Why not invite Gonzaga to join the Big East?

[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.

 

[fang]

How about the Sorbonne, if travel isn't an issue? A game in Paris might offer some benefits eastern Washington lacks.

 

[Vowelguy]

How about the Sorbonne, if travel isn't an issue? A game in Paris might offer some benefits eastern Washington lacks.

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.