Conference realignment discussion - v. 2015

[_lh]

Gonzaga is doing just fine in the WCC.

Now if the BE was on the west coast, they make sense to add them.

[MUAvalanche]

About Conference USA back in 2005 and 2003- they absolutely were not a power conference...
2005- in Ken Pom- they were #9 conference
2003- in Ken Pom- they were #7 conference

CUSA was half a power conference at the time. UofL, Cincy, MU, DePaul, Charlotte, SLU, Memphis and UAB made tournament appearances and formed a group that was competitive with power conferences. The remaining teams (Houston, ECU, Tulane, S. Miss, USF, TCU) did not help basketball. Think AAC with 4 nonFB schools to enhance basketball.

2005- Louisville, Cincy, Charlotte, UAB made the tourney.
2003- Marquette, Memphis, Louisville, and Cincy made the tourney.

In the last 4 years-
2002- 3 teams made the tourney
2003- 4 teams made the tourney
2004- 6 teams made the tourney
2005- 4 teams made the tourney
17 teams- or 4.25 per year out of 14 teams. So that's barely half of the power teams.

You proved my point. Hence why I said half of a power conference. Half of the schools cared about basketball at all, and half of those schools were making it. The bottom was so bad that it threw the conference RPI off. CUSA had to go away from divisions to give Memphis a chance to get to the tournament because the NASCAR division was so bad for their RPI. By comparison, Pac was 6, 5, 3, 4 out of 10 (18/40). BIG was 5, 5, 3, 5 out of 11 (18/44). ACC was 4, 4, 6 out of 9 and 5 out of 11 (19/38). SEC was 6, 6, 6, 5 out of 12 (23/48). BXII was 6, 6, 4, 6 out of 12 (22/48). BE was 6, 4, 6 out of 14 and 6 out of 12 (22/54). None of these conferences were better than 50% over that period of time either, and the number of schools that had no interest in basketball was greater in CUSA than any of the power conferences.

[jaxalum]

Out of curiosity I looked up the following using New York City as the Big East HQ/"center" and used Creighton as a comparable in terms of time and travel distance:

NY to Spokane= 2566 miles/37.5 hrs

NY to Omaha= 1256 miles/19.5 hrs

I played a college sport (tennis) where it could work I believe, but I have no idea about the other olympic sports. I'm sure the powers that be have crunched the numbers endlessly to try and make this work somehow, as the Zags are far and away the best fit. Except for that whole Spokane thing. I could see why Gonzaga would jump at the chance to be in the Big East as it would be considerably more money, better exposure in and around the media capital, open up fertile recruiting grounds in the east, and they would retain their native recruiting grounds (so far away from other conference members) and become that much more attractive to area talent due to their new conference affiliation. I would love to have them in the league, I just don't know how feasible it is.

[stever20]

You're telling me that the SEC had all power teams? No flipping way.

The point is you can't just drop the bad teams(like folks here say about the AAC). Those CUSA teams were there. Their rank in the 4 years was 7,7,8,9. I'm sorry, but it's hard to call a #9 conference a major conference. 2005- they were closer to the MAC than they were the Pac 10.

And my point is simple- CUSA back then is remembered a whole lot better than it actually was.

Now you said to think AAC with 4 nonFB schools to enhance basketball. OK. Let's add VCU, Wichita St, Dayton, and St Bonaventure to the AAC.

This year-
tournament teams- VCU, Wichita St, Dayton, SMU, Cincy
NIT teams- Tulsa, Temple, UConn, Memphis
(first off, odds are extremely good that with the enhanced SOS at least Temple gets in extra).

last year-
tournament teams- VCU, Wichita St, Dayton, Cincy, Memphis, UConn, Tulsa(albeit at large from CUSA)
NIT teams- SMU(odds extremely good that with enhanced SOS they would be in).

That group would be MUCH better than what CUSA was back then. 5 teams for sure this year, 6 last year(even not counting Tulsa or Louisville). More likely 6 and 7 respectively.

[Butlerfan28]

Out of curiosity I looked up the following using New York City as the Big East HQ/"center" and used Creighton as a comparable in terms of time and travel distance:

NY to Spokane= 2566 miles/37.5 hrs

NY to Omaha= 1256 miles/19.5 hrs

I played a college sport (tennis) where it could work I believe, but I have no idea about the other olympic sports. I'm sure the powers that be have crunched the numbers endlessly to try and make this work somehow, as the Zags are far and away the best fit. Except for that whole Spokane thing. I could see why Gonzaga would jump at the chance to be in the Big East as it would be considerably more money, better exposure in and around the media capital, open up fertile recruiting grounds in the east, and they would retain their native recruiting grounds (so far away from other conference members) and become that much more attractive to area talent due to their new conference affiliation. I would love to have them in the league, I just don't know how feasible it is.

What people don't realize is that sports like women's basketball and Volleyball play multiple games in a short window to save travel expenses. Basketball plays Friday night and Sunday Day. Volleyball played Friday and Saturday against teams with a travel partner. When you add teams that don't have a travel partner (Creighton) you force the teams to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Adding a west coast school when you are playing multiple games in a weekend is problematic. It is even more problematic when the teams fly coach to save money. For men's basketball the incremental cost is minimal since they fly charter and their games are spread out across the week. For all other sports it is a major hardship and cost adder.

That is why if you are going to add Gonzaga the only way to make it feasible is by adding BYU. BYU is a hub and you could get to Salt Lake and Spokane in a reasonable fashion.

[myopicraiderfan]

Since 1991 through last years NCAA basketball fund payout Gonzaga has earned 34.3M from NCAA shares and received 6.82M as part of the WCC. The increase in TV revenue and NCAA basketball fund revenue would make it a no brainer for them to accept. The problem is going to be would Fox increase the payout for Gonzaga and school X? If school X was UConn, yes. Anyone else I don't know. If Fox doesn't increase the payout would each school be willing to sacrifice money to include Gonzaga plus someone not name UConn. That I doubt. The best thing for the BE to do is wait. If the contract is coming due in two years and Fox says we want school x,y, or z for local market, league competition, or inventory reasons then yes you add them because it makes financial sense to add them. I know every school wants to join, but there is zero reason right now. Lets see how the landscape changes in the next 8 years and if it does then adapt to the change.

[jaxalum]

Since 1991 through last years NCAA basketball fund payout Gonzaga has earned 34.3M from NCAA shares and received 6.82M as part of the WCC. The increase in TV revenue and NCAA basketball fund revenue would make it a no brainer for them to accept. The problem is going to be would Fox increase the payout for Gonzaga and school X? If school X was UConn, yes. Anyone else I don't know. If Fox doesn't increase the payout would each school be willing to sacrifice money to include Gonzaga plus someone not name UConn. That I doubt. The best thing for the BE to do is wait. If the contract is coming due in two years and Fox says we want school x,y, or z for local market, league competition, or inventory reasons then yes you add them because it makes financial sense to add them. I know every school wants to join, but there is zero reason right now. Lets see how the landscape changes in the next 8 years and if it does then adapt to the change.

I would be ecstatic with those two additions(BYU/Gonzaga) if they could make the logistics work.

[topdog]

If Gonzaga gets added the conference name should be changed to the Very Big East.

[DudeAnon]

If Gonzaga gets added the conference name should be changed to the Very Big East.

Hey, anything is East if you go long enough.

[sheg]

There's so much hyperbole on here that it's positively entertaining. You don't like a certain team's fans? Who cares (because the decision makers don't)? So here's some facts.

Assume for a minute that the decision makers put you in charge of expansion. They tell you that two members will be added in 2016-7 no matter what. You have no other information to go on than a 5-year Kenpom ranking average. They tell you with certainty that the new members MUST be private and in the footprint.


(5 year Kenpom averages. STDEV is a measure of consistency, a lower number means more consistent. You have no other information to go on. Existing BE programs provided for comparison purposes.)

Pick two:

Georgetown 31 STDEV 33
Villanova 37 STDEV 23
Xavier 49 STDEV 23
Creighton 51 STDEV 29
Marquette 52 STDEV 35
Butler 61 STDEV 44
Team E 62 STDEV 34
Providence 72 STDEV 26
Team B 78 STDEV 71
St. John's 81 STDEV 44
Seton Hall 88 STDEV 28
Team D 91 STDEV 48
Team A 99 STDEV 68
Team F 106 STDEV 82
DePaul 175 STDEV 59
Team C 230 STDEV 77

I'll come back tomorrow with the names of the anonymous teams so you don't have to look them up.