Possible Big 12 Invite rumors

[John]

The Venn Diagram between A) The posters who spent the last 10 years trashing the Big East while saying that the AAC was the right option for UConn, and B) the posters pounding the table to join the Big 12 (which could dissolve within 5 years), is a perfect circle.

The Big East might dissolve in that time frame too if there's any veracity to the bb-only invites. Personally I'd rather we didn't sit at the kid's table moving forward.

 

[August_West]

Because that is not an accurate depiction at all, unless you're living in a bubble that is far from the majority opinion. At best it's a 50/50 split

Why is it 50/50?


Seems to me if it was all about AD dollars that like a 6 to 1 Ratio of money from Big12 over BigEast should be a slam dunk, no?

 

[upstater]

I personally only watch college basketball. I don't watch college football anymore; grew up a Penn State fan and went there for grad school (attended one game). But just do not watch them. I am aware they had a decent season last year. Beyond that, I know very little about them.

And I still see the benefit of getting $50m a year from your conference, especially as it helps you fund not only your coaches salaries, but a lot of other athletic related things as well.

 

[August_West]

The Big East might dissolve in that time frame too if there's any veracity to the bb-only invites. Personally I'd rather we didn't sit at the kid's table moving forward.

We're already at the kids table either way. We are the most Attractive of the "leftovers" we've been that for last 10 years (where did that get us?) and we will be for the next 10 years. Hopefully that gets us somewhere better.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Big East might dissolve in that time frame too if there's any veracity to the bb-only invites. Personally I'd rather we didn't sit at the kid's table moving forward.

The Big 12 is a spit show that happens to have a nice TV contract for a few years. It is still the kid's table.

 

[August_West]

Pretty simple. Because noone can ever predict the future. But you can make decisions with the best available data and hypotheses. If offered and we don’t accept the next window appears to be when ACC GOR expires. What happens then? Clemson finds a home as does FSU most likely Miami the Heels and the Hoos. Which would leave us circle jerking with our former BE mates picking up the table scraps.

You accept now if offered because the Big 12 is emphasizing football and hoops and will most likely be the 3rd of the big 3 when the dust settles Football. Hoops and baseball all get great homes Is it guaranteed to be a success. Absolutely not. But is it a better alternative to waiting around and waiting in line when the ACC falls apart in ten years ? Absolutely

Pure guess work. That is exactly what Im talking about. You have no idea if ANY of that is true.

 

[August_West]

And I still see the benefit of getting $50m

where the hell you getting that number from?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Until UConn is offered membership in the Big 12, Kansas is the only flagship state school in the conference. Kansas. Yet we are to believe that this league has somehow permanently emerged as the #3 conference in college sports over the Pac 12 and ACC? It doesn't feel real, at all.

The upside case is that the Big 12 somehow becomes the Big East circa 2002-2011, the Island of Misfit Toys that goes on an epic and unexpected run of success for a decade that no one can explain, and the top programs somehow find a soft landing when the next round of realignment hits when the ACC contract expires. That's the upside. I can talk myself into this being a possibility, but I don't think it is the likely outcome.

The downside case is literally everything else. Somehow the ACC blows up their GOR and there is another round of musical chairs where UConn ends up without a home. Or the SEC and/or Big 10 pick off a couple of Big 12 schools, which starts a stampede for the exits and UConn is without a home. Or these programs just revert back to their historical means for basketball and football, and kind of suck, and when the next broadcast contract comes along, the Big 12 is compensated commensurate with its on field/court performance.

I think that the reports of the ACC's and Pac 12's demise are very premature. The West Coast will continue to be a player in college athletics, one way or the other. There are just too many people west of the Great Plains for the West not to be part of the solution. And the ACC, with its basketball history and academic prestige, will also continue to be a player in college athletics. What does the Big 12 have again, other than a handful of programs that have all seem to have had their best seasons in program history in the last 5 years.

If UConn does this, and it doesn't work out, we will be in the A10 with UMass. It will be catastrophic for the athletic program and the university. And there are a lot of ways that this might not work out. Leaving now, after the Big East saved UConn's athletic department, is burning the bridges with the Big East with gasoline and then dropping a few bombs on whatever is left. There is no going back if the Big 12 doesn't work out.

Are the pro-Big 12 fans THAT confident that the Big 12 is going to succeed?

Actually, WVU is as well. But yes, UT, OU, Mizzou, Colorado, Nebraska and Arkansas all left. A&M probably is "flagship" tier. B12 is going to survive, but I don't think it's in better shape than the ACC.

I agree the ACC is a better collection of schools/programs and a better fit, geographically and otherwise (soccer for example). If the B12 is talking to us, we should be talking to the ACC and letting them know their chance to grab the last school in their footprint is going away.

Disagree that the Pac will remain strong. The writing is on the wall. No TV deal. There really aren't that many people west of the Rockies and the percentage of them that are college sports fans is much lower than in the midwest, south, or midatlantic. UW and Oregon are the two with strong support and they are likely gone. Cal and Stanford somewhat famously only generate any interest when they play each other. There are some demographic reasons for this.

 

[shizzle787]

The Venn Diagram between A) The posters who spent the last 10 years trashing the Big East while saying that the AAC was the right option for UConn, and B) the posters pounding the table to join the Big 12 (which could dissolve within 5 years), is a perfect circle.

Not exactly. I supported UConn staying in the Big East and going independent in football as far back as 2013. I now support the university getting into the Big 12 if it can. To me, it is not about the money. It is about being one step away from the Big 10 as opposed to two.

Also, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and football are all going to be playing in a better league.

We can schedule Nova, St. John’s, Georgetown, and Providence every year in basketball as the Big 12 may stay at an 18-game conference schedule. That leaves room for a MTE, a game with Syracuse, and a conference challenge.

 

[CL82]

I would disagree that it's an upgrade for basketball. The difference in talent between the two conferences will be offset by the travel and lack of rivalries. Nobody is going to care about a non-top 25 game against TCU or Iowa State. I don't think it's a huge drop, but those things do matter.

Who exactly are the rivalries in the big east?
Marquette? Depaul? Creighton? Surely not Providence. That game was a filler in the old Big East. Georgetown was a rivalry, but it's been the dregs of the league for a while now. Ed Cooley really wasn't all that impressive at Providence for people to think he will suddenly elevate Georgetown into a significant program. St. John's? I think there's some hope there given that Pitino is an excellent coach and he appears to have access to significant NIL money, but that's speculative, not an existing rivalry.

 

[superjohn]

Let me put this out there now, so no one tries to make this point to me again. The Big12 in this day and age is a fantastic Basketball league. No doubt. Best in country for the very recent past. All credit there.


We don't belong there. It doesnt' help OUR Basketball program at this frozen moment in time. Could change, sure. But not now.

I agree with that, the move is 100% about money. The Big 12 is slightly better than the Big East at the moment in basketball, I have them #1 and #2 but the Big East is the best place for UConn basketball for right now. With a move we would remain really good/great in basketball but the travel, being the geographic and cultural outlier, and being in a conference run by Texas and Kansas would hurt us a bit in basketball.

A lot of these schools are kind of also rans in their own states but there's no denying they are really good in sports at the moment. They do have big fanbases but they aren't appealing enough for the Big 10 and Big 12 to pick them off. The schools being second tier is actually something that works in their favor in terms of conference stability.

It seems like Yormark is an outside the box thinker, I'm interested in how this all plays out.

 

[upstater]

where the hell you getting that number from?

CFP payout + bowl sharing revs plus media deal.

 

[Skiblets]

Pure guess work. That is exactly what Im talking about. You have no idea if ANY of that is true.

I acknowledged that. But most of our lives we make decisions without all the facts. If we spent our lives waiting for all the dust to settle Arby’s would be closed for the night and we’d go Hungry.

 

[CL82]

Because that is not an accurate depiction at all, unless you're living in a bubble that is far from the majority opinion. At best it's a 50/50 split

Based on the pole that was circulated it's 60/40 roughly in favor of going to the big 12.

 

[navery12]

Why is it 50/50?


Seems to me if it was all about AD dollars that like a 6 to 1 Ratio of money from Big12 over BigEast should be a slam dunk, no?

Why is it 50/50? Because we have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of fans that you'll never get unanimous agreement on anything. But I think it should be a slam dunk decision, yes. And for me it is.

But there's always going to be fans like you who prefer the nostalgia and rivalries of the Big East. Which is fine, you've made your position clear that you'd prefer to go down with the ship in the Big East over long term sustainability as a program in a power conference

 

[AntG168]

The issue here is that there is really no such thing as a UConn fan. UConn basketball has a cult following almost completely separate from the actual university. Hence you have about half of “UConn fans” who couldn’t give two ***** about anything Connecticut or UConn. They just want the feel good nostalgic games against whatever is left of the BE. If this decision is being made for UConn Men’s Basketball then sure stay in the big east. But if this decision is being made for the entire athletic department and the financial health and stability of the school then there is really no good faith argument. This isn’t solely about UConn Men’s Basketball and we need to get over that.

Trying to cling on to this Utopia of the past where regional rivals drove the sport and conferences made geographical sense is idiotic. The landscape has changed. And we can be stubborn and play role of the little engine that could or we could operate like a University of our stature operates in todays climate

 

[Bazz4A]

The issue here is that there is really no such thing as a UConn fan. UConn basketball has a cult following almost completely separate from the actual university. Hence you have about half of “UConn fans” who couldn’t give two ***** about anything Connecticut or UConn. They just want the feel good nostalgic games against whatever is left of the BE. If this decision is being made for UConn Men’s Basketball then sure stay in the big east. But if this decision is being made for the entire athletic department and the financial health and stability of the school then there is really no good faith argument. This isn’t solely about UConn Men’s Basketball and we need to get over that.

It can be solely about UConn Men’s Basketball. This is a UConn Men’s basketball board. Some of us just want to preserve the crown jewel and do not care about any other sports. I’d say that majority of fans think that way. If moving to the Big 12 improves football by 50% and hurts basketball by 5% , it’s a mistake.

 

[AntG168]

It can be solely about UConn Men’s Basketball. This is a UConn Men’s basketball board. Some of us just want to preserve the crown jewel and do not care about any other sports. I’d say that majority of fans think that way. If moving to the Big 12 improves football by 50% and hurts basketball by 5% , it’s a mistake.

Exhibit A

 

[Chin Diesel]

This probably goes without saying but that makes a huge difference.

The existing teams actually hope there is no difference.

 

[Rico444]

You're just assuming it will damage BB. I refused to accept that because we floundered in a hastily cobbled G5 conference. Even there they added a natty.

It's about more than that. Pitt and Syracuse were our peers in basketball back when they left the Big East (putting the championships aside). Look what happened to their programs immediately after leaving. Syracuse has made a couple of Sweet 16s but their average team from 2013 on was markedly worse than what they were in the Big East. Pitt has been a disaster, and even before Jamie Dixon left they were markedly worse. I'm worried that isn't a coincidence.

 

[superjohn]

The issue here is that there is really no such thing as a UConn fan. UConn basketball has a cult following almost completely separate from the actual university. Hence you have about half of “UConn fans” who couldn’t give two ***** about anything Connecticut or UConn. They just want the feel good nostalgic games against whatever is left of the BE. If this decision is being made for UConn Men’s Basketball then sure stay in the big east. But if this decision is being made for the entire athletic department and the financial health and stability of the school then there is really no good faith argument. This isn’t solely about UConn Men’s Basketball and we need to get over that.

Trying to cling on to this Utopia of the past where regional rivals drove the sport and conferences made geographical sense is idiotic. The landscape has changed. And we can be stubborn and play role of the little engine that could or we could operate like a University of our stature operates in todays climate

UConn isn't in any way unique in that regard. Schools who are dominant in one program have fanbases who are obsessed with that one program. It's the same thing with Kansas, Kentucky, Bama etc. If Uconn, Kansas, Kentucky have good football teams fans support it and same for Bama basketball but it will never be like their go to program and nobody really gives a shart about any sports other than football and basketball at the college level.

 

[AntG168]

It's about more than that. Pitt and Syracuse were our peers in basketball back when they left the Big East (putting the championships aside). Look what happened to their programs immediately after leaving. Syracuse has made a couple of Sweet 16s but their average team from 2013 on was markedly worse than what they were in the Big East. Pitt has been a disaster, and even before Jamie Dixon left they were markedly worse. I'm worried that isn't a coincidence.

I can point to reasons outside of leaving the big east as to why all of those programs floundered. Correlation doesn’t equal causation

 

[August_West]

The issue here is that there is really no such thing as a UConn fan. UConn basketball has a cult following almost completely separate from the actual university. Hence you have about half of “UConn fans” who couldn’t give two ***** about anything Connecticut or UConn. They just want the feel good nostalgic games against whatever is left of the BE. If this decision is being made for UConn Men’s Basketball then sure stay in the big east. But if this decision is being made for the entire athletic department and the financial health and stability of the school then there is really no good faith argument. This isn’t solely about UConn Men’s Basketball and we need to get over that.

Trying to cling on to this Utopia of the past where regional rivals drove the sport and conferences made geographical sense is idiotic. The landscape has changed. And we can be stubborn and play role of the little engine that could or we could operate like a University of our stature operates in todays climate

You an alum? And it’s not a loaded question I’m curious. A couple most serious donors and hard core fans I know aren’t.

 

[AntG168]

You an alum? And it’s not a loaded question I’m curious. A couple most serious donors and hard core fans I know aren’t.

Not a graduated one haha. But both parents are

 

[August_West]

I acknowledged that. But most of our lives we make decisions without all the facts. If we spent our lives waiting for all the dust to settle Arby’s would be closed for the night and we’d go Hungry.

We always have SOME facts though. Not blind. It’s why I supported AAC over C7 split last go around. But now I have those facts too.