UConn Conference vs Catholic 7

[NRIFriarguy]

There is no way you lose the four best programs(UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville), and arguably 7 of the best 10(WVU, ND, Cincy), replace them with quality mid majors and STILL not take a major step back. There is no question that the league will be competitive but most of the C-7 benefited greatly from the depth of the Big East and the ability to play the "national heavyweights" mentioned above. Take Villanova for example. They had brutal non-conference losses that they were able to overcome with 5 or 6 top 50 wins.( 3 top 5s). That most likely won't happen in the C-7 and subsequently, if Nova has a resume in terms of non-conference/conference record next year, they would be left out.

Still, sadly, everything about the C-7, the traditional programs, the major markets, MSG, etc is still infinitely better than the Big Suck or America 12 or NBE, or whatever its called.

This is exactly why the New Big East is forming. The vast majority of the schools you mentioned are leaving the conference anyways. UConn and Cincy would have left if given the option. Why not join with some more teams and get some more money in the meantime. No one thinks that this is anything other then a roll of the dice, but better to leave then get left behind.

 

[Fishy]

I almost think you would have to have suffered brain damage to think that the C7 is making a mistake here.

They absolutely had to get out and they found someone to underwrite their move. It was a no-duck*ing-brainer.

The Not-the-America 12 Conference is going to die - it already has an infection and that's UConn and Cincy. Those two will be leaving the conference at some point and that's the end of it.

If you're Georgetown or Nova or PC or whoever, why the hell would you sign onto a conference knowing full well that in two years or five years or even ten years you'll end up looking across the table at UCF, ECU, Tulane and the other hunch-backed rejects while UConn and Cincy prance away? Why would those schools ever want to see their hoop teams fly to Houston or SMU? That's idiotic.

They now have a solid conference with similar schools and a solid television contract. There's no magic wands involved - the programs that suck will likely still suck and some of the mid-majors coming will revert to sucking over time, but at least they know that their conference apple cart won't be tossed every other year.

 

[seanmc94]

It's not so bad watching your hoops team fly all over the country; but when you are sending the women's fold hockey team to Houston on a Wednesday, yikes

 

[businesslawyer]

It's not so bad watching your hoops team fly all over the country; but when you are sending the women's fold hockey team to Houston on a Wednesday, yikes

Great point. Because a trip to Omaha or Milwaukee is totally different.

No one, including your new grouping of schools, gives a rats ass about making life impossible for athletes in sports that don't make money. That is horribly wrong but is the way it is.

 

[upstater]

Great point. Because a trip to Omaha or Milwaukee is totally different.

No one, including your new grouping of schools, gives a rats ass about making life impossible for athletes in sports that don't make money. That is horribly wrong but is the way it is.

Something is very wrong regardless. Even in the MAC now, which is quite compact, kids are traveling midweek in non-revenue sports. It's all over and in every conference. This means the travel problems for the new spread out conferences is more an issue for budgets than it is for athletes since the athletes are already missing class in even the smaller compact conferences.

 

[businesslawyer]

Something is very wrong regardless. Even in the MAC now, which is quite compact, kids are traveling midweek in non-revenue sports. It's all over and in every conference. This means the travel problems for the new spread out conferences is more an issue for budgets than it is for athletes since the athletes are already missing class in even the smaller compact conferences.

As I've said before, a rational person who had been in a comma for 100 years -- or who parachuted in from the jungle somewhere -- would never in a million years understand our Division I college sports structure.

But it is what it is.

 

[zls44]

C7 locked up MSG through 2025-26. Solid win for them and puts a turd in John Swofford's punch bowl.

 

[prankster]

As I've said before, a rational person who had been in a comma for 100 years -- or who parachuted in from the jungle somewhere -- would never in a million years understand our Division I college sports structure.

But it is what it is.

I have never known anyone to have been in a comma, for any length of time.

Although I suspect that there is a larger percentage of the population who might seem to have been in a period for longer than is generally acceptable.

 

[tzznandrew]

This is exactly why the New Big East is forming. The vast majority of the schools you mentioned are leaving the conference anyways. UConn and Cincy would have left if given the option. Why not join with some more teams and get some more money in the meantime. No one thinks that this is anything other then a roll of the dice, but better to leave then get left behind.

Here's the thing: they're placing schools in the tournament from 3 different conferences right now (BE, MVC, A10). It will be harder when they're all in the same conference.

That said, I do think the BE as it will be constructed next year will be viable, stable, and enjoyable.

I have no hard feelings toward the catholics. Anything they can be criticized for (not being for UM) can be countered by some of the football schools not voting for Penn State.

I mean, geez, we were almost in a conference with VT, Miami, Penn State, WVU, and Florida State. That likely would have been the league if we took Penn State in the early 80s. That conference never gets poached by the ACC...although it may have split football-basketball eventually.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I think it's hard for fans of UConn/Syracuse/Pitt/other Big East football schools to understand the perspective of the basketball schools. Unlike you guys, they have known that they were going to be left in the realignment dust for over a decade. The New Big East is the best the catholic schools could hope for short of the current Big East sticking together.