Non-Big East Conference Realignment Thread v. 2017

[kayako]

Its a fine line between being reactionary and proactive.

Yeap totally. I just hope the presidents are open minded, and all indications are that they are.

[kayako]

A10 allows teams to keep 75% of the earnings of tournament credits while the other 25% is split between conference members.

That's interesting info, and I am quite shocked that conference members agreed to such a lopsided split. No wonder Dayton and VCU, and going back further Xavier and Temple were at top of that league forever. As far as I know, the Big East's tourney credit split is unknown atm, but I hope it isn't anywhere near 75/25. It just isn't healthy.

[ivet]

OK, what if...hear me out now....St Louis or Duquesne or Richmond hire Mark Few with a 10 year contract. Would we take in that school immediately knowing...that the school is committed to basketball?

[kayako]

Mark Few IS Gonzaga, and you give him better facilities and St. Louis TV Market? An easy yes.

[Gopher+RamFan]

OK, what if...hear me out now....St Louis or Duquesne or Richmond hire Mark Few with a 10 year contract. Would we take in that school immediately knowing...that the school is committed to basketball?

What if Brad Stevens left the Celtics for Saint Bonaventure?

I think VCU would leap to the AAC if Dayton and the Shockers went too. Would likely keep UConn from joining the Big East. Would be a great basketball conference (if theres no poaching or just 1 school leaves). NCAA tourney bid floor would be at 4, posssibly get 6-8 teams a year.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

OK, what if...hear me out now....St Louis or Duquesne or Richmond hire Mark Few with a 10 year contract.

Mark Few IS Gonzaga, and you give him better facilities and St. Louis TV Market? An easy yes.

An easy 'no'. Meet Mark Few:

Mark Few is fine outside the spotlight - ESPN - February 17, 2015

A trip to the Final Four would be a nice. A national championship would be nicer.
But catching a fish like this, that's pretty good, too. (Courtesey of Gonzaga Athletics)

Mark Few isn't going anywhere.

[herodotus]

OK, what if...hear me out now....St Louis or Duquesne or Richmond hire Mark Few with a 10 year contract. Would we take in that school immediately knowing...that the school is committed to basketball?

Nope! You'd still want to wait for the outcome. St. Louis and Duquesne are easily the best fits from an institutional, market, and geographic standpoint. No duplicate markets either, but the basketball is so bad, especially Duquesne. I did a little digging on them. They once posted 55 winning seasons in a 60 year period, but cratered after the BE was formed. You'd think they would stumble into an occasional great season. Nope! 35 years years of mostly horrible ball. St. Louis isn't as bad, but still. Either of those two would have to become dominant in the A10 for an extended stretch before they'd seriously be considered for expansion.

[herodotus]

OK, what if...hear me out now....St Louis or Duquesne or Richmond hire Mark Few with a 10 year contract. Would we take in that school immediately knowing...that the school is committed to basketball?

What if Brad Stevens left the Celtics for Saint Bonaventure?

I think VCU would leap to the AAC if Dayton and the Shockers went too. Would likely keep UConn from joining the Big East. Would be a great basketball conference (if theres no poaching or just 1 school leaves). NCAA tourney bid floor would be at 4, posssibly get 6-8 teams a year.

Speaking of St. Bonaventure, if the original BE had been put together a decade earlier, how could you have kept Bona out? The league might have looked quite different. What if chris Ford hadn't taken out Bob Lanier's knee in a game where Bona blew out Nova in the 1970 Eastern Regional Final? Bona might well have beaten UCLA for the National Championship that year, which might have had a profound effect on eastern basketball during the 70s.

[kayako]

http://www.cbssports.com/college-basket ... onference/

Now Dodd chimes in on Wichita to AAC. Whatever "full membership" means, if it's Wichita only, lol @ AAC footprint for UCONN and Temple.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

VCU and/or Dayton would never leave the A10 for the AAC.

Wichita State is not even on the radar of the Presidents of the Big East schools. It is a public commuter school with 14,500 students, very low academic standards, and a 96% acceptance rate. In short, it is the polar opposite of the Big East schools in every institutional category.

The thing is, if VCU were to leave for the AAC, the A10 would be down to Dayton, maybe Rhode Island, and then a huge drop off.

So if VCU were gone, Dayton would be in really deep trouble. The A10 would be lucky to be as good as the MVC was this year if VCU is gone. And it would be a whole hell of a lot harder to keep Archie Miller in a conference like that.

March 7, 2017 Tweet

VCU AD Ed McLaughlin, on recent report AAC may want to add VCU and others: "We have no interest in the American Athletic Conference."