaga is what are they after Few is gone? Is it worth all the travel/time obstacles for the remaining years they have him?

Also does Gonzaga really want to be going cross country that many times a year? At least for the rest of the conference they would only have to do it once a year.

[adoraz]

PSA (again): the NCAA requires that the conference you play basketball in is where you house all of your sports, unless of course that conference does not sponsor a particular sport. For example, how are Kentucky and South Carolina able to play men’s soccer in C-USA? Well, the SEC does not sponsor men’s soccer; thus schools that participate in men’s soccer are free to be affiliates in other conferences. Similarly, only Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia sponsor wrestling in the Big 12. Air Force, Missouri, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming are all affiliates in the Big 12 for wrestling, because their default conferences do not sponsor wrestling.

There are many reasons why it wouldn’t work, the above among them. However, let’s ignore the above - and Gonzaga is permitted to be a men’s basketball-only member in the Big East. Does anyone really think that our East Coast schools would be in favor of 7pm PT start times (10pm ET) when in Spokane? Or how about 7pm start times ET for Gonzaga, which would be 4pm PT. It’s the geography, it’s the time change, it’s the logistics, it’s the reality.

Or what about this - what conference would willingly house Gonzaga Olympic sports (minus basketball) and allow their money maker to freely play in the Big East? What value, if any, does that provide to the WCC, the MWC, the Big Sky, etc.?

Look, last year, Gonzaga (as #1) played Kansas (#6), West Virginia (#11), Iowa (#3), Auburn and Virginia (#16) in non-con, and had scheduled Baylor (#2) as well. They had the number two overall non-con SOS in the country, and 11th overall SOS including conference play. BYU isn’t radically changing that. Gonzaga, if it wanted, could easily slide into the MWC and not miss a beat. Between SDSU, Utah State, Nevada, UNLV and New Mexico, without Gonzaga, it is a 2-3 bid league. With Gonzaga, it would jump to 3-4 per year. Ultimately, that is probably where Gonzaga ends up.

Too many are thinking like fans here, and aren’t thinking like university presidents or athletic directors. If there was any way Gonzaga could be in the Big East, it would have happened already.

Lol no need for that, I'm not thinking like a fan. It's pretty simple, I'm thinking in terms of $$$. That's what this is all about. I can see a scenario where it benefits BOTH Gonzaga and the Big East. Am I 100% confident in that? Of course not. But I do believe it's a possibility now. Nobody here has access to the numbers that the schools and the networks do, so it's impossible to say for sure. I don't get why you're painting this as a black and white issue and being totally dismissive of it even being a possibility.

As for "it would have happened already"... again, different scenario now than before. Gonzaga just lost their biggest conference rival. They are also a better brand than they were during the 2013 realignment. Much better. 6/11 of their Sweet 16s have come after realignment. 4/5 if their Elite 8s have come after realignment. Both of their Final Fours have come after realignment. The Big East has been underwhelming with the BIG exception of Villanova. We're likely to open this season with Villanova being the only ranked team. Lots of BE teams have had solid seasons here and there, but nobody else has been a stable Top 25 team like Nova. Gonzaga could provide a significant boost and stability for our next contract, and IF the numbers work then I could definitely see them being added. It would be nice to not have to sweat out a 4th bid, something that has happened twice now in three seasons.

[MullinMayhem]

Right...this is only about $$$ and FOX can make it happen if they want it badly enough.

[ArmyVet]

Right...this is only about $$$ and FOX can make it happen if they want it badly enough.

I have moved into this thought camp. For a few million bucks a year, FOX could have double headers with Nova and Gonzaga playing back to back on the coasts for example. That would be fantastic TV. Plus don't dismiss the ratings that UConn women could get if highlighted more often too.

[Jet915]

Just for fun new US News Rankings came out (out of 391):

#23 Georgetown
#49 Villanova
#63 UConn
#83 Marquette
#103 Creighton
#127 Depaul
#127 Seton Hall
#172 St. John's

Xavier (#5 regional midwest), Butler (#1 regional midwest) and Providence (#1 regional north) are not in national category.

Expansion schools:

#79 Gonzaga
#103 St. Louis
#127 Dayton
#172 VCU
#299 Wichita State

[Django]

Just for fun new US News Rankings came out (out of 391):

#23 Georgetown
#49 Villanova
#63 UConn
#83 Marquette
#103 Creighton
#127 Depaul
#127 Seton Hall
#172 St. John's

Xavier (#5 regional midwest), Butler (#1 regional midwest) and Providence (#1 regional north) are not in national category.

Expansion schools:

#79 Gonzaga
#103 St. Louis
#127 Dayton
#172 VCU
#299 Wichita State

[MullinMayhem]

At SJ we have competitive grad programs but our ranking will always suffer academically due to our mission of bringing in a bunch of 1st generation college students. Good mission, but will always hurt the rankings being fairly unselective for undergrad.