Val bursts into your office, WE HAVE TO CHOOSE TODAY!

[Frank the Tank]

SLU is far from automatic. They have to show the last few years wasn't a fluke on the court.

SLU is a school where the on-the-court records are largely irrelevant because of their TV market, academics, quality facilities, geographic location (bridging the rest of the league to Creighton) and institutional fit. They hit every single off-the-court factor, which are the items that are set in stone and much harder (if not impossible) to change when it comes to conference realignment. Now, SLU can't sink to Duquense levels on-the-court for a long stretch of time (which is also a school that hits a lot of off-the-court factors, but simply has been so bad on-the-court for decades that they can't be viably considered), but they still add value to the Big East even as a mediocre program that pretty much no other realistic candidate is able to do. The on-the-court bar for SLU to add value is very low, whereas the value of Wichita State (and to a lesser extent, VCU) is completely based upon immediate on-the-court success. Wins and losses are fleeting. Expansion needs to be about markets and whether a school has the *long-term* resources to compete as an institution and fitting in with the rest of the league's culture.

[stever20]

SLU is far from automatic. They have to show the last few years wasn't a fluke on the court.

SLU is a school where the on-the-court records are largely irrelevant because of their TV market, academics, quality facilities, geographic location (bridging the rest of the league to Creighton) and institutional fit. They hit every single off-the-court factor, which are the items that are set in stone and much harder (if not impossible) to change when it comes to conference realignment. Now, SLU can't sink to Duquense levels on-the-court for a long stretch of time (which is also a school that hits a lot of off-the-court factors, but simply has been so bad on-the-court for decades that they can't be viably considered), but they still add value to the Big East even as a mediocre program that pretty much no other realistic candidate is able to do. The on-the-court bar for SLU to add value is very low, whereas the value of Wichita State (and to a lesser extent, VCU) is completely based upon immediate on-the-court success. Wins and losses are fleeting. Expansion needs to be about markets and whether a school has the *long-term* resources to compete as an institution and fitting in with the rest of the league's culture.

I get that- but if we added SLU tomorrow, we would be killed for it. The thing about SLU- nothing about SLU has shown they have the ability to compete long term in the Big East. Absolutely nothing. They would add nothing for TV at all. Absolutely nothing. I mean, do you think FS1 would be chomping at the bit to add a SLU/Xavier game? No way. SLU has got to show that the last few years wasn't a fluke. I just think if we expanded right now, SLU would be WAY too much of a risk of turning into a situation even worse than what DePaul has been.

[NJRedman]

If a gun to my head I say we go big. Would rather go to 14 than 12 if we are going to expand and would rather make it a true BB national conference. BYU, Gonzaga, SLU & UCONN.

Two divisions--EAST and WEST. Play RR in your division and alternate vs. West every other year. 19 total games. East becomes oBE + X. You want to talk about potential rivalries.

EAST
Nova
Gtwn
SHU
SJU
PC
UCONN
XU

WEST
Butler
DePaul
Marq.
Creighton
SLU
Zags
BYU

No gun to my head...what Redman said.

NO DIVISIONS!!!!!!!! Every conference has moved away from them because they don't work. I'd rather we play 7 teams twice and 4 teams once a year.

[murphy]

SLU is automatic.

#12 is a toss-up between VCU and a school that wasn't listed: Davidson. Short-term on-the-court factors favor VCU, but Davidson is more of a Big East-like institution with incredible academics and a better location while still having on-the-court bona fides. I'm a long-term thinker, so I'd go with Davidson.

I'm always perplexed by the suggestion of Wichita State (outside of understanding that fans often can't look past immediate or very recent on-the-court success). They obviously have a great basketball program today, but the standard for expansion should always be what a school brings to the table even when they're terrible on-the-court (because it eventually happens to *every* program, even the blue bloods). A public school that doesn't look like the rest of the Big East can be forgiven with the right location and fan base (i.e. VCU or, as much as the Big East should just forget about them, UConn), but Wichita State brings *nothing* to the Big East if it's not winning basketball games, which makes it the riskiest type of expansion move of them all. They bring no TV market of any value, no recruiting territory, no academic prestige, and no institutional fit whatsoever with the rest of the Big East schools. Wichita State is the essence of on-the-court short-term fan-based thinking as opposed to long-term off-the-court university president-based thinking.

Something to consider for expansion:
Out of the current BE schools re US News National University rankings:

Georgetown rank: 21 - enrollment 14513 - acceptance rate 26%
Marquette rank: 76 enrollment 11782 - acceptance rate: 57%
BE candidate: UD rank: 103 - enrollment 10835 acceptance rate: 52%

all the other BE schools are either not national university's or are ranked well below the above three

[JOPO]

None of the above...

Agreed! We really do not need them.

[JOPO]

If a gun to my head I say we go big. Would rather go to 14 than 12 if we are going to expand and would rather make it a true BB national conference. BYU, Gonzaga, SLU & UCONN.

Two divisions--EAST and WEST. Play RR in your division and alternate vs. West every other year. 19 total games. East becomes oBE + X. You want to talk about potential rivalries.

EAST
Nova
Gtwn
SHU
SJU
PC
UCONN
XU

WEST
Butler
DePaul
Marq.
Creighton
SLU
Zags
BYU

No gun to my head...what Redman said.

NO DIVISIONS!!!!!!!! Every conference has moved away from them because they don't work. I'd rather we play 7 teams twice and 4 teams once a year.

Yuck! No divisions and NO expansion!

[HoosierPal]

SLU is far from automatic. They have to show the last few years wasn't a fluke on the court.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2014/01/mens-college-basketball-telecasts-post-viewership-increases-conference-schedule-heats/

Located at the end of this article is an interesting table from ESPN. If I'm a decision maker from Fox, I am looking into this data. This leads to Dayton and Davidson (Charlotte area) as two high candidates.

What isn't explained is how the two individual schools do in their market. This data is from ESPN games, likely not including Davidson or Dayton. Charlotte - you are on Tobacco Road. Are the Dayton TV's tuned into OSU or Dayton?

[Gopher+RamFan]

SLU is far from automatic. They have to show the last few years wasn't a fluke on the court.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2014/01/mens-college-basketball-telecasts-post-viewership-increases-conference-schedule-heats/

Located at the end of this article is an interesting table from ESPN. If I'm a decision maker from Fox, I am looking into this data. This leads to Dayton and Davidson (Charlotte area) as two high candidates.

What isn't explained is how the two individual schools do in their market. This data is from ESPN games, likely not including Davidson or Dayton. Charlotte - you are on Tobacco Road. Are the Dayton TV's tuned into OSU or Dayton?

Keep in mind those are ESPN only telecast ratings, from January 2014. Meaning, Dayton doesn't get TOO many ESPN games, neither Davidson nor VCU. (2.2 Dayton, 1.9 Charlotte, 1.4 Richmond ratings).

The Big Ten is on ESPN (Dayton) so is the ACC (Richmond, Charlotte markets). Those numbers don't really have much do with measuring television ratings with regards to prospective members.

[TheBall]

Gonzaga

20 game round robin schedule

Call it a day until 2019 when UConn will be free to leave the conference of americans.

St Louis and Dayton are viable options, but not today. Revisit them in 4 or 5 years to see if they have been able to sustain and develop a winning culture.

[NJRedman]

SLU is far from automatic. They have to show the last few years wasn't a fluke on the court.

Just like DePaul they bring more to the table then just on the court results. It's not about on the court but what money they bring to the table when they are down. SLU brings a nice new TV market with them and they fit like a glove with 9 of the current members.