Boeheim wants to keep playing some Big East teams

[78 friar]

According to ESPN story, Boeheim is excited about being in the ACC but wants to continue paying Georgetown, St. Johns and Villanova. Just what we need as a conference: Keep Syracuse visible, relevant and within reach of 3 of the biggest cities in the Big East as well as 3 of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country. Time to cut ties with these schools (How's Pitt and West Virginia doing in their recruiting in the northeast since they left? ) once and for all and if syracuse or any other wants to still be seen in the big cities, let them schedule, Fordham, Drexel and American University. I know there's money to be made from playing these teams, but there's also money to be made by playing Michigan, Texas, Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, etc., etc. etc.

[nathanhm]

According to ESPN story, Boeheim is excited about being in the ACC but wants to continue paying Georgetown, St. Johns and Villanova. Just what we need as a conference: Keep Syracuse visible, relevant and within reach of 3 of the biggest cities in the Big East as well as 3 of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country. Time to cut ties with these schools (How's Pitt and West Virginia doing in their recruiting in the northeast since they left? ) once and for all and if syracuse or any other wants to still be seen in the big cities, let them schedule, Fordham, Drexel and American University. I know there's money to be made from playing these teams, but there's also money to be made by playing Michigan, Texas, Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, etc., etc. etc.

Agree to disagree I hope Georgetown continues to play Syracuse.

[JOPO]

According to ESPN story, Boeheim is excited about being in the ACC but wants to continue paying Georgetown, St. Johns and Villanova. Just what we need as a conference: Keep Syracuse visible, relevant and within reach of 3 of the biggest cities in the Big East as well as 3 of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country. Time to cut ties with these schools (How's Pitt and West Virginia doing in their recruiting in the northeast since they left? ) once and for all and if syracuse or any other wants to still be seen in the big cities, let them schedule, Fordham, Drexel and American University. I know there's money to be made from playing these teams, but there's also money to be made by playing Michigan, Texas, Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, etc., etc. etc.

+1 (though I would gladly play Syracuse or Pitt instead of Rutgers)

[Burrito]

http://blogs.fayobserver.com/accbasketb ... es-ACC-geo

Boeheim prefers playing in NYC and Washington DC for the recruiting. (this article is more about the tournament location)

[78 friar]

Jopo, I agree that playing Rutgers is not optimum for you as a Seton Hall fan. But do you really want Pittsburgh visiting New Jersey every other year and playing in front of your New Jersey high school recruits? Same thing for Syracuse. G Burrito, what you said is exactly what I meant. Boeheim wants to play there to recruit the New York and DC players. Being able to tell a kid that he'll be able to play in front of his family and friends every other year will certainly make that easier. Pittsburgh and West Virginia, who for years feasted on the players from the northeast, no longer have any presence at all . We all have to play quality non-conference games and I realize scheduling is difficult, but as petty as it may be, I still hold a grudge against these teams that basically caused the breakup of the best basketball conference there ever was.

[dmac80]

I think BE teams should continue to play the best Programs they can, including Syracuse. It wasn't basketball that screwed everything up it was football. I don't think snubbing a Syracuse to spite them is going to help our league continue to be viewed as top tier.

[Dave]

Cuse and Nova should continue to play, both benefit. Real traditions aren't just manufactured. We should treasure this one.

With a watered down conference schedule, this helps.

[TheHall]

Cuse and Nova should continue to play, both benefit. Real traditions aren't just manufactured. We should treasure this one.

With a watered down conference schedule, this helps.

Very true but real traditions also can't be maintained by meaningless regular season games either. The rivalries BE schools had with cuse came from playing games that had something on the line- conference standings or BET, not just bragging rights. SJU has played some great regular season games with Duke over the years, same with Gtown, but those teams don't have any semblance of a rivalry with Duke. Treasure the memories I say!

Btw, who really knows if our schedules will be watered down yet, remember the old BE schedule was beyond insane, so that can't be the benchmark!

[bman95]

Here's the truth. It hurts CUSe not to be in the BE because they got most of their recruits from the BE cities and the same was true for WVU, PITT and ND. And a recruit from NY or NJ could go to those schools knowing that their family could see them play throughout the season. Just like BC went from a powerhouse to a perennial minion when they left, these schools need to play BE teams to maintain their north east recruiting presence. It hurts BE recruiting to play these schools but nobody is going to tell CUSE no to a home & home because their fans will sell out your arena. As far as the others I hope we don't see their games on your schedules.
As a SHU fan I am very happy not to lose recruits to those teams and we are already seeing the good results from realignment. Time will tell if the other old BE schools will drop off the charts like BC and WVU have since they left.

[NewBigEastConf]

The way Butler took Syracuse to the shed a couple years ago in the tournament I would imagine Boeheim would prefer to pass on the Bulldogs going forward.