2015 American Conference Divisions

[HawkHusky]

Just curious as to what BYers would prefer for football:

North: UCONN, Temple, Cincinnati, Memphis, East Carolina, Navy

South: UCF, USF, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, Houston

OR

East: UCONN, Temple, East Carolina, Navy, UCF, USF

West: Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, Houston

What it really comes down to is if you'd rather have Memphis/Cincinnati or UCF/USF in UCONN's division.

 

[Bill Sussman]

Just curious as to what BYers would prefer:

North: UCONN, Temple, Cincinnati, Memphis, East Carolina, Navy

South: UCF, USF, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, Houston

OR

East: UCONN, Temple, East Carolina, Navy, UCF, USF

West: Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, Houston

What it really comes down to is if you'd rather have Memphis/Cincinnati or UCF/USF in UCONN's division.

We absolutely need to play home and homes with Cincy and Memphis EVERY year

 

[huskymedic]

Depends in some degree what sport you are talking about and how they will work scheduling.

Think you need to split the Florida/Texas schools for geographic recruiting exposure (no same year home and home for football).

 

[gioff23]

My preference would be east/west, with us sharing a division with Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers

 

[Carl Spackler]

Are there actually going to be divisions in football once Navy joins?

If so - then the north / south alignment makes most sense, with regular cross division scheduling such that each north team gets a game in Florida and Texas annually, and each florida and texas program comes to the northeast corridor annually.

It's also a no brainer, that temple, cincy, Memphis, and ECU I suppose, need to be home and homes in basketball and non-revenues. They are our nearest travel destinations. The AAC and UCONN is going to have to set up a contract at reduced rates for volume with Jet Blue or something out of Hartford. I bet all of the schools are already in talks, or have contracts in place for airfare out of their local hubs.

 

[UConn Dan]

Are there actually going to be divisions in football once Navy joins?

Yes, current NCAA rules for football require two even divisions for a conference championship game (requiring 12 or more teams in order to do so). You must play all the teams in your division. It was the AAC's intent to get to 12 for a conference championship game.

 

[UConn Dan]

Depends in some degree what sport you are talking about and how they will work scheduling.

Think you need to split the Florida/Texas schools for geographic recruiting exposure (no same year home and home for football).

I agree -- they will probably non-geographic divisions w/ splitting the Florida/Texas schools and making those schools their permanent cross-division rivals.

I can see something like this:
"East" "West"
UConn Temple
Tulsa Tulane
Cinci Memphis
ECU Navy
USF UCF
SMU Houston

 

[Carl Spackler]

Yes, current NCAA rules for football require two even divisions for a conference championship game (requiring 12 or more teams in order to do so). You must play all the teams in your division. It was the AAC's intent to get to 12 for a conference championship game.

I thought so, wasn't sure.

In that case, IMO, we need to be set up in such a way that we travel to Florida and Texas every year.

THe eventual football divisions may make no geographic sense at all (for football) but should make excellent sense for recruiting for the entire conference as every program in the northeast and central sector should play in florida and texas every year at least once, and each program from florida and texas should play in the northeast corridor at least once a year.

Look at a map of the AAC conference membership. Our recruiting territory isn't so much competing with the ACC, as it is with the SEC. We will be able to draw players from the regions where we play football.

as for basketball and non-revenue sports, the north/south alignment seems to make the most sense for home and homes and the easiest regional travel, which in this conference means shortest flights.

 

[UConn Dan]

I don't think there will be divisions in basketball as there will only be 11 teams. They will play 8 teams 2x and 2 other teams 1x only per season (I'm sure the teams you play will rotate like the old big east).

 

[HawkHusky]

I hate the idea of a non-geographical split. It makes me think of that horrible Legends/Leaders experiment where no one knew who was in what division.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that we go B1G before having to deal with this.

 

[Adios]

East and West sounds right. Or else the South division will dominate.

 

[UConnDan97]

I like the East - West split.

That keeps Cincy and UConn separated (I eventually believe that we will be the top two football powers in each division). It also allows us to keep the I-95 thing going, where we can build some semblance of a rivalry with Temple and Navy, and UCF-USF can become a big thing as well (also, SMU-Houston on the other side and possibly a re-visiting of Cincy-Memphis). I think the idea that one of the FL and TX teams need to be in each division for recruiting is vastly oversold. Unnecessary in my opinion...

 

[Vowelguy]

Absolutely positively MUST be east-west.

 

[SubbaBub]

I think this can be put to rest. The divisions will and should be based on playing FB games in FL and TX every year.

It's a necessity for recruiting. Any other alignment is a huge mistake.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The two Texas schools and the two Florida schools will be in different divisions as there is no way that (for football) the conference is going to have any schools that won't take an annual trip (for recruiting purposes) to either Florida or Texas. It will be east/west, almost assuredly what Hawk Husky proposed in that scenario.

They may get a bit creative for hoops to enable more compelling scheduling.

 

[Gregory Koch]

It would be hard to set it up to travel to both Florida and Texas each year. If the other 8 teams travel to both Florida and Texas every year, then that's 16 games in Florida and Texas and that's those four teams' entire home schedule, meaning they couldn't play each other, ever. So no UCF-USF, ever, or SMU-Houston, ever. Which makes no sense and those four schools would never go for it. It's simply not possible.

But I'd settle for traveling to one of those states every year. If there are two divisions of six with a geographic east/west alignment, we would be with USF and UCF, and the rotation could be set so we play one of those two teams away every year. We would then get three games against the opposing division, meaning they could set it up so all the East division teams play SMU and Houston in alternating years. They could also probably set it up so one of those games is home, one is away, and then it switches. So every East Division team would go to Florida every year and Texas every other year, and the West Division teams would go to Texas every year and Florida every other year.

That's basically the best we're going to get. No way we go to both every year. But Florida every year and Texas every other year isn't bad.

 

[Ha Who]

East: UMASS, Temple, East Carolina, Navy, UCF, USF

West: Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, Houston

 

[UConnDan97]

I think this can be put to rest. The divisions will and should be based on playing FB games in FL and TX every year.

It's a necessity for recruiting. Any other alignment is a huge mistake.

I'm confident that you are correct in saying that the split FL and TX divisions will happen. Skip Holtz (when he was part of the discussions) said as much.

But I don't think it's a "necessity for recruiting", not by a long shot, and I have yet to hear from anyone as to why it would be. Do we get a bunch of Florida players simply because we have played USF over the last decade or so? Do we get a majority of Jersey kids because we played against Rutgers? In my opinion, the biggest factors for getting those kids to come to your school is not simply just playing there once a year (instead of once every two years!), but by winning on tv. So before we declare it a huge mistake, I would love to see some data to support the idea...

 

[Gregory Koch]

I'm confident that you are correct in saying that the split FL and TX divisions will happen. Skip Holtz (when he was part of the discussions) said as much.

But I don't think it's a "necessity for recruiting", not by a long shot, and I have yet to hear from anyone as to why it would be. Do we get a bunch of Florida players simply because we have played USF over the last decade or so? Do we get a majority of Jersey kids because we played against Rutgers? In my opinion, the biggest factors for getting those kids to come to your school is not simply just playing there once a year (instead of once every two years!), but by winning on tv. So before we declare it a huge mistake, I would love to see some data to support the idea...

There's also the fact that it's mathematically impossible for all teams to play in Florida AND Texas every year, assuming we stay with an 8 game schedule. Unless, UCF, USF, Houston, and SMU never play eachother, it's simply not possible. There aren't enough games in the schedule. At best, we can play in Florida every year and Texas every other year (or the other way around) and I think that's what will happen. The East Division teams play in Florida every year and Texas every other year, while the West Division teams do it the other way around.

Even if you expand the conference schedule to 9 games, each East Division team would still only play in Texas two out of three years. So we gain one extra game in Texas every six years, but lose a game to schedule a potential marquee opponent. We need to have a good OOC schedule if we ever want to move up to a better conference. That probably isn't worth it, assuming WM manages to schedule competently.

 

[pj]

There's also the fact that it's mathematically impossible for all teams to play in Florida AND Texas every year, assuming we stay with an 8 game schedule. Unless, UCF, USF, Houston, and SMU never play eachother, it's simply not possible. There aren't enough games in the schedule. At best, we can play in Florida every year and Texas every other year (or the other way around) and I think that's what will happen. The East Division teams play in Florida every year and Texas every other year, while the West Division teams do it the other way around.

True, but ...

Put one team from Texas and one from Florida in the East, one each in the West. Teams play every team in their division annually, that's 5 games, and half the teams in the other division annually, that's 3 games. An East team plays its division's Florida and Texas teams annually (so one game a year in Florida or Texas), and plays the other division's Florida and Texas teams biannually (so 1/2 a game a year in Florida or Texas) averaging 1.5 games per year in Florida or Texas. However, add in home games against Florida and Texas teams, and that's 3 games per year in which Texas and Florida kids are watching you on TV. So there's a recruiting benefit.

 

[UConnDan97]

True, but ...

Put one team from Texas and one from Florida in the East, one each in the West. Teams play every team in their division annually, that's 5 games, and half the teams in the other division annually, that's 3 games. An East team plays its division's Florida and Texas teams annually (so one game a year in Florida or Texas), and plays the other division's Florida and Texas teams biannually (so 1/2 a game a year in Florida or Texas) averaging 1.5 games per year in Florida or Texas. However, add in home games against Florida and Texas teams, and that's 3 games per year in which Texas and Florida kids are watching you on TV. So there's a recruiting benefit.

Your math is correct, but I still have yet to buy into the idea that it will affect recruiting for any given school. If that were the case, C-USA would have dominated all of the conferences that didn't have Florida and Texas teams, since they had SMU, Houston, and UCF combined. So recruiting in places like Southern Mississippi should have been through the roof. Well, it wasn't. They're horrible.

Unless someone provides me data (even anecdotal evidence!) that it will increase recruiting, I don't see any reason why athletic departments in the AAC should increase travel any further than they have to. I think that keeping conference travel down and building regional rivalries is the key to making this conference successful. In my opinion, the Texas / Florida conference splitting ideology is based on an illusion...

 

[kobe]

Here is what I believe the divisions will be:

East: Connecticut, Temple, Cincinnati, East Carolina, South Florida, Central Florida
West: Navy, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, Houston

Cincinnati recruits Florida heavy, so we want a game in the state every year. There will be serious opposition for UC to being in the west division so Navy will go west where they can play the private schools SMU, Tulane and Tulsa.

-----
However, I would really have preferred if the league stayed at 10 teams all-sports and 2 football only's (Navy and Army). Tulsa and Tulane are worthless adds IMO.

 

[Gregory Koch]

True, but ...

Put one team from Texas and one from Florida in the East, one each in the West. Teams play every team in their division annually, that's 5 games, and half the teams in the other division annually, that's 3 games. An East team plays its division's Florida and Texas teams annually (so one game a year in Florida or Texas), and plays the other division's Florida and Texas teams biannually (so 1/2 a game a year in Florida or Texas) averaging 1.5 games per year in Florida or Texas. However, add in home games against Florida and Texas teams, and that's 3 games per year in which Texas and Florida kids are watching you on TV. So there's a recruiting benefit.

I'd prefer a geographic split, but that would work too. Either way, you're playing 1.5 games a year in Florida and Texas. The issue is how they're split. I'd rather be guaranteed a game in Florida every year, even if it meant Texas every two years, since as as an East Coast school, I think we can recruit better there. Likewise, schools like Tulsa will recruit better in Texas than in Florida and would benefit from having a game there every year, even if they only played in Florida every two years. So they would support it as well. Not to mention geographic alignments are a lot simpler and less confusing.

In any case, we should be playing three games in Texas or Florida every two years, for an average of 1.5 per season, no matter what the split.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I like @kobe divisions the best.

UConn, Temple, Cinci, UCF, USF, ECU.

I can say I'd be excited to play those teams every season. The less games with Tulane, Tulsa the better.

Our division would be significantly more difficult than the West but if we want an upgrade in conference we have to be able to beat these teams.