Imagine the Big East, Coast to Coast NYTimes Article

[Michael in Raleigh]

students

DAVIDSON They have had success and like George Mason were the darlings of past tourneys. However very small school. do they have the following? Where do they even stand in their own state? Behind UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake at best. where do they rank if you add in Charlotte, ECU, Appy State or any of the other UNC locations like Greensboro?

Any of the public schools (UNCG, UNCW, App State, ECU, Charlotte, others) have a greater potential for solid fan support and local viewership than Davidson because of their larger student bodies and alumni bases. That potential is hard to reach, though. Davidson is the only one with a strong basketball history and culture. App State is trying; they hired former longtime Davidson assistant coach Jim Fox a couple years ago. He seems to know what he is doing (solid head on his shoulders) but there have been few on the court results.

Davidson does get more attention on statewide and local radio than any other non-ACC teams in the state, and rightfully so. They are an outstanding school academically, but it must be noted they are really small, and they are basically a liberal arts school. There are not many, if any, Ph.D or Master's programs, at Davidson.

Personally, if I was in charge of the Big East, I would want to see how they handle some more years in the A-10, not to mention how they do post-McKillop, before extending them an invitation. Right now I think staying at 10 would demonstrate confidence and strength, but if expansion is a must, there are others who carry less risk.

[Jet915]

students

DAVIDSON They have had success and like George Mason were the darlings of past tourneys. However very small school. do they have the following? Where do they even stand in their own state? Behind UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake at best. where do they rank if you add in Charlotte, ECU, Appy State or any of the other UNC locations like Greensboro?

Any of the public schools (UNCG, UNCW, App State, ECU, Charlotte, others) have a greater potential for solid fan support and local viewership than Davidson because of their larger student bodies and alumni bases. That potential is hard to reach, though. Davidson is the only one with a strong basketball history and culture. App State is trying; they hired former longtime Davidson assistant coach Jim Fox a couple years ago. He seems to know what he is doing (solid head on his shoulders) but there have been few on the court results.

Davidson does get more attention on statewide and local radio than any other non-ACC teams in the state, and rightfully so. They are an outstanding school academically, but it must be noted they are really small, and they are basically a liberal arts school. There are not many, if any, Ph.D or Master's programs, at Davidson.

Personally, if I was in charge of the Big East, I would want to see how they handle some more years in the A-10, not to mention how they do post-McKillop, before extending them an invitation. Right now I think staying at 10 would demonstrate confidence and strength, but if expansion is a must, there are others who carry less risk.

Really small is an understatement. I think i read that they are the smallest (or one of) D1 school in the country.

[Gopher+RamFan]

students

DAVIDSON They have had success and like George Mason were the darlings of past tourneys. However very small school. do they have the following? Where do they even stand in their own state? Behind UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake at best. where do they rank if you add in Charlotte, ECU, Appy State or any of the other UNC locations like Greensboro?

Any of the public schools (UNCG, UNCW, App State, ECU, Charlotte, others) have a greater potential for solid fan support and local viewership than Davidson because of their larger student bodies and alumni bases. That potential is hard to reach, though. Davidson is the only one with a strong basketball history and culture. App State is trying; they hired former longtime Davidson assistant coach Jim Fox a couple years ago. He seems to know what he is doing (solid head on his shoulders) but there have been few on the court results.

Davidson does get more attention on statewide and local radio than any other non-ACC teams in the state, and rightfully so. They are an outstanding school academically, but it must be noted they are really small, and they are basically a liberal arts school. There are not many, if any, Ph.D or Master's programs, at Davidson.

Personally, if I was in charge of the Big East, I would want to see how they handle some more years in the A-10, not to mention how they do post-McKillop, before extending them an invitation. Right now I think staying at 10 would demonstrate confidence and strength, but if expansion is a must, there are others who carry less risk.

Really small is an understatement. I think i read that they are the smallest (or one of) D1 school in the country.

Enrollment of 1,770 - on par with some High Schools. Great academics, whole Steph curry thing and 20 minutes north of Charlotte. Not exactly what I think most in the Big East are looking for.

[xusandy]

Davidson is an interesting possibility, due to academics and being private ("fit"), and to the Charlotte market.

FWIW, I think that "fit" is much, much more important to the decision makers than to basketball fans, so much so that I think UConn and VCU are non-starters. I also think having a geographic identity (lower travel costs for minor sports) is also much more important for them then for you or me, and so I think any school west of Omaha is a non-starter. In fact, I think there are only a very few reasonable expansion possibilities:

(1) St. Louis -- almost a no-brainer, great "fit" and "geography", plus they have a strong fan base, are in a major media market, and are investing heavily in bball. Slam dunk. If we expand, I predict that SLU WILL be invited to join.
(2) Richmond -- slight preference over Dayton, due simply to my perception that adding an east coast school AND a midwestern school makes more sense than adding 2 midwestern ones, plus there's the XU-Dayton thing. Both Richmond and Dayton are great fits, are committed to good bball, but both are in smaller media markets, and it's hard to see FOX or another network getting really excited about either one.
(3) Dayton -- see above.
(4) a New England school that's private, church affiliated, already committed or willing to commit lots of $$$ to basketball, and one that could bring expand our footprint in the New England media market -- maybe Holy Cross or BU will step up to the plate; maybe BC eventually realizes they'll NEVER be competitive int he ACC and are a poor fit there themselves. If so, any one of those 3 might be a reasonable addition.
(5) Detroit -- catholic, private, huge media market that doesn't overlap with what we have now, but no commitment to basketball, and apparently not interested in making one.
(6) Davidson -- definitely worth a look, but truly a long, long, longshot.

Finally, most of us seem locked into the idea of going from 10 to 12, but there's no good reason why 11 wouldn't work -- just add SLU and defer on adding a 12th member for several more years. FOX would probably be very happy with that. That said, I also think the most likely number of new teams we'll add in the next 2-3 years is 0; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But....there's always that pile of silly money out there, and it's in the hands of folks who have an apparently insatiable desire for more sports programming on TV, so adding two "good fit" teams to the current Big East in exchange for a nicer media contract is possible.

[stever20]

Davidson is an interesting possibility, due to academics and being private ("fit"), and to the Charlotte market.

FWIW, I think that "fit" is much, much more important to the decision makers than to basketball fans, so much so that I think UConn and VCU are non-starters. I also think having a geographic identity (lower travel costs for minor sports) is also much more important for them then for you or me, and so I think any school west of Omaha is a non-starter. In fact, I think there are only a very few reasonable expansion possibilities:

(1) St. Louis -- almost a no-brainer, great "fit" and "geography", plus they have a strong fan base, are in a major media market, and are investing heavily in bball. Slam dunk. If we expand, I predict that SLU WILL be invited to join.
(2) Richmond -- slight preference over Dayton, due simply to my perception that adding an east coast school AND a midwestern school makes more sense than adding 2 midwestern ones, plus there's the XU-Dayton thing. Both Richmond and Dayton are great fits, are committed to good bball, but both are in smaller media markets, and it's hard to see FOX or another network getting really excited about either one.
(3) Dayton -- see above.
(4) a New England school that's private, church affiliated, already committed or willing to commit lots of $$$ to basketball, and one that could bring expand our footprint in the New England media market -- maybe Holy Cross or BU will step up to the plate; maybe BC eventually realizes they'll NEVER be competitive int he ACC and are a poor fit there themselves. If so, any one of those 3 might be a reasonable addition.
(5) Detroit -- catholic, private, huge media market that doesn't overlap with what we have now, but no commitment to basketball, and apparently not interested in making one.
(6) Davidson -- definitely worth a look, but truly a long, long, longshot.

Finally, most of us seem locked into the idea of going from 10 to 12, but there's no good reason why 11 wouldn't work -- just add SLU and defer on adding a 12th member for several more years. FOX would probably be very happy with that. That said, I also think the most likely number of new teams we'll add in the next 2-3 years is 0; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But....there's always that pile of silly money out there, and it's in the hands of folks who have an apparently insatiable desire for more sports programming on TV, so adding two "good fit" teams to the current Big East in exchange for a nicer media contract is possible.

I think if you really think if UConn came to the table that the Big East would say no thanks- that you are really insane. If UConn came to the table, they would be added so fast it would make your head spin.

Also right now there's no way in hell that St Louis will be added. They have to show that their program is at least competent. Also this thought about going 11- it's not happening. They aren't going to 20 conference games.

[gosports1]

there is no shot of UConn coming into play. well let me rephrase that. there is one shot. if there is a revolution in Connecticut and the people storm the university demanding change. There is as much a chance of UConn dropping FB as there is of PC or Seton Hall adding it.
BTW BC isn't an option either and never will be. Unless of course the Catholic church outlaws FB and if that happens there is maybe a 2% change BC would drop FB and come to the BE

[adoraz]

I lived in Raleigh and Charlotte most of my life. I didn't know a single fan of Davidson. I didn't know anyone who watched Davidson games. Now, I know they've grown the past few years but I really doubt it's by much. The state is dominated by fans of the 4 ACC schools, and for football there's App State and ECU fans. Unless they pull off a national championship or a couple Final Four runs in the next few years they are not an option.

[DudeAnon]

there is no shot of UConn coming into play. well let me rephrase that. there is one shot. if there is a revolution in Connecticut and the people storm the university demanding change. There is as much a chance of UConn dropping FB as there is of PC or Seton Hall adding it.
BTW BC isn't an option either and never will be. Unless of course the Catholic church outlaws FB and if that happens there is maybe a 2% change BC would drop FB and come to the BE

[adoraz]

If we had 2 of Dayton, Gonzaga, or VCU the last 3 years we would've been averaging 7 teams a year in the tournament. That alone is enough reason to expand. Syracuse is a perfect example- they got to the Final Four and were the last team in for the ACC. Having a bunch of teams helps. I'm not saying we should expand to 15, because there aren't enough good candidates to do that anyways, but if we could start sending 7-8 teams a year that'd really cement our place as one of the best conferences.

Nova is doing fantastic in the tournament, but next year may not go as well with some teams likely taking a big step back (Seton Hall if Whitehead leaves, Butler, Providence). It's possible that Nova and Xavier will be the only sure bets to make the tournament heading into the season. It would be great to have depth by adding teams that make the tournament every year.

[Edrick]

Big East finishes (Sagarin) over the last decade.

16 - 3rd
15 - 2nd
14 - 5th
13 - 2nd
12 - 3rd
11 - 1st
10 - 3rd
09 - 4th
08 - 3rd
07 - 5th

The average rank of the first three years of the new configuration (3.3) is .3 different (3.0) than the average rank of the seven years that proceeded it. The current configuration of the Big East 'needs' expansion as much as the old configuration did - not at all.

Barring continental shift that positions Washington next to its DC namesake, there are no programs of such a quality to even mention much less multiple.