I know, let's pretend that Houston is a really good team. Look at our current conference schedule and replace Syracuse with Tulane, Pitt with Southern Methodist, Georgetown with Houston (remembering it isn't 1984), for that matter even a sluggo program like Seton hall with Central Florida and tell me it isn't an unfathomable comedown. Here's the RPI of the current Big East vs the new conference
Old: Louisville 9, Syracuse 19, Cincinnati 24, UConn 26, Georgetown 32, Marquette 54, Notre Dame 64, Pitt 68, Seton Hall 73, Rutgers 97, South florida 99, St Johns 100, villanova 105, PC 123, ...De Paul 202. The current big East has 6 top 25 teams.
And the new: Cincy 24, UConn 26, Temple 35, Memphis 91, South Florida 99, UCF 120, East Carolina (rumored full member) 117, Tulane 135, SMU 160, Houston 213. think about how this effects strength of schedule. And conference SOS. This conglomeration has 1 top 25 team. CL82, you might want to pretend this is no biggie and we can make it up out of conference, but in the real world that isn't happening. At best UConn is a mid-top 25 type team from here on out, and that assumes Ollie is the guy we need to coach. I don't accept that assumption yet. Won an emotional opening game against an over-rated Michigan State team. And "played hard" in a loss to a New Mexico team that has lost 2 of 3 to South Dakota State and St Louis. And got taken to 2 ots against might Quinnipiac. Not sure I've seen enough to say he's going to be more than ordinary as a head coach. if you go by the pr blitz, he's an improvement on Calhoun. Again reality suggests something different.
bottom line, what's left on the basketball side is a very ugly situation. While football is a step back, given our lack of history, it is possible that we are successful despite the situation. Basketball is ugly though any way you look at it, as long as you look at the facts...