Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[ecasadoSBU]

The amount of hate in this board towards Connecticut... geez...

I hope Connecticut bounces back and doesn't have to give up football. It's entirely okay to have the P5 aspirations ...

Oh well, we will find out soon enough the path the University takes

what do you mean by soon enough? is there something we dont know about? UCONN's ony option is to stay in the AAC, correct? That seems to be very long term

You are right. That's the only option but something tells me that if Connecticut football doesn't improve and basketball starts to suffer (terrible start this year) in addition to the heavy investments in FB and little returns (huge subsidies) the University won't be able to pull this off in the long term. They either have to climb to the top of the AAC FB or consider other cheaper options. You can't bleed money for too long before people start to pay attention. It's a public University after all...

I would hate to see that thought. I still believe that University has the quality, size, and support to have a P5 FB program

[stever20]

I think the thing before they make any move based on basketball struggling they would get rid of Ollie first- and see if it was just him.

[phphphonograph]

Just want to get your guy's input on this. Who realistically, in your opinion and maybe why, are long term candidates for BIG EAST expansion? With the next round of realignment likely in 2023-2025 who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk about them?

[Xudash]

Just want to get your guy's input on this. Who realistically, in your opinion and maybe why, are long term candidates for BIG EAST expansion? With the next round of realignment likely in 2023-2025 who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk about them?

With the question framed on the basis of long-term candidates, my take is that any such candidate would come from the pool of football schools at this point (e.g. UCONN, Wake, BC, etc.).

Assuming Gonzaga is out due to logistics, there are no basketball-only schools that make the cut at this point.

Otherwise, we are in a very strong position right now and have the luxury of not even having to consider expansion.

Short term or long term, there are simply too many variables at this point to be able to absolutely pinpoint viable expansion candidates, except to note those that are obvious and unavailable, such as Notre Dame, etc.

Damn. Any true fan of the BIG EAST has to love how we are presently positioned.

[DudeAnon]

Just want to get your guy's input on this. Who realistically, in your opinion and maybe why, are long term candidates for BIG EAST expansion? With the next round of realignment likely in 2023-2025 who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk about them?

I'd argue 10 is the perfect number for the conference. Definitely considering its very unlikely that any current members leave or are asked to leave. But to answer your question, its a pretty small pool of any realistic candidates. I would say: Dayton, SLU, VCU and UCONN are the only realistic candidates for a number of reasons.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Welcome to the Holy Land of Hoops message board, phphphonograph. I find it to be very interesting, informative, and civil. I hope you do too.

Who realistically, in your opinion and maybe why, are long term candidates for BIG EAST expansion?

I addressed this issue objectively with this April 5th post on Page 11 of this thread.

With the next round of realignment likely in 2023-2025 who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk ... ?

Only Fox Sports and their rivals. I addressed this issue objectively with this August 18th post on Page 52 of this thread.

[Bill Marsh]

I think the thing before they make any move based on basketball struggling they would get rid of Ollie first- and see if it was just him.

What basketball struggles? UConn won a NC just 2 years ago and brought in a top recruiting class this year.

[Bluejay]

I think the thing before they make any move based on basketball struggling they would get rid of Ollie first- and see if it was just him.

What basketball struggles? UConn won a NC just 2 years ago and brought in a top recruiting class this year.

The struggles that have them at 2-4. Those struggles.

[phphphonograph]

Welcome to the Holy Land of Hoops message board, phphphonograph. I find it to be very interesting, informative, and civil. I hope you do too.

Who realistically, in your opinion and maybe why, are long term candidates for BIG EAST expansion?

I addressed this issue objectively with this April 5th post on Page 11 of this thread.

With the next round of realignment likely in 2023-2025 who has the capacity to force the BIG EAST to talk ... ?

Only Fox Sports and their rivals. I addressed this issue objectively with this August 18th post on Page 52 of this thread.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been a long time lurker...even have a Holy Land of Hoops T-shirt from 2013 or 2012 i think.

I actually read through this whole forum before posting. I agree with a lot of your points, Flyer. However, I was really thinking about not only this next media deal, which with a potential bubble about to pop in sport media money, what the BIG EAST may be considering. I actually really appreciated your more formalized points on what the BIG EAST is looking for. I was hoping to expand upon that further and maybe create a further list of inquiry on what certain schools would have to achieve in the next 5-10 years to be in that discussion and in the next 15-20 for the end of the next contract. Ill glady offer my own position too if you all would like.

[SCS]

I think the thing before they make any move based on basketball struggling they would get rid of Ollie first- and see if it was just him.

What basketball struggles? UConn won a NC just 2 years ago and brought in a top recruiting class this year.

The struggles that have them at 2-4. Those struggles.

They also have only 8 scholarship players for the year now. That might be part of it, but hey, whatever fits the narrative that they are floundering.