This is a young conference, and at its start was UConn, Cincy and Louisville, and flotsam, and Louisville is gone. Every other program is a building from near scratch job. Some will be successful, some won't.
The question isn't how bad is the conference now, but where can teams like Memphis, Temple, Tulsa, UCF, USF, Houston and SMU get to, and how quickly. Larry Brown built up SMU, but wasn't long term at his age and with his history. Jankovich will have to keep it going (and learn that depth and coaching in the last minute of close games are important). But there is talent in Houston and Dallas, Memphis has Memphis, Temple has Philly and New Jersey, Wichita State can be successful so there's no reason Tulsa can't, and there's plenty of talent in Florida. If you can coach and recruit at all you should be able to build reasonably strong teams in all of these locations.
Should. Regardless, though, with our pedigree we have to be the flagship. I think we take two steps up next year, and are poised for a big year in 18-19. It'll help every other team in the league if we can do that.