"We" weren't actually comparing the tops of conferences: the OP made a laughable assertion about the relative strength of the conferences and I responded. But since the sandbox monitor has decided that what we are now doing is comparing the tops of the conferences, the Catholic conference is still better than ours. UConn is better than Georgetown, Marquette or Villanova. No other team in UConn's new conference is better than those three and you cannot point to a single piece of empirical evidence that would indicate otherwise. Cincinnati has made the NCAA tournament twice in the last seven years, Temple has won one NCAA tournament game in 11 years, and Memphis hasn't won any NCAA tournament games since John Calipari left.
Temple and Memphis are not playing bball inside the BE, which has its advantages. The bottom of the CYO is as bad as the bottom of the BE. There's no difference. Look at who our bottom schools are losing to so far this year. They are struggling with NJIT. Cincy has as much if not more history than all of the schools you mention, and a very enthusiastic fanbase for bball. But even better, going forward, the ACC is about the suck the talent away from all those Catholic schools. The ACC is going to be the best conference in the USA, and where once players were lured to the BE CYOs because of teams like UConn and Cuse and Louisville, those days are gone. Wake Forest and BC are going to be the benefactors now, along with other piddling ACC teams. UConn will be hurt by this too, but UConn is UConn. Temple never recruited at that level anyway so it likely won't bother them. Cincy may be effected because they dip into NYC quite bit. This won't bother Memphis at all because they compete in the south.[/quote]
I thought we were discussing the material world in which we all live and the actual events that occur there. I didn't realize that we are giving equal or greater weight to predictions of a future world that you are pulling out of your colon.
Should I be paying attention to who the bottom schools are losing to or who they are struggling against? I would argue that St. John's didn't struggle as much in their win against NJIT as you struggle hundreds of times a week attempting to make coherent arguments with fellow Bonetards. Do you actually think that kids go to play at Georgetown and Villanova because they want to play against Syracuse and Louisville? On what basis? And this phenomenon of wanting to play for schools because of their competition won't affect UConn because "UConn is UConn" and Memphis, a mediocre program on the downswing, doesn't have to worry about recruiting because they recruit in the south? You're like a tennis-ball cannon of illogic set on "rapid-fire".
As for Cincinnati, one trip the Sweet Sixteen in the last 12 years plus all the enthusiasm stickers you want to hand out to their fanbase don't outweigh the fact that Villanova and Georgetown have each made the Final Four within the last five years.
