Relationships matter ...

[Pudge]

We spend a lot of time focusing on ESPN & what "they are doing to us." What is the other side of the ledger? Who has driven TV in College Sports for the last 15 years? Chris Bevilacqua is OUR Big East negotiator. Working with Commissioner Mike Aresco; who came from CBS - where Bevilacqua sold his CSTV network in 2005 for $350m.

Who was Mr. Bevilacqua's first employee at CSTV (eventually grew to 330 employees in less than 7 years time)? Tim Pernetti - who is now Athletic Director at Rutgers. Obviously good friends by all accounts.

Who introduced Mr. Bevilacqua to Mr. Pernetti? Jon Litner, now President of NBC Sports (including all the Cable channels) brought Pernetti to Bevilacqua on the field of the 1995 World Series. All three are good friends. Litner has had his position at NBC Sports since Oct 2011.

Bevilacqua is given credit for structuring the massive Pac 12 deal with Commission Larry Scott; also the network package for the Texas Rangers; and CSTV was the original packager of Tier3 & 4 assets for Universities.

What has he been promoting according to the NJ Star Ledger ... and quotes from Larry Scott - one entity negotiating from West Coast to East Coast:

“Consolidating rights is going to give you better outcomes,” Bevilacqua said. “So consolidating programming-centric rights on the West Coast with programming-centric rights in the Southwest with programming-centric rights on the Atlantic Coast makes a lot of sense.”
And ... eventually a One Entity negotiating for 72 Universities from all the major conferences.

 

[Fishy]

I feel like you've swallowed Carl Spackler's soul with some of these posts.

Maybe it's me, but I have no idea what you're trying to say - that the Big East is going to get a better deal because the parties involved know each other and/or we happen to have schools in ever conceivable corner of the country? That someday the schools that actively caused our exclusion from the big boy table are suddenly going to invite us back to join their One Big Tent Conference? Or just that we're likely to end up with NBC?

Spackler has an excuse - he's nuts. You're not, so you're just going to have to be a little more clear.

 

[Pudge]

Yeah ...

There is a loud slice of this board that believes that we are next in line to get an Invite to the ACC. Or maybe the B1G or B12. It ain't going to happen. And a subset of our friends here are yelling & screaming about the injustice of ESPN (which obviously is jerking chains behind the scene). Pissing & moaning of all the new football schools ... as if the Providence group merely haphazardly drops pins on a map & created this cross-country League on a whim. Well ... Providence's problem (at least the last iteration) was an inability to act.

When Brett McMurphy (formerly of CBS ... now of ESPN) stated we were headed to a $80-120m per annum contract for the Total BE package, Bevilacqua told the NJ Star Ledger a few days later ... that people are "feeding their own agendas."

So while this is not clear ... I do think there are enough breadcrumbs in the media to tell us the direction. We are NOT going to ESPN. We are likely going to NBC Sports; or maybe a mix of several. (as the Pac 12 did) While Herbst/Manual may have been begging ... and Rutgers too. I do think that there was a coherent scheme working. As a UConn fan, we need a package that gets us far beyond the CUSA/MAC/Mountain revenue to a smidge near the other conferences. I have to believe the market is coming through for us; with Bevilacqua.

 

[Fishy]

Got it - I'm on board with all of that.

One exception - I don't think NBC is going to bid against itself for our rights. I'm pessimistic about the eventual contract or package of contracts.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Got it - I'm on board with all of that.

One exception - I don't think NBC is going to bid against itself for our rights. I'm pessimistic about the eventual contract or package of contracts.

I also don't think ESPN is going to bid against itself for our rights. Right now, there is no incentive for ESPN to do anything but low ball. The major terms of the contract are likely already negotiated, with a blank left for dollars. ESPN has a two pronged strategy to a) try to get another league to raid the Big East for another team or two and b) let the Big East know it is doing that to try to get the league to make a panic signing prior to 10/31. ESPN will not raise its bid until right before the end of the exclusive negotiating window. Why would it? Time is on ESPN's side for the next 30 days.

On the other hand, ESPN has no interest in letting NBC pick up the Big East for cheap. NBC is ESPN's competitor, not the Big East, so why would ESPN do NBC a solid by publicly withdrawing from bidding so that NBC could reduce its bid for the league? Unless ESPN is just being vindictive against the Big East, and willing to subsidize a large new competitor to get into the market, which doesn't make any sense, ESPN's incentive is to make the Big East as expensive as possible for NBC.

It is worth noting that ESPN's initial bid for the Pac 12 was rumored to be well under $10MM per school. How did that turn out for the worldwide leader?

 

[Carl Spackler]

We spend a lot of time focusing on ESPN & what "they are doing to us." What is the other side of the ledger? Who has driven TV in College Sports for the last 15 years? Chris Bevilacqua is OUR Big East negotiator. Working with Commissioner Mike Aresco; who came from CBS - where Bevilacqua sold his CSTV network in 2005 for $350m.

Who was Mr. Bevilacqua's first employee at CSTV (eventually grew to 330 employees in less than 7 years time)? Tim Pernetti - who is now Athletic Director at Rutgers. Obviously good friends by all accounts.

Who introduced Mr. Bevilacqua to Mr. Pernetti? Jon Litner, now President of NBC Sports (including all the Cable channels) brought Pernetti to Bevilacqua on the field of the 1995 World Series. All three are good friends. Litner has had his position at NBC Sports since Oct 2011.

Bevilacqua is given credit for structuring the massive Pac 12 deal with Commission Larry Scott; also the network package for the Texas Rangers; and CSTV was the original packager of Tier3 & 4 assets for Universities.

What has he been promoting according to the NJ Star Ledger ... and quotes from Larry Scott - one entity negotiating from West Coast to East Coast:

“Consolidating rights is going to give you better outcomes,” Bevilacqua said. “So consolidating programming-centric rights on the West Coast with programming-centric rights in the Southwest with programming-centric rights on the Atlantic Coast makes a lot of sense.”
And ... eventually a One Entity negotiating for 72 Universities from all the major conferences.

Sounds to me like they're simply talking about the next evolution of the CFA, but instead of a conglomerate of schools from different conferences, they're looking for all the schools to be under one management umbrella. Makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Here refresh yourself on this 2003 paper, I've posted before. Know your history, if you don't want to repeat it.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Econ/wparchive/workpaper/vu03-w20.pdf

And fishy this is for you: From the classic 1977 film Kentucky Fried Movie.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I also don't think ESPN is going to bid against itself for our rights. Right now, there is no incentive for ESPN to do anything but low ball. The major terms of the contract are likely already negotiated, with a blank left for dollars. ESPN has a two pronged strategy to a) try to get another league to raid the Big East for another team or two and b) let the Big East know it is doing that to try to get the league to make a panic signing prior to 10/31. ESPN will not raise its bid until right before the end of the exclusive negotiating window. Why would it? Time is on ESPN's side for the next 30 days.

On the other hand, ESPN has no interest in letting NBC pick up the Big East for cheap. NBC is ESPN's competitor, not the Big East, so why would ESPN do NBC a solid by publicly withdrawing from bidding so that NBC could reduce its bid for the league? Unless ESPN is just being vindictive against the Big East, and willing to subsidize a large new competitor to get into the market, which doesn't make any sense, ESPN's incentive is to make the Big East as expensive as possible for NBC.

It is worth noting that ESPN's initial bid for the Pac 12 was rumored to be well under $10MM per school. How did that turn out for the worldwide leader?

ESPN will probably do what is in its interest, bid for BE basketball by itself. Given the split league, ESPN's bid will probably mean more money for the BB only schools than the NBC bid for all sports. It will create even more of a fracture in the league, though I don't think that's why they will do it. It will drive up the cost for NBC, without putting ESPN at risk for actually winning the football rights it doesn't want to pay for. It's the smart play for them. It's also the smart play for the Big East. ESPN is a much better home for basketball, NBC should be for football.

 

[Carl Spackler]

ESPN will probably do what is in its interest, bid for BE basketball by itself. Given the split league, ESPN's bid will probably mean more money for the BB only schools than the NBC bid for all sports. It will create even more of a fracture in the league, though I don't think that's why they will do it. It will drive up the cost for NBC, without putting ESPN at risk for actually winning the football rights it doesn't want to pay for. It's the smart play for them. It's also the smart play for the Big East. ESPN is a much better home for basketball, NBC should be for football.

The first question to answer is if basketball and football broadcast rights are even being mutually discussed right now. I'm not sure they are. I know football has another 30 days of exclusivity with ESPN to get a deal done, because the contract runs out Dec. 1, 2012.

I don't know where how/basketball fits in right now, because those are separate contracts, involving both ESPN and CBS that expire in March 2013.

 

[pj]

Since the football season runs out Dec 1 and the basketball season runs out March 2013, in effect the contracts all expire at the end of this academic year.

I doubt very much the basketball and football contracts will be separated. If NBC is serious about NBC Sports Network they need weekday and winter inventory from basketball. Since football will teach NBE fans were NBC Sports Network is, their best chance to enter college basketball is with NBE. Selling basketball to ESPN would sabotage NBC and ESPN would underplay NBE basketball because they will want to promote conferences to whom they have football rights.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

ESPN will probably do what is in its interest, bid for BE basketball by itself. Given the split league, ESPN's bid will probably mean more money for the BB only schools than the NBC bid for all sports. It will create even more of a fracture in the league, though I don't think that's why they will do it. It will drive up the cost for NBC, without putting ESPN at risk for actually winning the football rights it doesn't want to pay for. It's the smart play for them. It's also the smart play for the Big East. ESPN is a much better home for basketball, NBC should be for football.

I agree with this. I think ESPN really only cares about Big East basketball. However, I think BE basketball is also the prize that NBC really wants. Everyone says football drives the bus but with the BE it's just not that simple. Our true value is our basketball. Sure, members who play football will make much more than those who don't but the hours of programming provided by picking up BE basketball has to be what NBC is really after.

I actually hope ESPN does put a high bid out there for basketball as a stand alone and I personally hope that NBC would match that offer and it ends up making the total package value much more in line with the power conferences than it otherwise would have been.

I disagree with you that NBC would significantly hurt BE hoops. I think BE hoops would effectively transform NBC sports from being a mere afterthought.

 

[freescooter]

You guys lay out the scenario that I think is the Big East's worst nightmare and one that the commissioner will do his absolute best to avoid. We don't need a separate basketball deal. And we don't need the product split between 2 networks either unless it is incredibly lucrative. The thing is that I think that splitting the deal into 2 contracts is bad for the big east and especially for the football schools, because at the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, you can "buy" basketball for a relatively modest amount. There are simply too many alternatives out there. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to overpay for the Big East just to get it. If you paid $5 million for the ACC basketball portion of the deal and I've seen numbers in that range, the Big East isn't really worth that much more. You could probably get the A-10 for $2 million and they'd marry your dog and sleep on your front steps at night.And if you promote them in a big way, you could end fine. And the new Big East, without Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame and West Virginia isn't worth what the old Big East with them was worth unless you believe that Temple and Memphis are equal to Syracuse & Pitt. No rational soul would argue that SMU, Houston and Central Florida are comparable to Notre Dame and West Virginia. The problem with basketball being the true value is that basketball overall is the less valuable commodity relative to football in the larger scheme of things and new big East basketball isn't comparable to old Big East basketball. And you can't have success with Big East football making C-USA money, which is the risk of splitting the contracts.

 

[Pudge]

You guys lay out the scenario that I think is the Big East's worst nightmare and one that the commissioner will do his absolute best to avoid. We don't need a separate basketball deal. And we don't need the product split between 2 networks either unless it is incredibly lucrative. The thing is that I think that splitting the deal into 2 contracts is bad for the big east and especially for the football schools, because at the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, you can "buy" basketball for a relatively modest amount. There are simply too many alternatives out there. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to overpay for the Big East just to get it. If you paid $5 million for the ACC basketball portion of the deal and I've seen numbers in that range, the Big East isn't really worth that much more. You could probably get the A-10 for $2 million and they'd marry your dog and sleep on your front steps at night.And if you promote them in a big way, you could end fine. And the new Big East, without Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame and West Virginia isn't worth what the old Big East with them was worth unless you believe that Temple and Memphis are equal to Syracuse & Pitt. No rational soul would argue that SMU, Houston and Central Florida are comparable to Notre Dame and West Virginia. The problem with basketball being the true value is that basketball overall is the less valuable commodity relative to football in the larger scheme of things and new big East basketball isn't comparable to old Big East basketball. And you can't have success with Big East football making C-USA money, which is the risk of splitting the contracts.

Well ... thanks.

The speculation is that NBC Sports was paying $4m per school for BE Basketball (so that would be under your $5m); see Dick Weiss on/about August 4. And I think Comcast systems covering NBC Sports would be smart to grab that A-10 at $2m. A full weekend & a few nights of College Hoop opposite the ACC & B10 on ESPN.

Worst Nightmare? ESPN has been in the middle of every bad event coming our (UConn) way; with Governor Malloy feeding them PILOT programs & tax incentives. There is absolutely NO reason for you to point to WVU & Notre Dame basketball success of the last 15 years & separate them from the Big East. SMU with Larry Brown - I think has a good chance to rise big (if he stays for more than 20 hours). Houston? Already has a better Basketball heritage than most of the Big East. I'm not sure about the current Coach/Program (but I can tell you that they signed 2 top 100 recruits from Texas this past year). There is NOTHING inherently irreplaceble about ND or WVU or Pitt in Hoop. Syracuse is another story. So ... I am a rational soul telling you that a good 15 year arc of Houston/SMU in the Big East since 1995 would show a comparable rise. (*UCF ... who knows. They are a comp for USF.) And, with smart leadership - now NON Providence - we will see the rise of new schools in the BE.

Basketball is the less Valuable commodity. What Bevilacqua started (let's give him credit) is Universities started reaping big benefits from College Sports inventory. The Big 10 Network & the Pac 12 Network>? He pitched both the leagues on their value. I think you are going to see Greater $$$ for our WBB. I think you are going to see College Soccer. I think you are going to see NBC/Fox/CBS have more content & ESPN won't be the go-to place as much as many here think.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Well ... thanks.

The speculation is that NBC Sports was paying $4m per school for BE Basketball (so that would be under your $5m); see Dick Weiss on/about August 4. And I think Comcast systems covering NBC Sports would be smart to grab that A-10 at $2m. A full weekend & a few nights of College Hoop opposite the ACC & B10 on ESPN.

Worst Nightmare? ESPN has been in the middle of every bad event coming our (UConn) way; with Governor Malloy feeding them PILOT programs & tax incentives. There is absolutely NO reason for you to point to WVU & Notre Dame basketball success of the last 15 years & separate them from the Big East. SMU with Larry Brown - I think has a good chance to rise big (if he stays for more than 20 hours). Houston? Already has a better Basketball heritage than most of the Big East. I'm not sure about the current Coach/Program (but I can tell you that they signed 2 top 100 recruits from Texas this past year). There is NOTHING inherently irreplaceble about ND or WVU or Pitt in Hoop. Syracuse is another story. So ... I am a rational soul telling you that a good 15 year arc of Houston/SMU in the Big East since 1995 would show a comparable rise. (*UCF ... who knows. They are a comp for USF.) And, with smart leadership - now NON Providence - we will see the rise of new schools in the BE.

Basketball is the less Valuable commodity. What Bevilacqua started (let's give him credit) is Universities started reaping big benefits from College Sports inventory. The Big 10 Network & the Pac 12 Network>? He pitched both the leagues on their value. I think you are going to see Greater $$$ for our WBB. I think you are going to see College Soccer. I think you are going to see NBC/Fox/CBS have more content & ESPN won't be the go-to place as much as many here think.

If no deal gets done with ESPN, we are free agents as a conference in less than 30 days.

 

[freescooter]

Pudge, baby, come back to us...I'm begging you..Houston went to its first NCAA appearance in 15 years in 2010...they haven't won a tournament game since the Reagan Administration..Using your metrics, Holy Cross and Loyola of Chicago also have better basketball heritages than most of the Big East. Why not bring them in too and build on their heritage...maybe we can get LaSalle as part of a package deal....The point is that Notre Dame and West Virginia are better programs and have bigger names than SMU and Houston and that's been true for the past 15 years at least. You want to say that was because they were in the Big East? That certainly helped. You want to say Houston can rebuild? Maybe they can. But right now we're dealing with a program whose best days are far, far in the past and we're trying to make a deal NOW. But regardless of why, the fact is that its well, a fact. As far as Larry Brown goes, one wonders what he'll do returning to college after 25 years in the NBA. Maybe Houston and SMU are significant contributors in the next round contract negotiations, the ones that come in 2025 or so.

 

[CL82]

We spend a lot of time focusing on ESPN & what "they are doing to us." What is the other side of the ledger? Who has driven TV in College Sports for the last 15 years? Chris Bevilacqua is OUR Big East negotiator. Working with Commissioner Mike Aresco; who came from CBS - where Bevilacqua sold his CSTV network in 2005 for $350m.

Who was Mr. Bevilacqua's first employee at CSTV (eventually grew to 330 employees in less than 7 years time)? Tim Pernetti - who is now Athletic Director at Rutgers. Obviously good friends by all accounts.

Who introduced Mr. Bevilacqua to Mr. Pernetti? Jon Litner, now President of NBC Sports (including all the Cable channels) brought Pernetti to Bevilacqua on the field of the 1995 World Series. All three are good friends. Litner has had his position at NBC Sports since Oct 2011.

Bevilacqua is given credit for structuring the massive Pac 12 deal with Commission Larry Scott; also the network package for the Texas Rangers; and CSTV was the original packager of Tier3 & 4 assets for Universities.

What has he been promoting according to the NJ Star Ledger ... and quotes from Larry Scott - one entity negotiating from West Coast to East Coast:

“Consolidating rights is going to give you better outcomes,” Bevilacqua said. “So consolidating programming-centric rights on the West Coast with programming-centric rights in the Southwest with programming-centric rights on the Atlantic Coast makes a lot of sense.”
And ... eventually a One Entity negotiating for 72 Universities from all the major conferences.

Okay...so how does this get us to Kevin Bacon?

 

[Pudge]

Okay...so how does this get us to Kevin Bacon?

Jon Litner > Bacon's brother. They played in a band together.

 

[Pudge]

Pudge, baby, come back to us...I'm begging you..Houston went to its first NCAA appearance in 15 years in 2010...they haven't won a tournament game since the Reagan Administration..Using your metrics, Holy Cross and Loyola of Chicago also have better basketball heritages than most of the Big East. Why not bring them in too and build on their heritage...maybe we can get LaSalle as part of a package deal....The point is that Notre Dame and West Virginia are better programs and have bigger names than SMU and Houston and that's been true for the past 15 years at least. You want to say that was because they were in the Big East? That certainly helped. You want to say Houston can rebuild? Maybe they can. But right now we're dealing with a program whose best days are far, far in the past and we're trying to make a deal NOW. But regardless of why, the fact is that its well, a fact. As far as Larry Brown goes, one wonders what he'll do returning to college after 25 years in the NBA. Maybe Houston and SMU are significant contributors in the next round contract negotiations, the ones that come in 2025 or so.

Please ...

HOW MANY TOP BALLERS came from WV?

Houston, with a good coach, would regularly swamp WV; with the BE label. And ... btw ... if it is since my college years (which doesn't include HC & Loyola & LaSalle), it is relevant history. So ... Akeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler & Michael Young seems like yesterday. West Virginia????? You are nuts. That's a Huggins program ... that will be LESS in the B12. Count on that. They ain't getting NJ/NY kids to go play the Texas/Oklahoma teams. Pitt? Did you listen to Jaime Dixon's concerns?

Notre Dame? OK ... what exactly do you project for them?

SMU? Got a funny feeling about Larry Brown. He is far better than if they hired Johnny Jones. They now have a foothold.

There are large numbers of great HS hoop players in Texas. You are wrong.

 

[freescooter]

Pudge maybe it is relevant to you, but 90% of today's players don't know Clyde Drexler from the Budweiser Clydesdales. And sorry to break it to you but Notre Dame will be and is a draw that SMU and UCF will not be if they win the next 12 Big East titles between them. You may not know it, but West Virginia has a long and rich basketball tradition going back to at least the 1950s. The 1970s was something of a wasteland but they have NCAA appearances in every decade from the 1950s, 60, 80s, 90, 2000s and 2010s. A Final four in 2010. In fact one of the reasons Huggins was hired there is because he could connect the current program with its deep history. It doesn't fit your narrative, but West Virginia has at least as much history as Houston and it has had greater success in the post Gipper era.

 

[Pudge]

I can build a better Houston BB program today than either ND or WVU. Simple. That's not narrative. Big East - Houston - a decent coach would overwhelm those two. And Pitt. It's the Texas players & a better hoops conference.

Plus thus outrageous history lesson. From 1967 to 1985, Houston was a core top Program. What happened? SWC combusted. You can make Houston a power.

BTW ... Are you a UConn fan? Did you miss where we come from ... And our relative assets. ND benefited in both MBB/WBB. West Virginia?? Will they sustain hoop success after Huggy in a Texas/Ok conference?

 

[freescooter]

I can build a better Houston BB program today than either ND or WVU. Simple. That's not narrative. Big East - Houston - a decent coach would overwhelm those two. And Pitt. It's the Texas players & a better hoops conference.

Plus thus outrageous history lesson. From 1967 to 1985, Houston was a core top Program. What happened? SWC combusted. You can make Houston a power.

BTW ... Are you a UConn fan? Did you miss where we come from ... And our relative assets. ND benefited in both MBB/WBB. West Virginia?? Will they sustain hoop success after Huggy in a Texas/Ok conference?

You really don't know anything about the history of this game, do you? From 1955 to 65 West virginia was a power. Jerry West, Hot Rod Hundley, They've been on the national scene since 1982 in their resurgence and a significant player since Huggins arrived. Houston? Please. They have 1 NCAA tournament appearance in the last 15 years and haven't won a game in almost 30 years. As I said, maybe they become a power again and they are a factor in the NEXT round of negotiating. But right now, they are squato. As far as Pitt is concerned, let's see what they do. And as for the UConn comparison, please? But just for jollies, do you tink UConn's "potential" figured into the first Big East tv deal, or was it maybe Georgetown, Villanova, St Johns, Syracuse, even Providence and BC back then...you know, teams that actually had success at the time?

 

[Pudge]

My Dad was a New England college basketball coach.

I saw Pistol Pete Maravich play.
I saw Ernie DiGregorio play in a HS all-star tourney.
My Dad introduced me to Toby Kimball when I was about 5
Saw Bobby Knight coach at Army
Talked with the point shavers at BC

I don't think you want to match college basketball history with me. I went to games for free.

And ... what YOU are missing: How you build a Program. With the Big East Conference, I am absolutely certain you can build a better Program at the University of Houston than at West Virginia. Huggins is an outlier. Their norm is Gale Catlett. At UH, you have lots of kids from Texas that you can put in that school. If they want to compete ... they are well-positioned.

Over & Over ... I see the same thing on this board. Myopia. We came from trailers in the Football Program. The Hugh Greer fieldhouse. Can you please stop with this crap about what the CUSA schools HAVE been. The BE Football teams of the last 8 years ... the BE Hoop teams of the last 15 years are ample evidence for my argument. You get Big East conference exposure; money; TV ... and a good coach can build a Program. It will, in the future, be easier to build that Program at University of Houston than BC. Than Providence. Than some butt-hole State with little urban talent.

 

[freescooter]

Well, now you're changing the argument...sure you CAN build a program...maybe, if a million things fall into place. The Big East of the last 15 years are a decided mixed bag. Syracuse, Georgetown, St Johns are all old line prgrams. UConn is the newbie of sorts, Louisville has been around at the highest levels for decades on and off. Same with Cincinatti. They didn't need the Big East to be relevant. On the Flip side Providence was a national program going back to the 1950s. Now, not so much. South Florida has one NCAA appearance, not really sure the Big East helped them. And getting a good coach is easier said than done. How many did Villanova go through after Rollie? Houston maybe can build a program...or maybe they are South Florida...or Rutgers or maybe they lose out to Texas for top Texas basketballers the same way they lose out to Texas for the top football players. I might be myopic, but you are clearly viewing the new Big East though the most rosey of rose colored glasses. Yup, IF SMU Houston, UCF South Florida all find Jim Calhoun clones, and IF Kevin Ollie turns out to be yet another Jim Calhoun Clone, and IF the ACC, SEC and Big 12 decide to drop basketball, and IF ESPN gives us all that money...well all may yet be well...

 

[UConnJim]

I agree with Pudge. Houston/SMU/UCF have the chance to build good basketball programs as they are in attractive locations. Houston has the talent and history and now they have the exposure and money. (Rivals rated their 2012 recruiting class #15.) SMU and UCF? Good locations that could become good programs with the right coach.