Blaudschun--Catholic Schools Met in NYC...

[Vowelguy]

Which leads to an obvious question. If the football schools didn't want Tulane and the basketball schools didn't want Tulane - how did Tulane end up with an invite?

I thought for sure that Tulane was a BB invite -- it was a school that the Catholics would tolerate b/c of the state's large Catholic population.

I don't understand how else they were added.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

What, oh totally bat**** insane one, makes you think that ESPN made the offer? In your absurd scenario, couldn't it have been NBC (ratings down 46% in November, thanks Bettman)? CBS?

Because McMurphy is reporting it. Why am I bat**** insane? I thought this worst case was a possibility since February. At the end of the day, ESPN will have paid a lot more for the programs it wanted than it would have had to pay to keep the Big East together. 13 of the 16 NBE programs will find a home, with only UConn, Cincinnati and USF left on the outside. You must be very happy.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Given that ESPN will be paying for Syracuse, Pitt, WVU, TCU, Rutgers and Louisville, just through other conferences, it is clear that ESPN did want Big East football. I also think it is likely that the basketball schools end up with a contract on ESPN.

At the end of the day, the only schools ESPN DID NOT want were UConn, Cincinnati and USF.

Disagree with that. The schools ESPN did not want were UCF, Houston, Memphis, Boise, SDSU, SMU, and yes, probably USF as well. I think ESPN would be happy to have UConn and Cinci, but can't do anything about it.

 

[Dann]

Exactly how many fronts does this war have?

these are not fronts. they are quick bombings. simple. its like when u were a kid and the houses down the street had rocks throw at them but nothing ever came of it. u show up, u rock the place then u go. they will never recover or try to get us back.

we right now have the boston front and cuse fronts. we have defeated the pitt front based off that school being . they waved the white flag by signing a longterm deal with psy for fball games.

just becuase u read the army-navy thread and saw carl's shocking jump over board, that doesn't mean this crew is a mess. we are united and becoming stronger by number each day.

 

[UConn Dan]

UConn to ACC for all sports except football. Figure out a way to make football Indy work.

 

[Jericho]

If you know you don't have the votes, what's the point in voting against your future conference partner?

I'm pretty sure they abstained due to the ACC thing. The official invite to Louisville did not come down until after Tulane was added. None of the schools knew for sure they'd be in the Big East moving forward, so the proper thing would be to abstain. Just as Maryland did not vote on adding Louisville.

 

[UConn Dan]

Just as Maryland did not vote on adding Louisville.

Maryland lost all voting rights by withdrawing.

 

[98Uconn]

Well I sure hope Ward pulls a big floating donut out of his butt in the form of a B1G invite, otherwise it sure does feel like we're taking on lots of water.

#B1GButtDonut

 

[mavblues]

Which leads to an obvious question. If the football schools didn't want Tulane and the basketball schools didn't want Tulane - how did Tulane end up with an invite?

They just showed up - a la George Costanza (Penske).

 

[Pudge]

Reading through these posts ... I find not one person with a backbone. You could not have played for Jim Calhoun & you would flounder/tread water in the most challenging of deals.

I understand what the Providence fans think will happen. Might there be other outcomes possible if Aresco is sitting with 7 Catholic school Presidents?

Further, since 2002, with a strong start we got to nearly 40,000 attendance regularly in Football. I think, with the right AD (Tom Jurich type), we could have a far stronger Fanbase & exciting football. We should be aiming for that. We haven't even put a decade in at the biggest level. As a UConn stakeholder, I WANT Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's basketball games ... and the best possible football games (could be out-of-conference). Price & push the marketing/fanbase with the best you can do. Neither Hathaway not this Fall 2012 campaign showed me anything. If we are dead, let's resurrect ourselves. Fire Warde Manual if that is what we need & Pasqualoni is the absolute nail in our coffin. Let's get out of this hole.

As for Tulane ... their invite had to come from the Private/Catholic wing. Count the votes.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Disagree with that. The schools ESPN did not want were UCF, Houston, Memphis, Boise, SDSU, SMU, and yes, probably USF as well. I think ESPN would be happy to have UConn and Cinci, but can't do anything about it.

No, I am right. If ESPN wanted to add UConn, Cincinnati or USF to another conference, it would be easy to do so. ESPN has decided it doesn't want to add UConn.

 

[Rumrunner]

and now @blauds is saying that the catholics get to leave the Big East with no exit fees if they leave en masse due to a provision put into the big east bylaws/const? when bc, vatech, miami left.

he also says they get to keep the big east name and ncaa tourney revenue.

 

[Doggie Style]

Reminds me of the 101st airborne (I think) at Bastogne. Upon hearing that the Germans had them surrounded they thought "poor bastards" and proceeded to mass resources selectively, and successfully, attack at various compass points in the Battle of Bulge. I'm not a big WWII guy so feel free to correct that if wrong.

Sounds about right!
What I was referring to (but didn't want to get political) was a quote by Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller/USMC in Korea, when he was briefed by his Intel Officers that informed him: "Sir, they are in front of us, behind us and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1! Puller replied : "Good, I can attack them in any direction! They cant get away from us now!!!" During this engagement the 1st Marine Division was cut off behind enemy lines and the U.S. Army had written them off as a "total loss" on account of the size of the enemy forces they were up against. They were surrounded by 22 Enemy Divisions! The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty ratio on an enemy force in history by destroying SEVEN entire Divisions in the process! An enemy division is 16500 men while a Marine Corp Division is 12500 men!

Oh, and before I get hammered here, by NO means am I suggesting that Warde Manuel is even REMOTELY the leader to lead us to victory in this whole mess we are in. In fact IMO, Warde Manuel couldn't be Chesty Puller's "piss bucket holder" as far as I'm concerned!!

 

[TRest]

and now @blauds is saying that the catholics get to leave the Big East with no exit fees if they leave en masse due to a provision put into the big east bylaws/const? when bc, vatech, miami left.

he also says they get to keep the big east name and ncaa tourney revenue.

Pure conjecture on his part, unless he has an up-to-date copy of the league charter and bylaws. The fabled "get out of jail free card" supposedly allowed a clean split of the conference by a certain date that already has passed. He may be referencing that, but like most of his shoddy writing he sources none of his statements.

 

[Pudge]

Temple.

Turns out, from real newspaper reports, that Temple controls the voting. So ... @blauds is a little off.

 

[CL82]

Sounds about right!
What I was referring to (but didn't want to get political) was a quote by Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller/USMC in Korea, when he was briefed by his Intel Officers that informed him: "Sir, they are in front of us, behind us and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1! Puller replied : "Good, I can attack them in any direction! They cant get away from us now!!!" During this engagement the 1st Marine Division was cut off behind enemy lines and the U.S. Army had written them off as a "total loss" on account of the size of the enemy forces they were up against. They were surrounded by 22 Enemy Divisions! The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty ratio on an enemy force in history by destroying SEVEN entire Divisions in the process! An enemy division is 16500 men while a Marine Corp Division is 12500 men!

Oh, and before I get hammered here, by NO means am I suggesting that Warde Manuel is even REMOTELY the leader to lead us to victory in this whole mess we are in. In fact IMO, Warde Manuel couldn't be Chesty Puller's "piss bucket holder" as far as I'm concerned!!

Was that the Chosin Resevoir 'advance to the rear'?

 

[Doggie Style]

Was that the Chosin Resevoir 'advance to the rear'?

Yes

 

[HuskyHawk]

No, I am right. If ESPN wanted to add UConn, Cincinnati or USF to another conference, it would be easy to do so. ESPN has decided it doesn't want to add UConn.

You give them way too much credit. No conference is taking orders from ESPN.

 

[CL82]

You give them way too much credit. No conference is taking orders from ESPN.

No but they will gladly take their money. If ESPN says that our addition raised the value of the TV contract in excess of our pro rata share, we're pretty much in.

 

[HuskyHawk]

More news on this. Possible merger with the A10 . I say bollocks. The A10 is just nervous that the BE hoops schools will pick off about 1/3 of their members.

 

[HuskyHawk]

No but they will gladly take their money. If ESPN says that our addition raised the value of the TV contract in excess of our pro rata share, we're pretty much in.

It would definitely help with the ACC, but certainly isn't decisive. And it holds no sway with the B1G.

 

[caw]

More news on this. Possible merger with the A10 . I say bollocks. The A10 is just nervous that the BE hoops schools will pick off about 1/3 of their members.

It would make a ton of sense for both the A10 and the basketball only schools.

Wouldn't necessarily be a positive for UConn, but looking at it from the perspective of the A10 or the basketball only schools, it's a logical step. The only issue would be the money involved with leaving the BE (credits + $10 million).

 

[tzznandrew]

More news on this. Possible merger with the A10 . I say bollocks. The A10 is just nervous that the BE hoops schools will pick off about 1/3 of their members.

This is right. The A-10 is filled with schools like Forham and Duquense. If they thought Tulane was going to torpedo their RPI, try a year in the A-10.

If they're smart, they'll take some combination Butler, Xavier, Richmond, St. Louis, Dayton or VCU from the A-10. Maybe think of a few schools from the MVC that have been successful, like Creighton.

DePaul
Georgetown
Marquette
Providence
Seton Hall
St. John's
Villanova

Plus 5 of those school (Xavier, Butler, VCU, Creighton, St. Louis) makes a very good basketball league. Only Seton Hall, Providence, and DePaul have failed to really carry their weight recently--and Seton Hall has a tournament or two in the last few years, PC looks to be turning things around, and DePaul has no where to go but up, still.

They'd be dumb to merge with the A-10.

 

[tzznandrew]

It would make a ton of sense for both the A10 and the basketball only schools.

It makes a lot of sense for the A10. Not for the BB-onlies. Again, the bottom of the A10 is significantly worse than the bottom of the BE, even now. Tulane is 7-3 right now. The A10 has teams at 2-7 and 1-8.

It's a step down.

Still.