B12 to 16? WVU fans seem to think it's possible

[huskypantz]

Our loyal Eers compatriots have a thread on their scout board about the Big 12 possibly looking to 16. They talk about ND and how ND can be pressured into a conference - including the idea of an affiliation with ND similar to the BE's. They also believe that UConn would be in the mix due to ND's need to keep their east coast ties. Plus we play basketball. Well.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=159&f=4582&t=8493916

 

[WhaleEER]

This has been posted/tweeted ect. a lot. USF has also been mentioned to get the B12 a foot into Fla. I have seen UConn mentioned a lot lately. Of course none of this is actually more than rumors. This is the part of WVU to the B12 and the lawsuit that gets overlooked. If the B12 invites UConn, UofL and USF ( add SUNJ/Cincy if ND/BYU is a no), the BE is done, the other schools won't be coming. There will be no BE FB to try and collect from WVU by the time it gets settled. The TV people are said to be behind this and if ND is in the money will be through the roof. Texas wants 10, OK wants 12 and TV wants 14+.

 

[TRest]

Sounds like wishful thinking. There will still be a BE conference if football dissolves and damages will be owed to the conference regardless of membership.

 

[Adios]

Oh Bevo! Please accept us as a sacrifice to be a dingleberry on your behind!

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Oh Bevo! Please accept us as a sacrifice to be a dingleberry on your behind!

For what it's worth if the NBE does work out and they don't do away with the auto bid we'd be much more powerful and influential here than going anywhere else. Ideally I'd rather be in a conference that respects us.

 

[Adios]

For what it's worth if the NBE does work out and they don't do away with the auto bid we'd be much more powerful and influential here than going anywhere else. Ideally I'd rather be in a conference that respects us.

We're respected. It's an issue of which conference is of most use to us. The ACC is our worst option, athletically and financially. The NBE should be fine for a while, at least.

 

[Fishy]

For what it's worth if the NBE does work out and they don't do away with the auto bid we'd be much more powerful and influential here than going anywhere else. Ideally I'd rather be in a conference that respects us.

I find your take on a lot of this stuff indecipherable.

We have no power where we are. We're heading towards being a member of a feckless association of schools that are at best tolerating each other. There is no power or respect there. Zero - the most 'influential' school in this new association will have no influence over anything of note.

The new New Big East means the certain diminishment of our athletic program.

 

[Adios]

I find your take on a lot of this stuff indecipherable.

We have no power where we are. We're heading towards being a member of a feckless association of schools that are at best tolerating each other. There is no power or respect there. Zero - the most 'influential' school in this new association will have no influence over anything of note.

The new New Big East means the certain diminishment of our athletic program.

Our school is in very good shape and has the potential to go much further. We go from looking like a school in North Korea or the Soviet Union to a very nice looking campus. That type of progress says a lot. This new union of schools we are about to have is about trying to get ourselves to the "next level". We all share that common goal.

It is still surprising our football is likely to be better than the ACC.

 

[John Greene]

The common goal we share is survival and that is about it. Also on the football side the center of gravity will not be Storrs. To use a geographic analogy it will be somewhere in Colorado. The Texas, Idaho, FL axis will come to dominate the FB side. In time this could be detremental to our overall sport health.

 

[Adios]

Access to Florida and Texas is good for recruiting in football. Two of the biggest football recruiting hotbeds in the country. Plus, we have access to NJ, NY, PA, CA, OH. That's a huge footprint. I am sure Boise State gets most of their recruits from states other than Idaho.

 

[John Greene]

Access to Florida and Texas is good for recruiting in football. Two of the biggest football recruiting hotbeds in the country. Plus, we have access to NJ, NY, PA, CA, OH. That's a huge footprint. I am sure Boise State gets most of their recruits from states other than Idaho.

We have "access" to FL now and as far as TX is concerned I have a feeling our "access" would be to recruits who were largely not pursued the schools that are already there in state. TX, A&M, Baylor, SMU, TT,Houston, etc. all have a leg up on Uconn for any recruit they want. When you consider that every top program also focuses on Texas I don't buy the argument that Texas produces so many prospects that there will be plenty left over for UConn.

 

[Adios]

We have "access" to FL now and as far as TX is concerned I have a feeling our "access" would be to recruits who were largely not pursued the schools that are already there in state. TX, A&M, Baylor, SMU, TT,Houston, etc. all have a leg up on Uconn for any recruit they want. When you consider that every top program also focuses on Texas I don't buy the argument that Texas produces so many prospects that there will be plenty left over for UConn.

With the setup we are headed towards, recruits will get to travel around the country to dynamic cities. That is a solid selling point.

 

[John Greene]

With the setup we are headed towards, recruits will get to travel around the country to dynamic cities. That is a solid selling point.

Selling points are great but at some you have to convince a Texas kid to live in Storrs for 4-5 years rather than stay home or live in, OK, CA, LA, AL, AR, GA, MS, CO and all other other states whose schools recruit Texas. The states that I listed are those I could remember from a list in an article from the Bham paper regarding cross state recruiting. The point was that Texas was the state with the highest level of competition by out of state schools for prospects.

 

[Adios]

Selling points are great but at some you have to convince a Texas kid to live in Storrs for 4-5 years rather than stay home or live in, OK, CA, LA, AL, AR, GA, MS, CO and all other other states whose schools recruit Texas. The states that I listed are those I could remember from a list in an article from the Bham paper regarding cross state recruiting. The point was that Texas was the state with the highest level of competition by out of state schools for prospects.

Friggin' Iowa does well in recruiting the northeast.

 

[John Greene]

I want to avoid getting into point by point internet board discussions since the primary reason I check this board about once a week is to keep up with what is happening with Husky football. However there are many differences between a Big? school such as Iowa having some success in the northeast and Uconn trying to get good prospects out of Texas.

 

[ctchamps]

If the B12 go to 16 and poach the BE in doing this, they will more than likely increase the odds of getting a BE team in 2014 rather than 2013. If that is their game plan so be it.

The more I followed this realignment process the more I began to understand the irrationality of it. The only big winners are the bowls, the media, and a few dozen schools. Every one else is just hanging on or hoping to become one of the few dozen. I'm not sure things really make that much difference for UConn one way or another.

It is just as likely UConn can get a big media contract by staying in the weird BE configuration as they can get from the B12 or the ACC. And no one knows the stability of the B12 in the future or if the ACC will continue to become less and less relevant in football or basketball and how that will impact their future contracts.

Our logical arguments really don't matter in an emotional environment.

 

[Fishy]

We're going to be a Have Not in a system will absolutely cater to the Haves. The old Big East was on the outskirts of Haveville - the new one will be a plane ride away from it.

We're not gaining access to recruits in Texas or Florida...at least not the ones we need. Adding the fifth or sixth or seventh best programs in those states is no magic wand.

There is no upside here. The first victim will be the hoop program when Big Monday walks away.

 

[Hoophound]

UConn only risks declining in football in the NBE if they make it too hard to get players qualified. I've said it many times on this board-- Boise owes 50% of its onfield success to the fact that they can recruit anybody with a pulse. UConn needs to make sure that they don't make things too difficult for the staff with admissions during this important period in the school's evolution. We need to win and we won't win if our conference mates are playing by much different rules.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

I find your take on a lot of this stuff indecipherable.

We have no power where we are. We're heading towards being a member of a feckless association of schools that are at best tolerating each other. There is no power or respect there. Zero - the most 'influential' school in this new association will have no influence over anything of note.

The new New Big East means the certain diminishment of our athletic program.

I just disagree with pretty much everything you say. You feel like the NBE alignment is assured to get a sh!tty deal I feel like it's assured to get a decent deal. You feel like Boise St. doesn't have staying power and Houston and SMU have no potential and I disagree. You feel like UConn won't be a big name in the reconfigured Big East and I think the public comments that we are one of the linchpins go completely counter to your view.

 

[WhaleEER]

I just disagree with pretty much everything you say. You feel like the NBE alignment is assured to get a sh!tty deal I feel like it's assured to get a decent deal. You feel like Boise St. doesn't have staying power and Houston and SMU have no potential and I disagree. You feel like UConn won't be a big name in the reconfigured Big East and I think the public comments that we are one of the linchpins go completely counter to your view.

If Boise has to change the requirements of the kids they can accept to meet BE standards they will suffer a bit. Marshall is building their program on talented kids that couldn't get in anywhere else.

 

[Hoophound]

We're going to be a Have Not in a system will absolutely cater to the Haves. The old Big East was on the outskirts of Haveville - the new one will be a plane ride away from it.

We're not gaining access to recruits in Texas or Florida...at least not the ones we need. Adding the fifth or sixth or seventh best programs in those states is no magic wand.

There is no upside here. The first victim will be the hoop program when Big Monday walks away.

That is a huge issue too. We will need to schedule more challenging OOC games to stay on tv and help ensure we don't turn into Memphis.

 

[John Greene]

I just disagree with pretty much everything you say. You feel like the NBE alignment is assured to get a sh!tty deal I feel like it's assured to get a decent deal. You feel like Boise St. doesn't have staying power and Houston and SMU have no potential and I disagree. You feel like UConn won't be a big name in the reconfigured Big East and I think the public comments that we are one of the linchpins go completely counter to your view.

Its a real slow new year's day so here I go doing what I just said I wanted to avoid. BSU, SMU, and HOU staying power is of marginal benefit to Uconn at best. If the BE gets a HUGE contract, which I for one doubt, the additional money is good but as so many here claim when the topic is SYR of BC to the ACC, it takes more than money to sustain an athletic program. It takes interest in the games. I may be very wrong but I just don't see the average CT fan having much interest in most of the new rivals.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Its a real slow new year's day so here I go doing what I just said I wanted to avoid. BSU, SMU, and HOU staying power is of marginal benefit to Uconn at best. If the BE gets a HUGE contract, which I for one doubt, the additional money is good but as so many here claim when the topic is SYR of BC to the ACC, it takes more than money to sustain an athletic program. It takes interest in the games. I may be very wrong but I just don't see the average CT fan having much interest in most of the new rivals.

UConn is pretty well supported though. Our attendance is still over 35,000 when we play FCS and MAC teams. They may arrive late or whatever but we're still growing. I'm just not too worried about that. Are we Big 10 ready, not really, but we have a decent and growing fan base that I honestly think will support the team. And SMU, BSU, and Houston staying power will have a great impact on our games against them. If any of them come to the Rent ranked in the top 25 the fans and the team will definitely be pumped for the games. Boise St. at the Rent is a guaranteed sell out.

 

[businesslawyer]

I want to avoid getting into point by point internet board discussions since the primary reason I check this board about once a week is to keep up with what is happening with Husky football. However there are many differences between a Big? school such as Iowa having some success in the northeast and Uconn trying to get good prospects out of Texas.

You couldn't want to keep out of it too badly, now could you?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I find it unlikely that ESPN/Fox step up for another $120MM a year to the Big 12 to add 6 teams. The extra inventory is just not worth that much to ESPN/Fox, who both already have a lot of inventory. I think the only network that would be willing to go anywhere in the ballpark of $20MM a school for new programs is NBC or CBS/Turner, because they don't have any product right now so the incremental is worth a lot more to them than it is to ESPN or Fox.

People keep benchmarking off the wrong data points. The ACC, Big 12, B1G, SEC and Pac 12 are not expanding, Fox and ESPN are. Likewise, NBC and CBS/Turner seem to have at least a passing interest to increase their presence in this market, and could be major players in any future expansion decisions. There is an idiotic notion among a few on this board that some school would turn down more money to stay in the league they are currently in.

As of this moment, it appears that the Big East is still well positioned to take advantage of NBC's and CBS/Turner's (assuming they work collaboratively) desire to get a larger position in college athletics. NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN's interest in the constituent programs of the Big East and their desire for more inventory is the ONLY meaningful factor in UConn's athletic future. Everything else is noise.