If you could make 1 change to the big east, what would it be

[JOPO]

Ok, kind of read Bill's initial post a little wrong. I am all for setting up a challenge but is MUST be against a major conference (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC 12 - NOT the AAC!). NO mid-major fest. Perception is everything and we don't want people thinking we are playing a challenge against mid-majors because we are one of them.

I thought Bill was just suggesting some potentially good OOC games.

[Jet915]

Katz mentioned that the Big Ten was interested in a challenge but wanted to see how we did this year as a new conference. Pac-12 is the other obvious option as Fox owns some of their rights as well. I think those are the two options for a challenge.

[redmen9194]

We should do a Big East / PAC 12 challenge. Covers thevEast coast, mid-west, southeast, and west coast. St. John's has scheduled UCLA in the past and the games are great fir both fan bases. I wouldn't mind a Big Ten Challenge as well but they have the ACC one so I'm not sure that would work. No AAC.

[Friarfan2]

PAC 10 challenge would be perfect. Fox sports needs to make this happen!

[JOPO]

We should do a Big East / PAC 12 challenge. Covers thevEast coast, mid-west, southeast, and west coast. St. John's has scheduled UCLA in the past and the games are great fir both fan bases. I wouldn't mind a Big Ten Challenge as well but they have the ACC one so I'm not sure that would work. No AAC.

Agree, NO AAC. The only way I would get excited about the Big 10 is if the challenge was against the original 10. Any of the other four major conferences would be perfect.

[BillikensWin]

Big East would whip the SEC.

I think the Pacific (fill in whatever number) is the best bet at this moment.

[gmoser1210]

Big 10 and ACC already have their challenge (for now). That leaves the SEC, Big 12, and the Pac-12. If we do matchups based on previous year's RPI:

Georgetown vs: Florida, Kansas, or Arizona
Marquette vs: Missouri, Kansas State, or UCLA
Butler vs: Mississippi, Oklahoma State, or Colorado
Creighton vs: Kentucky, Oklahoma, or Oregon
Villanova vs: Tennessee, Iowa State, or California
Xavier vs: Alabama, Baylor, or Stanford
Providence vs: LSU, Texas, or Washington
St. John's vs: Arkansas, West Virginia, or Arizona State
Seton Hall vs: Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or USC
DePaul vs: Vanderbilt, TCU, or Utah

I think I'd prefer to set up a challenge with the Big 12. I think the SEC and Pac-12 have some good teams, but not enough to capture a huge audience for the vast majority of the games. Maybe it's just me but I'd rather see Villanova vs. Iowa State than Tennessee or California. Same with Xavier vs. Baylor instead of Alabama or Stanford.

[Jet915]

I prefer the Pac-12. Exposure in the midwest in places like Ames, Waco, Stillwater isn't gonna do much for us as far as exposure IMO. East vs. West, Big East vs. Pac-12 seems like a better idea.

[Omahanian]

Pac 12 seems to have more allure to me as well.

[Bill Marsh]

Back to the original topic of this thread . . .

The immediate question facing the Big East is whether to expand from 10 teams to 12. That's the only real world question onvolvimg change that's out there since contracts and by-laws don't provide for removing a member without cause, I.e. something which violates conference rules or bylaws.

Until football led conferences to expand to 12, 8 was the typical size of a conference and 10 was as big as anyone got. Since football isn't an issue, I would think that the conference would be well advised to stay at 10, play a double round robin schedule and build rivalries with the new members.

I think that the conference would be well served to capitalize on its position as the home of Catholic school basketball. To celebrate that, I would like to see them schedule a series of challenge matches against other top Catholic schools and other similar schools in December in the format of the old Big East - ACC challenge matches and market it in the same way. The goal would be to develop new traditions and to enhance the league's identity. Call them the Holy Wars.

This would be the matchups that would make sense to me this year if such a series of challenges were being scheduled this December:

Marquette - Gonzaga
Georgetown - Notre Dame
Villanova - Boston College
Creighton - LaSalle
Butler - Davidson or Baylor
St. John's - BYU
Providence - St. Louis
Xavier - St. Mary's
DePaul - Dayton
Seton Hall - Iona or St. Joe's

I may not have gotten the details and the matchups right, but hopefully you get the general idea. I think that such an approach could expand the schedule to schools who are natural rivals but who are not in a position to be added due to geography or other factors at this time.

Two factors could lead the Big East to expand beyond 10. The primary one is Fox. If they want 12 or even more, then the league will expand to whatever Fox wants. The other is finances. If the schools decide that expansion to 12 with divisional play would reduce travel costs, then they might well move in that direction.

For Seton Hall we have been complaining for awhile about our OOC schedule, it sucks. No offense to Bill Marsh but I would hope for better than Iona or St. Joe's. Maybe give them to St. John's and give the Pirates BYU. Iona doesn't excite me at all and St. Joe's really hasn't done much lately. Maybe Temple would be a good one.

Iona is the defending MAAC champs. My concern for Seton Hall is that the matchup be one in which they could be competitive and one in which they could draw decent attendance. I'm hoping that nearby teams like Iona and St. Joe's could have a decent turnout to boost attendance. BYU would make sense only if the game were played in Provo. They wouldn't do much to help local attendance.