UCONN maybe left at the wayside with BYU | Page 2 | The Boneyard

UCONN maybe left at the wayside with BYU

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dream Jobbed 2.0

“Most definitely”
Joined
May 3, 2016
Messages
14,827
Reaction Score
55,739
UH in a 2 team add puts 5/12 teams in one state. Granted it's 4/10 now but 5/12 is even worse.
 

CL82

2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
56,515
Reaction Score
206,305
I agree the price for UH would be three non-Texas schools - but that would have to include BYU. Those three schools cannot be Cincinnati (seen as a good addition by most/all), UConn (seen as a good addition by some, a hassle for travel and/or poor football by others), and one of Memphis/UCF (seen by OU and/or Texas as unacceptable) - especially if the networks are pushing back so hard against four teams, in favor of two. That's why my thoughts are if BYU is off the table, it makes the four-team compromise extremely difficult to arrive at. I know we all can't stand the Twitter rumorers, but Flug's point about getting to four to get to two makes complete sense here - ONLY if it includes BYU. If BYU is out, and the networks are pushing hard for two instead of four, and Texas is threatening to torpedo the whole process if they don't get what they want (Houston), I cannot see the rest of the league putting their foot down to admit UConn instead of Houston. Texas is more important to the B12 than UConn is. But I agree with you that if BYU is in the picture, Texas can push for Houston as they apparently want, OU and the rest of the league can push back and say OK, but we need UC, BYU and team 14. In that scenario, we have a shot. This all gets back to Texas's support for Houston. If it's truly strong, we've got a problem. If it's not, we have a better chance.
My guesses - UConn without Houston? Nonstarter. Houston + 3 from the east? Possible.

  • UC- Proximity, and they aren't going embarrass you in the big sport
  • UConn - national brand and a door to the potentially lucrative northeast.
  • UCF - Recruiting grounds, and potential
  • Houston- good football last year and Texas politics.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
5,782
Reaction Score
15,762
My guesses - UConn without Houston? Nonstarter. Houston + 3 from the east? Possible.

  • UC- Proximity, and they aren't going embarrass you in the big sport
  • UConn - national brand and a door to the potentially lucrative northeast.
  • UCF - Recruiting grounds, and potential
  • Houston- good football last year and Texas politics.
That makes sense, I guess I just have trouble seeing the large state schools jumping at taking a third-level directional state school. At least the city schools are in contention are secondary. There's definitely a stigma out there, right or wrong, about directional state schools.
 

Dooley

Done with U-con athletics
Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
9,965
Reaction Score
32,834
My guesses - UConn without Houston? Nonstarter. Houston + 3 from the east? Possible.

  • UC- Proximity, and they aren't going embarrass you in the big sport
  • UConn - national brand and a door to the potentially lucrative northeast.
  • UCF - Recruiting grounds, and potential
  • Houston- good football last year and Texas politics.

Makes sense to me. Do it.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
6,578
Reaction Score
16,671
Cincy and Houston are foregone conclusions. Frankly, they do the least for national conference exposure. Texas is already represented and Houston is a non-flagship, second tier college. Cincy is living in the shadow of an OSU/B1G dominated market and has no reach beyond its metro area. It is also a non flagship university. The only two schools that provide the Big12 with credible national brand market expansion are BYU and UConn. I don't see them adding directional schools no matter how lucrative the markets may theorectically be. It kills conference branding.
 
Joined
Aug 2, 2013
Messages
1,975
Reaction Score
1,549
The best thing for the Big 12 is to add UConn and Cincinnati.
The best thing for Texas is to add Houston and one other school (probably Cincinnati).

The Big 12 members need to decide which of the above they prefer.
The other big question is whether or not the Big 12 extends the GOR. If the Big 12 does not extend the GOR that may be an indicator that some schools are looking to get out as soon as they can. Not a good sign for the long term health of the conference.

Ideally the Big 12 adds UConn and extends the GOR.
Worst case is they don't add UConn and they extend the GOR.
If they don't extend the GOR that means that more CR remains a possibility in a few years.
If they add UConn and don't the extend the GOR then UConn needs to be careful. Accepting a long term reduced share and agreeing to a GOR could put UConn in a bad position. It would really suck if by the time UConn is in a position to get a full share Texas and Oklahoma leave and the full share isn't worth that much. Unfortunately, being the AAC is also a bad position, so I think UConn has to accept almost any Big 12 offer; but UConn still needs to negotiate for as much as it can get.
 

UConnNick

from Vince Lombardi's home town
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Messages
5,076
Reaction Score
14,074
This only happens if Texas's support for Houston is public only, but privately they're willing to leave them out. My comments are under the assumption that privately Texas is pushing for UH as hard as they are publicly. If UT is indeed not pushing for them privately, we have a different ballgame, if BYU's honor code is deemed to be a pill they can't swallow. Then UC and UConn becomes a VERY viable possibility. But if Texas in reality wants Houston as bad as they're saying in public, Texas gets Houston.

I'm not sure that's the case. I tt a former UT insider who still has lots of friends there, and they indicated the athletic administration has no use for Houston. That push is coming solely from the academic side because they want this Houston campus, for some unknown reason. Of course the athletic administration has no real influence on how this plays out. It certainly sounds like there is a great deal of hand wringing going on internally at UT regarding the Cougars. It's a contrived campaign to achieve a certain goal that UT wants...a Houston campus.
 

RedStickHusky

formerly SeoulHuskyFan
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
4,268
Reaction Score
16,265
A lot of hand wringing on whether the b12 wants to associate itself with BYU at this point. I'd argue the bigger question is whether BYU can make any accommodation that would satisfy them without sacrificing its' identity.
 

HuskyHawk

The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
31,862
Reaction Score
81,491
That makes sense, I guess I just have trouble seeing the large state schools jumping at taking a third-level directional state school. At least the city schools are in contention are secondary. There's definitely a stigma out there, right or wrong, about directional state schools.

Houston is secondary? Ahead of who...A&M? TT? They are the 4th best program among public schools in TX, and more like 6th if you count private schools. Memphis is secondary among public schools I suppose, but is behind Vandy and competes heavily with Ole Miss, which is very close. Cinci, I agree, is definitely the second best program in Ohio, a large state. But I think UCF has more upside than Memphis.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
8,406
Reaction Score
7,935
200w.gif
Houston and Memphis are trying to learn how to walk the walk.....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Online statistics

Members online
96
Guests online
2,802
Total visitors
2,898

Forum statistics

Threads
155,799
Messages
4,032,032
Members
9,865
Latest member
Sad Tiger


Top Bottom