ohiohsbball wrote:Wow...I haven't had the chance to log on for a while, and when I do, I see another expansion thread.
New thread, but the same old posts that I honestly love and never get tired of reading. Here are some of my favorites:
1). Anything posted about Xavier (i.e. whatever that finance stuff was about) is a troll from Dayton. Anything posted about Dayton is a troll from Dayton.
2). Gonzaga is a legit candidate
3). UAB is a candidate to join the NBE.
4). Holding out hope that UCONN drops football and joins the NBE.
Those are just some of my favorites and why I love expansion threads. I agree with an earlier poster that it is a safe topic to speculate on because of how popular this topic was when this conference formed. I understand that this is just a message board of a bunch of fans that really do not have any inside information, which is really what makes it fun because I have come read posts from some really intelligent people that seem to know basketball.
My opinion, and I know a lot of people disagree with me, is that what I said last year at this time. The conference will expand within its first three years and numbers 11 and 12 will be St. Louis and Dayton. I may be wrong, but that is just a gut feeling. Ten teams may be an ideal number, but if what is reported is true about Fox Sports shelling out more money for the conference to go to 12, I just don't see the BE standing pat at 10 too much longer, especially when you have a St. Louis market and a Dayton teams that travels about as well as any team around. I know Xavier and other posters on here dislike Dayton, but facts are facts; they put butts in seats which is why ESPN has Dayton in a lot of tournaments at the beginning of the season and why the NCAA is keeping the first 4 at UD. Who else will get 12,000 fans to a game no one really cares about. Admit it, if Xavier wasn't playing in the first four last year, how many fans on here would have a vested interested in those games? Not me, but the city of Dayton does. While those reasons may not be rational toward conference affiliation, that is just my opinion that I'm sure will be bashed on here. I remember last year this time that St. Louis was a lock and the last spot was between Dayton and Richmond; I haven't heard Richmond on this board in months because they were not good last year.
Ideally everyone wants the league to stay at 10 and if they do, that is great. I like 10 team leagues, but the reality is everything is driven by money. So, IF there is expansion, I see Dayton and St. Louis.
On a side note, the BE has had a great start to the season; 7 teams are receiving votes for the top 25. Hopefully the momentum keeps rolling through conference play and the league can have a multi-bid year in the NCAA.
Doge McDermott wrote:I don't know why we aren't looking at Duke. Once UNC gets the death penalty, the ACC is toast. No decent schools left in that conference. Duke also fits our profile; it's a private, basketball-centric school. We got the FS1 contract locked up, so its not like they'd miss ESPN. Huge alumni base in New York, so they'd turn up for the conference tournament. I mean, I know they have football, but it's kind of a joke. They'd drop it in a heartbeat to come join us. It just makes sense, right? Make it happen, Val.
NOTE: The scenario I laid out is equally as likely as expansion is in the next 5 years. Just keep beating everyone in sight (except for Creighton), and health of the conference will be just fine.
WaitingPatiently wrote:Bill Marsh wrote:I know a lot about RPI but I have no idea why a 20 game schedule would hurt the conference RPI. Nonetheless, the worst that would happen is that they retain the 18 game schedule and everyone matches up with a few teams only once each season. Rotate the singleton match ups and everyone still plays everyone H & H most of the time. The Big 10 worked with an 11 team league and an 18 game schedule for 20 years, so it's certainly doable. The advantages of adding Gonzaga are simply too great to turn down for a few scheduling challenges.
The reason it hurts the RPI is because it limits the W/L record for the conference. Every conference game ensures a W and a L for the conference. The fewer games you play against each other, the more opportunities for W there are. 2/4 less conference games gives you opportunities for 2/4 more W across the board. It's not a coincidence that the conferences that play 16 conference games edge out those that play 18 when they are similar in strength. Because as a conference they can go 17-3 in those games to the other being 10-10.
stever20 wrote:Edrick wrote:There is absolutely no chance the conference expands in the next three years and a miniscule chance of expanding in the next 10.
NO ONE wants expansion and there are no candidates. BYU and Gonzaga are the only two programs in the country that fit, but they are four time zones away. There is no one. There will not be expansion. Period.
"Hopefully can have a multibid year"
There will never be a year this league doesn't do that, it's set up for 5/6 now. And back to the original point, that's 60% of the conference earning NCAA credits to be distributed to 10 programs. More mouths to feed isn't what anyone is looking for.
I'd say slow down saying that this league is set up for 5/6 bids now. With as much parity as we have, our 5th and 6th place teams are going to be 9-9 or maybe if lucky 10-8 for the 5th place team. A 9-9 team has to have the right OOC record to have a chance to make the tourney. That's one thing that makes 10 teams so darn tricky. your 4/5 game especially and keven some years 3/6 in the tournament will most of the time be a game where the loser is dangling entering selection sunday. Even this year with us having a great start- only 2 undefeated teams and 3 teams already with 2+ losses. And that's with not even half of the toughest games played. We'll know a lot more in 4 weeks before the conference play starts.
Edrick wrote:http://m.omaha.com/creighton/commissioner-says-big-east-not-looking-at-expansion/article_7e026ec3-4c67-5a23-a6a6-a5aef9327335.html?mode=jqm
There's one. You could probably Google around if you'd like to read the dozens (hundreds) more. Everyone who cares to even mention it says it's not happening. And, of course, there's just the common sense of it. THERE ARE NO CANDIDATES. This is idiotic. The Big East isn't going to upset their preferred format for anyone who isn't incrementally adding to the conference in terms of prestige. Unless they can figure out how to relocate Spokane no such program exists.
If the league was going to be larger, it would be larger already. The phantom mystery candidates would've joined two years ago.
It's no happening.
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