Imagine the Big East, Coast to Coast NYTimes Article

[NJRedman]

So it's clear mark few is unhappy with most of his conference mates dedication to athletic greatness.

“Our league needs to really step back and take notice,” he said. “It’s time for some of these other institutions to start picking it up. They’re really dragging the top three down.”

“We need to talk long and hard about (NCAA Tournament) money distribution that we’re making for the league,” Few said, “and if they’re not spending it on basketball, we don’t need to be sponsoring swimming at those schools or whatever they’ve got going. They’re not all in.”

Is there a possible airport meeting in the works? Could the best of the 3 mid-major BBall leagues join together to form a west coast version of the Big East?

Gonzaga
BYU
St. Mary's
Long Beach State
New Mexico State
Hawaii
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
U of San Fran

Add in 2-4 more teams and you have a better league than any of the other 3 individually. Would those other schools be willing to follow the Zags? Can Mark Few be a west coast Dave Gavitt?

[DudeAnon]

So it's clear mark few is unhappy with most of his conference mates dedication to athletic greatness.

“Our league needs to really step back and take notice,” he said. “It’s time for some of these other institutions to start picking it up. They’re really dragging the top three down.”

“We need to talk long and hard about (NCAA Tournament) money distribution that we’re making for the league,” Few said, “and if they’re not spending it on basketball, we don’t need to be sponsoring swimming at those schools or whatever they’ve got going. They’re not all in.”

Is there a possible airport meeting in the works? Could the best of the 3 mid-major BBall leagues join together to form a west coast version of the Big East?

Gonzaga
BYU
St. Mary's
Long Beach State
New Mexico State
Hawaii
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
U of San Fran

Add in 2-4 more teams and you have a better league than any of the other 3 individually. Would those other schools be willing to follow the Zags? Can Mark Few be a west coast Dave Gavitt?

What about San Diego state, would they work in that?

[NJRedman]

So it's clear mark few is unhappy with most of his conference mates dedication to athletic greatness.

“Our league needs to really step back and take notice,” he said. “It’s time for some of these other institutions to start picking it up. They’re really dragging the top three down.”

“We need to talk long and hard about (NCAA Tournament) money distribution that we’re making for the league,” Few said, “and if they’re not spending it on basketball, we don’t need to be sponsoring swimming at those schools or whatever they’ve got going. They’re not all in.”

Is there a possible airport meeting in the works? Could the best of the 3 mid-major BBall leagues join together to form a west coast version of the Big East?

Gonzaga
BYU
St. Mary's
Long Beach State
New Mexico State
Hawaii
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
U of San Fran

Add in 2-4 more teams and you have a better league than any of the other 3 individually. Would those other schools be willing to follow the Zags? Can Mark Few be a west coast Dave Gavitt?

What about San Diego state, would they work in that?

I didn't count the MWC schools because they would stick together for FB.

[Westbrook#36]

Talking about football, what would Hawaii and New Mexico St. do with their D1 football programs in your scenario?

[hoops22]

The Big East is damn near perfect as is. I would hate to be any of you poster's wives. Always looking for something better.

The league is terrific, no doubt about it. But there's nothing wrong with exploring ways that might make it even better. This past season worked out great, where at one time we had three teams ranked in the top ten. But there will inevitably be more challenging years, where teams are rebuilding, we suffer some tough OCC losses early in the year etc.. The narrative will change quickly if we only have one team ranked, or God forbid none. Let's face it, we still have some powerful enemies. ESPN will only be too happy to write our eulogy, should we have a few seasons where we stumble. The ACC has not gotten nearly the traction in the northeast they expected, and will be further agitated, when they discover their tournament in Brooklyn next year, is a far cry from the MSG experience. And leagues like the A10 and AAC will always be nipping at our heels hoping to position themselves as next in the pecking order. Here are a couple of reasons I think expansion should at least be examined.

Perception. Getting 7 or 8 teams in the tournament, simply has the look of a true power conference. I realize our percentage is high, but the number that turns heads, is actual teams in the tournament. I want to know we have a good chance to place as many teams in as anyone. Plus you never know when one of the lower seeds has a a good run in them. Dayton made an elite 8 as a 10 seed, VCU a final four as an 11, and who knows how far Gonzaga goes this year also as an 11. The more teams in, the greater the likelihood of someone making some serious noise.

Keeping a strangehold on MSG. This year the attendance was great, but attendance will likely fluctuate year to year. A ten team league is simply not that big. Adding teams with good traveling fan bases will help guarantee the Garden remains ours, with the added attendance they'll bring. The ACC and B1G would love to see it on some type of rotational basis. Let's make sure that doesn;t happen

Gonzaga. I don't know if it can be done, but some outside the box thinking should be looked at to see if it's possible. At most, they would have to make two trips to the east coast each season. Maybe the season could start a little early for them and they could come east sometime around Christmas, when school is out, for two games. Then there would be only one other trip later in the season. Gonzaga is already one of the biggest draws in basketball. Put them in the BE and they may become a bigger draw than anyone else already here.

Media deals. A coast to coast league with games in four times zones will have appeal to any media parntner.We'll be entering markets with little BE exposure at the present time. People are interested in watching teams they're familiar with, from their own conference. I know I would watch years ago, say a West Virginia football game against South Florida, simply because it was a BE game. Since they left, I haven't watched five minutes of West Virginia sports in anything. Fans in these new markets will watch more than just their own teams, but also games like a SH/Georgetown game, that they otherwise wouldn't tune in.

Inclusion. I don't trust the P5 with what they may eventually do, if they think they can put another dirty dime in their pockets. A league this powerful would always have a seat at the table. We have that seat now, but moving forward they will take it away if given the chance. I'd rather be proactive then reactive.

There are some good options that can at least be looked at.

Gonzaga, we all want them, but can it be done.

VCU committed to good basketball with an energized fan base. That's enough of an institutional fit for me . Would definitely bring 2-3 thousand to MSG every year.

BYU/UCONN Two football schools are not going to destabilize the BE the way 8 were able to. UCONN would have to go independent in football and sell their media rights, if they did this they might well come out ahead financially from where they are now. Even if these teams left, after say 10 years, it's not the end of the world. We didn't have Louisville for that long, but i'm glad we had them for when we did. They won a championship and certainly contributed to the overall BE legacy. If UCONN is only around for 10 years but brings a couple of final fours, I can live with that.

Denver. They already play BE lacrosse and a couple of years ago had an RPI in the 60's I believe. Not a bad market to enter, and maybe the BE name helps them elevate their basketball.

Dayton, We know how much Xavier hates them, which makes for a terrific rivalry game right off the bat, even if X normally wins the game. They'll also bring plenty of people to the BET, and while it's not a big market they're in, they do dominate it.

Richmond, if VCU is unacceptable to too many... ST. Louis, if they make a much larger committemnt to good basketball,.. St. Mary's, only if Gonzaga insists on them.... Davidson, just don't think they're big enough.

Anyway, I'm not saying it's something we should definitely do, but something that's worth taking a close look at. This has been a good year, but there will inevitably be years that don't go as well. I just want to be sure we're in a position of strength when a down year does in fact occur.

[NJRedman]

Talking about football, what would Hawaii and New Mexico St. do with their D1 football programs in your scenario?

Hawaii is already in the Big West for all sports but FB so they are cool. New Mexico State are about to go independent in FB in 3 years since they just got voted out of the Sun Belt.

[stever20]

So it's clear mark few is unhappy with most of his conference mates dedication to athletic greatness.

“Our league needs to really step back and take notice,” he said. “It’s time for some of these other institutions to start picking it up. They’re really dragging the top three down.”

“We need to talk long and hard about (NCAA Tournament) money distribution that we’re making for the league,” Few said, “and if they’re not spending it on basketball, we don’t need to be sponsoring swimming at those schools or whatever they’ve got going. They’re not all in.”

Is there a possible airport meeting in the works? Could the best of the 3 mid-major BBall leagues join together to form a west coast version of the Big East?

Gonzaga
BYU
St. Mary's
Long Beach State
New Mexico State
Hawaii
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
U of San Fran

Add in 2-4 more teams and you have a better league than any of the other 3 individually. Would those other schools be willing to follow the Zags? Can Mark Few be a west coast Dave Gavitt?

well one problem is Gonzaga/BYU/St Mary's would all be leaving behind a ton of units in the WCC. Gonzaga by themselves would have at least 15 units next season. BYU 4, St Mary's 3. So that's 22 units or 5.5 million dollars- and only slowly going down. That's real money. Also quite frankly, a lot of the other teams in that list just aren't that good any more. Long Beach St, Pepperdine, New Mexico St, San Francisco aren't that good. And do you really want to hinge on Hawaii and UC Irvine?

[notkirkcameron]

So it's clear mark few is unhappy with most of his conference mates dedication to athletic greatness.

“Our league needs to really step back and take notice,” he said. “It’s time for some of these other institutions to start picking it up. They’re really dragging the top three down.”

“We need to talk long and hard about (NCAA Tournament) money distribution that we’re making for the league,” Few said, “and if they’re not spending it on basketball, we don’t need to be sponsoring swimming at those schools or whatever they’ve got going. They’re not all in.”

Is there a possible airport meeting in the works? Could the best of the 3 mid-major BBall leagues join together to form a west coast version of the Big East?

Gonzaga
BYU
St. Mary's
Long Beach State
New Mexico State
Hawaii
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
U of San Fran

Add in 2-4 more teams and you have a better league than any of the other 3 individually. Would those other schools be willing to follow the Zags? Can Mark Few be a west coast Dave Gavitt?

As long as we're coming up with crazy-enough-to-work schemes, Wichita State is the westernmost member of the Valley. Sure, it's a little geographically isolated from the rest of the conference, but it's about as far from Spokane as Providence is from Omaha.

[NJRedman]

So it's clear mark few is unhappy with most of his conference mates dedication to athletic greatness.

“Our league needs to really step back and take notice,” he said. “It’s time for some of these other institutions to start picking it up. They’re really dragging the top three down.”

“We need to talk long and hard about (NCAA Tournament) money distribution that we’re making for the league,” Few said, “and if they’re not spending it on basketball, we don’t need to be sponsoring swimming at those schools or whatever they’ve got going. They’re not all in.”

Is there a possible airport meeting in the works? Could the best of the 3 mid-major BBall leagues join together to form a west coast version of the Big East?

Gonzaga
BYU
St. Mary's
Long Beach State
New Mexico State
Hawaii
Pepperdine
UC Irvine
U of San Fran

Add in 2-4 more teams and you have a better league than any of the other 3 individually. Would those other schools be willing to follow the Zags? Can Mark Few be a west coast Dave Gavitt?

As long as we're coming up with crazy-enough-to-work schemes, Wichita State is the westernmost member of the Valley. Sure, it's a little geographically isolated from the rest of the conference, but it's about as far from Spokane as Providence is from Omaha.

Hahaha thats possible but with Hawaii in the fold that might kill any chance of the great plains being brought into the mix.

[Burrito]

Since Saint Louis is seen as the most likely Big East expansion candidate, it will be interesting to see who they hire after firing Jim Crews a couple of weeks ago.