Why Not 14?

[ProprietyofLeyluken]

I have a feeling they'll do ok. ABC picked it up.

ABC had it last year too. 3.4M viewers vs SEC 13.4M. That's only a 10,000,000 viewer difference but understand that may be "okay" by AAC standards. ABC needs to air something between the Big 12 and ACC. Notice none of the major conferences or networks want to compete with the SEC title game.

Looks like ESPN/ABC was happy with the rating yesterday vs the SEC.

[adoraz]

I have a feeling they'll do ok. ABC picked it up.

ABC had it last year too. 3.4M viewers vs SEC 13.4M. That's only a 10,000,000 viewer difference but understand that may be "okay" by AAC standards. ABC needs to air something between the Big 12 and ACC. Notice none of the major conferences or networks want to compete with the SEC title game.

Looks like ESPN/ABC was happy with the rating yesterday vs the SEC.

It was a good game, because Memphis (awful team) led for most of it. I watched and enjoyed it. However, the P6 commercials were embarrassing. Made the league look small time since the undefeated winner didn't sniff the playoffs. Trying way too hard.

SEC title game was decent. I didn't watch other stuff, but looking at the scores ACC/B1G were extremely boring. Two massive blowouts.

College football is getting so predictable. I rather see an underdog team in there, but that's not happening anytime soon.

Back to basketball, UConn lost a close one at home to Arizona today (UConn was favored by a couple).

[GoldenWarrior11]

Back to the actual expansion candidate discussion...

Saint Louis, who is a very quiet 6-1 (in large part to the overall struggles of the A10), has defeated both Seton Hall and Butler this year in OOC play. Yesterday, SLU had an attendance of 9,572 against their game against the Bulldogs. This was their highest attendance game since 2015 when they faced #16 VCU. Travis Ford has been recruiting very strongly in the A10, including getting Rivals' 5* Carte'Are Gordon for this season. With how weak the A10 is this season, they should definitely challenge Davidson for their league championship this season. If SLU were to win the A10 this year, and/or make a little run in the tournament come March, they would be an easy shoe-in for #11 in the conference.

In addition to men's basketball, they would also provide solid Olympic sports in baseball, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, and volleyball. I know it would not be high on the priority list, but they would also provide a swimming and diving program, which only five of our programs sponsor (Georgetown, Providence, St. Johns, Villanova and Xavier). They would also bump up our men's track and field numbers up as well.

With the Rams out of St. Louis, and no NBA team, the school could really dominate the Winter months with high-quality men's basketball. They desire to be in an East Coast league (which is why they went to the A10 instead of the MVC after C-USA). Mutually beneficial to the conference and to our member schools, they could provide a perfect eleventh members to increase our markets, our quality and our overall value.

[adoraz]

Back to the actual expansion candidate discussion...

Saint Louis, who is a very quiet 6-1 (in large part to the overall struggles of the A10), has defeated both Seton Hall and Butler this year in OOC play. Yesterday, SLU had an attendance of 9,572 against their game against the Bulldogs. This was their highest attendance game since 2015 when they faced #16 VCU. Travis Ford has been recruiting very strongly in the A10, including getting Rivals' 5* Carte'Are Gordon for this season. With how weak the A10 is this season, they should definitely challenge Davidson for their league championship this season. If SLU were to win the A10 this year, and/or make a little run in the tournament come March, they would be an easy shoe-in for #11 in the conference.

In addition to men's basketball, they would also provide solid Olympic sports in baseball, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, and volleyball. I know it would not be high on the priority list, but they would also provide a swimming and diving program, which only five of our programs sponsor (Georgetown, Providence, St. Johns, Villanova and Xavier). They would also bump up our men's track and field numbers up as well.

With the Rams out of St. Louis, and no NBA team, the school could really dominate the Winter months with high-quality men's basketball. They desire to be in an East Coast league (which is why they went to the A10 instead of the MVC after C-USA). Mutually beneficial to the conference and to our member schools, they could provide a perfect eleventh members to increase our markets, our quality and our overall value.

I agree they're on the right track, but they need to show a lot more consistency.

0 Sweet 16 since 1957
0 Tournament appearances since 2014

To be frank, even if they play well this year and make the Tournament it'd be embarrassing to immediately add them. Will take far more than a year or two of good play to consider them. Their recent history is awful compared to Butler/Creighton/Xavier when we added them.

Also, any ideas on their TV ratings? That (and MSG attendance) has to be the biggest thing in adding a team. I doubt they would positively impact our TV contract or MSG attendance, otherwise we would've added them back in 2013.

I feel that even though UConn/Gonzaga both have a lot of issues, they're still miles ahead of anybody else we're talking about. UConn at least would get us all more $$$ per school.

Anyways, I'll definitely be rooting for them this year. Hope they go far in the Tournament.

[stever20]

Back to the actual expansion candidate discussion...

Saint Louis, who is a very quiet 6-1 (in large part to the overall struggles of the A10), has defeated both Seton Hall and Butler this year in OOC play. Yesterday, SLU had an attendance of 9,572 against their game against the Bulldogs. This was their highest attendance game since 2015 when they faced #16 VCU. Travis Ford has been recruiting very strongly in the A10, including getting Rivals' 5* Carte'Are Gordon for this season. With how weak the A10 is this season, they should definitely challenge Davidson for their league championship this season. If SLU were to win the A10 this year, and/or make a little run in the tournament come March, they would be an easy shoe-in for #11 in the conference.

In addition to men's basketball, they would also provide solid Olympic sports in baseball, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, and volleyball. I know it would not be high on the priority list, but they would also provide a swimming and diving program, which only five of our programs sponsor (Georgetown, Providence, St. Johns, Villanova and Xavier). They would also bump up our men's track and field numbers up as well.

With the Rams out of St. Louis, and no NBA team, the school could really dominate the Winter months with high-quality men's basketball. They desire to be in an East Coast league (which is why they went to the A10 instead of the MVC after C-USA). Mutually beneficial to the conference and to our member schools, they could provide a perfect eleventh members to increase our markets, our quality and our overall value.

I agree they're on the right track, but they need to show a lot more consistency.

0 Sweet 16 since 1957
0 Tournament appearances since 2014

To be frank, even if they play well this year and make the Tournament it'd be embarrassing to immediately add them. Will take far more than a year or two of good play to consider them. Their recent history is awful compared to Butler/Creighton/Xavier when we added them.

Also, any ideas on their TV ratings? That (and MSG attendance) has to be the biggest thing in adding a team. I doubt they would positively impact our TV contract or MSG attendance, otherwise we would've added them back in 2013.

I feel that even though UConn/Gonzaga both have a lot of issues, they're still miles ahead of anybody else we're talking about. UConn at least would get us all more $$$ per school.

Anyways, I'll definitely be rooting for them this year. Hope they go far in the Tournament.

I'd add that there would be a good chance of Ford getting taken and then where does their program go?

[scoscox]

Yesterday, SLU had an attendance of 9,572 against their game against the Bulldogs. This was their highest attendance game since 2015 when they faced #16 VCU.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for their addition. Chaiffetz holds 10600

[GumbyDamnit!]

Against my better judgement, I'll continue the discussion. In terms of SLU it is clear that they are the A+ choice in all things except basketball success. So if they did get the hoops program in shape, they fit everything else we are looking for: academics, values, private, no football, great/new media market; geographic fit with Creighton to the west, etc.

If I am the Board of Directors of SLU I am approaching the BE (or even Fox) now. I am selling them on an impending full commitment to hoops and the merits of what the St. Louis market could bring the conference and it's media partners. Commit to a set budget amount over the next 15 years and commit long term to Ford or bring in whomever is the hot coach for top dollar, should Ford leave. $2-3M for a coach / staff; another $8-$10M for the program overall. Go out and spare no expense to get into this conference by 2022. Sell the BE on SLU. Commit to the program without hesitation or reservation and results will follow in time.

Do what PC did. They used this new iteration of the conference as a spring board to reinvigorate a proud but somewhat stagnant program. They are now nationally relevant again within 5 years. There is no reason SLU couldn't do the same if they had the BE platform behind them. So past performance wouldn't deter me too much when a school is all-in on a plan. Heck, look no further than DePaul to see the flip side of what happens when a school fails to be committed to the basketball team's success. DePaul has a more storied past than Creighton but it's clear to me which of the two is more poised for success in the next decade or more.

[GoldenWarrior11]

The sad and unfortunate aspect about SLU's basketball program was that they had committed to men's basketball strongly when they hired Rick Majerus to begin leading the program in 2007. He had the program in great shape before his unfortunate resignation (due to health problems) in 2012. This is where SLU was between a rock and a hard place, program-wise: they could have gotten a new, proven head coach to take the reins, but then they would have likely lost a number of the guys he brought due to transfer (and lose out on the resulting success in the immediate term after his passing). The only option, at this time, was to go with the top-assistant, Jim Crews - who hadn't been a successful head coach since the early 90's - and ride out the wave that Majerus had started.

SLU made a statement when they got Ford, a coach that had turned each of his prior stops into winning programs. If/when Ford goes to a more high profile job, SLU will likely just find another coach that is capable of leading a successful program (like many of our Big East programs).

[GoldenWarrior11]

Yesterday, SLU had an attendance of 9,572 against their game against the Bulldogs. This was their highest attendance game since 2015 when they faced #16 VCU.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for their addition. Chaiffetz holds 10600

9,572 is higher than the average attendance last year at Butler, DePaul, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall and St. Johns. With a Big East schedule, they would be in the top half of the league in attendance, thus bumping up our league average.

[stever20]

The sad and unfortunate aspect about SLU's basketball program was that they had committed to men's basketball strongly when they hired Rick Majerus to begin leading the program in 2007. He had the program in great shape before his unfortunate resignation (due to health problems) in 2012. This is where SLU was between a rock and a hard place, program-wise: they could have gotten a new, proven head coach to take the reins, but then they would have likely lost a number of the guys he brought due to transfer (and lose out on the resulting success in the immediate term after his passing). The only option, at this time, was to go with the top-assistant, Jim Crews - who hadn't been a successful head coach since the early 90's - and ride out the wave that Majerus had started.

SLU made a statement when they got Ford, a coach that had turned each of his prior stops into winning programs. If/when Ford goes to a more high profile job, SLU will likely just find another coach that is capable of leading a successful program (like many of our Big East programs).

Any coaching hire comes with risks. At a program with frankly almost no history like SLU, it's that much tougher. Also, being in the A10, it's even that much tougher.

I still say if Majerus had been healthy in 2012-13 period and going strong, SLU would be in the Big East rather than Creighton. But after he passed away, the Big East needed the surer bet in Creighton rather than the now uncertainty of SLU.