Why Not 14?

[Xavier4036]

But the thing that will have changed with their next discussions is this current season where the league is struggling. With only 10 teams, there's no guarantee that the league will get even 4 bids, let alone 5.

And I do find it really interesting that the folks most against expansion/for the round robin are Creighton, Butler, and Xavier fans....

The Big East won 2 out of the last 3 national championships, is a Top 3 conference annually, and regularly gets 60% of the conference in the NCAA tournament. No league, especially one as well run as the Big East, would make a knee-jerk reaction that would have decades long consequences due to one down year.

That’s just crazy Stever talk and/or fantasy. I assume you aren’t in a strategic planning or leadership role in your day job, when you aren’t trolling Big East boards after 6 years ....

[Xavier4036]

stever gonna stever.

You've only been waiting for a season like this for the BE for 6 years now.

Even in a once decade type of down year the BE is clearly better than the aaaaack. Speaking of which should'nt you be over there reminding them of how Memphis blew their ooc schedule rpi by losing the 1st game of the Advocare tourney or some such thing? Lord knows you would talking that shite up on this board non-stop say, Providence or Seton Hall had done that. Since it's an aaaaack team, I'm guessing not a word will be said here or on their board about it by you. Nope, no mention of anything that's not rainbows and unicorns for the aaaaack. Same old stever.

So did Memphis have realistic hopes for the tourney this year? Probably not.

And yeah- for a team that thinks they have a realistic shot at making the tourney- it makes a huge difference. Also your other games make a difference as well- even with the loss- Memphis still has LSU, Texas Tech, and Tennessee on their OOC schedule. Plus good mid-majors in Yale, South Dakota St(with one of the best players in the country), and UAB. Providence on the other hand had only Wichita(which they already lost to) and Texas on their OOC schedule. Seton Hall didn't need the exempt tourney anywhere near as much as Providence SOS wise. The exempt tournament's mean more for some teams than others.

This sums up the difference between the AAAC and Big East. Nearly every Big East team has the expectation and ability to make the NCAA tournament every year. Stever is micro-analyzing OOC games and SOS as it relates to NCAA tournament hopes for the team projected to be 8th out of 10 in the Big East!

Conversely, Stever just freely admitted only 4 of the 12 AAAC teams even have a “realistic” chance of making the tournament so the poor OOC performance and SOS of the AAAC doesn’t really matter.

Can this guy just get banned already?

[milksteak]

stever gonna stever.

You've only been waiting for a season like this for the BE for 6 years now.

Even in a once decade type of down year the BE is clearly better than the aaaaack. Speaking of which should'nt you be over there reminding them of how Memphis blew their ooc schedule rpi by losing the 1st game of the Advocare tourney or some such thing? Lord knows you would talking that shite up on this board non-stop say, Providence or Seton Hall had done that. Since it's an aaaaack team, I'm guessing not a word will be said here or on their board about it by you. Nope, no mention of anything that's not rainbows and unicorns for the aaaaack. Same old stever.

So did Memphis have realistic hopes for the tourney this year? Probably not.

And yeah- for a team that thinks they have a realistic shot at making the tourney- it makes a huge difference. Also your other games make a difference as well- even with the loss- Memphis still has LSU, Texas Tech, and Tennessee on their OOC schedule. Plus good mid-majors in Yale, South Dakota St(with one of the best players in the country), and UAB. Providence on the other hand had only Wichita(which they already lost to) and Texas on their OOC schedule. Seton Hall didn't need the exempt tourney anywhere near as much as Providence SOS wise. The exempt tournament's mean more for some teams than others.

Conversely, Stever just freely admitted only 4 of the 12 AAAC teams even have a “realistic” chance of making the tournament so the poor OOC performance and SOS of the AAAC doesn’t really matter.

Can this guy just get banned already?

I’m totally fine with fans of opposing conferences coming in and making posts that “go against the narrative.” Having someone playing devil’s advocate is good for discussion. But, I also expect them to at least TRY to be objective. Stever goes out of his way to NOT be objective.

I’ll leave it up to the mods, but he certainly wouldn’t be missed.

[MUBoxer]

Has Stever actually admitted to being an AAC fan yet? or is there still the charade of being a Georgetown fan that enjoys playing devil's advocate? Early on I believed the charade, but when he hasn't shown any joy at the various successes we've had through the 5 years I think it is very obvious now.

[Westbrook#36]

stever just can't help it, give him enough rope and he hangs himself. Can you just drop the charade?, please. That facade fell apart several years ago and has been completely exposed now for awhile. We all know it and so does he, but he non the less he keeps up the charade. It'd be one thing if he openly admitted where his allegiance is, because his trolling has some supporting data(highly selective and framed data on moving goalposts), but no, he knows his position/agenda is so weak he has to hide it. Funny he still won't admit where he graduated from, because he knows it will out himself. Man I just named 2 BE that popped into my head, wasn't advocating for them in anyway, but stever took the bait and went all aaaaack defender for Memphis.

[Xudash]

Well played? When the C7 looked to add teams to get to Fox's necessary 10, they would certainly looked at recent program success/trajectory and media markets.
In 2013, Xavier had more S16's (5) than any of the existing conference members since 2000.
Butler had as many as Nova (4).
Dayton and SLU had zero.
Why would you add Dayton or SLU.
And since Xavier and Butler have joined the original 7, they have performed as major conference teams.

NJRedman can't seem to comprehend that there was no "true up" at the inception of the conference. The deal was put together based upon the 10 teams that were brought together. To your point, they didn't have to look too long, or certainly too far to figure out which 3 teams to invite.

Worse yet, his responses here would have you believe that Fox would throw the same money at the conference now to keep each team's payout where they are now by adding mid-majors. I doubt that requires much commentary.

The day we feel compelled to add mid-majors because we think we have to do that becomes the day the Big East signals that it couldn't hold serve.

We wait to expand if and when that becomes necessary and opportunistic by expanding UP - UCONN, etc.

SLU and VD? Mid-major ineptitude.

[GoldenWarrior11]

I can’t claim the analogy as my own (Frank takes full credit), but with regards to the BE, the league is in prime position to be the B1G of non-football conferences (the Private Ivy). The C7 was deliberate and methodical when it chose Butler, Creighton and Xavier. Yes, they each were high-level college basketball programs, but they each brought strong academics, large metro areas and a Private/Catholic affiliation. A school like VCU could have easily been added, but the Presidents favored peers and like-minded fits. For this reason, and looking at Val’s comments a few weeks ago about any new members wanting to be here, I don’t believe UConn would be an easily accepted member as I once believed. UConn, whether in the AAC or BE, wants to be in the ACC. Both leagues, for them, are stopgaps. All ten of our members are in an optimal league, and won’t pursue leaving anytime soon.

With how both Saint Louis and Dayton have been building their respective basketball programs, I believe they would add tremendous value to the current configuration of the league. They have strong academics, are both Catholic schools, have great markets and have passionate fan bases. I think they would be able to take their basketball programs to another level if under the Big East brand. Both schools also have strong East coast and Midwest alumni, so they would additionally bring value to our current games and content.

By going to 20 games, the league loses its round robin, but it can be selective in scheduling. They can eliminate the home/home with the expected top teams and bottom teams. Each team would have two schools they only have one game with. That would actually give a slight boost with NET.

[paulxu]

By going to 20 games, the league loses its round robin, but it can be selective in scheduling. They can eliminate the home/home with the expected top teams and bottom teams. Each team would have two schools they only have one game with. That would actually give a slight boost with NET.

You don't lose the round robin by going to 20 games. All you have to do is add 1 team to the conference.

[Xudash]

I can’t claim the analogy as my own (Frank takes full credit), but with regards to the BE, the league is in prime position to be the B1G of non-football conferences (the Private Ivy). The C7 was deliberate and methodical when it chose Butler, Creighton and Xavier. Yes, they each were high-level college basketball programs, but they each brought strong academics, large metro areas and a Private/Catholic affiliation. A school like VCU could have easily been added, but the Presidents favored peers and like-minded fits. For this reason, and looking at Val’s comments a few weeks ago about any new members wanting to be here, I don’t believe UConn would be an easily accepted member as I once believed. UConn, whether in the AAC or BE, wants to be in the ACC. Both leagues, for them, are stopgaps. All ten of our members are in an optimal league, and won’t pursue leaving anytime soon.

With how both Saint Louis and Dayton have been building their respective basketball programs, I believe they would add tremendous value to the current configuration of the league. They have strong academics, are both Catholic schools, have great markets and have passionate fan bases. I think they would be able to take their basketball programs to another level if under the Big East brand. Both schools also have strong East coast and Midwest alumni, so they would additionally bring value to our current games and content.

By going to 20 games, the league loses its round robin, but it can be selective in scheduling. They can eliminate the home/home with the expected top teams and bottom teams. Each team would have two schools they only have one game with. That would actually give a slight boost with NET.

1. I doubt the eastern BE teams would go for two Midwest additions, but that's for them to comment on.

2. I believe you referred to Dayton as a "great market". It's actually redundant or small or both.

3. The BE shouldn't be about bringing in mid-major projects to build them up. Assuming expansion becomes necessary, achieve it by adding already strong brands.

The bottom line is that we have Val, strong Presidents and strong AD's in place to make these decisions- not fans.

[jbarajas0490]

Dayton and SLU are institutional fits and are better than half the league in certain aspects.

Dayton's enrollment is 10,500 students. That would place them at 6th in size.
SLU's enrollment is 13,500, making them the 4th largest school in the conference.

Dayton has an endowment of 520 million good for 4th largest.
SLU clocks in at 1.1 billion good for 2nd.

Dayton's Arena holds 13500 people not the biggest but on par with the Dunk or the Cintas bigger than Hinckle. And they have always been near the top of the A10 and have been to an elite eight 4 years ago.

SLU is like Marquette's brother they actively recruit throughout the midwest. They are the two most important Jesuit schools in the country. What they lack in athletics they make up in academics and prestige. Only Georgetown is richer than them.

Meanwhile UCONN is a public state flagship school and would be have the largest enrollment and also has invested heavily in football and would never get rid of it. And on top of that both Dayton and SLU have larger endowments.