Memphis/East Carolina Still in the Mix?

[HuskyHawk]

I agree. After thinking about it and seeing the direction the conference is going I don't see what Temple adds. Moving up Nova would be easier and non duplicative from a market perspective. UNLV and Memphis are the best choices left. Both are nationally known and are located in reasonably large markets which are also tourist draws. After adding UNLV and Memphis it would make sense to hold a spot for BYU if they ever come to their senses.

Did you use the words "make sense" in relation to the Big East? None of this makes sense. Memphis being in a conference with UConn and Rutgers or with San Diego State or Boise State will never make sense.

I still think what does make sense is an urban/southern all sports conference made up of: USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Rice, Louisville, Cincinnati. Every school in a major city, most are public. Travel would be manageable, and several rivalries could bloom. The pursuit of AQ status is preventing them from forming this.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Did you use the words "make sense" in relation to the Big East? None of this makes sense. Memphis being in a conference with UConn and Rutgers or with San Diego State or Boise State will never make sense.

I still think what does make sense is an urban/southern all sports conference made up of: USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Rice, Louisville, Cincinnati. Every school in a major city, most are public. Travel would be manageable, and several rivalries could bloom. The pursuit of AQ status is preventing them from forming this.

There is no point in trying to do this right now when the Big East can pretty much create that and have it be an AQ conference at least for a year and have it be an elite national basketball conference. The Big East can go to 12/20 with the schools coming in 2013 plus UNLV and Memphis and be done with it. It will be an AQ for at least a year and would be one of the best basketball conferences in the nation. If UConn, L'Ville, Rutgers, ND leave at some point and it loses AQ so be it, but they'd still be in a better place than if it started from scratch.

 

[RS9999X]

I still think what does make sense is an urban/southern all sports conference made up of: USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Rice, Louisville, Cincinnati. Every school in a major city, most are public. Travel would be manageable, and several rivalries could bloom. The pursuit of AQ status is preventing them from forming this.

That was the premise of the old Metro Basketball Conference until 1991 -- Memphis, Tulane, Southern Miss, Louisville, Cincinnati, Florida State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech. Then the majors came calling for football leaving the remnants to create C-USA.

 

[mattp]

Memphis is just not a good academic fit. You'd never attract a service academy with them in the mix.

how do you figure? Army used to play in CUSA with Memphis. i still don't understand where the myth that academics have anything to do with this came from. we're talking about athletic conferences. if anyone cared about academics Vandy wouldn't be caught dead in the SEC; Tulane and Rice wouldn't be in the CUSA; and NCState/FSU wouldn't be allowed in the ACC. outside of the Ivies, and to a lesser extent Patriot and BigTen, academics mean next to nothing. i've asked a thousand times and still haven't heard a single answer to what any school in the BigTen has gained academically from being in the BigTen.

 

[RS9999X]

how do you figure? Army used to play in CUSA with Memphis. i still don't understand where the myth that academics have anything to do with this came from. we're talking about athletic conferences. if anyone cared about academics Vandy wouldn't be caught dead in the SEC; Tulane and Rice wouldn't be in the CUSA; and NCState/FSU wouldn't be allowed in the ACC. outside of the Ivies, and to a lesser extent Patriot and BigTen, academics mean next to nothing. i've asked a thousand times and still haven't heard a single answer to what any school in the BigTen has gained academically from being in the BigTen.

They aren't the best negative example. The ACC and BiG do are the two conferences that do push Conference Academic Affiliations and run a web site and academic consortiums and look for synergy.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100617/NEWS01/706179910

 

[HuskyHawk]

how do you figure? Army used to play in CUSA with Memphis. i still don't understand where the myth that academics have anything to do with this came from. we're talking about athletic conferences. if anyone cared about academics Vandy wouldn't be caught dead in the SEC; Tulane and Rice wouldn't be in the CUSA; and NCState/FSU wouldn't be allowed in the ACC. outside of the Ivies, and to a lesser extent Patriot and BigTen, academics mean next to nothing. i've asked a thousand times and still haven't heard a single answer to what any school in the BigTen has gained academically from being in the BigTen.

My take is this, it is an association. You are judged in part by those you choose to associate with. In the case of Vandy, they enjoy certain prestige merely from the fact that they are the standout school in the SEC. But then none of the SEC schools are as bad as Memphis or Houston. Some, like Florida, Georgia and even Alabama, are pretty darned good. NC State is the hick-hillbilly sidekick to UNC, so everyone puts up with them. FSU is not that bad, and is far beyond the likes of Memphis, Boise or Houston (and USF). FSU would be one of the better schools in the new Big East.

So no, Washington State and Arizona State are not fatal to Cal and Stanford. NC State is not fatal to the ACC. But when a sizeable chunk of the gang you hang around with are very poor academically (worse than any other school in any AQ conference), that's not a positive association. So once you start talking about adding ECU and Memphis, to a group that already has Boise and Houston, you need to stop. Tulsa and Tulane would be much better.

 

[husky10]

haven't heard a single answer to what any school in the BigTen has gained academically from being in the BigTen.

Your probably right on this I think the B1G looking for another midwestern school that is similar to them in football and academics is another way of saying the only school they are really interested in is Notre Dame

 

[J187Money]

Someone should tell Fox and ESPN that the only thing that matters is how many fans are in the seats, because they just paid $300MM/year for 10 years for the Pac 12 which is maybe the 4th best football league, about the 10th best basketball league, and draws 50k a game for football as a league.

Do people watch Temple on TV?

 

[Jericho]

Did you use the words "make sense" in relation to the Big East? None of this makes sense. Memphis being in a conference with UConn and Rutgers or with San Diego State or Boise State will never make sense.

I still think what does make sense is an urban/southern all sports conference made up of: USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Rice, Louisville, Cincinnati. Every school in a major city, most are public. Travel would be manageable, and several rivalries could bloom. The pursuit of AQ status is preventing them from forming this.

You just described Conference USA from a few years back. Every single one of those schools either was in or is in Con-USA

 

[ctchamps]

I agree. After thinking about it and seeing the direction the conference is going I don't see what Temple adds. Moving up Nova would be easier and non duplicative from a market perspective. UNLV and Memphis are the best choices left. Both are nationally known and are located in reasonably large markets which are also tourist draws. After adding UNLV and Memphis it would make sense to hold a spot for BYU if they ever come to their senses.

No value to football but value to basketball side of the BE. They would be replacing Syracuse - lousy in football but good in basketball as long as you ignore history.