Big East Conference Realignment v2018

[BigmanU]

I am sensing a lot of insecurity from my fellow Xavier fans. They believe we have successfully shed the "mid-major" label and want nothing to do with former associates. Well, labels are transient. The Big East is considered a power conference currently, but that is not a guaranteed status. We should be proactive and add programs with a high-potential for success and growth now while the brand is strong.

So your solution to keep the Big East from becoming a mid-major conference is to add mid-major programs from other mid-major conferences?

Cut & dry of it, love that statement!

[Wizard of Westroads]

5. Speaking of facilities, Jays have an NBA caliber arena that seats 17,500 and they fill it up; for perspective, add the capacity of VCUs arena and Wichita's arena, and you get CUs arena; the arena will host a regional final in March.

Timeout to remind fans of Nova, SH, X, PC and Butler that one of the regionals is in Omaha. Make the Sweet 16 at the Clink and you will have a home crowd in your pursuit of the Final Four.

[ThrowDownDBrown]

Since last realignment:

Tier 1: Villanova - Obvious. 8 trophies and counting since realignment ( 4 BE regular season, 2 BET, 1 NCAA Regional, 1 NCAA Championship)
Tier 2: Seton Hall, Providence - Only other schools to actually win something since realignment (1 BET each)
Tier 3: Xavier, Butler - Consistently strong and consistently in the tournament
Tier 4: Creighton, Marquette - Up and down, both appear on an upward trajectory
Tier 5: Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul - Have had their moments but struggling generate momentum

Where "candidates" fit in:

Wichita State - Tier 3 - I can't honestly say I think they're better than Creighton or Marquette, but they fit my consistently strong/in the tournament definition of tier 3. I don't push them up to tier 1 or 2 for conference championships because I have full confidence that DePaul would win multiple conference championships playing in the Creighton-less MVC - meaning their last meaningful trophy was prior to realignment and thus not within the timeframe of my rankings. I think the current Wichita State team would finish somewhere between 4th and 7th if they played in the Big East.

Dayton - Tier 5 - They would fit tier 3 by definition, but unlike Wichita State I'm actually going to drop them because of the coaching change. It simply isn't the same team that was a consistently strong tournament team under Archie Miller so they need to prove they can get back to that level under the new coach before I'm willing to move them above tier 5.

VCU - Tier 5 - See Dayton

UConn - Tier 2/Tier 5 - Ugh - A very hard downward trend, but they bring 2 major trophies (NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship) within the time frame. That's more than anyone not named Villanova could say. You know what? An NCAA investigation trumps a National Championship, especially since it puts the status of those trophies in doubt.

Lol at ranking Seton Hall and Providence over X because they won a meaningless conference tournament. Do something in the real tournament for once. Providence has at least one first round win but that's it. Seton Hall has zero and is currently 6th in winning percentage in the new conference.

[_lh]

I am sensing a lot of insecurity from my fellow Xavier fans. They believe we have successfully shed the "mid-major" label and want nothing to do with former associates. Well, labels are transient. The Big East is considered a power conference currently, but that is not a guaranteed status. We should be proactive and add programs with a high-potential for success and growth now while the brand is strong.

So your solution to keep the Big East from becoming a mid-major conference is to add mid-major programs from other mid-major conferences?

Cut & dry of it, love that statement!

Reminds me of the Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode where Charlie keeps throwing more cats into a hole in the wall to help get the first cat that was stuck in there out.

[DudeAnon]

I am sensing a lot of insecurity from my fellow Xavier fans. They believe we have successfully shed the "mid-major" label and want nothing to do with former associates. Well, labels are transient. The Big East is considered a power conference currently, but that is not a guaranteed status. We should be proactive and add programs with a high-potential for success and growth now while the brand is strong.

So your solution to keep the Big East from becoming a mid-major conference is to add mid-major programs from other mid-major conferences?

Um, what do you think the C7 did 5 years ago? And btw, those 3 mid-majors are now all in the upper half of the conference.

[Hall2012]

I am sensing a lot of insecurity from my fellow Xavier fans. They believe we have successfully shed the "mid-major" label and want nothing to do with former associates. Well, labels are transient. The Big East is considered a power conference currently, but that is not a guaranteed status. We should be proactive and add programs with a high-potential for success and growth now while the brand is strong.

So your solution to keep the Big East from becoming a mid-major conference is to add mid-major programs from other mid-major conferences?

Um, what do you think the C7 did 5 years ago? And btw, those 3 mid-majors are now all in the upper half of the conference.

They had no choice. A 7 team league isn't viable and they weren't gonna convince any P5 schools to drop football and join them.

[DanofXav76]

Since last realignment:

Tier 1: Villanova - Obvious. 8 trophies and counting since realignment ( 4 BE regular season, 2 BET, 1 NCAA Regional, 1 NCAA Championship)
Tier 2: Seton Hall, Providence - Only other schools to actually win something since realignment (1 BET each)
Tier 3: Xavier, Butler - Consistently strong and consistently in the tournament
Tier 4: Creighton, Marquette - Up and down, both appear on an upward trajectory
Tier 5: Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul - Have had their moments but struggling generate momentum

Where "candidates" fit in:

Wichita State - Tier 3 - I can't honestly say I think they're better than Creighton or Marquette, but they fit my consistently strong/in the tournament definition of tier 3. I don't push them up to tier 1 or 2 for conference championships because I have full confidence that DePaul would win multiple conference championships playing in the Creighton-less MVC - meaning their last meaningful trophy was prior to realignment and thus not within the timeframe of my rankings. I think the current Wichita State team would finish somewhere between 4th and 7th if they played in the Big East.

Dayton - Tier 5 - They would fit tier 3 by definition, but unlike Wichita State I'm actually going to drop them because of the coaching change. It simply isn't the same team that was a consistently strong tournament team under Archie Miller so they need to prove they can get back to that level under the new coach before I'm willing to move them above tier 5.

VCU - Tier 5 - See Dayton

UConn - Tier 2/Tier 5 - Ugh - A very hard downward trend, but they bring 2 major trophies (NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship) within the time frame. That's more than anyone not named Villanova could say. You know what? An NCAA investigation trumps a National Championship, especially since it puts the status of those trophies in doubt.

Lol at ranking Seton Hall and Providence over X because they won a meaningless conference tournament. Do something in the real tournament for once. Providence has at least one first round win but that's it. Seton Hall has zero and is currently 6th in winning percentage in the new conference.

Winning the BET is a Big Deal. The history and mystique of the BET is a major cornerstone of why the Big East is a Big Time conference.

[DudeAnon]

So your solution to keep the Big East from becoming a mid-major conference is to add mid-major programs from other mid-major conferences?

Um, what do you think the C7 did 5 years ago? And btw, those 3 mid-majors are now all in the upper half of the conference.

They had no choice. A 7 team league isn't viable and they weren't gonna convince any P5 schools to drop football and join them.

Maybe so, but what they discovered was that "mid-major" is really a label for conferences and not programs. Each of those three was simply being held back, much like I imagine WSU, UD and VCU are experiencing. Don't be afraid of competition Hall2012.

[DudeAnon]

Since last realignment:

Tier 1: Villanova - Obvious. 8 trophies and counting since realignment ( 4 BE regular season, 2 BET, 1 NCAA Regional, 1 NCAA Championship)
Tier 2: Seton Hall, Providence - Only other schools to actually win something since realignment (1 BET each)
Tier 3: Xavier, Butler - Consistently strong and consistently in the tournament
Tier 4: Creighton, Marquette - Up and down, both appear on an upward trajectory
Tier 5: Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul - Have had their moments but struggling generate momentum

This is an awful tier list. Priority for rankings should be 1) Tournament success (the real one), 2) Regular season success, 3) Fan support.

Nova, Xavier, Butler, Creighton, Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette, Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul. Its not hard to see that pretty clearly.

[_lh]

They had no choice. A 7 team league isn't viable and they weren't gonna convince any P5 schools to drop football and join them.

Exactly. The Big East had to add teams back then. They don't now for any reason and it certainly would not make much sense to add teams like UD, WSU, VCU. What's the hurry? Wait and see what happens with UCONN. Wait and see what happens with the Big 12. Wait and see what happens with the ACC. The Big East can wait. They can also wait and see if UD sucks again under their new coach. The Big East can wait and see if WSU sucks in a bigger conference or sucks when they eventually lose their coach. The Big East can also wait to see what happens with Ewing at Georgetown, etc.

There is no urgency to add the teams you keep suggesting. Sorry.