Conference realignment discussion - v. 2015

[Edrick]

Why are people still talking about this? The Big East is one of the elite conferences in college basketball and none of the member schools wants more teams. Unless it's UConn dropping football (and that's not happening), Big East expansion is not happening. Period.

And another thing: no, expansion hasn't been discussed since the league started, it's literally never been discussed. The only people who keep talking about this are the fans of other schools that desperately want acceptance. It might be better to imagine a brick wall rather than a locked door.

[xusandy]

A big part of the reason that the current BEAST has become so successful in such a short period of time is that the membership makes a ton of sense, both in terms of institutional identity (well known, private and church affiliated, strong academics, no football, heavy emphasis on basketball programs), and in terms of media markets (all in/around bigger cities on the east coast and in the midwest.) IMHO, any school that doesn't "fit" on both those dimensions would not even be considered. So forget UConn and VCU (state schools), and probably even Dayton -- as much as I'd like to see them back in the same league as X (a big overlap with Cincinnnati media market.)

In fact, the ONLY school I see as a possible addition at present is St. Louis. They fit in terms of institutional flavor (though their basketball program would have to be upgraded a bit); they bring a huge media market; and as a bonus, they're a great natural rival for Creighton and a great pairing when scheduling any sport that plays 2 games per weekend or per "road trip." So do I want to see SLU join the league? Not really -- at least unless/until they make a major financial commitment to upgrading basketball. Are there other schools out there that might fit at some point in the (distant?) future? Well sure -- Boston University, Duquesne, and Detroit come immediately to mind because of their Catholic identities and bigger media markets, but none of them has a basketball emphasis worth a gnat's ass at this time.

Fearless predication: No BEAST expansion for the next 2-3 years at least.

[Edrick]

You can probably take that 2 to 3 and scale it a factor of 10 and you'd be safe.

[NJRedman]

The presidents of the BE schools don't want to add any state schools. They can't compete with the money the state school get from the state.

Thats not true, we'd take UConn in a NY second.

I don't know who your sources are, but the sources I know said no way UConn gets admitted. The reason is not only football it's also because it's the state school. Private schools cannot compete with the money the state schools get.

Stop it, you don't have "sources". Thats not an actual issue and UConn was a founding member of the conference not to mention a big name in college bball. The 5 east coast schools would welcome them back with open arms.

[Bluejay]

Thats not true, we'd take UConn in a NY second.

I don't know who your sources are, but the sources I know said no way UConn gets admitted. The reason is not only football it's also because it's the state school. Private schools cannot compete with the money the state schools get.

Stop it, you don't have "sources". Thats not an actual issue and UConn was a founding member of the conference not to mention a big name in college bball. The 5 east coast schools would welcome them back with open arms.

If UConn kept football with the plan to park it in another conference, I wouldn't be totally surprised if there might be a majority of member schools that would be willing to pass on letting them in.

[NJRedman]

I don't know who your sources are, but the sources I know said no way UConn gets admitted. The reason is not only football it's also because it's the state school. Private schools cannot compete with the money the state schools get.

Stop it, you don't have "sources". Thats not an actual issue and UConn was a founding member of the conference not to mention a big name in college bball. The 5 east coast schools would welcome them back with open arms.

If UConn kept football with the plan to park it in another conference, I wouldn't be totally surprised if there might be a majority of member schools that would be willing to pass on letting them in.

I agree because they would be a flight risk, but this guy is saying even if they dropped football they wouldn't be let in because they are a state school. Thats just wrong completely.

[ArmyVet]

In the current sporting climate the Big East would be foolish to even consider expanding right now. The league will get 5-6 teams in the NCAA tournament and only has to divide the proceeds by 10. That's about as ideal situation as a non-football league could ever want.

[Jet915]

Nice informative article by Thamel who is usually pretty legit......sounds like BYU and Cincy are leading candidates which makes sense to me.

http://www.campusrush.com/big-12-conference-questions-future-expansion-1528668401.html

[GoldenWarrior11]

If Cincinnati gets invited to the Big 12, UConn would rage quit.

[Jet915]

If Cincinnati gets invited to the Big 12, UConn would rage quit.

It would be very interesting to see what UCONN does if Cincy gets the golden ticket...