BE7 fans - tell us who YOU want!

[jkc_dawgs]

East
Georgetown Hoyas
Providence Friars
Saint John's Red Storm
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Seton Hall Pirates
Villanova Wildcats

West
Butler Bulldogs
Creighton Bluejays
DePaul Blue Demons
Marquette Golden Eagles
Saint Louis Billikens
Xavier Musketeers

I hate to break up the UD-X rivalry, but hey it happens. They can still play every year, just like X and Cincy. The reason I chose St. Joe's is because of their market. I like them in the conference for an even East, West split as well. Just makes sense for me. Tell me what you think!! Thanks!

[GumbyDamnit!]

East
Georgetown Hoyas
Providence Friars
Saint John's Red Storm
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Seton Hall Pirates
Villanova Wildcats

West
Butler Bulldogs
Creighton Bluejays
DePaul Blue Demons
Marquette Golden Eagles
Saint Louis Billikens
Xavier Musketeers

I hate to break up the UD-X rivalry, but hey it happens. They can still play every year, just like X and Cincy. The reason I chose St. Joe's is because of their market. I like them in the conference for an even East, West split as well. Just makes sense for me. Tell me what you think!! Thanks!

St. Joe's and Nova are 10 miles from each other. Doesn't make a lot of sense to pull 2 teams from the same market unless it's NY. Also no chance in hell Nova is going to agree to bringing St. Joe's in.

[Bluejay]

East
Georgetown Hoyas
Providence Friars
Saint John's Red Storm
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Seton Hall Pirates
Villanova Wildcats

West
Butler Bulldogs
Creighton Bluejays
DePaul Blue Demons
Marquette Golden Eagles
Saint Louis Billikens
Xavier Musketeers

What strikes me most about the above alignment, and really all of the proposed divisional alignments, is how much better the west is than the east. I've got concerns about VCU fitting in culturally, but I almost think they need to be in just to give the east another NCAA caliber team from the outset.

As to those that say they don't want divisions at all, I have to disagree. Divisions are essential to limit the travel costs of the olympic sports.

[Jet915]

East
Georgetown Hoyas
Providence Friars
Saint John's Red Storm
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Seton Hall Pirates
Villanova Wildcats

West
Butler Bulldogs
Creighton Bluejays
DePaul Blue Demons
Marquette Golden Eagles
Saint Louis Billikens
Xavier Musketeers

What strikes me most about the above alignment, and really all of the proposed divisional alignments, is how much better the west is than the east. I've got concerns about VCU fitting in culturally, but I almost think they need to be in just to give the east another NCAA caliber team from the outset.

As to those that say they don't want divisions at all, I have to disagree. Divisions are essential to limit the travel costs of the olympic sports.

They might just not do divisions for basketball but do it for Olympic sports.

[pki1998]

East
Georgetown Hoyas
Providence Friars
Saint John's Red Storm
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Seton Hall Pirates
Villanova Wildcats

West
Butler Bulldogs
Creighton Bluejays
DePaul Blue Demons
Marquette Golden Eagles
Saint Louis Billikens
Xavier Musketeers

I hate to break up the UD-X rivalry, but hey it happens. They can still play every year, just like X and Cincy. The reason I chose St. Joe's is because of their market. I like them in the conference for an even East, West split as well. Just makes sense for me. Tell me what you think!! Thanks!

St. Joe's and Nova are 10 miles from each other. Doesn't make a lot of sense to pull 2 teams from the same market unless it's NY. Also no chance in hell Nova is going to agree to bringing St. Joe's in.

I would love to have St. Joes in the league. Xavier and St. Joes have had a pretty good rivarly since X joined the A-10. Unfortunitly GumbyDamnit is right that adding St. Joes doesn't make sense in terms of $$$$. Since dollars are apparently the only thing that matters in the conference realignment world it will never happen.

[pki1998]

As to those that say they don't want divisions at all, I have to disagree. Divisions are essential to limit the travel costs of the olympic sports.

They might just not do divisions for basketball but do it for Olympic sports.

I think Jet915 hit the nail on the head, just becuase they do something for basketball doesn't mean they have to do the same for non-revenue sports.

Basketball only discussion - I am not sure why people are opposed to the divisions. If its a 10 team league obviously there is no to have divisions just play home and home with every team for an 18 game conference schedule. If you jump out to 12 teams the home and home probably doesn't work, since I doubt anyone wants a 22 game conference schedule. The divisions solves this problem and gives you a 16 game schedule. Or even better you could assign each team 1 or 2 permanent rivals in the other division. Each year you would play the permenant rival twice, giving 17 or 18 conference games.

[DemonBaby]

East
Georgetown Hoyas
Providence Friars
Saint John's Red Storm
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Seton Hall Pirates
Villanova Wildcats

West
Butler Bulldogs
Creighton Bluejays
DePaul Blue Demons
Marquette Golden Eagles
Saint Louis Billikens
Xavier Musketeers

I hate to break up the UD-X rivalry, but hey it happens. They can still play every year, just like X and Cincy. The reason I chose St. Joe's is because of their market. I like them in the conference for an even East, West split as well. Just makes sense for me. Tell me what you think!! Thanks!

Replace St Joes with VCU and I think you've got it. No way Nova lets St Joes in.

[RUBillsFan]

With that logic Butler and VCU should have stayed in the Horizon and CAA for an "easier road to the NCAA tournament". Why do you think they jumped to the A10? Most would argue just the opposite, that it's harder to make in to the tournament in 1-2 bid leagues where you have to win your conference tournament to get to the dance. See Drexel 2012 http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... el-dragons

I don't want to hi-jack the thread. I just want to clarify. It may be harder to get an at-large bid from a weaker conference, but it is much easier to get the automatic bid. You could make the argument that VCU(96,04,12)/Butler(97,98,2000) only got a few of those NCAA bids because they won their conference tournament in a weak(er) conference, not because they were good enough to get an at-large bid. By contrast, SLU has only once (2000) won their conference tournament to get the auto bid because they have been in stronger conferences throughout the last 20+ years.

The reason those schools jumped to the A-10 is the same reason any school jumps conference. It is all about money. They have potential to make much more of it in the A-10 than they do in the CAA or Horizon. NCAA bids/shares are only a small piece of the overall revenue puzzle.

[Edrick]

The lowest seed that Butler has received since 2003 is a 9.

EVERY year that Butler makes the tournament, this year included, they'd make it as an at-large or auto-bid.

Hell, there are at-larges down on the 12 line.

Before that? Possibly, but who cares? This isn't a referendum on the state of things several presidencies ago, but what is the current reality.

[yorost]

Marquette fan, here.

The three I will be disappointed in if they do not join: Creighton, Butler, Xavier.

After that I would love to say Gonzaga and Notre Dame, but it's not hard to see both are asking for later problems. Shame. Notre Dame would only have incentive to join based on avoiding the ACC football requirements. I doubt that's even enough for them to care to not go ACC. Wouldn't we all go ACC if invited? Georgetown to ACC might be the single biggest threat to this new conference. Though, for all I know it might have zero chance of happening.

Next up: Dayton, especially if they help secure a bigger interest in Ohio. Would two teams there manage that? I don't know. Great attendance and a city that cares about D1, basketball, that'll be good for conference stats. Mix that with a solid program and it would be hard to pass them up.

The final choice comes down to Creighton, if you ask me. If Creighton gets added St. Louis all of a sudden looks a heck of a lot better in helping to connect the conference. It delivers a nice market and has a nice upside, although you don't expect them to help the basketball image. Likely won't hurt it, though, either, they probably fall in line well with the bottom half of the 7.

Others: VCU I know is popular, but they're a big gamble with a big downside. If they had success for a few more years it would be easier to have a solid opinion. They just don't seem to fit, though, and I just think they could be the school with the biggest chance of regret later on among fans of the other teams. It's not like they offer THAT much more than St. Louis. They just don't feel right, don't exactly know why. George Mason I think I might want to take over St. Louis, so long as Georgetown was ok with it. It just leaves Creighton out in oblivion. so If Creighton were in St. Louis this would be an easy call.

Other than that, this new conference could have an uncanny overlap with the B1G.