Big 12 no longer an option

[HooperScooper]

For this week's edition of the Dribble Handoff, our writers are playing the role of College Sports Commissioner and putting basketball first. "If you could choose one realignment move for the sake of college basketball, what would it be?" Here are our responses to that prompt.

UConn to the ACC​

I know, I know, for Huskies fans, leaving the Big East after finally reestablishing your identity as a national powerhouse isn't all that appealing.........

Dribble Handoff: UConn, Gonzaga among teams that would benefit from a basketball-first realignment plan

These are the basketball-centered conference realignment moves we'd like to see

www.cbssports.com

 

[InTheRed]

Think of this like your career and how you can increase your salary. If someone offfered basketball only for more than Big East dollars, you take it. But you keep looking for a better deal. Maybe that includes football but with a partial payout. You take that as your next step. And then so forth and so on. The problem on this board is people think we should be CEO but we dont have the experience to get that.

 

[Tiamat7]

Screw the P5. We’re national champs with a great class coming in, a fine coach, and a top 5 preseason ranking. The sky isn’t falling.

Agreed. And I love the Big East! However, there will be an arms race for top coaches, facilities, etc in the future, and if UConn doesn't get into a P4 conference eventually, we will lose competitive advantage due to our budget constraint. Unless the State, boosters, and/or NIL fills the gap. It's simple arithmetic.

I pray that Val and the Big East office is thinking strategically about possible expansion with select ACC schools when that conference implodes.

 

[mauconnfan]

Mad Dog Sirius Dusty and Danny have covered it pretty well over the last few weeks. Many of you Husky fans have jumped on expressing their thoughts. They are very respectful of our hoop program but believe we were left at the altar. Dusty ended the show saying Jim Mora has done a tremendous job with the football program let’s see what he can get done this year.

I am not at all unhappy about this but so know eventually money will play a bigger factor than the Big East can provide. All good for now!

 

[alphasigko]

The Big 12 was never going to add UConn or the Zags... That was all fake talk... Similarly, the ACC will not add UConn anytime soon. If they ever wanted UConn they would have done so by now, especially when we were looking to get out of the bogus AAC before we moved back the the NBE.

 

[TheHorde]

Check out the salaries of NBA players, and just sports in general. They are absolutely exploding. That’s the future. And it’s going to eventually make its way down to college sports. The NCAA is losing all control over the NIL situation.

We are fine now. What about when the top 100 players in the country are demanding $5 mil a year by 2030?

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I’m with the ACC and hopefully them being able to keep UNC.

We get money. Cuse, Pitt, BC, Ville, and other OBE rivalries back. Add Duke (how fun would it be to play them twice a year) and maybe UNC. Have a travel schedule that makes sense

ACC or Big Ten us. Big Year for Mora to do his part. Football team almost literally playing for their lives this year.

 

[businesslawyer]

Since this is the Basketball Forum I’ll say, “who cares”…F the Big 12.

We are still in an elite basketball conference with a storied and proven past and I think most of us would rather play BB in the BE where our past history started. We will still have national recognition, we will still recruit top players and the BE will still resonate with local and national kids.

As a UConn basketball fan I have no problem staying where we are (AS LONG AS THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL WORLD DOESN’T CHANGE AROUND US).

I fixed it for you. The world might not change around us for another 20 years. Maybe all the football money will continue to be spent only for football and the Big East schools can continue to spend us much as the P-4 schools on hoops. Maybe there will never be a breakaway from the NCAA and we can continue to compete against the P-4 schools. That is a realistic possibility.

Unfortunately, it is not the only realistic possibility, and pretending it is doesn’t get us anywhere if it turns out not to be so.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Screw the P5. We’re national champs with a great class coming in, a fine coach, and a top 5 preseason ranking. The sky isn’t falling.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I’m with the ACC and hopefully them being able to keep UNC.

We get money. Cuse, Pitt, BC, Ville, and other OBE rivalries back. Add Duke (how fun would it be to play them twice a year) and maybe UNC. Have a travel schedule that makes sense

ACC or Big Ten us. Big Year for Mora to do his part. Football team almost literally playing for their lives this year.

ACC is always on the verge of being dismantled

 

[king conn]

Basketball writers talking about realignment.

Always a good thing

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

ACC is always on the verge of being dismantled

I agree. But it at least puts us in line to get picked from when it does to give us a better chance.

 

[king conn]

I agree. But it at least puts us in line to get picked from when it does to give us a better chance.

And what kind of media deal would the leftovers get after that happens?

For a hint, refer to the PAC leftovers dying on the vine right now

 

[superjohn]

And what kind of media deal would the leftovers get after that happens?

For a hint, refer to the PAC leftovers dying on the vine right now

We have no clue what's going to happen in the future with any of this stuff.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

What are all the conference realignment folks to do without their crack pipes?!

Let the (actual) games begin!!!

 

[king conn]

We have no clue what's going to happen in the future with any of this stuff.

We don't know if the world ends tomorrow either

All we can do is extrapolate from what has happened so far

 

[superjohn]

We don't know if the world ends tomorrow either

All we can do is extrapolate from what has happened so far

You're talking about media deals, you really think it's going to look anything like it looks now in the future when the ACC busts up?

Why bring it up?

 

[king conn]

You're talking about media deals, you really think it's going to look anything like it looks now in the future when the ACC busts up?

Why bring it up?

Um yes, it's pretty obvious, and the biggest will only get bigger.

Why bring it up? Are you serious with this? If you haven't noticed, we are on the outside right now.
Looking to hook up with others on the outside is not something to hope for

 

[LoyalFanCT]

the misguided basketball fanatics got their wish

 

[superjohn]

Um yes, it's pretty obvious, and the biggest will only get bigger.

Why bring it up? Are you serious with this? If you haven't noticed, we are on the outside right now.
Looking to hook up with others on the outside is not something to hope for

I ask why you bring it up because the premise is stupid. You're talking about the value of a linear TV contract in a future where linear TV isn't the future.

 

[king conn]

You just inserted the word linear, and then called it stupid. Your go to method in all your posts

Whoever is paying. Linear, streaming, will pay the top dollar to who they perceive to be the best conferences. Those will be who controls the CFB playoffs, the autonomous conferences. Nobody is going to abandon fiscal responsibility and throw billions at a conference of scraps

To believe otherwise is beyond stupid

 

[superjohn]

You just inserted the word linear, and then called it stupid. Your go to method in all your posts

Whoever is paying. Linear, streaming, will pay the top dollar to who they perceive to be the best conferences. Those will be who controls the CFB playoffs, the autonomous conferences. Nobody is going to abandon fiscal responsibility and throw billions at a conference of scraps

To believe otherwise is beyond stupid

To believe any of this looks like it does now is beyond stupid.

 

[Uconn10922]

Personally I'm sick and tired of waiting for an invite and being used by the Power 4 teams to add to their respective leagues. It's time for UConn and the Big East to get creative. This is what I would do.

First invite Gonzaga, Stanford, Cal, Washington St. and Oregon State to the Big East and put them in a West Division that includes: Creighton, DePaul, Marquette. The rest of the Big East is in a East Division. You play those teams in your own division twice and each of the other division once. Alternating home and away each year.

In football UConn, Stanford, Cal, Washington St. and Oregon State all agree to play each other once while they fill up the rest of their schedule with independents and buy games.

Next, you talk with Syracuse, Boston College and Pitt and tell them that when the ACC breaks apart and they are left high and dry that you will take them back. At the same time your talking to San Diego State and tell them that you have a spot waiting for them. Then you wait for the ACC to dissolve, take back the former Big East teams and add San Diego State. Move Xavier, Butler and San Diego State to the West Division and continue with the play 2 in your division format and play 1 in the other division.

Now you have 9 football teams that play each other once a year and fill your remaining schedule with buy games. Negotiate your own football TV deal.

I'm just saying it's better then just waiting around for something that is never going to come.

 

[Hoopcrazee]

Big 12 leaving UConn, Gonzaga behind in conference realignment will prove best for both in long run

I believe the headline only..Done reading anymore articles about realignment....We would have always been an outsider in the Big 12...good luck to them...We'll see how all these mega tv mega conference deals work out..See some Big 10,12, 14, or 16 fans are already pissed that some of their games this year will be streamed only ( Peacock? )...great way to lose excitement...we'll do better next time ACC? Big whatever, football only conference plus NBE???? who knows

 

[superjohn]

I believe the headline only..Done reading anymore articles about realignment....We would have always been an outsider in the Big 12...good luck to them...We'll see how all these mega tv mega conference deals work out..See some Big 10,12, 14, or 16 fans are already pissed that some of their games this year will be streamed only ( Peacock? )...great way to lose excitement...we'll do better next time ACC? Big whatever, football only conference plus NBE???? who knows

I think this is the high point for network deals, they're dying and will continue to die. This is still the early stages of all this stuff. If the lawyers and gov't don't get involved and we don't get back to regionality the future is going to be about brands. They won't continue the gravy train for all these suck programs and brands will be paid.