Simply put the BE isn’t very good .With the Johnie’s not clicking no one in BE can compete with us . a few road games may be tough and could lose one or two.. almost like when tarks team dominate at UNLV. football the boss but we need a new conference
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Are we underestimating the Big East?
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Little steps, 2nd weekend for 3 teams with a final four(Champion) for a 3rd. Granted 2025 had 4-1seeds, but 2023 with San Diego St and Florida Atlantic was not long ago. HOWEVER..the whole game(nil, rev sharing) has changed a lot in those 3 years. Guessing going forward the final fours will be a lot more like 25 than 23.
Read Conference Tealignment Forum in totality. Which Conference do you choose Joe?
I suppose that might be true based on the statistics this season but the statement you reference was really meant in the future and that is what I see. I have watched a number of BE teams and based on the eye test, none of them can really compete with the athletes that the SEC and B10 teams have and I see that divide continuing as well. SJU’s defense in the first half v Kentucky was very very good. They were connected and sound and had a 10 point lead. Kentucky's physicality and length really wore SJU down and SJU was completely throttled and dominated by Kentucky in the second half. And that was SJU, other than us, what do you think would have happened with any other BE team?
ninety-nine
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I'd be thrilled if we perform as expected, and one other BE school manages to get to the Sweet 16. Heck, I'd be happy if BE schools who aren't UConn win two games total.
nelsonmuntz
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A lot of things are going to be different in the future.
College football has about a 99% likelihood of becoming maybe 20-25 programs competing for playoff spots, and 5-10 of those competing for an actual championship, and everyone else is completely irrelevant. We could get invited to the ACC tomorrow and it wouldn't fix that. College football fans are going to have to get comfortable with either a) making the playoffs is a big achievement, or b) becoming fans with one of the 5-10 programs that can really compete.
Football is game over. The barriers to entry for competing at the highest level are too high to compete unless the next Jeff Bezos is a UConn grad. If people want to doom post about the future, post about that. The door is closed, the ladder has been lifted, the ship has sailed. Use any analogy you want, UConn will never compete for a football national championship no matter what we do.
Basketball needs fewer players to compete and the talent evaluation is less straightforward since the top players head to the NBA at a young age, so a bigger number of schools will be able to compete for a while. Still, the noose is already tightening. The payrolls needed to compete make it difficult for all but a few dozen schools, and even many of the major conference programs can't compete with teams in their own conference because not all schools are prepared to make that financial commitment to a sport.
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It is annoying how every thread turns into a CR thread and those people should be shamed
These two programs for example want to move up:
UConn is in the Big East which is not ideal. It has MSG but no football and the conference seems to be not as strong as most years
USF is in the American which is not ideal. It has arguably the best G6 football but weak basketball
I certainly don't want to rejoin the American but if UConn were currently in the American, it would be less not ideal than being in the Big East because it would be a home for football. UConn's time in the American was awful and a combination of coaching changes, major CR upheaval, and fan disinterest. We don't know how the basketball team would have rebounded if we stayed in the American and it doesn't matter at this point. UConn will be in a football conference at some point and it will likely be an amalgamation of the ACC and American.
The AAAPCC - The Amalgamated American Atlantic Pacific Coast Conference
I think college football outside the P2, should they break away, will still be extremely valuable. Not the insane amounts being thrown around because the bubble will burst, but there are still millions of fans and kids who want to play football for an education. I think the NIL bubble will burst too. It's a spending spree which has too many negative effects.
These two programs for example want to move up:
UConn is in the Big East which is not ideal. It has MSG but no football and the conference seems to be not as strong as most years
USF is in the American which is not ideal. It has arguably the best G6 football but weak basketball
I certainly don't want to rejoin the American but if UConn were currently in the American, it would be less not ideal than being in the Big East because it would be a home for football. UConn's time in the American was awful and a combination of coaching changes, major CR upheaval, and fan disinterest. We don't know how the basketball team would have rebounded if we stayed in the American and it doesn't matter at this point. UConn will be in a football conference at some point and it will likely be an amalgamation of the ACC and American.
The AAAPCC - The Amalgamated American Atlantic Pacific Coast Conference
I think college football outside the P2, should they break away, will still be extremely valuable. Not the insane amounts being thrown around because the bubble will burst, but there are still millions of fans and kids who want to play football for an education. I think the NIL bubble will burst too. It's a spending spree which has too many negative effects.
I agree Nelson which is why I really don't watch college FB anymore other than UConn and the FBS championship. College FB is ruined but it is what it is. Whether you think that the Top 50 programs will break away from the NCAA completely or not it is clear that the SEC and B10 run college FB and we are probably headed to a 16 team play-off with 8-10 spots going to those two conferences. I was at a holiday party on Sat night and sitting between a Texas alum and an Ohio State alum - - both completely opposed to any G5 representation in the FBS playoffs (and to be fair, the Tulane and JMU performances didn't help the cause) and seemingly completely okay with maybe 10 teams having the chance to win the college FB championship every year. Also, completely okay with the majority of the FBS playoff spots going to their conferences - - they both said that the conferences are so big now that the playoff construct works because not everyone plays everyone else during the regular season. Obviously, the G5 cannot compete financially but it's also the fan/brand perception of the teams that should be playing and that TV will pay for. There is no regard for any G5 brand in football, how exactly do you fix that? And it's not like non-football athletic success can carry the day - - we, as a fan base, have seen that first hand with the B12 discussions among other ways.
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It's never getting down to 20-25 teams - how did you get that number? It could get down to 50-70. It'll be the SEC & B10, likely along with plenty of the B12 & ACC, if it gets there.
Indiana getting there this year was a good example of the most unsuspecting program making a run. All it takes is the right coach.
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Obviously we have been looking to leave. I made that post to make the point that I have given up trying to personally be ok with being in the BE.
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So you land on the scenario that is worst for UConn. Sure.
It is already down to 20-25 programs. If Indiana wants to shovel money at their program, then they can play, as can any school that wants to do the same. Can they do it year after year? We will find out.
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I land on the scenario that is of the highest likelihood. If you're reducing it to 20-25 teams, you're taking away the novelty and excitement around a sport. Even pro leagues have 30 plus teams. What is a champion of 20 teams?
Indiana has a strong alumni group. I'm sure now that they've tasted this kind of success, they'll want to keep it there. I'm sure most of that group had no hope whatsoever a coach could come in and do this, it's that kind of story. You just wonder if Cignetti is long for IU.
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Nelson acts as if the NBE is on a high. UConn has been carrying the league. So who besides UConn and Villanova have made the Final Four? Since 2014 Look at the other leagues. 6 different SEC TEAMS, 6 different ACC teams, 4 different B10 teams, 4 different B12. I don’t even count P12 which is.deduct. To me this shows a league ‘s depth. Multiple teams have championship potential. The NBE is an inch deep while other leagues are feet deep. The NBE is mostly a one trick pony. Villanova is no longer a championship contender, to put it mildly.
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Good stats. This league has been Nova & Uconn, sprinkled in with a little Marquette and Creighton being S16 type teams for a bit.
You want games to circle and get excited for if you're UConn, teams that are going to keep up the league image and make you want to watch. I could honestly care less about watching BE games this year. There is nothing to watch. It's bad teams playing mid tier teams, trying to figure out how bad bad teams are and if mid tier teams might be good.
What is the BE tourney this year really? Need some juice. Even if StJ runs it, it'll just show how bad the BE is that a team that got beat by anyone good they played, having their way with this league.
The only team I'm excited to watch this year is SHU, because I do love Shaheen. And Nova, because I'm curious to see if Willard is the guy to get them back.
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Where would Cignetti go? He showed in a year or two he could make Indiana the best in the sport and he gets paid nearly $12 million per year.
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Probably no where other than a traditional power that isn't a basketball school. If I'm him, I stay put - less pressure with every opportunity to keep winning.
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UConn and Nova have won 7 national championships combined since the Big 10 last won a national championship and the Big East has way less teams. If the Big 10 ever finally wins a national championship I wonder if fans in the league will exclude the winner from their conference like some UConn fans do with UConn.
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Here is the thing SuperJohn, Benedict would run for another conference as fast as he could if they got an invite. UConn is very loosely connected to the BE. They are a STATE school with a FB program stuck in this thing. It's not by choice. The point of this argument is discussing why anyone but UConn, the Catholics, can pull their weight in hoops to survive as a meaningful power conference. Sure, they are better than the WCC and MW (low bar). But they're also well below a P4. Can they actually pull together NC type rosters on the go forward? So we have some semblance of a legitimate conference that fans of the P4's don't see as second rate.
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So what is the point of constantly saying the Big East sucks when we know it's our only option?
UConn has a championship roster again after taking a one year hiatus from having a championship roster after going back to back. Creighton was one second away from joining us in the final 4 in 2023 where they would've been favored in the semi-final game. Nova was in the final 4 in '22 and won two national championships fairly recently. The league is down this season but it's our league until something changes and a P4 invites us.
FfldCntyFan
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Yes, two schools have had tremendous success during that time span, but claiming Nova is at a similar stature now to it was during the Jay Wright years is like claiming Michigan football is similar to where it was when Harbaugh was in charge.
I do want to see Nova succeed, but until Willard does something impressive, it would be a stretch to believe he can get them to where they can make a deep tournament run. When he was at Seton Hall, he was better at whining than he was at winning and at Maryland, with an enormous amount of resources, he was quite underwhelming. Until he proves otherwise, he's a nepo baby riding on daddy's credibility.
If you were to take the top third of each P-level conference and compare, the middle third, the bottom third, where would be BE rank? Yes, there's a lot of mediocrity and below in P-level conferences these days, but the BE is in the most precarious situation and the conference as a whole is doing very little to help itself. If you want to turn a blind eye to this go ahead, but unless some of these schools turn things around in the next few years they may never have another opportunity to do so.
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Why would Willard leave Maryland with their enormous amount of resources to go to the "awful" Big East?
FfldCntyFan
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My guess would be self preservation. If he ran out another couple of years at Maryland and got canned, he'd be on a Steve Lappas or Archie Miller career path.
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Yep, it had nothing to do with Nova paying him more and Nova being the better program.
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Because it's kind of annoying that we are stuck here, lol.
Yes, Creighton was, but is now 3 years away. Times have changed quickly, not sure if you saw the Elite 8 last year. SDSU was a mid major as well, so it's not like they were up against the great teams.
Can Creighton, or anyone, do it again? I'm not seeing a positive trend TBH. From everything I'm seeing, not a lot of reason to think it will be different next year.
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Which is the point of most of the posters. Nothing more. Will it hurt UConn because they won't have enough "good" wins at the end of the season and will that effect UConn's NCAA Tournament seeding? And will that in turn effect UConn's chances of winning a national championship? I know that's stating the obvious. Borges even wrote an article about it.
Worrying about getting out of the BE isn't really worth discussing about at this point.