AAC Has A Good Future?

[Connecticut]

If none of the P5 conferences expand and the AAC remains how it is, do you think it has a good future next season?

Football in the AAC has been improving each year. In football last season, Temple, Houston, Navy, and Memphis were all very good teams, conference and out of conference games. UCONN, ECU, and Tulsa were okay. SMU, Tulane, and UCF were terrible in football this season, but even the P5 conferences have bottom teams. Two examples are Rutgers and BC.

I also expect better results from basketball next season if everything remains. Even though they are banned this year, SMU is really good and nationally ranked. Cincinnati is also really good and expect them to make and do well in the tourney this year, and maybe even better next year. Wouldn't surprise me to see Cincinnati make the Top 25 before March Madness. Unfortunately, this season isn't really UCONN's year. But next season this UCONN team should make the tourney and be a Top 25 team. Tulsa is doing pretty good so far and Temple is decent but could get better. Houston should be really good next season. I forgot his name, but ECU has this player who has shown flashes and was involved in their wins vs Temple and Memphis. Unfortunately, I don't think Tulane, UCF, or USF would be that good next year.

So what do you guys think? If no realignment happens, do you see the bright future for the AAC that I am seeing? I think if no realignment, this conference shocks a lot of people next season.

 

[Stainmaster]

This conference is (and always will be) a steaming pile of garbage, regardless of whether or not anyone leaves.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

I don't give a single about the AAC. I don't want to think about long term of this conference as I hope we are out by then.

 

[BoatShow]

As long as no one is poached honestly this horrible conference could grow into an okay conference.

 

[amory]

I'll preface this by saying I don't like the AAC, and I think UConn is in deep if we're here much longer, and inevitably the AAC will be poached. It's not a matter of if, but when.

But that said, if it were guaranteed that the league would stay the way it is now for the long haul, it'd be a pretty decent conference. Clearly worse than the other major conferences, but clearly better than the rest of the G5.

 

[Ts5034]

Well...from a basketball perspective, if you take away the bottom half of the league (USF, ECU, Tulane, UCF) the rest of the league is actually very respectable especially the way SMU has played, and Tulsa has been a nice surprise. But, the reality is you cannot just ignore the bottom half of the league and its just a shame because they weigh down the teams in the upper half so much. Looking into the future, I think what you see is what you get. UConn, Cincy, Memphis, and Temple will continue to be tough teams. I dont know what happens to SMU when Larry Brown decides to walk away but you would think they take a step back. The teams from the bottom of the league need to step it up to give this league some respect. With that said, I really hope we get out of here soon

 

[noeynox]

The basketball with 9pm tip offs on ESPN U for UConn suck. Our games on CBS sports are followed by SE lousiana vs northeastbumphuck state. Suffice it to say with each passing day in this conference I hate it more. I wanted to see it succeed but it seems impossible.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Unless they find a way to pay each team $20,000,000 a year it will always be a travesty. Quality of competition is last on my list of importance.

 

[Drew]

people confuse the quality of play with not wanting to be in this conference. I would take the B1G, ACC, XII, PAC12, or SEC over the American 7 days a week but that doesn't mean there aren't some positives about the American in terms of competition.


The football honestly might be better than the Big East football was. There were 4 legitimate top 25 teams last year and Houston will start the season this year in the top 10 with a Heisman candidate at QB. Navy will always be at least competitive as they have proven and then theres teams like ECU, Temple, Memphis, Cinci who are quality quality football teams. I expect a large jump from Tulsa next year and Tulane should be much more competitive with Fritz. Oh and I haven't even talked about Scott Frost at UCF and USF with their momentum. Football wise this conference is awesome.

Basketball is improving but the league needs to see some continued turnover in coaching. Lebo, Jones, and Conroy have to go. Would love to see one of those teams go after a Mark Jackson type or someone with a big name. The other basketball coaches in the league are actually pretty good with Brown, Cronin, Ollie, Dunphry as the core. Pastner needs to be upgraded at Memphis and Haith will inevitably lose it at Tulsa before leaving but those are moves that are probably 1-2 years out.

AAC needs to somehow get to $8-10mm per school on the TV contract. If it can do that we can be here for as long as we need to be without worrying about how it will affect our ability to continue to employ top level staff and programs.

 

[Matrim55]

This conference it the darkest timeline for like 3/4s of the members. No sugarcoating that turd.

 

[ZooCougar]

Assuming it's AAC schools getting poached, further realignment can only make the AAC worse. Will it get better? Who knows, but it will never pay us what we need.

 

[4in16]

Saying we wanted to be in a conference with Carolina schools didn't mean East, depressing.

 

[dwalks93]

The deck is absolutely stacked against the AAC and it has no future. The P5 controls college sports and will take care of their own.

This year the AAC will be lucky to put 2 teams into the NCAA BB tournament. It is not because AAC teams are terrible and cannot compete but more because the B10, ACC, B12, etc.. want 6 of their teams in. G5 conferences get a taste, not a meal. The margin for error in the G5 is razor thin.

The future in football is even worse. How do you compete with conferences paying $40 million when you are getting $2 million? Answer - you don't. The difference between P5 programs and G5 programs is only going to get wider as the money increases.

The AAC has no rivalries, no geographic proximity and no shared history. Is UConn/SMU in BB ever going to match UConn/Syracuse? Do UConn football fans get excited to play Tulsa? Tulsa may be better than BC in football but BC is a hated rival and we want to play them.

I really hate to be so negative but the AAC is the island of misfit toys. It is a purgatory where programs go while they struggle toward a P5 offer. There are only 2 classes in the AAC: 1. those programs that are leaving 2. those programs that are dying. I hope UConn is the first.

 

[SubbaBub]

Is the Mountain West a good conference? The old Conference USA? The MAC?

The question answers itself just like, "Does the hobbled gazelle get eaten by the lion?"

 

[upstater]

The basketball with 9pm tip offs on ESPN U for UConn suck. Our games on CBS sports are followed by SE lousiana vs northeastbumphuck state. Suffice it to say with each passing day in this conference I hate it more. I wanted to see it succeed but it seems impossible.

The conference does suck...

...but TV isn't the problem.

UConn would be on TV less in the P5.

The ESPN-friendly deal that the AAC cut with the network requires a huge stockpile of games, and UConn being UConn means that ESPN has chosen to go with the most valuable property on its ESPN/ESPN2 games. Add in 2 on CBS like we had this year against Ohio State and Texas, and UConn is now one of the top 5 in the entire country in terms of exposure. I looked at the ACC last year and saw that teams like NC State, for instance, only made it on the big 3 channels (ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS) five times the entire year, whereas UConn had 1`6 games. This year I believe UConn is at 15.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

Hopefully, UConn will be out of there soon. Long-term, there is a need for a conference made up of academically strong colleges that still play close to higher level sports. Consider a conference with Rice, Air Force, SMU, Tulane, Army (FB), Navy (FB), UMass and Buffalo. Maybe throw in a few others. There is also a need for another conference with strong football programs but not as strong academically.

 

[SAMCRO]

The AAC will always be the tallest midget.

 

[Sea Goat]

Motion to summarily terminate and erase this thread... Any seconds?

 

[CTMike]

The AAC will always be the tallest midget.

Or the least of a very situation. In other words... Still .

 

[SubbaBub]

I don't consider CBS Sports to be on TV. Local PBS is TV, but not in the context of CR. You either need to be on a nationally watched channel (ESPN, FOX, BTN) or a dominent regional one (YES, SNY, SEC, LHN).

 

[HuskyHawk]

Please understand that quality of play is just one factor. The American is decent for quality of play. It isn't terrible. That being said, playing P5 schools, even if they are ranked the same as American schools, has more appeal. Houston was better than Texas A&M in football last year, and yet playing A&M has more appeal. It always will.

If you are a kid going to high school prom, and you can go with a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model everyone knows or a girl nobody knows who looks exactly the same (and lets say personality is the same), which has more appeal? No team in this conference will ever be exciting for UConn fans. Look at how excited we were to play Georgetown, even though Tulsa is possibly better.

 

[Dooley]

The title of this thread is "Does the AAC have a Good Future?". The answer to that is simple: No. No G5 conference has a "good future". As soon as any G5 conference begins to even sniff a "good future", the P5 governing body will change the rules to make it more difficult to realize a "good future". If that doesn't work, the P5 conferences will raid the G5 conferences to dilute the "good future" pool.

The message is loud and clear - the G5 pool, consisting of almost half of the FBS football playing schools inside the NCAA, is allowed one entrant into a New Year's 6 bowl. Forget playoffs, we are just talking about NY6...formerly BCS. Out of 16 schools that will play in the playoffs and NY6 bowls, a pool of over 60 FBS football programs compete to send one lone entrant. And the one lone entrant is greeted with no marketing of the game that they play, the lowest TV ratings of any NY6 bowl, a P5 opponent who will take the bowl week wings eating contest more seriously than the actual game, a P5 opponent's fanbase that would rather stay home and watch a PBS documentary than their team playing against a G5 school, a stadium that is half empty, and a plethora of excuses explaining why the G5 school's season was a fluke and they won't get back ever again. And then there are the bowl tie-ins: games scheduled against the other G5 dregs scheduled on days and times of day that nobody watches TV and played in cities that guarantees poor attendance.

In basketball, it's almost worse. Ranked G5 teams are not guaranteed to be part of the tourney field. Seedings are absurd. Then there is the regular season TV. Yes, we are all quite a bit (if you have CBSSN and ESPNU on your package), but they are on premium channels with non-conventional tipoff times. No Big Mondays. No power packed doubleheaders that encourages a fan to commit to an evening of good basketball. Our games are usually sandwiched with games that alumni of playing schools won't watch.

So, no, the AAC or any G5 conference does not have a good future. Could a G5 conference put together a good year here and there? Absolutely. 2015 AAC football took a lot of people by surprise, including me. Pound for pound, you could argue that AAC football was every bit as good as ACC football (Clemson exception, of course). But that won't be the norm. UConn's future is the only future that I concern myself with and as long as it is tied to the AAC, it is not good.

 

[4in16]

The deck is absolutely stacked against the AAC and it has no future. The P5 controls college sports and will take care of their own.

This year the AAC will be lucky to put 2 teams into the NCAA BB tournament. It is not because AAC teams are terrible and cannot compete but more because the B10, ACC, B12, etc.. want 6 of their teams in. G5 conferences get a taste, not a meal. The margin for error in the G5 is razor thin.

The future in football is even worse. How do you compete with conferences paying $40 million when you are getting $2 million? Answer - you don't. The difference between P5 programs and G5 programs is only going to get wider as the money increases.

The AAC has no rivalries, no geographic proximity and no shared history. Is UConn/SMU in BB ever going to match UConn/Syracuse? Do UConn football fans get excited to play Tulsa? Tulsa may be better than BC in football but BC is a hated rival and we want to play them.

I really hate to be so negative but the AAC is the island of misfit toys. It is a purgatory where programs go while they struggle toward a P5 offer. There are only 2 classes in the AAC: 1. those programs that are leaving 2. those programs that are dying. I hope UConn is the first.

No we don't get excited to play Tulsa in football because we still haven't played them yet, haha.

 

[willie99]

the AAC is already better in football than the BEAST was in later years

in hoops, it's trending up, it takes time