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

[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.

I like the idea, but think it is impossible to carry out. The reason that conference challenges happen is because they are set up at the conference level. trying to work out arrangements with 10 different schools of different conferences seems either doomed to fail or could end up like a bracketbusters type of event which was roundly hated by the top schools that participated.

At this point I'm hoping we see Fox throw their weight around and get us a deal with one of the conference that they already have contracts with --- the PAc 12 or Big 12. Personally I think there is a lot of marketing opportunity to a deal with the PAc-12 ("East meets West", etc) that could spike interest levels nationwide.

I gotta say, if Bill's deal happens, I hope we can get a better opponent than Lasalle. I doubt that match-up would excite our fanbase at all.

I like the idea of a matchup with the Pac 12.

LaSalle went to the Sweet 16 last year. Coming off a good season and an exciting performance in the tournament, I thought they would be a good December matchup.

[Bill Marsh]

Overall it seems that there is interest in the challenge idea and the Pac 12 seems like the favorite. I'm all in on that.

I still would like to see the Big East schools schedule the other major Catholic basketball schools, i.e. Gonzaga, Notre Dame, and BC at a minimum. If they can't be part of the conference, at least get them on the schedule for a lot of Big East schools annually. St. Mary's has had a strong program in recent years and gives the conference good exposure in the Bay area. Schools like St. Louis and LaSalle coming off big years would be assets to the schedule. Strong MAAC programs like Iona, Niagara, and Manhattan would also be good on the schedule in November and December. Outside of the Catholic schools, it would be a good idea to continue regional rivalries with former Big East members like UConn and Syracuse.

[Jet915]

I'm all for scheduling Notre Dame or Gonzaga. But St. Mary's and MAAC teams? Not sure how that would look perception wise....

[Bill Marsh]

I'm all for scheduling Notre Dame or Gonzaga. But St. Mary's and MAAC teams? Not sure how that would look perception wise....

Early in the season everyone schedules mid majors. It would be no problem. St. Mary's has been a very good program in recent years with 5 tournament appearances since 2005 and a Sweet 16 to their credit.

[JOPO]

I'm all for scheduling Notre Dame or Gonzaga. But St. Mary's and MAAC teams? Not sure how that would look perception wise....

Early in the season everyone schedules mid majors. It would be no problem. St. Mary's has been a very good program in recent years with 5 tournament appearances since 2005 and a Sweet 16 to their credit.

The Big East has to be careful, we need to schedule other high major conferences as perception is everything, especially at this point in our existence. If you want to be known as the best you need to play the best.

[Noonzy]

I personally would not schedule Notre Dame-they were a pain in the A$$ for the Big East and they could have stabilized the conference by joining their FB team with the rest.

[WaitingPatiently]

BYU would make sense only if the game were played in Provo. They wouldn't do much to help local attendance.

Couldn't be further from the truth. BYU is an incredible traveling road team. They'd show up in droves no matter where it's played. Without looking up the numbers (if they're even available) I'd be shocked if any of the 10 BE schools had higher road support.

Their last trip to Omaha they had 3k+ easy.

[admin]

BYU would make sense only if the game were played in Provo. They wouldn't do much to help local attendance.

Couldn't be further from the truth. BYU is an incredible traveling road team. They'd show up in droves no matter where it's played. Without looking up the numbers (if they're even available) I'd be shocked if any of the 10 BE schools had higher road support.

Their last trip to Omaha they had 3k+ easy.

Interesting point. I imagine there's a Mormon group in every big city who would be excited to see BYU play there.

[CPJays]

I would upgrade every school's commitment to baseball. It will never be a power, but it can be a lot better.

[Bill Marsh]

I'm all for scheduling Notre Dame or Gonzaga. But St. Mary's and MAAC teams? Not sure how that would look perception wise....

Early in the season everyone schedules mid majors. It would be no problem. St. Mary's has been a very good program in recent years with 5 tournament appearances since 2005 and a Sweet 16 to their credit.

The Big East has to be careful, we need to schedule other high major conferences as perception is everything, especially at this point in our existence. If you want to be known as the best you need to play the best.

Scheduling top shelf midmajors doesn't hurt your perception nor your RPI. Nor does it preclude scheduling the best.