Such a loss

[huskyhaven]

This is what I ran into at the Westin NYC Leaving a meeting.

 

[UConnNick]

Ah yes, the logo of a mid-major basketball conference, featuring several mostly small, parochial and provincial schools of limited significance. Who cares? <YAWN>

 

[sammydabiz]

Without our fellow brethren, "the Ville".... The AAC doesn't hold a candle to the current makeup of the Big East. Sad but true.

Prestige (respect) of current "mid major" (even though it's a football term):

- Big East
- American/Atlantic-10
- Mountain West
- WCC/ MVC

 

[SubbaBub]

Not too shabby for a Mid-Major conference.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jessela...years-top-priced-ncaa-conference-tournaments/

http://blog.tiqiq.com/2015/02/2015-big-east-tournament-tickets-least-expensive-5-years/

 

[sammydabiz]

Being in Manhattan, may have something to do with the price point......
If said tournament happened to be in "providence", it'd be less than a quarter of the asking price

 

[Dave Carlson]

Ah yes, the logo of a mid-major basketball conference, featuring several mostly small, parochial and provincial schools of limited significance. Who cares? <YAWN>

Yes, the Big East Tournament was terrible. Finally, we don't have to play those dumb regional schools we played over and over again for all those years in New York City. Now we get to play against all these quirky new teams, some of which even have cutely inaccurate directionals built into their names. And the cherry on top is we get to play these Rising(tm) powerhouses in the historic city of Hartford, inside a mall whose dilapidation is a clever commentary on early twenty-first century late capitalism. Who could long for the past when the present is such paradise?

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Everyone here knows how much I want the Big East to thrive... not because I hate Connecticut... but because I love Northeast basketball and I would hate for it to fall apart more than it has now. (Yes, Connecticut is having plenty of success in the past couple of years. But if you are smart enough... You must realize that Connecticut alone without any schools nearby is not enough to create excitement in the region. We must have a good amount of ambassadors schools to keep things interesting. as much a you hate the other programs, you need them to be successful for our own good)

Well, since I live in NYC I bought all-session passes to the Big East. Let me tell you that what I saw tonight wasn't good. The attendance was anemic, and even though its the 1st round involving the 7-10 seeds it is still sad to see that at no point tonight did it look like there was 50% of the seats occupied. They may have been sold, but fans weren't enthusiastic enough to come early for the first game or to stay late for the second game. I can see it already... the beginning of the end... as much as I love the idea of a College basketball only conference... The model just won't work long enough if Fox Sports 1 and the Big East refuse to try a different marketing approach to get the average casual fan to attend. I will hate the day that Connecticut is forced to travel thousands of miles just to find a worthy out-of-conference opponent in the South, the Midwest, or the west. Northeast basketball needs to survive, and right now it doesn't look good for the only conference with a northeast base.

I hope tomorrow is a more exciting game with three top 25 opponents, but what I got from the first night is not positive. The Big East has to pressure Fox Sports to broadcast the Big East in Broadcast television FOX instead of FOX SPORTS 1. This Fox Sports 1 is not enough to draw attention to the Big East.

Add to this the fact that the Big Ten and the ACC are going to target New York and will eat away the casual-fan basketball market in NYC and soon enough the Big East may find itself in big trouble. The only thing that can save this league is consistent NCAA success. They Betta show up this year and the next in the NCAA because the ACC is coming to town and things won't look good when they are across the river at Barclays. Add to this the Big Ten mess in Madison Square Garden. The Northeast is losing this battle again sadly just like it did in College Football. We are f'cked.

Our top schools are getting split into different conferences, rivalries are being killed, and yet no one is capable of looking forward enough to realize that we are killing Northeast tradition for the sake of money. ... why is this not happening to the Pacific coast, or the South, or Midwest? Why are we the weakest link despite having the biggest markets...

Nonetheless. Go Connecticut! GOTTA WIN IT ALL!

 

[ecasadoSBU]

 

[UConnNick]

Everyone here knows how much I want the Big East to thrive... not because I hate Connecticut... but because I love Northeast basketball and I would hate for it to fall apart more than it has now. (Yes, Connecticut is having plenty of success in the past couple of years. But if you are smart enough... You must realize that Connecticut alone without any schools nearby is not enough to create excitement in the region. We must have a good amount of ambassadors schools to keep things interesting. as much a you hate the other programs, you need them to be successful for our own good)

Well, since I live in NYC I bought all-session passes to the Big East. Let me tell you that what I saw tonight wasn't good. The attendance was anemic, and even though its the 1st round involving the 7-10 seeds it is still sad to see that at no point tonight did it look like there was 50% of the seats occupied. They may have been sold, but fans weren't enthusiastic enough to come early for the first game or to stay late for the second game. I can see it already... the beginning of the end... as much as I love the idea of a College basketball only conference... The model just won't work long enough if Fox Sports 1 and the Big East refuse to try a different marketing approach to get the average casual fan to attend. I will hate the day that Connecticut is forced to travel thousands of miles just to find a worthy out-of-conference opponent in the South, the Midwest, or the west. Northeast basketball needs to survive, and right now it doesn't look good for the only conference with a northeast base.

I hope tomorrow is a more exciting game with three top 25 opponents, but what I got from the first night is not positive. The Big East has to pressure Fox Sports to broadcast the Big East in Broadcast television FOX instead of FOX SPORTS 1. This Fox Sports 1 is not enough to draw attention to the Big East.

Add to this the fact that the Big Ten and the ACC are going to target New York and will eat away the casual-fan basketball market in NYC and soon enough the Big East may find itself in big trouble. The only thing that can save this league is consistent NCAA success. They Betta show up this year and the next in the NCAA because the ACC is coming to town and things won't look good when they are across the river at Barclays. Add to this the Big Ten mess in Madison Square Garden. The Northeast is losing this battle again sadly just like it did in College Football. We are f'cked.

Our top schools are getting split into different conferences, rivalries are being killed, and yet no one is capable of looking forward enough to realize that we are killing Northeast tradition for the sake of money. ... why is this not happening to the Pacific coast, or the South, or Midwest? Why are we the weakest link despite having the biggest markets...

Nonetheless. Go Connecticut! GOTTA WIN IT ALL!

Because the only thing that matters in big time college athletics is money, and football is where all the money is right now. We've got 125 or so college presidents chasing after every dollar they can get their hands on.

Basketball, whether on the east or west coast, or anywhere in between, is irrelevant. It's not just happening in the northeast. The Big East is and will continue to be a mid major basketball conference. It's over for them. For most of the years the small catholic schools were in the Big East, they enjoyed national stature because they were attached to a BCS football conference. When that ended, their membership in that exclusive club ended with it. Now they're no different than any other basketball-only conference in the country, except that they still have a small handful of big national name teams, but those teams will find it more and more difficult to compete with the P5 conference schools because they can't possibly match them in recruiting, facilities, and most importantly, TV dollars.

 

[UConnNick]

From what we saw at MSG tonight, apparently those high-priced tickets resulted in an ocean of fans disguised as empty seats. Great job...you've apparently priced your entire fanbases out of the market for tickets. Guess why? Nobody cares about college BB anymore! Football makes all the money, and you don't have it.

 

[zls44]

https://twitter.com/emptyseatspics/status/575860706127515648

 

[ecasadoSBU]

https://twitter.com/emptyseatspics/status/575860706127515648

YEah, by then mostly everyone was gone. I Wonder if tomorrow is going to be better.

 

[zls44]

YEah, by then mostly everyone was gone. I Wonder if tomorrow is going to be better.

Not much. The BET without the big guns is gonna showcase what a great job the MAC does of filling Quicken Loans Arena all these years.

 

[zls44]

Also LOLOLOL at the idea of Fox putting the BET on broadcast TV. Might as well just light the cash on fire.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Because the only thing that matters in big time college athletics is money, and football is where all the money is right now. We've got 125 or so college presidents chasing after every dollar they can get their hands on.

Basketball, whether on the east or west coast, or anywhere in between, is irrelevant. It's not just happening in the northeast. The Big East is and will continue to be a mid major basketball conference. It's over for them. For most of the years the small catholic schools were in the Big East, they enjoyed national stature because they were attached to a BCS football conference. When that ended, their membership in that exclusive club ended with it. Now they're no different than any other basketball-only conference in the country, except that they still have a small handful of big national name teams, but those teams will find it more and more difficult to compete with the P5 conference schools because they can't possibly match them in recruiting, facilities, and most importantly, TV dollars.

Which leads me to the following thought (I'm sure millions have though about this before):

Why don't college administrators save themselves from this pain and create conferences for football separate from everything else. Leave basketball alone and go back to the regional conferences for athletics to make it more enjoyable for all the fans. Its hard to travel if you are Creighton and come to NYC for a two hour game. Why would you? But if your team was only a two hour drive you would likely do it. Why doesn't anyone do this?

Destroying such a great sport for football is nonsense. this hurts

 

[Fishy]

I hope tomorrow is a more exciting game with three top 25 opponents, but what I got from the first night is not positive. The Big East has to pressure Fox Sports to broadcast the Big East in Broadcast television FOX instead of FOX SPORTS 1. This Fox Sports 1 is not enough to draw attention to the Big East.

You're deranged - that will never, ever happen.

There's no way a broadcast network would turn over their prime-time programming to a niche basketball conference or any basketball conference for that matter.

Oh, my lord.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

some positive press for now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/s...-in-its-second-season.html?ref=ncaabasketball

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/s...teaching-as-he-learns.html?ref=ncaabasketball

 

[Pudge]

Doesn't Stony Brook have that BIG game coming up against Albany?

 

[IMind]

Yeah I sure do miss all those years of playing DePaul, Xavier, Marquette, Butler, and Creighton... all those epic battles... with all those teams we have such a long history with... *cough*

 

[Leebo]

Also LOLOLOL at the idea of Fox putting the BET on broadcast TV. Might as well just light the cash on fire.

Why would they broadcast the regular season and not the tournament...

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Doesn't Stony Brook have that BIG game coming up against Albany?

YES! Huge game! I can't wait. I'm glad some of you are aware of it. We defeated Vermont in our previous game at Burlington. Another chance for Steve Pikiell to get us to the NCAA on saturday morning!!

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Attendance much more improved today. near sellout if you consider both games attendance.