This is where we stand: 3 Options

[ConnHuskBask]

Conference Affiliations:
Independence isn't an option, so forget that.
I don't think the B1G is even a remote option at this point.
I only see the ACC expanding if they get raided themselves by the SEC or B1G.

So this is what we have:

Current Big East: UConn, Louisville, South Florida, Rutgers and Cincy.

Options:

A) Stay with catholics and work with them to see who they would vote in for an all sports membership, or who we could get for football only. Remember catholics will be hesitant to invite full sports members with the perceived threat UConn, Louisville leave and they are saddled with a member that isn't up to par in hoops and is a cultural outlier.

B) Split from the catholics and invite for starters 5 new all sports teams from: Temple, Central Florida, Houston, East Carolina, Southern Methodist, Memphis, etc. Basketball tradition, rivals and geographic fit certainly go out the window. Is it all worth it to do all we can to put our football in a position to succeed? Sustained football success would seem to be the best way to get an invite down the line to the ACC.

C) Big East/C-USA/MTNWest Alliance. Big East basketball stays the same, football still would play all the remaining Big East schools, but we'd end up having 3 or 4 essentially random conference games a year from teams in C-USA and MtnWest. It seems like a total cluster f and a huge joke, but if it can be guaranteed a BCS AQ bid would it be worth it? Have to figure the auto bid would be won by one of the remaining BE schools or Boise State, so the added teams/competition isn't a huge deal in my eyes.

So, that's where everything stands in my eyes right now. I don't think anything happens in the immediate future, so we'll just have to sit back and hope for the best.

 

[Danzz]

Conference Affiliations:
Independence isn't an option, so forget that.
I don't think the B1G is even a remote option at this point.
I only see the ACC expanding if they get raided themselves by the SEC or B1G.

So this is what we have:

Current Big East: UConn, Louisville, South Florida, Rutgers and Cincy.

Options:

A) Stay with catholics and work with them to see who they would vote in for an all sports membership, or who we could get for football only. Remember catholics will be hesitant to invite full sports members with the perceived threat UConn, Louisville leave and they are saddled with a member that isn't up to par in hoops and is a cultural outlier.

B) Split from the catholics and invite for starters 5 new all sports teams from: Temple, Central Florida, Houston, East Carolina, Southern Methodist, Memphis, etc. Basketball tradition, rivals and geographic fit certainly go out the window. Is it all worth it to do all we can to put our football in a position to succeed? Sustained football success would seem to be the best way to get an invite down the line to the ACC.

C) Big East/C-USA/MTNWest Alliance. Big East basketball stays the same, football still would play all the remaining Big East schools, but we'd end up having 3 or 4 essentially random conference games a year from teams in C-USA and MtnWest. It seems like a total cluster f and a huge joke, but if it can be guaranteed a BCS AQ bid would it be worth it? Have to figure the auto bid would be won by one of the remaining BE schools or Boise State, so the added teams/competition isn't a huge deal in my eyes.

So, that's where everything stands in my eyes right now. I don't think anything happens in the immediate future, so we'll just have to sit back and hope for the best.

You pretty much outlined the options. The problem with the BE expanding is that it still leaves the conference in an unstable situation. It is a short term solution but what would Uconn do if after the expansion and we get invited to the ACC? We bolt and the same for Cinn., Louisville and Rutgers if they get invited somewhere else.
The Catholic schools woulds split and we replace Villanova, Georgetown, St Johns, ND, Marquette along with the departed Cuse and Pitt with Temple, Central Fla, East Carolina, SMU and Memphis.That is one crappy basketball conference.
Bottom line: there are options but no good ones.

 

[mattp]

option C is the worst of the three. sharing a BCS bid with 2 other conferences is hardly better than not having one at all. i'd rather see us stay with the BE catholics in everything except independent for football than that. if we don't get a BCS bid conference i'd like to see us go independent. maybe other schools like Cinci, Louisville, and Rutgers would go the same route, making scheduling a little easier.

B stinks b/c we're throwing away the BE tournament and the Big East itself in order to put together a hodge podge CUSA2 that is really not a permanent solution anyway. this conference would be an unstable mess from the get go, so why leave anything to go to it?

A is the only viable option IMO. if we can get Boise, they'll replace WVU in terms of our powerhouse, and any combination of the commonly discussed options could more than replace Cuse/Pitt on the field in terms of maintaining BCS status.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

option C is the worst of the three. sharing a BCS bid with 2 other conferences is hardly better than not having one at all. i'd rather see us stay with the BE catholics in everything except independent for football than that. if we don't get a BCS bid conference i'd like to see us go independent. maybe other schools like Cinci, Louisville, and Rutgers would go the same route, making scheduling a little easier.

B stinks b/c we're throwing away the BE tournament and the Big East itself in order to put together a hodge podge CUSA2 that is really not a permanent solution anyway. this conference would be an unstable mess from the get go, so why leave anything to go to it?

A is the only viable option IMO. if we can get Boise, they'll replace WVU in terms of our powerhouse, and any combination of the commonly discussed options could more than replace Cuse/Pitt on the field in terms of maintaining BCS status.

A. is the only remotely feasible option. It's not going to be the BE we are used to but having Boise St. and the other 5 currently being discussed would allow us to continue as a decent football conference and great basketball conference. If we can somehow pull in BYU as a surpise, that would be a coup and the football conference would actually be a better conference but definitely wouldn't feel anything like the current Big East unless we can convince one or more of them not to go.

No matter how unlikely, trying to get the departing schools to reconsider still has to be a part of the strategy. Keep everyone locked in until 2014 and negotiate like hell for an insanely good TV deal that could potentially change some minds. A conference with Boise St., BYU, UConn, and Louisville plus Air Force, Navy and possibly Army would be worth a huge amount of money if it also held onto Cuse, Pitt, and WVU.

 

[Vuce]

Conference Affiliations:
Independence isn't an option, so forget that.
I don't think the B1G is even a remote option at this point.
I only see the ACC expanding if they get raided themselves by the SEC or B1G.

So this is what we have:

Current Big East: UConn, Louisville, South Florida, Rutgers and Cincy.

Options:

A) Stay with catholics and work with them to see who they would vote in for an all sports membership, or who we could get for football only. Remember catholics will be hesitant to invite full sports members with the perceived threat UConn, Louisville leave and they are saddled with a member that isn't up to par in hoops and is a cultural outlier.

B) Split from the catholics and invite for starters 5 new all sports teams from: Temple, Central Florida, Houston, East Carolina, Southern Methodist, Memphis, etc. Basketball tradition, rivals and geographic fit certainly go out the window. Is it all worth it to do all we can to put our football in a position to succeed? Sustained football success would seem to be the best way to get an invite down the line to the ACC.

C) Big East/C-USA/MTNWest Alliance. Big East basketball stays the same, football still would play all the remaining Big East schools, but we'd end up having 3 or 4 essentially random conference games a year from teams in C-USA and MtnWest. It seems like a total cluster f and a huge joke, but if it can be guaranteed a BCS AQ bid would it be worth it? Have to figure the auto bid would be won by one of the remaining BE schools or Boise State, so the added teams/competition isn't a huge deal in my eyes.

So, that's where everything stands in my eyes right now. I don't think anything happens in the immediate future, so we'll just have to sit back and hope for the best.

Where did ND go in your plans? If ND goes to the ACC I think Uconn will be the program that goes with them.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

It's pretty much ACC or bust at this point.

 

[huskeynut]

No matter the present options, you are still dealing with the hybrid conference. The only way to stabilize the BE is to bring in schools for full membership - all sports. Any other plan will only repeat what we see now.