Why not invite Gonzaga to join the Big East?

[oldude]

If you have to get on an airplane anyhow, is it so much different to fly 500 miles or 2500 miles? Need hotel rooms on the other end either way. More expensive? Yes. A little more wear and tear? Yes. But not wildly so. UCONN survived the AAC which involved a lot of travel. Having said that the Gonzaga idea is pretty dumb. Keep the east in the east and the west in the west.

Many years ago, I had some customers in OR, WA & ID. If you’re flying commercial from the east coast there are no direct flights. You fly through Chicago, St Louis or some other city. When you consider both the flight time as well as the time to and from airports and waiting around at airports it’s a good 8-9 hrs, assuming no flight delays.

So that’s basically 2 full days traveling to and from the PNW, and when you get there or fly back, you’re exhausted.

 

[Skeets]

Many years ago, I had some customers in OR, WA & ID. If you’re flying commercial from the east coast there are no direct flights. You fly through Chicago, St Louis or some other city. When you consider both the flight time as well as the time to and from airports and waiting around at airports it’s a good 8-9 hrs, assuming no flight delays.

So that’s basically 2 full days traveling to and from the PNW, and when you get there or fly back, you’re exhausted.

Good observation. I don't fly very much any more, but when I did it seemed like I could never get a direct flight except to the very largest of cities. I'm sure the volleyball team flies commercial. Do the MBB and WBB teams fly commercial or charter? Not that it matters, as I said it makes more sense to keep the east in the east and the west in the west...

 

[Stymie]

If you have to get on an airplane anyhow, is it so much different to fly 500 miles or 2500 miles? Need hotel rooms on the other end either way. More expensive? Yes. A little more wear and tear? Yes. But not wildly so. UCONN survived the AAC which involved a lot of travel. Having said that the Gonzaga idea is pretty dumb. Keep the east in the east and the west

If you have to get on an airplane anyhow, is it so much different to fly 500 miles or 2500 miles? Need hotel rooms on the other end either way. More expensive? Yes. A little more wear and tear? Yes. But not wildly so. UCONN survived the AAC which involved a lot of travel. Having said that the Gonzaga idea is pretty dumb. Keep the east in the east and the west in the west.

Just checked it.
8 hour flight.
Cray cray

 

[Carnac]

Good observation. I don't fly very much any more, but when I did it seemed like I could never get a direct flight except to the very largest of cities. I'm sure the volleyball team flies commercial. Do the MBB and WBB teams fly commercial or charter? Not that it matters, as I said it makes more sense to keep the east in the east and the west in the west...

I only follow the UConn women close enough to know certain details about them. I KNOW they fly charter, but I'm not sure every other WBB team in the BE does. It was fun to toss around the idea of UConn joining the PAC12, but that all it was, an idea. UConn is good where they are right now. The goal is to win championships. They did it being headquartered in the AAC, they can do being headquartered in the BIG East.

This is the best team Geno has had since the Stewart era. If everyone stays healthy, and performs as expected, UConn is going to be real tough to beat. Simply make the tournament, and win those last six games.

Until UConn's football team becomes uber competitive again, forget about any potential invites to a larger more financially lucrative conference. I say take care of the tasks before us, and deal with things down the road, down the road. Lets focus on winning the championship for THIS season. # Nodaysoff

 

[Vowelguy]

Just checked it.
8 hour flight.
Cray cray

And that’s if you fly charter. Everything besides BB would require a layover in Minneapolis or Seattle — even from NYC or Chicago.

 

[Goodgood]

Not much of a problem for the BE teams, they might have to fly out west once a year, but for Gonzaga, it would be a nightmare of a schedule (and costs too).

 

[Ozimoto]

In my humble opinion, except for the Uber Rich Football Schools that will end up in the limited number of mega conferences (seems like there might end up being two at the most), college athletic departments will not be able to afford to sustain extensive travel. The regional conferences that existed before the explosion of TV money in the 1980's will come back and the only time you will see out of region matchups will be in the season ending tournaments.

 

[visitingcock]

Travel costs.

Sure, MBB could be possible, but then add in all the other sports. It would bust the athletic budgets of everybody involved.

 

[Monte]

How about U. of Hawaii?

 

[Sky ball]

But they are from the Eastern part of Washington

Eastern Washington is very Big also.

 

[Carnac]

How about U. of Hawaii?

Hawaii is currently a member of the BIG West Conference. All of the BIG West member schools are located in California.
Travel costs are now a lot cheaper for Hawaii since leaving the Mountain West Conference. That move saved dollars and it made a lot of cents. Before leaving the MWC, they had to travel as far east as Laramie Wyoming (U of Wyoming) and Colorado Springs, Colorado (Air Force Academy) and south to Albuquerque New Mexico (U of New Mexico).

Current BIG West members: Cal Poly SLO, California State University, Bakersfield , Cal State Fullerton, California State University, Northridge, University of Hawaii at Manoa, California State University, Long Beach, University of California, Davis, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Riverside, University of California, San Diego and University of California, Santa Barbara.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

A school from Spokane, Washington in the Big East? Sure, why not…….

After all, they are from the EAST side of Washington State.....

 

[ccwarrior]

People forget the size of the states in the west. From one corner of my fair state (WA) to the other is like Boston to Richmond, VA.

 

[cohenzone]

No. A logistics nightmare for UConn. UConn teams would spend a lot of time on airplanes and in the friendly skies. The eastern most member is Colorado, plus all of the Pac12 schools have a reasonably competitive football program.

I think it was a joke.

 

[Lorcan]

I’d say that Gonzaga in the past few seasons had injuries to key players late in the year contributing to lackluster performances in the Big Dance. I don’t have specific data on that but they have seemed to be snakebit.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I’d say that Gonzaga in the past few seasons had injuries to key players late in the year contributing to lackluster performances in the Big Dance. I don’t have specific data on that but they have seemed to be snakebit.

That has been true in some cases. They lost Stockton and Townsend really late in the year one season. Pretty sure they were at full strength last year. I saw them in Seattle in '17 against Oklahoma. I don't think there were injuries then either. Not a good performance from them.

 

[JellyBean]

Bad idea.

 

[Vowelguy]

You could get to the Sorbonne faster than Gonzaga.

I vote for University of Prague so we get a game in front of those Eastern European players.