Conference Realignment: What Next?

[Xudash]

Iowa City, Waco, Manhattan (KS), Stillwater and Morgantown are lovely this time…. Never mind.

[Omaha1]

The rumor seems to be the B12 still wants 4 basketball only members. 3 East and 1 West. Would have to think that means some Big East teams. But the B12 looks much more boring without Texas & Oklahoma. You have Kansas as the only real best for a long time as a blue blood for decades. Baylor is great but still relatively new success. After that...?????

I just don’t get any Big East school wanting to be a second class citizen in a football league.

[DudeAnon]

Looks like the Big 12 is gonna add Gonzaga. Crazy good conference as always. Will have 4 legit national title contenders every year with Kansas, Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston. Then a second tier of BYU, Texas Tech, Iowa St, West Virginia and Cincinnati. Not too shabby.

[adoraz]

Looks like the Big 12 is gonna add Gonzaga. Crazy good conference as always. Will have 4 legit national title contenders every year with Kansas, Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston. Then a second tier of BYU, Texas Tech, Iowa St, West Virginia and Cincinnati. Not too shabby.

Nobody would be surprised, but so far I only see one small YouTuber claiming this (a few days ago)? I'd think he's just making it up in hopes of more exposure (ad revenue) if it happens.

[adoraz]

May be total BS, but:

https://twitter.com/MHver3/status/1633301652366147584

MHver3 @MHver3
BY recommended to B12 CEOs today that we expand by 4 in basketball and Olympic sports. Schools he has had the most serious discussions with are Gonzaga, Villanova, UConn and St John’s (a late addition after Seton Hall talks cooled).
10:00 PM · Mar 7, 2023

Marquette, Georgetown, and Creighton have also been in talks but certain factors relegated them lower.

Marquette has great support and a decent market but the allure of NYC market was too great to put them ahead of St John’s.

Georgetown would have been a shoe-in 20 years ago. Sadly their support has dwindled and WVU already has a partial claim to DC DMA.

Creighton was also a duplicate market for us but had a lot of other positives as well.

This is up to the CEOs now. BY has given his recommendation and backed it up with research from B12 media consultants. This would be HUGE for the next contract cycle when we decouple basketball.

UConn came back to the table after walking to propose a scheduling agreement with some B12 programs not to dissimilar from what ND does with ACC (just not at the same frequency and UConn is not too keen on going too far west to play).

Clarifying previous tweet. UConn proposed a football scheduling agreement since they will not be joining in FB if invited in other sports.

[billyjack]

The MHver dude is a clown. For the last few weeks i've been reading his dumbass tweets.

Just think of his storyline...

- The Big 12 wanted Gonzaga, Villanova, UConn and *Seton Hall* (to get the NY market)... who at The Hall would the Big-12 have spoken to? AD Bryan Felt? Shaheen Holloway? Bill Raftery? The grandchildren of Hoddy Mahon?

- Ok, talks with Seton Hall "cooled"... ok, lol... what possible circumstances would be a bridge too far for any of these people on either side? Lol. [Translation of "cooled": Baylor dialed up Seton Hall, and the Hall immediately asked if the Waco guy was on dope and hung up.]

- Having not earlier realized that St John's is the school that's in New York, the Big-12 braintrust then dialed up the Johnnies... who did they call? Father Shanley? Haha.

- Marquette and Creighton were considered, cuz they draw 18k each, but Omaha is "in the footprint" of Ames Iowa... and Marquette, with its huge moneymaking athletic department, while not in the footprint of Ames Iowa, was just not appealing as (originally) Seton Hall...

- Georgetown was not considered at all, because "West Virginia already covers DC Metro".

- UConn would agree to keep its football independent, but its hoops, which cratered in the AAC due to traveling 1500 miles on the road to Texas, Oklahoma, Orlando, etc, would now be asked to do the same thing, to play Kansas State, Iowa State, UCF, Texas Tech.

- This is all being pursued without any commitment of Arizona and Ariz State, Utah, Colorado, whatever...

Please stop paying attention to anything this MHver clown writes.

[kayako]

VCU is quickly stacking up a lot of tournament appearances. I'd like to see them make a big run this year and elevate themselves into conversation.

[Gopher+RamFan]

VCU is quickly stacking up a lot of tournament appearances. I'd like to see them make a big run this year and elevate themselves into conversation.

13 out of the last 18 NCAA tournaments with 5 different head coaches through two conferences. Certainly the flagship of the A-10 after Xavier left.

[FenwayFriar]

Not that I ever believed some WVU nobody, but Val doesn't seem too concerned about any defections, whether it be to B12 or anywhere else. I'd find it very hard to believe she'd be this open about it if she wasn't extremely confident.

https://frontofficesports.com/basketball-conference-can-still-survive-thrive-in-ncaa/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=article-sharing

“We don’t have sort of [realignment] ‘flight risks,’ we don’t have the distractions, we don’t have the expenses that go into supporting football,” Ackerman told Front Office Sports in between Big East Tournament games on Thursday. “What we’ve got now suits us. This is who we are. We’re basketball schools.”

“There’s an irony here, with respect to our stability,” Ackerman said. “Because the Big East was one of the hardest-hit conferences of all time back 15-20 years ago when schools started leaving, mostly to go to the ACC, because of football.”

[adoraz]

Not that I ever believed some WVU nobody, but Val doesn't seem too concerned about any defections, whether it be to B12 or anywhere else. I'd find it very hard to believe she'd be this open about it if she wasn't extremely confident.

https://frontofficesports.com/basketball-conference-can-still-survive-thrive-in-ncaa/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=article-sharing

“We don’t have sort of [realignment] ‘flight risks,’ we don’t have the distractions, we don’t have the expenses that go into supporting football,” Ackerman told Front Office Sports in between Big East Tournament games on Thursday. “What we’ve got now suits us. This is who we are. We’re basketball schools.”

“There’s an irony here, with respect to our stability,” Ackerman said. “Because the Big East was one of the hardest-hit conferences of all time back 15-20 years ago when schools started leaving, mostly to go to the ACC, because of football.”

UConn's AD and football coach are definitely pushing for a P5 invite, that's public knowledge, but I think it's unlikely to happen before we sign the next TV contract. It could happen right around when the next TV contract starts, though.

As for the Big 12 rumors I don't buy that the Big East schools would be interested (outside of UConn if football were included).