It's Pitt and Syracuse!!!!

[nelsonmuntz]

bump because nelson thinks losing two programs that have only been to the BCS in it's lifetime as well as having won NC's and Heismans are easily replaceable by ___________

I get that you are upset that UConn is not in some dream conference. We are where we are, and it is about to get a lot worse if the school continues on its current strategy of begging harder, which you wholeheartedly endorse.

In life, you always try to keep your options open.

 

[Excalibur]

It's not like the Big East, if it survives in whatever form, would try to move on without us.

 

[itsasport]

At first I thought that the Big East is way down without P. & S. But, actually we were plus one with TCU coming in. So, at the moment we are only down one. If I can figure out this higher math, if the Big East adds one school, it will be even. So, why the panic? TCU is a BIG plus in many ways. It decided to join the Big East to improve its athletic programs, and it will. It brings a lot to the Big East in football. Joining the Big East will vastly improve TCU's ability to recruit better athletes in all sports- particularly in basketball. The Big East needs only one more school with that goal in mind. The league could even end up stronger, as it did after Miami and BC.

 

[Excalibur]

At first I thought that the Big East is way down without P. & S. But, actually we were plus one with TCU coming in. So, at the moment we are only down one. If I can figure out this higher math, if the Big East adds one school, it will be even. So, why the panic? TCU is a BIG plus in many ways. It decided to join the Big East to improve its athletic programs, and it will. It brings a lot to the Big East in football. Joining the Big East will vastly improve TCU's ability to recruit better athletes in all sports- particularly in basketball. The Big East needs only one more school with that goal in mind. The league could even end up stronger, as it did after Miami and BC.

A conference with WVU, Louisville, RU, TCU, with Houston and UCF is going to keep a BCS bid, and get a fair TV contract. I don't think anyone is debating that. Nelson is missing two important points, however:

1) UConn has very little ability to make a reconstituted conference happen if Louisville, TCU and WVU aren't interested in making it happen. If they are, it will happen and it will include UConn.

2) There is much more than just a remote chance (that Nelson dismisses out of hand without justification) that one or more of WVU, Louisville and/or TCU isn't around in two years. At that point any plans to salvage the conference blow up.

 

[ctchamps]

I know one thing. If this thing drags out for months or years, there are more than one or two people who won't make it.

It is interesting how much energy is being made by people who have absolutely no control over the outcome. Events will play out in spite of our desires, hopes, fears, protestations or ideas. Those that end up happy will do so out of luck and for no other reason. And any immediate satisfaction can easily turn into long term disappointment.

One reflection: there is a lot of disagreement on this board over how UConn got to this place and what it should do next. At least this affords us a view of the process that is taking place within and amongst the various leaders of the Universities and Conferences. They face the same diverse positions of opinion. There is no consensus. And this is not surprising since no one has a crystal ball to know which choice(s) provide(s) the best outcome. People making the claim they know what should be done, are deceiving themselves. The Universe is set up for uncertainty. We don't absolutely solve anything. We are always reducing impact instead of asserting control. The issues of realignment are no different.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

A conference with WVU, Louisville, RU, TCU, with Houston and UCF is going to keep a BCS bid, and get a fair TV contract. I don't think anyone is debating that. Nelson is missing two important points, however:

1) UConn has very little ability to make a reconstituted conference happen if Louisville, TCU and WVU aren't interested in making it happen. If they are, it will happen and it will include UConn.

2) There is much more than just a remote chance (that Nelson dismisses out of hand without justification) that one or more of WVU, Louisville and/or TCU isn't around in two years. At that point any plans to salvage the conference blow up.

Not an accurate characterization of what I said.

1) Louisville, TCU, WVU, Cincinnati and USF were prepared to move forward with the Big East a week ago. UConn and Rutgers told them to buzz off. The ship may have sailed since then, but by all accounts, UConn isn't even trying to work with its current conference partners. There is absolutely nothing gained by UConn from this strategy.

2) Right now you can lock everyone in, because someone (i.e. Notre Dame) can back channel to Comcast and get an estimate, no one else has a hard offer to join another league, and the Big East has been very good to 6 of the 7 schools involved. This partnership works. Lock up a rights sharing agreement for 5 years so no one can leave, and rebuild.

I never dismissed out of hand that one of the other teams in the league might bolt off on their own. I just said that as of now, it seems unlikely for any individual school to get an invitation somewhere else, which should make them more receptive to an alternative that is not ideal. If each school has a 1 in 7 chance of escaping, it would seem like the higher probability play would be to stick together.

 

[HuskyHawk]

A conference with WVU, Louisville, RU, TCU, with Houston and UCF is going to keep a BCS bid, and get a fair TV contract. I don't think anyone is debating that. Nelson is missing two important points, however:

1) UConn has very little ability to make a reconstituted conference happen if Louisville, TCU and WVU aren't interested in making it happen. If they are, it will happen and it will include UConn.

2) There is much more than just a remote chance (that Nelson dismisses out of hand without justification) that one or more of WVU, Louisville and/or TCU isn't around in two years. At that point any plans to salvage the conference blow up.

#2 is exactly right. With regard to TCU, if BYU turns down the Big 12, and the Big 12 dials TCU, they're gone. In short, we're in a room full of schools, and none of these schools is in a position to trust the others. Everyone is a free agent. Each of UConn, RU, UL, Cincy and WVU would jump to another conference if offered. That creates inherent instability. Short of Penn State and ND joining the BE for football, there is no realistic potential school that could be added that would create lasting stability.

This is not to say that UConn is doomed. It's just to say that we're stuck in a very unstable situation right now, and it isn't likely to improve unless we get an invite to another conference that is stable. I think this situation is worse for UConn and Rutgers in one respect. Our eastern location and academic ideals means that there is no real option beyond the ACC, BE or B1G. Cincy, WVU, UL, USF and TCU could more easily form a new conference with other schools like ECU, Houston, SMU, Memphis etc.

 

[CTMike]

1) You have no idea how committed or not committed any of those schools are. You think you do because it supports your hypothesis, but you really have no idea. None of us do, although, signs sure do point to any of those teams bolting at the earliest opportunity. Only difference being that UConn has been honest about that fact. Also - how is UConn holding anything back in terms of rebuilding the Big East? Marinatto et al are exploring all options. Has UConn said no to anyone joining?

2) Why on earth would you assume that any of these schools would sign a 5 years rights sharing agreement at this point? I'd stake anything that if you asked any of them to chain themselves to this conference for 5 years that you would be met with peels of laughter.

 

[Excalibur]

Not an accurate characterization of what I said.

1) Louisville, TCU, WVU, Cincinnati and USF were prepared to move forward with the Big East a week ago.

Other than the typical canned public statements, there is zero indication that this is the case.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

1) You have no idea how committed or not committed any of those schools are. You think you do because it supports your hypothesis, but you really have no idea. None of us do, although, signs sure do point to any of those teams bolting at the earliest opportunity. Only difference being that UConn has been honest about that fact. Also - how is UConn holding anything back in terms of rebuilding the Big East? Marinatto et al are exploring all options. Has UConn said no to anyone joining?

2) Why on earth would you assume that any of these schools would sign a 5 years rights sharing agreement at this point? I'd stake anything that if you asked any of them to chain themselves to this conference for 5 years that you would be met with peels of laughter.

Next time you have a project at work, blow it off, then after you miss the deadline, tell your boss that you know that no one else wanted to help you on it so that's why you didn't even try to get it done. Let me know how it goes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Next time you have a project at work, blow it off, then after you miss the deadline, tell your boss that you know that no one else wanted to help you on it so that's why you didn't even try to get it done. Let me know how it goes.

Please. First of all, none of these schools have a boss. They are separate companies who had a deal to collaborate. They don't work for the Big East or take direction from it. If it is any of their interests to cease collaborating, that's what they will do. This isn't some project that they all think needs to get done and UConn is holding it up. It's a project that most of them hope they can skip out of, and if they have no choice to but to stick it out, will probably undertake half-heartedly.

 

[JaYnYcE]

People act like the entire Big East got up and walked out the door, leaving UConn all to its lonesome. The Big East lost Pitt and Syracuse. Let that sink in for a minute. When the league got raided in 2003, it lost it's two best program in Miami and VTech, and Miami had been carrying the league for years. Of the 5 left, 1, Temple, had already been kicked out and Rutgers was tragically terrible. Pitt, WVU and Syracuse were just OK. Of the additions, only Louisville had accomplished anything in football, with their crowning achievement a victory over an FSU team that would finish a game above .500 that year. Two of the 8 Big East teams have been playing D1A ball for less than 3 years.

Since then, the Big East has had a tremendous run, coming within one play of playing for the National Championship on 3 different occasions (Louisville 2006, WVU 2007, Cincinnati 2009). Even with the loss of Pitt and Syracuse, the league remains the best basketball league in the country, with key programs St. Johns and Depaul showing significant improvement in the last year.

In football, the league has TCU, which finished #2 last year, WVU and USF, both in the Top 20, and the potential to add borderline Top 25 program Houston. Pitt has been solid, going 24-18 in Big East play with a few solid non-conference wins. Syracuse has gone 8-34 over that stretch. As we saw from 2005 on with programs like Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn and USF, joining a BCS conference has a big impact on recruiting and coaching stability relative to mid-majors. Now imagine Houston in a BCS conference.

The TV contract will take a hit, but will still be a huge increase over what we have given that the Syracuse and Pitt TV markets aren't exactly driving the bus anyway. People need to relax. We got into this situation because Syracuse and Pitt panicked and screwed everyone else over. More panicking will not improve the situation. The Big East will be just fine as long as everyone hangs tight, and between TCU and WVU, I would not be surprised if the league wins a National Championship in the next 5 years.

With Pitt and Cuse gone to the ACC, the best basketball has shifted to the ACC.

I'm sorry but I stopped reading when you tried to big up st johns and depaul. Good programs, butt Pitt and Cuse have been relevant alot longer when you look at the last decade.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gars44]

A conference with WVU, Louisville, RU, TCU, with Houston and UCF is going to keep a BCS bid, and get a fair TV contract. I don't think anyone is debating that. Nelson is missing two important points, however:

1) UConn has very little ability to make a reconstituted conference happen if Louisville, TCU and WVU aren't interested in making it happen. If they are, it will happen and it will include UConn.

2) There is much more than just a remote chance (that Nelson dismisses out of hand without justification) that one or more of WVU, Louisville and/or TCU isn't around in two years. At that point any plans to salvage the conference blow up.

I think we do get a fair contract with that group of teams, and a couple more. All we need to do, when you think about it, is match whatever ESPN was recently offering that the BE rejected. Then it's a net break even. No harm no foul. But I think that with a new configuration for football - with the right configuration - we are going to get a better contract than what ESPN was offering. If we hang tough, the market will take care of things. We can allow NBC a ticket into the BCS market. Wouldn't that be sweet? It would be fun to stand up to ESPN and come out on top.

 

[Excalibur]

Next time you have a project at work, blow it off, then after you miss the deadline, tell your boss that you know that no one else wanted to help you on it so that's why you didn't even try to get it done. Let me know how it goes.

I have a better analogy -- your commanding officer just sent ensigns nelson, Jurich and Luck below decks to plug a breach in the hull. The job requires all three of you. Jurich and Luck are hopping in the lifeboats. You go below decks and let me know how that goes.

 

[gars44]

I have a better analogy -- your commanding officer just sent ensigns nelson, Jurich and Luck below decks to plug a breach in the hull. The job requires all three of you. Jurich and Luck are hopping in the lifeboats. You go below decks and let me know how that goes.

Let's see what happens at the meeting on Sunday. Hopefully, we can make a provisional agreement with each other to remain through 2015, one year past BCS armaggedon.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I have a better analogy -- your commanding officer just sent ensigns nelson, Jurich and Luck below decks to plug a breach in the hull. The job requires all three of you. Jurich and Luck are hopping in the lifeboats. You go below decks and let me know how that goes.

An even better analogy is that there are no lifeboats, but there are a couple of ships a few miles away that may be willing to take on one or two people. So we either plug the breach and survive until the other ships show up, or sink before they can save us.

You, and 90% of the posters on this board want to have it both ways. You attack me for proposing that we even try to fix the Big East, but then don't have the balls to say we should write off the Big East and go independent. The idea that the ACC would pay a nickel for UConn if the Big East collapsed is so idiotic that anyone who thinks that is intellectually underqualified to dig ditches for a living.

 

[BlueMAB]

You, and 90% of the posters on this board want to have it both ways. You attack me for proposing that we even try to fix the Big East, but then don't have the balls to say we should write off the Big East and go independent.

That is 90% a figment of your imagination.

A lot of people are ok with adding a school or two but don't think we need to do it immediately. A lot of people think we need to continue working harder to get an invite into the ACC/Big 10 because long term it is more stable. They don't buy your proclamation that we won't get an invite. You told us for months that Tex. A&M wasn't going to the SEC, why should we take your word on who ends up where.

And just because Houston and UMass aren't at the top of some people's list doesn't mean they think we should fold the program.