Apparently that would be more than a decade from now with the ACC GOR
Big East Expansion?
- Thread starter Storrs South
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With each passing year the GOR in the ACC becomes less of a deterrent for teams that want to leave or conferences that want to poach them.
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Also, if one or more teams leave the ACC there will be room for UConn. I for one feel confident on the future of the football team. No Coach PP, no Diaco, no Randy retread! With some wins UConn team can impress those ACC ADs
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The Football and Basketball Big East would have worked if the right teams were in. You had a bunch of schools that were close and rivalries were set. But Boston College screwed it all up if I remember correctly. If would have been a great league if it were like this.
Basketball -- Boston College; Providence; St. John's; Seton Hall; Villanova; Georgetown; DePaul; Marquette;
Football -- Connecticut; Syracuse; Pittsburgh; Temple; Rutgers; West Virginia; Cincinnati; Maryland
Basketball -- Boston College; Providence; St. John's; Seton Hall; Villanova; Georgetown; DePaul; Marquette;
Football -- Connecticut; Syracuse; Pittsburgh; Temple; Rutgers; West Virginia; Cincinnati; Maryland
CL82
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Army/Navy?
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yes, grab from the acc or just use virginia tech
Maryland is in the Big Ten.
CL82
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To get back on topic no matter how we feel about schools, if Fox says bring in Manchester Community College and the new contract makes everyone happy, MCC will be our new rival. Does anyone think any Big school wanted Rutgirls? No the networks did. Now how the networks feel about the schools mentioned in this thread is another story. But they don’t give two hoots about fans thinking that Xyz is the next Butler
CL82
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I’m not sure that “the networks” really wanted the Big Ten to add Rutgers. The Big Ten wanted to add Rutgers because their presents in the NYCDMA allowed the big 10 network to be on the first tier of cable there at a premium per subscriber price. In addition to that New Jersey’s 9 million population were an added bonus.
It was a smart deal financially, but no one was looking forward to the Rutgers matchups. To this day other B1G fanbases often question the decision. But fans cheer for the action on the field and on the court, that was never what their addition was about.
I just don't see any adds being what helps the Big East right now. Take all the P5 schools off the board (as much as I'd love Pitt, WV and Cuse coming back... it's never happening again). There's been a pretty good list on this thread of candidates (and others) and reasons why not.
Gonzaga - Eastern Washington isn't East enough (everything else would have been great though).
Temple / Loyola - Temple AAC exit fees and don't want to have shared markets.
VCU / Wichita St - Seem to be trending down a bit due to big name coach leaving (or being forced out)
St Louis - Nice market, not a great team.
UMass - Not much of a market add.
SMU / Memphis - AAC exit fees, becomes an island, despite success (at SMU), probably a football first school.
Iona / Davidson / Belmont similar teams that have recently been strong - bit of a long term risk, buy high, sell low
Vermont / Bonnies / Dayton - great in their leagues, don't have a market, probably not Big East quality year in / out. (Dayton in similar market to Xavier, as well)
Gonzaga - Eastern Washington isn't East enough (everything else would have been great though).
Temple / Loyola - Temple AAC exit fees and don't want to have shared markets.
VCU / Wichita St - Seem to be trending down a bit due to big name coach leaving (or being forced out)
St Louis - Nice market, not a great team.
UMass - Not much of a market add.
SMU / Memphis - AAC exit fees, becomes an island, despite success (at SMU), probably a football first school.
Iona / Davidson / Belmont similar teams that have recently been strong - bit of a long term risk, buy high, sell low
Vermont / Bonnies / Dayton - great in their leagues, don't have a market, probably not Big East quality year in / out. (Dayton in similar market to Xavier, as well)
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There are reasons to not want UMASS (too much competition / fear of them becoming good) but their potential television market value blows away everyone else in the field sans Gonzaga.
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TV DMAs don't matter anymore not that they carry the Boston market anyway, but now eyeballs matter and they don't bring much. There is a reason their football program is on the same platform as UConn's olympic sports.
Outside of hockey that AD has performed quite poorly and it has eroded alumni interest in the college athletics from my outsider's view of things.
Sure they could be a "sleeping giant" but you could say that of nearly any program if you upgrade them in conference, it doesn't mean much at end of day since it is a hypothesis. Historically in college athletics these types of bets don't work out (it's once the AAC has tried and failed and doubled down again with it's recent additions).
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CL82
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Well it would, if anyone in it cared about them. They don’t.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone anywhere fears UMass being too much competition, or fears them being too good.
CL82
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For what it’s worth, I think that UMass being good is a good thing for UConn, but it needs more than wishful thinking for it to happen. if Massachusetts makes an investment in itself such that its programs are competitive, then, and only then, I think they would be a good add to the Big East.
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My guess is at the end of the day they add Gonzaga, and everyone regrets it for the rest of time. Gonzaga because it plays half its games 3 time zones away and needs to drop many of its national games, and everyone else because it is all predicated on Gonzaga having an outsized national presence. If they step back even a little, it will be a problem. If they step back like we did, or like Butler did, or as UNC did before Roy, it will be seen as a disaster.
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UCF football is the prime example of a team getting upgraded and running with it. USF fans must be in agony seeing them get upgraded to the B12. It would actually be much easier for UMASS to do the same thing in basketball if they were ever upgraded to the Big East, especially with the portal.
Houston basketball also did very well with their upgrade to the AAC. This is why UCONN (and Providence) will block UMASS if they can even though nobody likes to admit it.
If UCONN ever gets upgraded to a P5 conference then the Big East would be smart to backfill with UMASS.
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CL82
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LOL, you might as well say UConn and Providence will block Central Connecticut from joining the Big East. It’s an easy statement to make, because neither school is even remotely close to being a suitable candidate.
To be honest, I don’t understand the thought process behind that. A strong UMass would be great for UConn and vice versa. When Connecticut made its first trip to the Hockey East championship game, UMass fans were very supportive. Having another national rival close enough that fans can easily make the trip would be good for both programs. Yeah, there’s no doubt that you’ll compete for recruits, but competition is a good thing forcing the competitors to each raise their game. That’s some thing that the BCU administration never understood and their failure to understand it left them out on an island with their program wallowing in disinterest and failure.
I think the Big East would jump at UMass if they were playing at the level they were under Calapari with Camby, etc. UConn already has a very good relationship with the school (not just football, but playing other sports and being a conference-mate in hockey). I don't think PC would be against a competitive UMass basketball team joining. The problem now is they aren't good enough currently for the Big East.
I also don't think there's any chance in the near future at the ACC collapsing. If anything, if the ACC loses teams to the Big Ten or SEC, they will just take teams from the Big 12. With the addition of Louisville, it's pretty obvious they don't care about academics or school culture. They'd grab WV and Kansas in a heartbeat. Big 12 is basically the Big East of 2010 at this point once they lose Texas and OU - good basketball league... but the footprint of that league is about 5 years behind (should have added teams before when they had a chance)... but Baylor, OK State and Iowa St aren't going to support a P5 conference anymore so than WV, Pitt and Louisville did.
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UCF is the exception, not the rule. Houston basketball excelled because they happened to have made a home run hire of a candidate that was P5 quality but had been exiled for what now appears to be silly infractions. Otherwise, having watched some Houston games in recent years there are not many fans that fill that arena which follows my initial point that generally if there are no fans, there will continue to be few fans unless Kansas or Texas come to town in the case of Houston. Here are photos of their senior night where they celebrated 4 seniors graduating and winning the AAC regular season crown, no one is there. Terrible. galleries
The AAC has tried this and largely failed (SMU in Dallas, Tulane in New Orleans, Temple in Philly, Tulsa, and Memphis) and fields and gyms across the conference have and continue to remain mostly empty. CUSA tried this as outlined in the article below and now the conference is on life support. Bringing in UMass does 1) nothing to enhance the TV contract 2) nothing to improve recruiting base for revenue sports 3) nothing for 80% of Big East members as far as interest / attendance 4) nothing for Big East brand / reputation. #1 being the most important point in today's market.
For UMass to find itself even so much as a remote consideration in my opinion, they would have to complete the basketball equivalent of what UCF has done in the last decade which would be something like multiple Sweet Sixteen appearances, no down years, and consistently in NCAA Tournament, and a massive increase in investment in the program from facilities to staff to operations. You have to act like you are worthy of the next level before you get there as they say in Corporate America.
I doubt most if any if any of the above happen. I wouldn't mind playing UMass in general but as far as a conference mate? Out of the question and unlikely for that to change in the near or distance future.
Will American Athletic Conference’s Expansion Gamble Work For TV? — TVREV
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CL82
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I definitely think they give Kansas a long hard look. I’m not so sure that they would take West Virginia since they have never seriously considered them.
You were right until they took Louisville - now anyone can get in the club hahaha
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CL82
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Somewhat agree, although I think there is considerable buyers remorse about Louisville, which is understandable.
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Louisville was a unique "get"...the ACC could put a clothespin on their nose...the ACC was, and is, a premier academic conference. but sports are sports.
Louisville:
1...they were a successful program
2...the ACC wanted to pull them before the Big 12 offered them
3...Louisville was an ESPN Top Market ...still #4 ESPN Market in 2020
Louisville:
1...they were a successful program
2...the ACC wanted to pull them before the Big 12 offered them
3...Louisville was an ESPN Top Market ...still #4 ESPN Market in 2020
It definitely was "buy high". They also really seem to have gotten off lightly considering what happened with the men's basketball team... or at least, they could have been punished a lot more than they did. I didn't look it up but I am aware they had to forfeit a title.. I wonder how their overall punishment was compared to "too many text messages from Beau Archibald" and "transfer outs getting bad grades".
Pittsburgh doesn’t care about Pitt. No one does. They are the proverbial tree in the forest.
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