Conference Realignment: What Next?

[Xudash]

I wonder if Syracuse , pitt and MD come crawling back . BC? Lol

MD probably is very happy with the money and stability that the B1G provides.

BC is the ultimate poster child for prioritizing money over proper alignment. BC is out to sea in all this.

The other 2 should come “home”, but won’t until dramatic change takes place.

[kayako]

Villanova is in full "boat race" mode in every regard with respect to the Big 5 (albeit PENN is its own unique academic beast). At the very least, Nova "owns" St. Joe's, LossSalle and Temple, yet it cannot possibly have any institutional desire to open the door for any one of those three to the BE, even if Philly is a big enough town to warrant two members.

When Temple was good, they would've been an afterthought in the BE. The current BE can probably use early John Chaney era Temple program, but I'm afraid they'll never get back to that level. I'm a big believer in synergy created by local relevant rivalries. Sometimes it's better to share than have the pie all to yourself. Local recruits aren't as important as it used to be.

what is strange about Temple is they actually had a good guy replacing the legend(which is so unusual). I think the next hire for Temple is going to be an absolute critical one for them.

Temple fans couldn’t wait to get rid of “one and dunph” as they fondly called him. American is not an easy conference to stand out in when your program is clearly behind several programs. Sometimes it’s easier to be the big fish. But Temple is a football school, much to Rothstein’s chagrin, so power to them.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Villanova is in full "boat race" mode in every regard with respect to the Big 5 (albeit PENN is its own unique academic beast). At the very least, Nova "owns" St. Joe's, LossSalle and Temple, yet it cannot possibly have any institutional desire to open the door for any one of those three to the BE, even if Philly is a big enough town to warrant two members.

When Temple was good, they would've been an afterthought in the BE. The current BE can probably use early John Chaney era Temple program, but I'm afraid they'll never get back to that level. I'm a big believer in synergy created by local relevant rivalries. Sometimes it's better to share than have the pie all to yourself. Local recruits aren't as important as it used to be.

Temple might be the best example of a BB program imploding b/c of football decisions and realignment. They are now where UConn was 3 years ago. Football not good enough to be attractive to bigger/better conferences; BB stuck with schools that have zero regional connection and are not committed to BB excellence; terrible media deal.

Tulane? East Carolina? Now look at who they are adding. In 2 years when the top schools land in the B12 it is going to be a horrible BB conference. I also haven't seen them on TV in forever. They are not recruiting well (big surprise) and their new coach is struggling and under a ton of scrutiny. I'm a fan of college hoops history and rivalries, but the Big 5 games have become yearly beat downs. I grew up on the Big 5; it WAS big. Now, it's become a sad, sad shell of what it used to be.

Lastly geographies should be respected IMO. No Dayton. No Loyola Chicago. No Fordham or St. Bonnies or St. Joe's or URI or GWU. We need new markets. St. Louis may be the only candidate that makes geographic sense but they are not a good enough program at this point. Just sit pat and wait to see what happens is the best strategy at this point.

[stever20]

Villanova is in full "boat race" mode in every regard with respect to the Big 5 (albeit PENN is its own unique academic beast). At the very least, Nova "owns" St. Joe's, LossSalle and Temple, yet it cannot possibly have any institutional desire to open the door for any one of those three to the BE, even if Philly is a big enough town to warrant two members.

When Temple was good, they would've been an afterthought in the BE. The current BE can probably use early John Chaney era Temple program, but I'm afraid they'll never get back to that level. I'm a big believer in synergy created by local relevant rivalries. Sometimes it's better to share than have the pie all to yourself. Local recruits aren't as important as it used to be.

Temple might be the best example of a BB program imploding b/c of football decisions and realignment. They are now where UConn was 3 years ago. Football not good enough to be attractive to bigger/better conferences; BB stuck with schools that have zero regional connection and are not committed to BB excellence; terrible media deal.

Tulane? East Carolina? Now look at who they are adding. In 2 years when the top schools land in the B12 it is going to be a horrible BB conference. I also haven't seen them on TV in forever. They are not recruiting well (big surprise) and their new coach is struggling and under a ton of scrutiny. I'm a fan of college hoops history and rivalries, but the Big 5 games have become yearly beat downs. I grew up on the Big 5; it WAS big. Now, it's become a sad, sad shell of what it used to be.

Lastly geographies should be respected IMO. No Dayton. No Loyola Chicago. No Fordham or St. Bonnies or St. Joe's or URI or GWU. We need new markets. St. Louis may be the only candidate that makes geographic sense but they are not a good enough program at this point. Just sit pat and wait to see what happens is the best strategy at this point.

I think Temple is honestly lower than where UConn was a few years ago. And they seemingly don't have a get out of jail free card to get rid of their coach the way UConn did.

I don't know that there is anything Temple could have done quite honestly. If they had remained in the A10, they would have been even more of a money disadvantage- the AAC does pay a lot more money than the A10 does(like 7 or 8 times as much).

[stever20]

some actual realignment news lower level- but posting since it'll impact Villanova football-
Monmouth joining the CAA. Also sounds like Stony Brook and Hampton will be joining as well for all sports for all 3 of them.

Bad break here for Iona- although maybe they can get 2 OOC games that would more than replace Monmouth SOS for them.

[MUBoxer]

Lastly geographies should be respected IMO. No Dayton. No Loyola Chicago. No Fordham or St. Bonnies or St. Joe's or URI or GWU. We need new markets. St. Louis may be the only candidate that makes geographic sense but they are not a good enough program at this point. Just sit pat and wait to see what happens is the best strategy at this point.

If we're waiting for new market programs to develop id say Detroit or Nashville would be more attractive than waiting on St Louis to develop. Id 100% do a road trip up to Detroit mercy or to Belmont. Instead of a trip down to the crumbling city of St Louis (side project brewery not included)

[kayako]

If they insist on expanding, I think the best bet would just be to pick the major city / media market you want to get into, invite the biggest private d1 school in it (with a commitment to increasing its basketball investment to an agreed upon level), and trust that the power of the Big East brand along with the increased investment will raise its profile.

Why limit yourself to private? This must be the assumption Dayton fans make and delude themselves into thinking they're the best natural fit for the BE.

You don't necessarily have to, but the league seems to care about being private as part of "institutional fit" and was only willing to make an exception for UConn. If a public school stood out as a clearly superior add then go for it, but I don't see one.

I hope Val and all the school presidents are prioritizing "basketball first" mantra, not necessarily private schools at all costs. I do agree that nobody is a slam dunk ATM, not even Gonzaga. But if push comes to shove, I hope we're not favoring Dayton & SLU over VCU & Wichita because the former pair are private.

[kayako]

I think Temple is honestly lower than where UConn was a few years ago. And they seemingly don't have a get out of jail free card to get rid of their coach the way UConn did.

I don't know that there is anything Temple could have done quite honestly. If they had remained in the A10, they would have been even more of a money disadvantage- the AAC does pay a lot more money than the A10 does(like 7 or 8 times as much).

Temple's in its position now because they insist on playing FBS football, as Gumby hinted at. What good is bigger TV revenue when most of it goes down the toilet? If you think Georgetown has problems playing at Capital One, you should check out Temple's home games at Lincoln Financial... As much as Rollie & Lappas may have been against Temple, they actually could've been a BE member if their football program wasn't so consistently one of the worst in history. To put things in perspective, Temple does not have a winning record vs. Villanova in football!

[Bogg]

Lastly geographies should be respected IMO. No Dayton. No Loyola Chicago. No Fordham or St. Bonnies or St. Joe's or URI or GWU. We need new markets. St. Louis may be the only candidate that makes geographic sense but they are not a good enough program at this point. Just sit pat and wait to see what happens is the best strategy at this point.

If we're waiting for new market programs to develop id say Detroit or Nashville would be more attractive than waiting on St Louis to develop. Id 100% do a road trip up to Detroit mercy or to Belmont. Instead of a trip down to the crumbling city of St Louis (side project brewery not included)

The problem with that is that there's an absolutely massive gap in "Big East preparedness" between SLU and the likes of Detroit Mercy or Belmont, to the point where the latter two don't bear mentioning in discussions. SLU is either 1a or 1b east of the Rockies because they've got just about everything either built or under construction today. You'd like for them to have had more on-court success, but the current coach seems solid and has them as a regular upper-third A10 team these days.

Meanwhile Belmont pulls about half as many fans as DePaul does in what would be the smallest home arena in the Big East and Detroit Mercy doesn't even crack 1.5k a game.

[stever20]

Is Detroit Mercy maybe the biggest surprise of a market that would have been such a fit for the Big East but just no luck there at all?