As a university that would love to get a miracle life raft to the B1G, do we want Rutgers to suck so bad and draw so few that it even makes Delany re-think his strategy of eastward expansion? Or at the very least strengthen the resolve of the Presidents who want to keep it a midwest conference as much as possible?
I sure hope he starts rethinking his approach.
He's not going to stop trying for New York. It's too late to go back on that now that Rutgers is in the conference. But maybe he'll stop trying with raw population numbers and will turn to content/performance. We can't forget his quote about pursuing championships in all sports. We have always known that the addition of RU and MD was to get the "B1G boys" on DC/NY/NJ/Philly/Baltimore TV screens, not for pursuing championships, and now he has the bridges to expand contiguously for some actual contenders. If the B1G goes to 20 when the Big 12 GoR is up, I could see him going after UVA and UNC (now bridged by MD), UConn (now bridged by RU), and KU, OU and Texas (now bridged by Nebraska). I think we should not overlook the only B1G expansions since PSU in 1993. The ONLY things that the three schools have in common is their flagship status and contiguity with the footprint. But if you look just beyond, you see that these additions very well may have been calculated moves to eventually set up the addition of their much more desired neighbors, who would be geographically unavailable otherwise. Delany's just been working with what he has now, while UConn sucks at football, lacks AAU, and is discontiguous with PA; UVA, UNC, Texas, KU and OU bound in GORs and discontiguous with PA and Iowa; and Rutgers needed a life raft and MD had an impulsive president (and promising markets).
Imagine an East division of Indiana, MSU, Mich, OSU, PSU, RU, UConn, MD, UVA and UNC, and a West division of Purdue, Illinois, NW, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minn, Nebraska, KU, OU and Texas. The only way you could make a stronger top-to-bottom conference for basketball and football is if you took the 20 best schools from the ACC and SEC.
edit: maybe something like Miami, Florida, FSU, Georgia, Clemson, SC, Duke, VT, Cuse, UK, Louisville, Mizzou, LSU, Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, Memphis, Arkansas, Mississippi, NC State. But even then, there are several states with multiple teams in them. But that's what the B1G will force if they can establish this kind of footprint.
Rutgers is failing before they can even start. If UConn can't capture NY for the B1G, nobody can. We really are Delany's only option and always have been. I'm sure he knows this. Cuse is in the ACC and is the only other plausible school that could do so (although we all know NY doesn't care about Cuse like Cuse likes to think anyway)
