Add Gonzaga and St Mary's

[Jet915]

I mean, I get that they'd be "travel partners" relative to how far they are from everyone else, but Spokane to Moraga, CA is roughly the distance from UConn to DePaul. Honestly? If the Big East is serious about Gonzaga then they should be coordinating with Fox and the Mountain West on Washington State and Oregon State.

Something like Zags/OSU/WSU to the Big East, OSU/WSU to the MW as football affiliates, OSU/WSU get full shares from both conferences to offset travel, Fox extends both conferences to be the house band for Fox Sports.

That still probably doesn't make sense though, even though Pullman's genuinely a bus ride from Spokane, and it's probably best for the Big East to treat the Rockies as a hard border.

WSU and OSU bring nothing to basketball and their arenas are gloriilfied gyms filled with fans that look like seats....

[Bogg]

I mean, I get that they'd be "travel partners" relative to how far they are from everyone else, but Spokane to Moraga, CA is roughly the distance from UConn to DePaul. Honestly? If the Big East is serious about Gonzaga then they should be coordinating with Fox and the Mountain West on Washington State and Oregon State.

Something like Zags/OSU/WSU to the Big East, OSU/WSU to the MW as football affiliates, OSU/WSU get full shares from both conferences to offset travel, Fox extends both conferences to be the house band for Fox Sports.

That still probably doesn't make sense though, even though Pullman's genuinely a bus ride from Spokane, and it's probably best for the Big East to treat the Rockies as a hard border.

WSU and OSU bring nothing to basketball and their arenas are gloriilfied gyms filled with fans that look like seats....

Both play in dramatically larger arenas than St Mary's does. Like multiples larger.

[redmen9194]

I'm a no on any expansion. There really is no need for it and after Gonzaga there is no one out there worth a look. Neither St. Mary's nor San Fran moves the needle in any way. I think we should stay at 11. It's tight, compact and full of talent and rivalries.

San Fran adds a huge media market and historical prestige, for context there's currently four teams with championships in our conference, San Fran has the same as Marquette and Georgetown combines.

St Mary's right now has a better basketball brand than most the conference. Small market unfortunately but they have 7 NCAAT appearances (and two regular season conference titles where they didn't appear) to your 3 since 2010, I'm not sure I'd complain SMC doesn't move the needle given those numbers.

St. Mary’s does not have a better basketball “brand” than most of our conference and it’s not even close. First, they don’t play the type of schedule that the BE plays so comparing their success to BE school success is apples and oranges. And in terms of brand, I have never seen a single item of St. Mary’s basketball being sold or worn anywhere I have been. Not one. St. John’s has less tourny appearances in the last ten years but they are a bigger and better brand than St. Mary’s for sure. One of the reasons the BE has been successful the last ten years is its size. There is no reason at all to expand. None. There is no value out there except for maybe Gonzaga but it’s not worth adding them. Let the football schools send their soccer teams from coast to coast. BE should stand pat.

[DeltaV]

I'm a no on any expansion. There really is no need for it and after Gonzaga there is no one out there worth a look. Neither St. Mary's nor San Fran moves the needle in any way. I think we should stay at 11. It's tight, compact and full of talent and rivalries.

San Fran adds a huge media market and historical prestige, for context there's currently four teams with championships in our conference, San Fran has the same as Marquette and Georgetown combines.

St Mary's right now has a better basketball brand than most the conference. Small market unfortunately but they have 7 NCAAT appearances (and two regular season conference titles where they didn't appear) to your 3 since 2010, I'm not sure I'd complain SMC doesn't move the needle given those numbers.

St. Mary’s does not have a better basketball “brand” than most of our conference and it’s not even close. First, they don’t play the type of schedule that the BE plays so comparing their success to BE school success is apples and oranges. And in terms of brand, I have never seen a single item of St. Mary’s basketball being sold or worn anywhere I have been. Not one. St. John’s has less tourny appearances in the last ten years but they are a bigger and better brand than St. Mary’s for sure. One of the reasons the BE has been successful the last ten years is its size. There is no reason at all to expand. None. There is no value out there except for maybe Gonzaga but it’s not worth adding them. Let the football schools send their soccer teams from coast to coast. BE should stand pat.

Agree. St Mary's is not a national brand, and trying to turn the Big East, no matter how well we think of ourselves, into a national brand isn't going to work as well as the BIG or even the ACC.

Gonzaga is an outlier. Are they worth it? Maybe, I see both sides of the coin and lean no, but won't be upset if they were to be added. But no one else is worth it. I'd rather have Davidson, VCU, or (Gasp!) Even Dayton before any of the other West Coast schools mentioned.

[Bogg]

Agree. St Mary's is not a national brand, and trying to turn the Big East, no matter how well we think of ourselves, into a national brand isn't going to work as well as the BIG or even the ACC.

Gonzaga is an outlier. Are they worth it? Maybe, I see both sides of the coin and lean no, but won't be upset if they were to be added. But no one else is worth it. I'd rather have Davidson, VCU, or (Gasp!) Even Dayton before any of the other West Coast schools mentioned.

I'm mostly in the same boat - Gonzaga's a fine candidate in a vacuum, but there's just nobody else out in their direction that makes sense for the conference. Unless Fox is adamant about getting Gonzaga in-house and pays well for it, any of SLU, Dayton, or the Richmond twins seem a more workable add to the conference. Hell, I could start talking myself into the Bonnies or "you know, if Duquesne/BU/Northeastern/whomever got their act together...." before settling on St Mary's/USF/Santa Clara as workable adds.

Obvious caveat that if a network decided (for some reason) to pay out the nose almost anything could be made to work.

[gtmoBlue]

Good discussions here.

Cal/Stanford were the only realistic picks of the PAC12 remainders - Excellent academics & Olympic Sports. Zags move the needle for basketball, but would have been a member over the last 2-3 years except
for all the travel, logistics issues. All WC schools are a terrible reach given the logistics issues. AS much as I like the Dons and their historic pedigree, they are in the Dayton/SLU/VCU bucket and 3000 miles away.
Any combination of WC schools is a real stretch...Fox's money would have to grow to accomodate such a risky move.

Agree. Stand still/pat and wait for the ACC implosion - better basketball fits coming up ahead.

[EMT]

I get nervous with single-coach success, especially with the distance. If Gonzaga can't maintain or come close to their current level of success, it is a disaster.

[Omaha1]

I mean, I get that they'd be "travel partners" relative to how far they are from everyone else, but Spokane to Moraga, CA is roughly the distance from UConn to DePaul. Honestly? If the Big East is serious about Gonzaga then they should be coordinating with Fox and the Mountain West on Washington State and Oregon State.

Something like Zags/OSU/WSU to the Big East, OSU/WSU to the MW as football affiliates, OSU/WSU get full shares from both conferences to offset travel, Fox extends both conferences to be the house band for Fox Sports.

That still probably doesn't make sense though, even though Pullman's genuinely a bus ride from Spokane, and it's probably best for the Big East to treat the Rockies as a hard border.

WSU and OSU bring nothing to basketball and their arenas are gloriilfied gyms filled with fans that look like seats....

Both play in dramatically larger arenas than St Mary's does. Like multiples larger.

My guess is that 0/11 Big East Presidents would vote to add either.

[Bogg]

My guess is that 0/11 Big East Presidents would vote to add either.

Probably, which is why I just think Gonzaga's too much of a geographic outlier with no good pairings. Unless the money's going to be dramatically better, would rather stand pat or, if they absolutely needed more volume, add out of the A-10 (or the AAC if we're really getting nuts).

[gtmoBlue]

okay, okay.

West Coast is not realistically doable (although adding the 2 catholic schools USD & USF would be nice).

Sooo. If you were to ask me (and no is) to pick from the AAC and the A-10 ONLY, while we await the ACC implosion. These are git's picks.

AAC - Temple. I don't give a heck what Gumby, Jack, Jay Wright, or other Novaites say.
A-10 - 1 or 2 of these: St. Bonnie, and either LaSalle, Holy Cross, or UMass.
Other - Carleton U, Toronto, CAN.

Temple has excellent pedigree and would be like UConn - regaining competitiveness in short order.
The Bonnies, HC, and LaSalle all have pedigree - ancient, but pedigree none-the-less., UMass has the Camby title.
Carleton U, Toronto, CAN. Both I and Billyjack have brought up CU previously. Excellent pedigree with a dozen championships. Excellent Hoops school.

While none 'move the needle', they add name value and initially boost the top/middle of the conference.
See ancient posts by - ?? (My guy up north...?? Adding middle/bottom teams to boost the top) ...name escapes me...
When the ACC implodes take Duke/Golden Domers or Duke/S'Cuse and call it 18.

PS: Although the Hall (Hall2012) may have got it right (18-team config) 2 years ago: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6986&start=230