How much did we make from the NCAA tournament?

[Xavier4036]

Also, since you so astutely noted the NCAA "rewards consistency", the American is going to be hurting once the Big East units run out in a few years. Below are units earned since realignment - (only comparing to AAC since that is the conference you are a fan of)

2017 Big East 13 American 3
2016 Big East 12 American 5
2015 Big East 11 American 3
2014 Big East 6 American 12 (9 from current AAC teams - Louisville made it to the S16 that year when still in the Stever conference for 1 last year before moving to ACC).

That would be 10.5 for Big East and 5.75 for American. Not to mention, the Big East is split among 10 teams and American split among 11.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Stever is right. There absolutely is a separation occurring - however, it is occurring with the American, not the Big East. And that division is occurring in both football AND basketball. It is currently happening in TV media revenue, on-field/on-court success and attendance. The reality is that a conference like the AAC, or any G5 conference, requires P5 matchups and opponents in order to be successful and nationally relevant. The whole "P6/G4" garbage is just the act of insecure fan bases refusing to acknowledge that a division has already occurred, and that they are locked on the outside looking in. AAC fans' trollish behavior against other G5 fan bases is an embarrassment towards those that are true fans for their respective teams (it's no wonder that so many have been banned in recent weeks).

Want reality? Here is a dose of some:

Total number of AAC Football Games vs. P5:

2014: 25
2015: 24
2016: 23
2017: 18

Notice a trend? It's going down every year.

AAC football records against P5 since 2014:
Regular Season: 20-52 (.277%)
Bowls: 4-14 (.222%)

But, what about basketball? The struggles of the AAC have been well-documented on here and on other forums. Those that do not recognize these facts as reality are either blinder homers of the AAC, or those that wish to diminish the actual accomplishments of the Big East in order to "prop-up" the failures of the American.

The other truth is that the Big East and the American were never in competition with one another. That battle was over before it even started when the C7 left and got a far more richer and lucrative TV deal without the lowly athletic programs that clearly devalued programs in UConn/UC/USF.