American Athletic Conference

[wsushox1]

http://rushthecourt.net/2012/12/17/cio-the-west-coast-conference-2/

There's really no news here. In hindsight I am not sure why I posted it.

[CBB_Fan]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2012/12/16/a-look-at-the-potential-candidates-to-join-catholic-7/1772723/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...cinnati-temple (halfway down the page, and yes, I know it is Bleacher Report)

http://www.registerguard.com/web/news/sevendays/29195963-47/catholic-schools-conference-basketball-league.html.csp

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20121213/big-east-basketball/

This is just a couple of the articles describing possible candidates to the Big East. See a common theme? We aren't even getting name-dropped. In terms of frequency, I'm hearing:

Butler
Xavier
.
.
.
Saint Louis
Dayton
Creighton
VCU
.
.
.
Duquesne
Richmond
La Salle
George Mason
Saint Joseph's
.
.
.
Us

In short, we better hope our athletic department is pushing every possibility. The problem isn't that we are considered an unlikely candidate for the MWC or C7, but that most people don't even view us AS a candidate. Our best hope is to play well, stay ranked, and get national recognition. At the same time, we better hope that teams like DePaul, Seton Hall, and St. John's are absolutely horrible this season, in order to raise the value of adding a good basketball school. If I were in the AD, I would be calling every contact I had in the Big East and MWC to try and get us into the conversation.

One thing to consider: the Big East basketball schools made more from NCAA units than their TV deal. If a school could convincingly show that they are willing to invest the $5-10 million necessary to compete on a national stage, it may exceed the problems of bad geography or a small market. This applies to us, Creighton, Gonzaga, and St. Mary's.

[Kung Wu]

We may see a fit with the Big East, but we are basically off the radar. If they want someone that isn't a Catholic school, they'll take Butler. If they want a public school, they'll get VCU. If they want a more western team, they get Creighton. Still a chance if they expand to 14-16 teams in the future, but unlikely. 1% chance.

"I'm glad you are convinced. I hope our athletic department is not as near-sighted."

[Veritas]

University of Tulsa faced with similar issues:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=708&articleid=20121215_29_B1_Athlet310585

He brings up an interesting point regarding TV markets. Having lived in Philadelphia, I can assure you that their high TV market was not all focused on Temple.

[shox1989]

University of Tulsa faced with similar issues:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=708&articleid=20121215_29_B1_Athlet310585

He brings up an interesting point regarding TV markets. Having lived in Philadelphia, I can assure you that their high TV market was not all focused on Temple.

Interesting article. It is too bad we can't join Tulsa as a 2 team deal going to a new conference together or even better throw in Creighton as a 3 team deal. It would assure us a couple of regional rivals no matter what rest of the conference looked like.

I don't see it happening but it would be good for all three schools I think.

[CBB_Fan]

"I'm glad you are convinced. I hope our athletic department is not as near-sighted."

I'm convinced that we won't be discussed unless we push our way into the conversation, that's all. We have a lot of negatives to either conference upgrade, so we have to have an AD that is able to push our positives well enough to balance the equation.

[ThatShockerLife]

I'm convinced that we won't be discussed unless we push our way into the conversation, that's all. We have a lot of negatives to either conference upgrade, so we have to have an AD that is able to push our positives well enough to balance the equation.

That's exactly what needs to happen. I like the Valley, mainly because I've grown attached to it being a fan over the past decade, but I have confidence from what I've seen of ADES that he can get things done, and that we will end up in a better situation, but we need to be on this swiftly and soundly, ready to take action when we need to.

[ShockerFever]

That's exactly what needs to happen. I like the Valley, mainly because I've grown attached to it being a fan over the past decade, but I have confidence from what I've seen of ADES that he can get things done, and that we will end up in a better situation, but we need to be on this swiftly and soundly, ready to take action when we need to.

Just curious as to what specifically have you seen from Mr. Sexton that gives you great confidence that things will and are being done for the benefit of WSU's future?

[shox1989]

That's exactly what needs to happen. I like the Valley, mainly because I've grown attached to it being a fan over the past decade, but I have confidence from what I've seen of ADES that he can get things done, and that we will end up in a better situation, but we need to be on this swiftly and soundly, ready to take action when we need to.

Look I try to be as supportive of our AD and athletic dept as possible. But I don't have much confidence that our current athletic dept. is ahead of the curve on this one. They could be keeping their cards close to the vest, but I haven't heard or seen anything that convinces me that they are being very pro-active on conference re-alignment.

[ThatShockerLife]

1) He and his department are the only department that seem to actually respond to Emails or Phone Calls and have a genuine "lets-get-things-done" approach about tasks through the ENTIRE university (sans the Presidents Office), from my interactions stemming from SGA.

2) The discussions I have had with him about this topic over the past year and a half,he has a solid plan for contingencies such as this.

I would like to note that Wichita State has a different strategy than most schools as far as going after athletic decisions go, just because we don't have an active an AD as say Tom Osbourne, making a comparison between AD's you see in the paper a lot, such as the aforementioned and other top NCAA-profiting D1 schools, who have great weight to throw around, does by no way constitute that ADES by not doing the same is doing a bad job. And I don't think that's what you were insinuating by any means either.

[GoShockers89]

Oh man. Please be gentle with him.

[wusphlash]

Whatever the Catholic 7/10/12 become, they will never be the Big East. 1) The Big East's rise coincides with the creation and growth of ESPN. ESPN and the BE pretty much controlled weeknight basketball games for many years. Lot's and lot's of visibility. That's not going to happen this time. ESPN has outgrown focusing on one conference and there are now 5 or 6 other networks broadcasting games. 2) There's no Syracuse or Connecticut, threats many years to end up number 1. 3) Seaton Hall, Providence, Depaul, St. Johns, all names we recognize but hardly the programs of the 80's and 90's. In fact, some of these programs have fallen far. If they can't maintain their excellance with the benefit of the Big East name, how will they fair on their own. Nope, this might be a decent league but it's definitely not going to be the Big East.

Also, I'm going with the group that thinks AD Sexton, Former President Beggs and current President Bardo and the rest of the administration have given and are giving this the approriate attention.

[Trueshock]

It sounds like you want Creighton to leave the Missouri Valley as well. If you were a Shocker player that statement would sound cowardly. In otherwords. you want them to leave so the Shockers will have less competition and be the top dog. Being the top dog by default is lousy. Competition is what makes the Missouri Valley better.

[Trueshock]

That also would not work because they are not a catholic religious school

[Trueshock]

I wish that we could work our way into the big 12 somehow. That way the Chickenhawks could not refuse to play us.