OT: Realignment?

[Brochacho]

If this goes through for the SEC does everyone start looking to expand again? I would assume no leave will stand pat except the big 10. I don’t know why but I feel like we aren’t going anywhere again.

Only things I could see is if ACC wanted WVU and ND wasn't a willing partner or if B10 wanted to become the best basketball conference and added Kansas and UConn - but that of course is a football-centric conference and they'd be adding two bad programs.

 

[Ajs120102]

If this goes through for the SEC does everyone start looking to expand again? I would assume no leave will stand pat except the big 10. I don’t know why but I feel like we aren’t going anywhere again.

Realistically only the ACC would make sense and that’s not going to happen. I think in a scenario where Kansas and UConn were options for the ACC they’d pick Kansas. Big 12 would be cool..if we didn’t have a buyout. The buy out would pretty much equal to what extra UConn would earn through the new B12 tv contract. I mean we are what we are. No shame being a big East team at all. I’d rather be in a position where the worst outcome is being in a power basketball conference.

 

[Fishy]

Realistically only the ACC would make sense and that’s not going to happen. I think in a scenario where Kansas and UConn were options for the ACC they’d pick Kansas. Big 12 would be cool..if we didn’t have a buyout. The buy out would pretty much equal to what extra UConn would earn through the new B12 tv contract. I mean we are what we are. No shame being a big East team at all. I’d rather be in a position where the worst outcome is being in a power basketball conference.

“The Big 12 would be cool.”

Are you deranged? We just got out of a muddle of a conference and now you want to go back to a conference where our nearest road game would be in Manhattan, Kansas? And what do you think is going to happen to the Big 12 television contract after Texas and Oklahoma leave?

We’re not going anywhere.

 

[Waquoit]

I’d rather be in a position where the worst outcome is being in a power basketball conference.

That's where we are now.

 

[WestHartHusk]

“The Big 12 would be cool.”

Are you deranged? We just got out of a muddle of a conference and now you want to go back to a conference where our nearest road game would be in Manhattan, Kansas? And what do you think is going to happen to the Big 12 television contract after Texas and Oklahoma leave?

We’re not going anywhere.

We should be recruiting WVU & KU to the Big East, Navy to go independent, and all 3 to join a football scheduling alliance.

 

[UofCT]

We should be recruiting WVU & KU to the Big East, Navy to go independent, and all 3 to join a football scheduling alliance.

Just blow the whole thing up.

 

[Ha Who]

I will laugh if this goes through and somehow inconveniences the AAC

I honestly really like the big 12 and I think it geographically makes a lot of sense (besides WVU) so I can’t quite understand why Texas and OU would want to leave.

It is the big bank theory. The Big 12 being a regional conference doesn’t matter to the cartel

 

[JMick]

“The Big 12 would be cool.”

Are you deranged? We just got out of a muddle of a conference and now you want to go back to a conference where our nearest road game would be in Manhattan, Kansas? And what do you think is going to happen to the Big 12 television contract after Texas and Oklahoma leave?

We’re not going anywhere.

I don't understand how any UConn fans don't know how this works. If 1 other school leaves the Big XII after this, that conference is dead and 3-4 schools are going to be left holding the bag.

The AAC fans are somehow even more deluded. None of them are getting picked up even if the PAC, B1G or ACC do decide to expand.

Thank God we got out when we did.

 

[Fishy]

We should be recruiting WVU & KU to the Big East, Navy to go independent, and all 3 to join a football scheduling alliance.

Or, counterpoint, we should not waste our time on things that have no change of happening.

 

[tzznandrew]

I think the B12 would have to add 4 teams to stay alive, and if I had to guess the mutually beneficial candidates are:
1. UCF
2. Houston
3. BYU
4. Cincy
5. Boise
6. Memphis

Maybe get crazy and go to 16 with SMU and Tulsa. I’m just here for madness.

Houston-BYU-Cincy are the only schools that make real strategic sense.

 

[Brochacho]

Houston-BYU-Cincy are the only schools that make real strategic sense.

I don't think its fair to call UCF a sleeping giant (but I guess they still are) since they had some great success over the past decade - but if the Big 12 can keep its P5 status and UCF joins I can't imagine what they would be able to do. They made 3 BCS/NY6 bowls since the last round of realignment and a zombie B12 would be great for them with the brand recognition, step-up in competition, but no schools that are clearly better than UCF. UCF can be a consistent top 15-20 team with the B12 remnants + BYU, Cincy and Houston.

 

[Greedo]

So glad to be out of the AAC. They’re about to really become CUSA 2.0 now.

 

[JMick]

So glad to be out of the AAC. They’re about to really become CUSA 2.0 now.

That's being generous. The new Big XII will be better than the AAC and the AAC will be like the MAC

 

[uconnric]

Houston-BYU-Cincy are the only schools that make real strategic sense.

I would think the NBig 12 would love to have a presence in Florida (UCF).

 

[MJ1]

Their will be no new Big12 as the Pac 12 will go to 16 and the Big 10 will go to 16 to follow suit and we will have 4 -16 team conference’s for football. Some Big 12 teams will go to PAC 12 or ACC. Others will be out in the cold . Notre Dame will be interesting as a go to ACC full time or stay independent. Should be interesting. The end game is a Power 4- 16 teams for football with Big 12 out. Without Texas and Oklahoma the networks will not pay that conference to add weaker teams.

 

[bendm]

Their will be no new Big12 as the Pac 12 will go to 16 and the Big 10 will go to 16 to follow suit and we will have 4 -16 team conference’s for football. Some Big 12 teams will go to PAC 12 or ACC. Others will be out in the cold . Notre Dame will be interesting as a go to ACC full time or stay independent. Should be interesting. The end game is a Power 4- 16 teams for football with Big 12 out. Without Texas and Oklahoma the networks will not pay that conference to add weaker teams.

Yeah every scenario leads to a power 4 with 16 teams each- that’s 64 teams- exactly the number already in the P5. Just need some rearranging.

 

[tzznandrew]

I would think the NBig 12 would love to have a presence in Florida (UCF).

Nobody cares about UCF. They are a nobody, the fourth best football school in Florida.

If a kid from Florida is good enough to play in the B12 but a Florida presence matters, they'll go to one of those three other Florida schools or they'll just go to a big 12 school.

 

[superjohn]

Yeah every scenario leads to a power 4 with 16 teams each- that’s 64 teams- exactly the number already in the P5. Just need some rearranging.

I don't think that's true at all.

 

[tzznandrew]

I don't think its fair to call UCF a sleeping giant (but I guess they still are) since they had some great success over the past decade - but if the Big 12 can keep its P5 status and UCF joins I can't imagine what they would be able to do. They made 3 BCS/NY6 bowls since the last round of realignment and a zombie B12 would be great for them with the brand recognition, step-up in competition, but no schools that are clearly better than UCF. UCF can be a consistent top 15-20 team with the B12 remnants + BYU, Cincy and Houston.

Nobody cares to watch them and they don't add much as an institution. BYU is a nightmare to work with, but if you can do it they're something. Cincy and Houston would be the two logical additions based on location and all around programs.

 

[Fatroony5]

Their will be no new Big12 as the Pac 12 will go to 16 and the Big 10 will go to 16 to follow suit and we will have 4 -16 team conference’s for football. Some Big 12 teams will go to PAC 12 or ACC. Others will be out in the cold . Notre Dame will be interesting as a go to ACC full time or stay independent. Should be interesting. The end game is a Power 4- 16 teams for football with Big 12 out. Without Texas and Oklahoma the networks will not pay that conference to add weaker teams.

Question is can Pac 12 absorb the new teams with their academic standards? Someone is getting left out for sure, but it’s still possible Big 12 remains with something like this:

Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma State + Cincinnati, UCF, USF, Memphis, BYU, Boise State, Houston, SMU.

Very curious to see how it all shakes out, tons of moving pieces and teams will be looking to pounce on any opportunity they get. That Big 12 conference would be really solid if that’s how it ends up working out, but again, not sure it actually does go that way.

 

[bendm]

I don't think that's true at all.

Here’s the quote “Most of those scenarios have involved four superconferences of 16 schools each”

Exclusive: Texas, Oklahoma reach out to SEC about joining conference

Schools have reached out to SEC about forming a 16-team superconference, a high-ranking...

www.houstonchronicle.com

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Having Kansas join the Big East for basketball would be a pipe dream, but I have trouble seeing them going to a basketball-only conference and then joining a different conference (or going independent) for football.

But back to the pipe dream:

Big East West: Kansas, Creighton, Marquette, DePaul, Butler, Xavier (630 miles from Kansas to Xavier)

Big East...East?: Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John's, UConn, Providence (420 miles from Georgetown to Providence).

I mean, those divisions look bellisimo!

 

[auror]

This is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic, but not even doing it, just talking about it with no real intent to move any chairs.

 

[superjohn]

Here’s the quote “Most of those scenarios have involved four superconferences of 16 schools each”

Exclusive: Texas, Oklahoma reach out to SEC about joining conference

Schools have reached out to SEC about forming a 16-team superconference, a high-ranking...

www.houstonchronicle.com

I don't have access to the article but I don't see this stopping with 4 16 school conferences, not by a longshot. In this wild west atmosphere where all that matters is money what's to stop the behemoths from just teaming up and getting rid of all the scraps?

 

[SoFla Steve]

As I said on the "Conference Realignment Board", I believe the future will look like something akin to the Knight Commission recommendations where the elite football programs form their own football-only entity completely independent of the NCAA.

 

[Fishy]

Houston-BYU-Cincy are the only schools that make real strategic sense.

Disagree - a little.

UCF likely makes the most sense given that the conference has a footprint issue with their upcoming television renegotiation.

I am guessing they take four schools.

UCF, Cincy and BYU would seem to make the most sense, but BYU comes with some issues that they might not want to deal with. Houston might have some political issues…I don’t think the Texas schools want anything to do with them.

So maybe UCF and Cincy are heavy favorites. BYU and Houston are the second rung. USF might be a dark horse if they decide to make a play for Florida by taking both UCF and USF.

 

[tzznandrew]

Disagree - a little.

UCF likely makes the most sense given that the conference has a footprint issue with their upcoming television renegotiation.

I am guessing they take four schools.

UCF, Cincy and BYU would seem to make the most sense, but BYU comes with some issues that they might not want to deal with. Houston might have some political issues…I don’t think the Texas schools want anything to do with them.

So maybe UCF and Cincy are heavy favorites. BYU and Houston are the second rung. USF might be a dark horse if they decide to make a play for Florida by taking both UCF and USF.

I'm with you on the BYU thing: in theory a good option, in practice a real PINA.

Cincy makes sense. They give WVU a travel partner while providing recent basketball and football success.

I'm not aware of much with Houston politically, so perhaps you're correct there.

The two directional Florida schools seem like they have been, time and again, schools that will offer great upside and access to Florida's rich recruiting while being in big markets. Yet I don't think they've really panned out that way, and UCF rises and falls with coaches in a way similar to most flash in the pans. They don't bring ratings, they don't seem to help the recruiting, and they'd be off on an island. It overlaps a lot with Houston, in this, except Houston is in the footprint and has longer success in key sports as well as histories with the remaining SWC B12 members.

Maybe they strike into a different direction, though, and pull a surprise candidate near them. Or maybe they go with UCF. That just seems uninspired, uninteresting, and unhelpful in the near and long term.

 

[John]

We still are on the outside looking in on P5 media rights revenue. Sure the Big East sucks less than the American but we should be scrambling to explore whether there is an opportunity here. Quietly, of course. I’m not sure we are positioned to do so with a interim President.

Minimally AD Dave should be thinking about scheduling opportunities for football.

hopefully this starts a conference domino effect that opens up a spot in either the ACC or Big10 for us.

 

[BoukofJames]

I’m not a historian on this matter, but folks in The Athletic comment section seem to believe UConn is blackballed from the ACC because of Blumenthal’s lawsuits

 

[JohnFSilver]

I’m not a historian on this matter, but folks in The Athletic comment section seem to believe UConn is blackballed from the ACC because of Blumenthal’s lawsuits

That was 16 years ago. No one is around who actually was sued or did the suing. Institutional bad bloods ends when the people who got into the tiff leave.