If AAC loses 1-2 members, is it worth it to expand again?

[brasssbonanzaa]

If the AAC loses Cincinnati and/or Houston, sure add a couple of teams. But for UConn, investigating becoming football-only in the AAC and moving the basketball programs to the Big East must be on the table. The football program must be preserved as much as possible in the conference to remain viable for the future, but the basketball programs cannot be left for dead in the garbage pile that would be AAC basketball minus Cincinnati/Houston and plus the likes of Old Dominion, UMass, and/or Southern Miss. They would not be viable for the future, and we'd lose our biggest competitive argument for possible future admission to a P5 conference.

 

[weyuo]

Looking on the bright side the prize will be so much sweeter because the task was so daunting.

 

[upstater]

No, don't expand. You don't need to anymore now that you can have a championship game with 10 teams.

 

[upstater]

If the AAC loses Cincinnati, investigating becoming football-only in the AAC and moving the basketball programs to the Big East must be on the table.

You actually believe that schools in the southwest want to travel to Connecticut for football when there is no UConn basketball for them?

 

[mike012]

Stay at 10 for football and grab a couple of basketball only schools. We should be able to offer them something of value.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

You actually believe that schools in the southwest want to travel to Connecticut for football when there is no UConn basketball for them?

No, but the conference would be in a position of weakness if it lost two teams and at that point basketball would undoubtedly be better in the Big East, thus the possibility of making the basketball-only switch would have to be investigated. UConn would be in a position of power in this scenario. The Tulsa/Tulane/ECU and potential new members are football-first schools who likely would just be happy to have a better home for their football program than the Sun Belt or MAC.

 

[Adios]

NIU, ODU, UTSA, etc. UMass would probably be behind those at least schools at this point. UMass-Lowell seems to have more hope than UMass-Amherst.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Say UC and UH leave and Southern Miss and UMass are added, you cannot tell me that these lineups are anything remotely approaching comparable on the basketball side:

AAC - ECU, Memphis, USF, SMU, Southern Miss, Temple, Tulane. Tulsa. UCF, UMass
Big East - Butler, Creighton, Depaul, Georgetown, Marquette, PC, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Xavier

The AAC would be lucky to get two teams in the tournament on regular basis, especially after Larry Brown inevitably retires in the next few years. The AAC would still be a competent football league (sort of), so keeping our program there would be infinitely better than downgrading to FCS, but keeping our basketball programs in that AAC lineup would be signing their death warrant.

 

[Drew]

I just think the American would have to make a hard hard push at either the top 2 MAC schools or MWC so as to not label itself 100% as CUSA 2.0 (even though it basically is).

 

[upstater]

No, but the conference would be in a position of weakness if it lost two teams and at that point basketball would undoubtedly be better in the Big East, thus the possibility of making the basketball-only switch would have to be investigated. UConn would be in a position of power in this scenario. The Tulsa/Tulane/ECU and potential new members are football-first schools who likely would just be happy to have a better home for their football program than the Sun Belt or MAC.

They don't value UConn football.

 

[Exit 4]

The AAC should pitch to merge with the MWC or do nothing and stay at 10. Every school outside the MWC is unworthy and only dilutes the "brand."

 

[MattMang23]

I just think the American would have to make a hard hard push at either the top 2 MAC schools or MWC so as to not label itself 100% as CUSA 2.0 (even though it basically is).

What's the difference? The old C-USA (the teams we are with now) and the MWC were the same quality. Just adding the leftover cream of the MWC and the top of the MAC (which has always been a lesser league than either the CUSA or the MWC) doesn't elevate us from that perception since everyone we play with has already been in one of those leagues.

 

[amory]

If the AAC lost 1-2 members and we are not 1 of them, then it's time to demand our T3 rights back from IMG/SNY. $9.14M/yr is about 900% more than this garbage conference pays. That's the first thing. Second...ahh who cares? We would be so effed it's not worth discussing.

How realistic is it that we could even get our T3 rights back?

 

[Kolumbo]

My absolutely jaded opinion. Separate from the Texas area schools and become more regional, unlike the P5, but maybe keep the Florida schools. Add east coast schools like UMass, Buffalo, Marshall, ODU, Charlotte. Yes, the other sports deserve much better competition which is why this is no good. Go Indy in football and if not the Big East for the rest, go Indy as well. See what gives. UConn is stuck in the Gulag no matter how you slice it due to this CR catastrophe.

 

[Waquoit]

You can't allow yourself to give up. Cannot.

Thank you Mr. Valvano. BTW, Steely Dan coming back to Oakdale in April.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

If the AAC is to survive it needs more of a reason to exist than being the best of the rest. Unless someone can find another reason I would push for the finest academic programs (minus the Ivy League) you can get. So Army, Air Force, Navy, SMU, Rice, Tulane, and then whoever is still around, such as Temple, Buffalo, UMass (hopefully replacing UConn.) If UConn is still in the AAC, try to add Georgetown. There could be a few others who are sick of the football politics in their current conferences that may fit the model. The schools that don't fit the model should form their own best of the rest, where athletic accomplishment is the only consideration.

 

[MattMang23]

If UConn is still in the AAC, try to add Georgetown. There could be a few others who are sick of the football politics in their current conferences that may fit the model. The schools that don't fit the model should form their own best of the rest, where athletic accomplishment is the only consideration.

I'm sorry, are you saying Georgetown could be sick of the football politics of a league that doesn't play football?

And if not, why would Georgetown leave a non-football league with a better basketball product to join a football-league with a worse basketball product when two years ago they made the entirely opposite decision since they no longer wished to be associated with a football-first league?

 

[Clockshop]

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/usf-remains-cryptic-about-power-five-moves/2266477

 

[MattMang23]

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/usf-remains-cryptic-about-power-five-moves/2266477

So there is no evidence that USF is making a power 5 conference push. Where is our buddy Kevin McGuire to write this story?

It would seem, at this point, the Bulls have settled in with their new spot in the AAC.

USF has already made the difficult decision to abandon the Big East.

If an invitation to join the Big 12 or any other power conference does one day end up reaching Tampa, Florida, then there should be some serious conversations about whether to accept or not. However, USF's window to join a power conference has likely been closed.

 

[uconnphil2016]

They're just going to pick apart the MWC and take its best teams and do east/west divisions. Maybe add Boise St, SDSU, Colorado State, Air Force

 

[DoctorWho85]

I think it would be UMass to replace UConn so that Temple has a travel partner and Marshall to bridge the gap between the northeast and southeast teams. I thnk it would be hard to get a MAC team, because doesn't the MAC make more TV money than the AAC. I couldn't find anything with a quick google search.

 

[amory]

They're just going to pick apart the MWC and take its best teams and do east/west divisions. Maybe add Boise St, SDSU, Colorado State, Air Force

Without Cincinnati and/or UConn, I'm not sure why they'd leave the MWC for the American. I doubt the AAC could pay them more. Lateral move at best, and right now they're contained in a relatively small area.

 

[1999.2004.2011]

They're just going to pick apart the MWC and take its best teams and do east/west divisions. Maybe add Boise St, SDSU, Colorado State, Air Force

I don't know why the AAC doesn't just do this now?

 

[Slasher]

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/usf-remains-cryptic-about-power-five-moves/2266477

USF should start with having somebody, anybody show up for games.

vs. Memphis 3840
vs. SMU 2857
vs. Cincinnati 3062

Houston is actually decent and they don't draw for squat either.

vs. Temple 4466
vs. UConn 4672
vs. SMU 6195 (only decent number for an in-state rival)

Compare that to "real" expansion candidates

UConn vs. SMU 15,564
vs. Cincinnati 13,342
vs. Temple 11,319

Cincinnati vs. UConn 13,176
vs. Memphis 10,320
vs. ECU 12,513 (how Cincy got more vs ECU than vs Memphis is a bit of a mystery)

 

[MattMang23]

I don't know why the AAC doesn't just do this now?

Big East introduces 5 new schools http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...tecs-houston-cougars-smu-mustangs-ucf-knights
-via ESPN http://es.pn/app

It didn't work then when we still had Louisville and Rutgers. Why would it work now?