H.U.S.T.L.E. wrote:Aw, billyjack, that stings me a bit. Fair enough, the UNCs and UVAs of the world can be pretentious, but you can get on the ground floor with me to watch Virginia Tech's rise to the top of college basketball! We don't play much defense, but we shoot a lot of 3s and are pretty fun to watch!
(Sorry, Marquette fans...)
GoldenWarrior11 wrote:H.U.S.T.L.E. wrote:Aw, billyjack, that stings me a bit. Fair enough, the UNCs and UVAs of the world can be pretentious, but you can get on the ground floor with me to watch Virginia Tech's rise to the top of college basketball! We don't play much defense, but we shoot a lot of 3s and are pretty fun to watch!
(Sorry, Marquette fans...)
Don't be sorry. The number of off-the-court incidents, as well number of players that end up not graduating, has significantly declined to zero since Wojo took over. When Buzz no longer feels like the underdog at VT, he will move on to another job. I'd be shocked if he was still there in three years.
The adherence to strictly religious schools has stripped the NBE of that armor. At 10 religious schools, conference consolidation could seemingly put the conference in a perilous predicament. Would it still be wise to use a religious litmus test to expand the conference at that point? I'm not so sure. I'm not sure why that action plan ever went into effect.
CrawfishBucket wrote:With the Finebaum piece on OU looking around, are we going to see conferences move to 16?
Right now, the B1G is at 14 Bball, the SEC is at 14 Bball, the ACC is at 15 Bball, the Pac 12 is at 12 Bball, and the Big 12 is at 10.
So, the Big 12 (the runt at 10) is obviously being singled out as the weakest. Even though it was one of the stronger Bball conferences.
If the Big 12's 10 schools get assimilated into the other all-sports conferences, the B1G, ACC, SEC, and Pac 12, will likely move to 16 (not a stretch). The AAC is also poised to assimilate up to 4.
Where does that leave the current Big East?
The NBE all of a sudden looks very dissimilar in that landscape. Not only would it be down 6 schools but there is no similarity between a small group of catholic schools and the large publics that are steering the marketplace. One of the biggest strengths of the former Big East was the shield (i.e. umbrella) of the large enrollment all-sports schools. That component made the Big East one of the establishment.
The adherence to strictly religious schools has stripped the NBE of that armor. At 10 religious schools, conference consolidation could seemingly put the conference in a perilous predicament. Would it still be wise to use a religious litmus test to expand the conference at that point? I'm not so sure. I'm not sure why that action plan ever went into effect.
Bill Marsh wrote:
Thanks for the heads up on the Finebaum comments about Oklahoma.
The future of the Big 12 and the next round of realignment really hinges on what OK and Texas do. If Finebaum, who is very connected in that part of the country, is right, then the Big 12 as we know it won't exist in 5 years. IMO, that will yield zero candidates for the Big East. Football schools will continue to play football and the BE isn't interested in going down that road again. What's more interesting is the implication for a TV contract if the 10-team Big 12 dies and everyone else grows even bigger than they are now.
Savannah Jay wrote:Bill Marsh wrote:
Thanks for the heads up on the Finebaum comments about Oklahoma.
The future of the Big 12 and the next round of realignment really hinges on what OK and Texas do. If Finebaum, who is very connected in that part of the country, is right, then the Big 12 as we know it won't exist in 5 years. IMO, that will yield zero candidates for the Big East. Football schools will continue to play football and the BE isn't interested in going down that road again. What's more interesting is the implication for a TV contract if the 10-team Big 12 dies and everyone else grows even bigger than they are now.
Finebaum is an SEC guy...Tennessee grad that made his name covering sports for Birmingham, AL paper. One of the talking heads on SEC network, too. If OU is "looking around" and Finebaum is the one reporting it, I can only assume that means they've inquired with the SEC.
In the last round of realignment, I think the Oklahoma state officials (state as in government, not the school) were making noise about blocking any move by OU unless it took OSU with it...
Return to Big East basketball message board
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests