BE Going to 20 Games?

[CrawfishBucket]

A - Public school, so nah.

B - Why would PC let this happen? It's the same reason X doesn't want Dayton in, Villanova doesn't want St. Joe's in, etc. Being in a decidedly better conference gives our schools a clear advantage over these other schools in their back yard. Why would they willingly give up that advantage and invite these rivals up onto equal footing?

Are Public Schools officially frowned on by the league? I see UConn's name brought up a lot. Rhode Island is penalized and UConn is not?

Forgetting about Rhode Island or UConn, is it better for the conference to bring in a catholic school?

What is the thinking behind that? Marketability? Branding? A school like St Louis (or Denver) has a city brand. Would that be held against them?

What kind of attributes do posters want?

Gonzaga is by far the money school. They make the conference more money. They are private and don't have a city or state moniker.

Distance is their only strike. How, exactly, are we to put the qualifications into some kind of hierarchy?

Public/Private? Brand name? Recent success? Geography? Personal Connections? New Markets? Conflicts with neighboring schools? Television Value? etc

If you made a checklist with all of those items, Gonzaga checks the most boxes and its not even close.

With Wichita State off the board, Gonzaga is the sole Free Agent national brand name.

[NJRedman]

It's official, the B1G is going to 20 games next season. Wouldn't be shocked if the SEC and Pac follow suit. Maybe an agreement with the Big XII could help both of us avoid having to deal with 20 games. The two conferences agree to have each team play 2 teams from the other conference every year one home and one away.

For example, St. Johns would play it's 18 BE games then play WVU @ home and ISU away. Marquette plays it's 18 BE games and plays KSU @ home and Texas Tech away etc etc etc. In a 5 year period each conference will play the other in it's entirety. Then the next 5 years just flip the H&A.

[Irishdawg]

Not too shabby of an idea - both conferences are also under the Fox umbrella, so it'd be beneficial for everyone.

[stever20]

Not too shabby of an idea - both conferences are also under the Fox umbrella, so it'd be beneficial for everyone.

Big 12 is not under the Fox umbrella for basketball.

[DeltaV]

I love the Big 5 as well; but it seems as of late the games have been brushed under the rug a bit again. Used to be you would see Nova/St. Blows or Nova/Temple on ESPN during Rivalry Week, and a few other of the games would get more press as well. Now, they're all mixed in with the buy games.

I've had a thought that I feel could bring some more love to the city series, while reducing the hard number of games; invite Drexel and make it into a 3 (or 4, with a day off) tournament at the Palestra again. Two teams get byes into the second day; double header 4 vs. 5 and 3 vs. 6 the first day, triple header with winners taking on 1 and 2, and the losers playing for 5th, and then championship and 3rd place game the last day as a double header (or have the triple header the last day).

Yes, you don't get to play everyone anymore, but I think it would help to make the Big 5 an event again, bring back the doubleheaders (my parents who were at Nova in the early 70's always talk about how fun the doubleheaders were), and bring it back to its home in West Philly.

[Hall2012]

I love the Big 5 as well; but it seems as of late the games have been brushed under the rug a bit again. Used to be you would see Nova/St. Blows or Nova/Temple on ESPN during Rivalry Week, and a few other of the games would get more press as well. Now, they're all mixed in with the buy games.

I've had a thought that I feel could bring some more love to the city series, while reducing the hard number of games; invite Drexel and make it into a 3 (or 4, with a day off) tournament at the Palestra again. Two teams get byes into the second day; double header 4 vs. 5 and 3 vs. 6 the first day, triple header with winners taking on 1 and 2, and the losers playing for 5th, and then championship and 3rd place game the last day as a double header (or have the triple header the last day).

Yes, you don't get to play everyone anymore, but I think it would help to make the Big 5 an event again, bring back the doubleheaders (my parents who were at Nova in the early 70's always talk about how fun the doubleheaders were), and bring it back to its home in West Philly.

It's a nice idea, but Nova especially would never go for it because it would count as their exempt tourney. With their strongest possible opponents being Temple and St. Joe's, it's not worth it to them in place of a high profile exempt tourney that's likely to have at least 1 other top 25 team if not more in the field.

[CrawfishBucket]

Rhode Island?

Between Public, Providence, not expanding the conference footprint, and a massive 'Who?' factor, I think there's a greater chance Duke joins than we invite RI.

The nice thing about 20 conference games is it allows us to poach whatever 1 mid major team has had the best ~8 year period by 2020 (if there's one worth it), and keep the round robin. No need to bring in a pair for numbers sake.

I think Gonzaga is the lone National brand now that Wichita State cast their lot with the AAC.

Their entrance in the American as a Top 10 team is grabbing the same fanfare Creighton had their first year.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... -no-1-team

What if a team like Rhode Island can bring similar shine by the time this conference decides to expand?

Do we skip them over for a private school?

[DeltaV]

Rhode Island?

Between Public, Providence, not expanding the conference footprint, and a massive 'Who?' factor, I think there's a greater chance Duke joins than we invite RI.

The nice thing about 20 conference games is it allows us to poach whatever 1 mid major team has had the best ~8 year period by 2020 (if there's one worth it), and keep the round robin. No need to bring in a pair for numbers sake.

I think Gonzaga is the lone National brand now that Wichita State cast their lot with the AAC.

Their entrance in the American as a Top 10 team is grabbing the same fanfare Creighton had their first year.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... -no-1-team

What if a team like Rhode Island can bring similar shine by the time this conference decides to expand?

Do we skip them over for a private school?

Calling WS a "National Brand" is being rather generous. Are they a good team? Yes. But (capital) National Brand? They're a mid-level state school that currently has a great coach, which joined a conference with (mainly) other mid-level state schools. UConn (and the Naval Academy, although they're a special case) is the only flagship in the AAC, and that's assuming they remain. Honestly, I'd rather have the academic reputation of Tulane, and hope to develop their athletics, than a school like Wichita State.

If there was a flagship school which developed into a basketball powerhouse over the next few years (or if UConn dropped the FBS experiment), then yes, take the public. However, I don't think there are any of them available.

[CrawfishBucket]

Rhode Island?

Between Public, Providence, not expanding the conference footprint, and a massive 'Who?' factor, I think there's a greater chance Duke joins than we invite RI.

The nice thing about 20 conference games is it allows us to poach whatever 1 mid major team has had the best ~8 year period by 2020 (if there's one worth it), and keep the round robin. No need to bring in a pair for numbers sake.

I think Gonzaga is the lone National brand now that Wichita State cast their lot with the AAC.

Their entrance in the American as a Top 10 team is grabbing the same fanfare Creighton had their first year.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... -no-1-team

What if a team like Rhode Island can bring similar shine by the time this conference decides to expand?

Do we skip them over for a private school?

Calling WS a "National Brand" is being rather generous. Are they a good team? Yes. But (capital) National Brand? They're a mid-level state school that currently has a great coach, which joined a conference with (mainly) other mid-level state schools. UConn (and the Naval Academy, although they're a special case) is the only flagship in the AAC, and that's assuming they remain. Honestly, I'd rather have the academic reputation of Tulane, and hope to develop their athletics, than a school like Wichita State.

If there was a flagship school which developed into a basketball powerhouse over the next few years (or if UConn dropped the FBS experiment), then yes, take the public. However, I don't think there are any of them available.

I didn't call them that. Andy Katz did.

USA Today just came out with this.

[FriarJ]

What is the thinking behind that? Marketability? Branding? A school like St Louis (or Denver) has a city brand. Would that be held against them?

Providence is a city and they started the BE, so that has nothing to do with anything. Urban, basketball success and commitment and ideally private. It's that simple.