If you were right, how come there are so many more D1A basketball programs than football programs. The Big East (assuming that is what the hoops league is called) will do just fine without the football schools.
The bigger issue is that UConn's options are shrinking pretty quickly. Parking our hoops program in the Big East may not be an option for UConn if the ACC or Big 10 don't come through.
I've always wondered if the dilution of the bb programs hurt the major bb programs. If the major bb programs divorced themselves from the NCAA and formed their own version of the BCS they would have had similar negotiating powers as the football teams in the BCS conferences. But that opportunity has come and gone. So basketball makes money but football makes more because of supply and demand.
The move by Cuse and Pitt doesn't guarantee anything for them or the ACC. The first poaching by the ACC proved that. And a super strong football conference doesn't guarantee anything. The B12 proved that. There is no way of knowing if the football schools had split from the bb schools what would have happened. There is no way of knowing if the BE accepted the ESPN contract what would have happened. In the end most of us are placing logic on a situation that is as much driven by emotion.
Many fans targeted the ACC, Miami and BC for backstabbing the BE conference. And many of the same people are hoping UConn can do the same thing. So many of us hate greed, but in the end most people are looking for the most $$ and don't see the cup half full. If a conference lags behind other conferences in $$, even if the conference is doing very well, it isn't good enough. The BE was a good conference and made money. But jealousies, envy, insecurity, desire and intolerance will win out every time.
Almost every poster enjoyed seeing the failure that the additions of Miami and BC brought to the ACC. That move did not hurt the BE in football and ended up allowing the BE to leap ahead of the ACC in basketball. But some of the BE football schools were convinced that the bb only schools were to blame for the weakness with their football programs. That's the excuse they needed to bolt. But they will fail if they believe their shortcomings can be overcome by just going to a new environment.
Syracuse, and to a lesser extent Pitt, are trying to regain their glory days and are hoping the jump to the ACC will be the fix for their downward slide. But the ACC will give them nothing that the BE already provided to make up for bad coaching and bad recruiting.
I'm happy it was reported UConn had worked to maintain the BE. IMO this was the higher ground. The extra millions that JC turned down after the 2001 season, or JoePa giving back his salary to the University are anomalies in this day and age. Everybody wants the quick buck and the extra buck. And everybody justifies their entitlement to it. UConn may have no choice in seeking other conferences. But I'm not sure ending up in any new or altered conference will significantly change the outcome of its sports or academics in spite of all our protestations otherwise.
