Conference realignment discussion - v. 2015

[Xudash]

Excellent post Bill.

I chimed back in a few pages ago to make a few simple points:

1. The Big East as it presently is configured is working beautifully; its membership shouldn't be adjusted.

2. Diluting a product seldom, if ever makes sense. That is absolutely the case when it comes to the Big East.

3. I firmly believe we should remain at 10 schools for the above two reasons, in particular.

BTW, whether you believe him or not - and you are certainly free to believe or not believe him, and to do that simply because he's a Xavier fan, but MOR is spot on. Sorry.

Spot on with what? That Dayton will never even be a candidate? Once again, it's X fans superiority complex at play. Even if MOR has inside info at X doesn't mean he does at Marquette, SJU, Nova etc etc etc. If you think that Dayton wont even be considered than I have a bridge for sale you might be interested in.

What part of "you certainly are free to believe or not believe him" don't you understand? We know how you feel, and you can keep your bridge.

[Xudash]

N/M

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

It is accepted by all rational posters that there will not be any expansion of the Big East for the foreseeable future. As many of you have correctly stated, the advantages of remaining a 10-school conference outweigh the advantages of expansion – at least for the foreseeable future.

Dayton is not getting an invite to the Big East. Not now, not in the forseeable future. Put that dead dog down and bury it.

I have relationships with people in power with knowledge of the situation, and, for many, many reasons, Dayton is not, and will not be a candidate for a Big East expansion. Dayton is not some long shot. They are NO shot.

Dayton won’t be a CANDIDATE? That’s horse poo, it's one thing to say so and so school will block a team from getting in but to say they won’t even be considered? That the conference isn’t going to do it's due diligence and actually take an honest look at possible additions because X says no?

RPI Rankings – Updated February 9, 2016

12 - Dayton (19-3) • 5-2 vs. RPI Top 50
33 - Wichita State (16-6) • 1-3 vs. RPI Top 50
40 - Virginia Commonwealth (17-6) • 2-3 vs. RPI Top 50
47 - Connecticut (17-6) • 1-2 vs. RPI Top 50
61 - Gonzaga (18-5) • 1-2 vs. RPI Top 50
127 - Richmond (12-10) • 2-5 vs. RPI Top 50
195 - Saint Louis (8-14) • 1-6 vs. RPI Top 50

Given that any hypothetical future short list of Big East expansion candidates will quite likely be limited to private universities which are located East of Creighton, and accepting Masterofreality’s unlikely proclamation that Dayton will never be a candidate for a Big East expansion, that leaves only Richmond and Saint Louis on the short list.

Best to stay at 10 teams.

[NJRedman]

Excellent post Bill.

I chimed back in a few pages ago to make a few simple points:

1. The Big East as it presently is configured is working beautifully; its membership shouldn't be adjusted.

2. Diluting a product seldom, if ever makes sense. That is absolutely the case when it comes to the Big East.

3. I firmly believe we should remain at 10 schools for the above two reasons, in particular.

BTW, whether you believe him or not - and you are certainly free to believe or not believe him, and to do that simply because he's a Xavier fan, but MOR is spot on. Sorry.

Spot on with what? That Dayton will never even be a candidate? Once again, it's X fans superiority complex at play. Even if MOR has inside info at X doesn't mean he does at Marquette, SJU, Nova etc etc etc. If you think that Dayton wont even be considered than I have a bridge for sale you might be interested in.

What part of "you certainly are free to believe or not believe him" don't you understand? We know how you feel, and you can keep your bridge.

Why don't you X fans take your own advice. We get it, you don;t want Dayton. You can quit the whole "They will never even be considered" stuff because we all know it's BS.

[GoldenWarrior11]

It's been nearly three years since the last great shift in conference realignment at the power levels of the NCAA. Forget about the Big East, but the other power conferences are content and satisfied where they are at - however right/wrong fans believe them to be. Conferences will not be making widespread additions/changes for at least another several years, at least when the time to renegotiate TV contracts with networks come closer. Even the conference that needs expansion the most (Big 12) will not expand because the 10 schools cannot even agree on whether expansion is a positive or not. Nothing will happen now or in the near future.

In the meantime, the Daytons, Saint Louises, UConns, Cincinnaties and Richmonds of college sports can only hope to continue building their conference resume (on-court success, facilities upgrades, national following, academics, etc.) in hopes of getting selected in the next go-around. They need to continue to be patient.

PS When do we update the thread to reflect that it is 2016???

[stever20]

It's been nearly three years since the last great shift in conference realignment at the power levels of the NCAA. Forget about the Big East, but the other power conferences are content and satisfied where they are at - however right/wrong fans believe them to be. Conferences will not be making widespread additions/changes for at least another several years, at least when the time to renegotiate TV contracts with networks come closer. Even the conference that needs expansion the most (Big 12) will not expand because the 10 schools cannot even agree on whether expansion is a positive or not. Nothing will happen now or in the near future.

In the meantime, the Daytons, Saint Louises, UConns, Cincinnaties and Richmonds of college sports can only hope to continue building their conference resume (on-court success, facilities upgrades, national following, academics, etc.) in hopes of getting selected in the next go-around. They need to continue to be patient.

PS When do we update the thread to reflect that it is 2016???

I don't think you can say this though. look at history in the last 25 years. Things happen roughly every 5 years or so. 2010-13 had all their stuff. 2005 had all the movement with the ACC, Big East, C-USA, etc. 2000ish had the MWC movement. 1992-95 had all the stuff with Penn St, Florida St, SEC expansion, Big 12 formation, CUSA formation. So that would be like 2-3 years before the next movement.

[NJRedman]

It's been nearly three years since the last great shift in conference realignment at the power levels of the NCAA. Forget about the Big East, but the other power conferences are content and satisfied where they are at - however right/wrong fans believe them to be. Conferences will not be making widespread additions/changes for at least another several years, at least when the time to renegotiate TV contracts with networks come closer. Even the conference that needs expansion the most (Big 12) will not expand because the 10 schools cannot even agree on whether expansion is a positive or not. Nothing will happen now or in the near future.

In the meantime, the Daytons, Saint Louises, UConns, Cincinnaties and Richmonds of college sports can only hope to continue building their conference resume (on-court success, facilities upgrades, national following, academics, etc.) in hopes of getting selected in the next go-around. They need to continue to be patient.

PS When do we update the thread to reflect that it is 2016???

I'm glad you brought this up. I'm kind of shocked more schools aren't upgrading to try and earn a membership in the Big East. Schools like Detroit-Mercy, Siena, Duquesne, BU etc etc etc should be trying to do what they can to receive an invite. Upgrading facilities, trying to lure better coaches, have a vision of the future of their program. It seems like it's just the same schools who were in the running the first time who didn't make the cut are our only options.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Stever, I would make the case that major realignment (power conferences) occurs every 7-9 years. We obviously had the major changes from 2010-11 - the Big 12 defections and Big East defections caused ripples that did not fully stop until 2013. The ACC announced it was going to expand in 2003 (BC, Miami, VT), which didn't go into effect until 2005 (which caused the additions of Cincinnati/Louisville/USF/Marquette/DePaul to the Big East later in 2005). Before that, the largest realignment involved the Big 8 and Southwest Conference into the Big 12 in 1995, which caused Houston to be downgraded to Conference USA, Rice/SMU downgraded to the WAC, and not unlike UConn/Cincinnati being downgraded to the American in 2013.

Sure, there are changes among the smaller conferences more often - but that is the direct ripple effect of the bigger conferences making changes once a decade. It causes schools to be brought up, moved around and the smaller conferences to backfill. Look at the constant raiding of Conference USA from the Old Big East/American. They barely resemble what the conference looked like 10 years ago. Heck, you could even make the argument that the American is Conference USA, since an overwhelming majority of the schools were in Conference USA 10 years ago. It is all an effect of the rearranging of conferences at the top levels (SEC, B1G, PAC-12, Big 12, ACC, Big East).

[DudeAnon]

Val and co. would be stupid to not wait out the next phase of realignment. If the next phase doesn't do open up any dream candidates, then we take 2 of the commonly referred schools (SLU, Dayton, VCU, Richmond). The key thing is waiting another 5-10 years will allow those schools to rise to the occassion.

SLU was trending incredibly up while Majerus was there. Now Crews seems to be destroying that program.
Dayton had defined mediocrity but now Archie is revitalizing that program.
VCU has had a long line of success but Shaka took it to another level, can Wade maintain it. And Richmond...I don't know much about them.

Point being, we are fine now and waiting can only help us by either getting a major program via windfall or further curating potential programs that were left out of the first round of expansion.

[Xudash]

Spot on with what? That Dayton will never even be a candidate? Once again, it's X fans superiority complex at play. Even if MOR has inside info at X doesn't mean he does at Marquette, SJU, Nova etc etc etc. If you think that Dayton wont even be considered than I have a bridge for sale you might be interested in.

Why don't you X fans take your own advice. We get it, you don;t want Dayton. You can quit the whole "They will never even be considered" stuff because we all know it's BS.[/quote]

You're still trying to sell your bridge.