Future of the athletic department.

[UConnDan97]

I don't know about SMU but yes I do think we would get higher attendances for the first set because those teams are much more likely to be highly ranked. Your comparison is not perfect though.
If we rank each team in both conferences by what our attendance against them would be, the BE would win at least 7 out of 10.
Villanova>Wichita State
Georgetown>Cincy
Providence>SMU
Butler> Memphis
and down the line...

Will you get a small boost on a team-for-team basis, due to the old rivalries with some of them (or with the lack of rivalries with the current squads)? Yes. But if you think that Butler is going to take a 6k BU attendance and turn it into 16k, or if you think that a Marquette is going to turn a 3k attendance into a 10k, then you're on some good stuff...

 

[UConnDan97]

I don't think it's accurate to say that it doesn't matter how many championships we win in basketball. It matters. It just isn't enough, absent a capable, winning football team, to move us anywhere.

Right now, the NBE is not notably better than the AAC. Nova has become a stud program. So has WSU. Xavier is very good, but less impressive than Cinci. Seton Hall is good at the moment, but normally stinks. SMU has been more consistently good. PC? About like Temple. What else? Is St. Johns better than UCF? Doubt it. Now many are closer and are names we know, I'll grant that. But the notion that the Big East of today is some quantum leap beyond the American is simply wrong.

Agreed. Now explain that to everyone else here...

 

[shizzle787]

I don't think it's accurate to say that it doesn't matter how many championships we win in basketball. It matters. It just isn't enough, absent a capable, winning football team, to move us anywhere.

Right now, the NBE is not notably better than the AAC. Nova has become a stud program. So has WSU. Xavier is very good, but less impressive than Cinci. Seton Hall is good at the moment, but normally stinks. SMU has been more consistently good. PC? About like Temple. What else? Is St. Johns better than UCF? Doubt it. Now many are closer and are names we know, I'll grant that. But the notion that the Big East of today is some quantum leap beyond the American is simply wrong.

Actually, it is. It is better RPI-wise than some of the P5 conferences; it has markedly better attendance than the American; and it is considered a power confenerence by the media, the pollsters, recruits, and NCAA selection committee. The American is a mid-major in basketball; it is basically the new C-USA.

 

[shizzle787]

Will you get a small boost on a team-for-team basis, due to the old rivalries with some of them (or with the lack of rivalries with the current squads)? Yes. But if you think that Butler is going to take a 6k BU attendance and turn it into 16k, or if you think that a Marquette is going to turn a 3k attendance into a 10k, then you're on some good stuff...

Butler would get 10-12k at XL (12-14k if ranked).

 

[shizzle787]

Butler would get 10-12k at XL (12-14k if ranked).

Marquette probably would get 10k.

 

[Adios]

One day, the folks on this board will come to realize that football drives the financial bus.

If you ever have dreams that UConn will be in a major conference again, it will come on the backs of the football team. It won't matter how many national championships we win in basketball. That's not to say that basketball has less importance for me than football, because it doesn't. But that's the scenario. There may come a time in the future where the football team is too much of a financial burden to continue to bear, but that is not affected by independence.

I have a different question for you, though. Do you really believe that folks will fill the stands with the current product just because we are playing against Marquette, Seton Hall, and DePaul?? I'm curious to hear why you think that the Big East will save our hoops team from the general malaise that our fans are currently experiencing...

It's not so much that football drives the bus. It's that a complete athletic department that wants to be big time as of now MUST have a football team.

Our basketball titles have worked wonders for us. All we need is a competent football program. I said it before, if we beat Indiana and Illinois, we'll be vindicated of our past several years. We also have a series with Rutgers coming up, too.

 

[Guapo]

Agreed. Now explain that to everyone else here...

I'm perfectly fine with sticking it out through the next round realignment in the AAC.

Having said that I think this is whats attractive to people about the NBE:

1) "The Brand." People know it and harbor warm and positive feelings towards it.

2) (this one is the much bigger thing for me) People have friends and family and coworkers etc that went to PC, GT, Nova, and St John's. These are natural and familiar rivals to people. I don't think I've ever met an alum of most of the AAC schools.

So, I suppose it comes down to the feeling of familiarity on multiple levels.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Actually, it is. It is better RPI-wise than some of the P5 conferences; it has markedly better attendance than the American; and it is considered a power confenerence by the media, the pollsters, recruits, and NCAA selection committee. The American is a mid-major in basketball; it is basically the new C-USA.

What nonsense. It was. The American, with Louisville, was viewed differently. Wichita State changes that back again. But the real problem has been your UConn Huskies stinking up the joint, along with Memphis and to a lesser extent Temple. Those teams used to be consistently ranked and have underperformed. SMU meanwhile, has overperformed dramatically, and Cinci has to a slight degree.

Look at the teams objectively and not with an old Big East lens. The Big East is slightly better, but that's about it. The American is a 4-5 bid league this year easily. The Big East is also a 4-5 bid league. The American is going to have two highly seeded teams. The Big East might just have one.

 

[shizzle787]

What nonsense. It was. The American, with Louisville, was viewed differently. Wichita State changes that back again. But the real problem has been your UConn Huskies stinking up the joint, along with Memphis and to a lesser extent Temple. Those teams used to be consistently ranked and have underperformed. SMU meanwhile, has overperformed dramatically, and Cinci has to a slight degree.

Look at the teams objectively and not with an old Big East lens. The Big East is slightly better, but that's about it. The American is a 4-5 bid league this year easily. The Big East is also a 4-5 bid league. The American is going to have two highly seeded teams. The Big East might just have one.

It doesn't because WSU still came from a mid-major conference and Tulane, Tulsa, and ECU weren't RPI anchor weights back in 2014.

 

[UConnDan97]

Butler would get 10-12k at XL (12-14k if ranked).

And Memphis would too, even though you typed Butler > Memphis. That's my point...

 

[shizzle787]

And Memphis would too, even though you typed Butler > Memphis. That's my point...

Congrats. That doesn't change the fact Xavier would get more than UCF and Creighton would get more than USF. I would wager we would average 2-3k more per conference game in the Big East.

 

[UConnDan97]

Congrats. That doesn't change the fact Xavier would get more than UCF and Creighton would get more than USF. I would wager we would average 2-3k more per conference game in the Big East.

And again, I've said that the Big East would get you a few more butts in the seats on average. But only a few more. And it wouldn't change our financial situation or our basketball cred.

I'll leave this conversation where it is at this point, since it's been hashed out ad nauseam in a bunch of threads including this one...

 

[Drew]

I can't decide if Shizzle is a massive troll, the dumbest person on this board, or both.

 

[BUConn10]

The worst part of conference realignment is that the last 5 years have played out exactly like many of the panic mode posters feared.

A slow and steady death by strangling.

 

[zls44]

I can't decide if Shizzle is a massive troll, the dumbest person on this board, or both.

A: Yes.

 

[Guapo]

The worst part of conference realignment is that the last 5 years have played out exactly like many of the panic mode posters feared.

A slow and steady death by strangling.

In the big picture that is the worst.

On a day to day basis, I really hate that people make every game a referendum on the future of the athletic department

 

[UConnNick]

Obviously not saying the UConn football program has anywhere close to the same potential as FSU, but just pointing out that Bowden built that program as an independent by going anywhere to play anyone without the guarantee of a return home game.

You cannot compare the 1970's and 1980's with today's CFB reality. Totally apples and oranges. Up until the school presidents took control of the NCAA from the AD's in the late 1980's, and the CFA was formed, schools could still operate as independents, like Miami, Penn State and Florida State did. The CFA and later BCS cartels effectively eliminated any possibility of major power schools not named Notre Lame from being able to effectively survive as independents, with the bowls being locked in to certain conference pecking orders. That's why Miami joined the Big East, FSU joined the ACC, and Penn State joined the B10, all in the early 1990's. They were all forced to join conferences for football. UConn went 9-3 during the 2003 season as an independent...no bowl game. It cannot be done as an independent anymore, except for the folks in South Bend.

 

[whaler11]

You guys notice anything about BYU lately?

The part where they were one of the worst teams in the country?

 

[whaler11]

The AAC in basketball versus the Big East is long decided. The Big East is running laps around the AAC in basketball.

That’s with Wichita. Before them it had become a ridiculous argument.

 

[StunningSteve]

The AAC in basketball versus the Big East is long decided. The Big East is running laps around the AAC in basketball.

That’s with Wichita. Before them it had become a ridiculous argument.

Temple looked very good against a 1 loss South Carolina team. Blew them out the whole way.

Right now the AAC is looking like a 4 bid conference WITHOUT UCONN IN THAT EQUATION.

We are FINE in the AAC.

 

[whaler11]

Temple looked very good against a 1 loss South Carolina team. Blew them out the whole way.

Right now the AAC is looking like a 4 bid conference WITHOUT UCONN IN THAT EQUATION.

We are FINE in the AAC.

Oh ok. The Big East is still running circles around the AAC.

 

[StunningSteve]

Oh ok. The Big East is still running circles around the AAC.

Running circles?

You're missing the point. We need to focus on UCONN, and how UCONN will INCREASE those likely 4 bids.

The NBE is likely to be around 5 bids most years.

If that's "circles" then call it "circles"... but the math doesn't look that steep to want to relegate most of the other good sports into the cesspool of the NBE. Their other sports are terrible without even factoring in no football, while the AAC is in that upper cluster of pretty much every good college sport.

 

[whaler11]

Running circles?

You're missing the point. We need to focus on UCONN, and how UCONN will INCREASE those likely 4 bids.

The NBE is likely to be around 5 bids most years.

If that's "circles" then call it "circles"... but the math doesn't look that steep to want to relegate most of the other good sports into the cesspool of the NBE. Their other sports are terrible without even factoring in no football, while the AAC is in that upper cluster of pretty much every good college sport.

If you think I’m pushing UConn to the Big East you might have the wrong guy.

Here on Earth the Big East is has been better, is better and will continue to be better than the American at basketball.

Trying to argue that makes one look silly.

 

[StunningSteve]

If you think I’m pushing UConn to the Big East you might have the wrong guy.

Here on Earth the Big East is has been better, is better and will continue to be better than the American at basketball.

Trying to argue that makes one look silly.

The issue you're not really addressing is the fact that Memphis and UConn haven't been pulling their weight.

As I said, under those circumstances, the AAC is performing rather well.

There is too much brand equity (i.e. untapped resources) there to act like you can state how things will continue to be.

The AAC's lowest tier (including ECU) has also started their rebuilding process. USF has recruited a very nice class in Gregory's first year. Haith is trying to steady the ship after losing a huge class not long ago. UCF lost Aubrey Dawkins and BJ Taylor. Memphis turned over virtually its entire roster. Dunleavy has already surpassed his win total from last year.

If you really look into the genesis of the conference, you'll see why a potential 4 bid year may be the foundation of better things.

All conferences go through cycles. The NBE and the AAC included.

 

[StunningSteve]

If you think I’m pushing UConn to the Big East you might have the wrong guy.

Here on Earth the Big East is has been better, is better and will continue to be better than the American at basketball.

Trying to argue that makes one look silly.

The issue you're not really addressing is the fact that Memphis and UConn haven't been pulling their weight.

As I said, under those circumstances, the AAC is performing rather well.

There is too much brand equity (i.e. untapped resources) there to act like you can state how things will continue to be. Historically, the AAC has more skins on the wall.

The AAC's lowest tier (including ECU) has also started their rebuilding process. USF has recruited a very nice class in Gregory's first year. Haith is trying to steady the ship after losing a huge class not long ago. UCF lost Aubrey Dawkins and BJ Taylor. Memphis turned over virtually its entire roster. Dunleavy has already surpassed his win total from last year.

If you really look into the genesis of the conference, you'll see why a potential 4 bid year may be the foundation of better things.

All conferences go through cycles. The NBE and the AAC included.