Big East Conference Expansion Ideas and Discussion

[Bill Marsh]

Mormans and Catholics don't mix. Plus BYU has football. VCU has a better chance than BYU. If they go west they'll probably pick up St Marys and Gonzaga but I highly doubt we'll expand anymore west than Omaha.

I agree that they're not going farther west than Omaha.

But just to clarify. I threw BYU into the mix for 2 reasons:

1. Location - no need to go any farther west than necessary & they're the closest big program to Gonzaga
2. Attendance - they draw 16,000 while St. Mary's draws about 1600.

With regard to BYU's football, I'd only add BYU if they are committed to football independence the way that Notre Dame is.

[ivet]

Mormans and Catholics don't mix. Plus BYU has football. VCU has a better chance than BYU. If they go west they'll probably pick up St Marys and Gonzaga but I highly doubt we'll expand anymore west than Omaha.

I agree that they're not going farther west than Omaha.

But just to clarify. I threw BYU into the mix for 2 reasons:

1. Location - no need to go any farther west than necessary & they're the closest big program to Gonzaga
2. Attendance - they draw 16,000 while St. Mary's draws about 1600.

With regard to BYU's football, I'd only add BYU if they are committed to football independence the way that Notre Dame is.

I can only hope that the Power 5 uses their power to run their group the way they want and separate themselves from the gang of 5/6. In addition to the new playoff system, the way of independent will be out the door. Notre Dame will be forced to move their football to the ACC and BYU will most likely be taken in by either the Pac or the Big 12 (currently 10 teams). Gonzaga will be SOL due to their location and Fox already has the west coast covered with their Pac-12 deal. You are correct that St. Mary's draw is not significant enough so there really isn't a need to include them even though they are a Catholic school.

So what that does that leave the Big East? I can only hope that UConn comes to the realization that investing in their football program is not a good return on investment especially seeing that they are not likely going to be invited to the either the ACC or B1G. The fact that their true passion really is in BBall, it would be nice to see them drop their football program to the level of Georgetown and 'Nova (FCS). Although they are public, the core schools are quiet familiar with them and the fact that they were one of the original members. I am willing to forgive what they tried to do during Conference realignment a few years back. Their presence will strengthen us on the basketball side as well as provide another team on the East Coast (New England) to offset SLU (should they get invited).

I have no problem with VCU, though I would prefer UConn. I would love to have Shaka Smart take over the DePaul program, I think he would turn around that program rather quickly. He use to work under Oliver Purnell.

[milwaukeejedi1]

2.) Institutional fit with no FBS football, but, politely, scrub third-tier basketball program, and little in the way of NCAA Tournament history, but oh man remember that time five years ago when they made that cinderella run to the Sweet 16? That was awesome. They're totally a program on the rise and won't just revert to form once their coach leaves for a bigger paycheck (Richmond, UMass, VCU, Saint Louis, Davidson, Dayton, etc.).

Correction...it was three season's ago when my scrub third-tier basketball program made that Cinderella run, and it wasn't the Sweet 16, it was the Final 4, which your scrub second-tier program hasn't made since 2003, and you needed Dwayne Wade to do it when we did it with 5'11 Joey Rodriguez. And yes, we are a program on the rise, as our No.14 2014 recruiting class suggests, the first time we've signed three top-100 players in a class in the history of our program (since breaking our record of two two classes ago). And our coach hasn't left, in fact he's turned down programs year after year when everyone said he wouldn't, including some rinky-dink school in California called UCLA who was supposed to be one of those programs you don't turn down (see: 11 National Championships).

VCU is on the rise, just as that Gonzaga team you hold in such high regard was on the rise when they made their SECOND EVER NCAA tournament birth in 1999 (seriously man, they've been nationally relevant for all of 14 years now). No, we haven't made it to the Sweet 16 since losing four seniors post-Final 4 in 2011. Unfortunately we blew a three-point lead in the last minute to some up-and-coming program called "Indiana" the following season, only to see them steal a Sweet 16 bid from us with 11 seconds to play, which basically means our team TOTALLY SUCKED that season. Right? Because a two-point round of 32 loss to Indiana is pretty much the same as not being in the tournament or having any success at all, whereas Gonzaga beating 12-seed Akron then 13-seed Western Kentucky en route to their last Sweet 16 (2009) is TOTALLY AMAZING. Shame we won a mere 27 games the following season before losing in the NCAA tournament to Michigan in Auburn Hills (you try beating a Michigan team in front of 17,000 Michigan fans the season they play in a National Championship game). Probably shouldn't even have received a bid after finishing second in an Atlantic 10 conference that season (side note: two of your current members finished 5th and 7th in that same conference, VCU beat them both...one one the road, the other by 32 points).

You have no vision man.

The idea of inviting to VCU to join the Big East is appealing because it has recently earmarked more funds to support its basketball program and because its fans travel well (they would help to fill up MSG during BE tourney time). But Natty, I would stick to bashing a poster instead of an institution. Comparing Marquette's success (recent or historical) to VCU's is foolish. Last year, Marquette finished first in the Big East and made it to the Elite 8 (although this year MU will end its 10 conescutive years streak of making it to the NCAA tourney) . Last year in the NCAA tournament, VCU made a point of running up the score on a team missing its best player and then lost badly to Michigan, 78-53.

[milwaukeejedi1]

Mormans and Catholics don't mix. Plus BYU has football. VCU has a better chance than BYU. If they go west they'll probably pick up St Marys and Gonzaga but I highly doubt we'll expand anymore west than Omaha.

I agree that they're not going farther west than Omaha.

But just to clarify. I threw BYU into the mix for 2 reasons:

1. Location - no need to go any farther west than necessary & they're the closest big program to Gonzaga
2. Attendance - they draw 16,000 while St. Mary's draws about 1600.

With regard to BYU's football, I'd only add BYU if they are committed to football independence the way that Notre Dame is.

I can only hope that the Power 5 uses their power to run their group the way they want and separate themselves from the gang of 5/6. In addition to the new playoff system, the way of independent will be out the door. Notre Dame will be forced to move their football to the ACC and BYU will most likely be taken in by either the Pac or the Big 12 (currently 10 teams). Gonzaga will be SOL due to their location and Fox already has the west coast covered with their Pac-12 deal. You are correct that St. Mary's draw is not significant enough so there really isn't a need to include them even though they are a Catholic school.

So what that does that leave the Big East? I can only hope that UConn comes to the realization that investing in their football program is not a good return on investment especially seeing that they are not likely going to be invited to the either the ACC or B1G. The fact that their true passion really is in BBall, it would be nice to see them drop their football program to the level of Georgetown and 'Nova (FCS). Although they are public, the core schools are quiet familiar with them and the fact that they were one of the original members. I am willing to forgive what they tried to do during Conference realignment a few years back. Their presence will strengthen us on the basketball side as well as provide another team on the East Coast (New England) to offset SLU (should they get invited).

I have no problem with VCU, though I would prefer UConn. I would love to have Shaka Smart take over the DePaul program, I think he would turn around that program rather quickly. He use to work under Oliver Purnell.

I would also like to see Shaka at DePaul. Since he is from Wisconsin and his wife is from Ohio, I wonder if being close to family would finally pry him away from Virginia.

[GreatDaneAttorney]

Gonzaga and BYU might be able to increase the rights fees. Apparently when BYU joined the WCC, their TV deal got a whole lot better:

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... aab-wp3279

I understand that adding Gonzaga and BYU would really stretch the conference out, but I think they'd also be terrific additions that fit both culturally and academically while adding new TV markets and creating a coast-to-coast, national conference. BYU, if only for its high enrollment, should be high on the expansion list.

Nonetheless, I think the Big East should wait a few years to see how things play out. I don't imagine that Fox is willing to dish out more while FS1 ratings are so low. If the Big East can become a ratings champ in year 5 or 6 of the contract, then I could see the Big East expanding to these new markets to try and drive additional rights fees out of Fox or set the stage for a bidding war between Fox and ESPN in 2023.

[HoosierPal]

I understand that adding Gonzaga and BYU would really stretch the conference out, but I think they'd also be terrific additions that fit both culturally and academically while adding new TV markets and creating a coast-to-coast, national conference. BYU, if only for its high enrollment, should be high on the expansion list.

There are Zero direct nonstop flights from Spokane WA to JFK. None. No nonstop flights to Omaha, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, DC or Chicago either.The Men's BB team charters everywhere, but that is it. The rest of Gonzaga's athletic teams would be doomed to 6 to 8 hour flights EACH WAY, three or four times a year. No way a University President would ever place students at such a disadvantage.

[GreatDaneAttorney]

If a western expansion is attempted, it will likely mean changes to scheduling, with games scheduled in clusters. Gonzaga might play @ Georgetown Friday night and @ Villanova Saturday night rather than a Tuesday/Saturday type of schedule that is typical this year.

Are there other good candidates on the west coast or or mountain states? If travel is a huge concern, western expansion might need to be 4 teams instead of 2. Then at least travel could be done in pods. 4 west coast teams, a Midwest pod (Creighton, Marquette, DePaul, Butler, Xavier), and an eastern pod (Gtown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St John's, and Providence).

[handdownmandown]

They will never make a team play on back to back nights, especially one that was just forced to fly 3000 miles.

The Pac 12 has pod play, where one group of teams goes to, say, Oregon/OSU or Cal/Stanford and plays Thursday and Saturday. That would be a likely way of handling things.

[Jet915]

I think the best case scenario would be another raid by either the BIG or SEC of the Big XII or ACC forcing one of those leagues to take Cincy but not UCONN. This would force UCONN to make a decision, stay in a crappy AAC and let your basketball die or join the Big East. Along with UCONN, we could then add SLU, BYU and Gonzaga. There you go!

[handdownmandown]

Expecting UConn to dump football and join us is like the nice guy who's pretty good looking and has a lot going for him but lacks the 'flash' of the fooball player, waiting around for the cheerleader to wake up and stop being treated like shit by the QB of the team and come running to him.

It probably isn't going to happen, and do you want a chick that can't figure that out anyway?