Name The Most Important Upcoming BE Goals...

[billyjack]

In our current Villanova-BE-national-championship world, what are now the most important upcoming goals of the Big East going forward?
What do we need to do to take the BE even higher to the next level?
If you were commissioner, what would you hope to accomplish as a conference?

Top goals that we've already met:
1. Perennial top level conference (ranked higher than 1 or more of the F-5 conferences).
2. National championship team.
3. Lottery pick players.
4. Send half our conference to the NCAA's on average on a regular basis.
5. Retain our coaches (Holtmann and Wojo probably are our biggest flight risks).
6. Continue landing high-level recruits.
7. Run clean programs, with no penalties nor postseason bans.
8. Sell out MSG for the BET.

Men's hoops goals going forward:
(no particular order)
1. Get 4 of us in the Sweet-16, or 3 in the Elite-8, or 2 in the Final Four (actually the ultimate goal is 4 in the Final Four).
2. Get our schools in New York and Chicago to perform as national powers.
3. Continue to improve our TV ratings, but really have a big jump.
4. Have 2 teams in the Top-10 each year, and 5 teams in the Top-25.
5. If mathematically possible, get each of the 10 of us into postseason tourneys.
6. Get 7 teams in the NCAA's on a regular basis.
7. Average 12k+ fans or sellouts at all of our schools' games, both BE games and non-conference.

Other goals as a conference:
1. Build the top soccer conference in the nation.
2. Build the top women's hoops conference in the nation.

I'd love to see what you guys think by adding to this list.

[NJRedman]

I'd add lacrosse to the list of other sports to excel at.
A #1 draft pick
Multiple teams in the FF

[gtmoBlue]

my take on your excellent Conference goals posting...

Men's hoops goals going forward:
These three will prove to be formidable goals to attain...

5. If mathematically possible, get each of the 10 of us into postseason tourneys.
Not possible as the NCAA or NIT are the 2 acceptable tourneys.

6. Get 7 teams in the NCAA's on a regular basis.
Technically possible, but not probable without expansion...see JPSchmack's numerous posts.

7. Average 12k+ fans or sellouts at all of our schools' games, both BE games and non-conference.
That's a great one...again possible but will take some great incentives in the part of the league office.



Other goals as a conference:
1. Build the top soccer conference in the nation. Agree
2. Build the top women's hoops conference in the nation. Agree
3. Build up the baseball and softball segments of the conference.

[JohnW22]

Already Met- National Player of the Year

[MUBoxer]

Wondering if it could be possible to get all 10 teams into the postseason. I think the odds would be infinitesimally small. We'd all need to go undefeated in Noncon and go .500 in conference all undefeated at home. Even then it's possible some team gets left out due to RPI or something.

[mpwalsh8]

my take on your excellent Conference goals posting...

... snipped ...

Other goals as a conference:
1. Build the top soccer conference in the nation. Agree
2. Build the top women's hoops conference in the nation. Agree
3. Build up the baseball and softball segments of the conference.

I completely agree with #1 and I would add Lax to that list. Both sports are growing and are attainable for the BigEast to excel at.

[sciencejay]

I would add women's volleyball to the list of sports to become national contenders. The beauty of vball, like basketball and soccer, is that you don't need 25 blue chip recruits to be very good (unlike football). You can have one or two stars and a few very good players and be an excellent team in those sports. For schools like ours that have good athletic department budgets, but nowhere near what the P5 have with their football TV contracts, we can still produce national championship-competitive programs in many sports.

[maxpowers]

This is a great topic.
1. I second the comment that we should be a lacrosse power (growing by leaps and bounds in popularity). Denver is previous champion. Marquette and Villanova are near the top.
2. I think it's just a matter of time before Gtown, Creighton, Xavier and/or Providence wins a national championship in MSoc.
3. The BE may never be a baseball power, but that's no excuse to give up. St Johns, Seton Hall and Creighton have all been to the College World Series. SJU and SHU were regulars in the 60s-70s. SJU and SHU are some of the highest winning percentage teams in college baseball history. Creighton is not far behind and includes Bob Gibson as an alum (and we play in the home of the CWS).
4. I think the women's sport with the most potential is actually volleyball. We share a footprint with the Big Ten, which dominates that sport. Creighton, Marquette, Villanova and Xavier are not that far off. Imagine BE players playing for the US team in the Olympics.
5. Our athletic programs should be strong financially. I think our limited exposure to expensive football programs helps in that regard.
6. Perception wise, I would hope our academics and athletics exceed those of our two biggest rivals for talent, the Big Ten and ACC.

[ChelseaFriar]

Volleyball and Softball will be tough for the East Coast Schools to compete at a Top 25 level unless they are able to recruit the South, Midwest or West Coast well. Just not enough talent in those sports in the Northeast. I think maybe PA and NJ is a little better than New England and NY?

Similar to how it’s still tough to compete in lacrosse at a national level unless you recruit the East Coast well (MD, NY, CT, PA, etc.). Marquette has done an amazing job immediately growing their lacrosse program by recruiting the East Coast. This will change as lacrosse is rapidly expanding, but the heavy concentration of talent is still in a small number of states. Marquette hired a coach with Long Island roots and it has paid off.

Soccer is a sport with talent all over the country.

[sciencejay]

That was my point about volleyball--you don't need a huge budget or a ton of top notch recruits to be nationally relevant and competitive. You don't need $100M practice complexes or stadiums. Nebraska just re-did their old bb facility into a vb-specific one to the tune of about $15M, and that's the biggest, nicest volleyball-specific venue in the country. Most of BEast schools already have a great gym that holds 3-5000 people--perfect for volleyball.

Creighton has finished in the RPI top 25 the past four years. In 2015, CU went to the sweet 16 and ended up #14, and Marquette (36) and Villanova (39) ended up in the top 40 as well. Xavier was #65. You get the right staff who knows how to identify good regional talent, and you can build a solid program. And you get a handful of teams that routinely spend time in the RPI top 20-40, and you get valuable top RPI wins when it comes to seeding for the NCAA tourney.

The midwest/rust belt/plains regions are all loaded with volleyball talent. The BEast has roughly the same footprint as the B1G, which is the top conference in the country. The talent is not that far away, you just have to get them to come to your school. CU's recruiting class was top 15 last year, and their two top freshman were essentially locals--Iowa and South Dakota. Marquette's totally stud frosh right side hitter is from Skokie, IL. And Nebraska's final four MOP frosh this past season is from Iowa.

Obviously, BEast schools don't have name recognition as bigger-time volleyball schools, but they have good academic reputations (important to recruits and families), and they can put a very competitive product on the court, and their conference tourney is televised. We're really not that far off as a conference.