American Athletic Conference

[pogo]

Sorry, lost track of the one and done point of view. You are absolutely correct.

[shocks02]

What about the American conference with Louisville leaving. Any chance they would take a non-football member?

[shox1989]

What about the American conference with Louisville leaving. Any chance they would take a non-football member?

No. But they don't seem too picky about how good the football team is. If WSU can't find any other options, they could probably start up football and get into the American (no matter how lousy the football team was).

[ripemupshocks]

Might be worth a wait and see on the AAC. Word on the interweb is Cincy and UConn have made it known they want out; and Memphis is pissed because after finally getting out of that dog known as CUSA, the conference that took them in may very well become little more than CUSA 2.0. There has even been some talk of Temple moving everything except football back to the A-10. If those four leave, and Larry Brown retiring from SMU in a few seasons, the AAC turns into a s**ty basketball conference with alot of travel.

[Play Angry]

The MWC remains my #1 hope.

It is a longshot, of course, but this season is timed perfectly to make us as attractive as possible. The MWC is very, very down this year (remember they were the #1 RPI conference most of last season, this season they are #10) and we are looking awfully shiny with our top 10 ranking and bountiful media love. Our Final Four also looks pretty cool to members of a league that is becoming notorious as an underperformer in March.

I will cling to this dream until they remedy their need for a non-football member or boot one of the current football members out.

[Steeleshocker]

Might be worth a wait and see on the AAC. Word on the interweb is Cincy and UConn have made it known they want out; and Memphis is pissed because after finally getting out of that dog known as CUSA, the conference that took them in may very well become little more than CUSA 2.0. There has even been some talk of Temple moving everything except football back to the A-10. If those four leave, and Larry Brown retiring from SMU in a few seasons, the AAC turns into a s**ty basketball conference with alot of travel.

But the question remains, would it still be an improvement over the valley?

[ripemupshocks]

Might be worth a wait and see on the AAC. Word on the interweb is Cincy and UConn have made it known they want out; and Memphis is pissed because after finally getting out of that dog known as CUSA, the conference that took them in may very well become little more than CUSA 2.0. There has even been some talk of Temple moving everything except football back to the A-10. If those four leave, and Larry Brown retiring from SMU in a few seasons, the AAC turns into a s**ty basketball conference with alot of travel.

But the question remains, would it still be an improvement over the valley?

Not likely. Looking at warrennolen.com, RPI ranking for MVC teams:

RPI	12	0.5081
NPI	11	72.85
64 - 49 (0.5664)

Missouri Valley
Records include games against Division I opponents only.

1	Drake	1 - 0	1.000	-	9 - 3	0.750	70	0.5692	0 - 3	8 - 2	4 Wins
1	Indiana State	1 - 0	1.000	-	8 - 3	0.727	99	0.5425	0 - 1	7 - 3	3 Wins
1	Northern Iowa	1 - 0	1.000	-	6 - 6	0.500	92	0.5506	0 - 1	6 - 4	2 Wins
4	Wichita State	0 - 0	0.000	½	12 - 0	1.000	12	0.6458	2 - 0	10 - 0	13 Wins
4	Missouri State	0 - 0	0.000	½	9 - 2	0.818	82	0.5574	0 - 1	8 - 2	2 Wins
4	Illinois State	0 - 0	0.000	½	6 - 5	0.545	144	0.5089	0 - 0	6 - 4	2 Wins
4	Southern Illinois	0 - 0	0.000	½	3 - 9	0.250	324	0.3838	0 - 2	3 - 7	1 Loss
8	Evansville	0 - 1	0.000	1	5 - 7	0.417	205	0.4766	0 - 1	3 - 7	1 Loss
8	Bradley	0 - 1	0.000	1	5 - 9	0.357	262	0.4401	0 - 1	1 - 9	7 Losses
8	Loyola-Chicago	0 - 1	0.000	1	4 - 8	0.333	310	0.4057	0 - 0	3 - 7	3 Losses

And the AAC:

RPI	8	0.5391
NPI	7	81.05
85 - 33 (0.7203)

American Athletic
Records include games against Division I opponents only.

1	Louisville	1 - 0	1.000	-	12 - 2	0.857	26	0.6107	1 - 2	8 - 2	1 Win
1	Cincinnati	1 - 0	1.000	-	12 - 2	0.857	43	0.5973	1 - 2	8 - 2	5 Wins
1	Memphis	1 - 0	1.000	-	10 - 2	0.833	18	0.6306	2 - 2	9 - 1	3 Wins
1	Houston	1 - 0	1.000	-	9 - 5	0.643	222	0.4659	1 - 0	5 - 5	2 Wins
1	Rutgers	1 - 0	1.000	-	6 - 7	0.462	224	0.4638	0 - 2	4 - 6	3 Wins
6	Connecticut	0 - 1	0.000	1	11 - 2	0.846	34	0.6041	1 - 0	8 - 2	1 Loss
6	SMU	0 - 1	0.000	1	10 - 3	0.769	60	0.5751	0 - 1	8 - 2	1 Loss
6	South Florida	0 - 1	0.000	1	9 - 5	0.643	174	0.4933	0 - 2	5 - 5	1 Loss
6	UCF	0 - 1	0.000	1	6 - 4	0.600	262	0.4401	0 - 2	6 - 4	1 Loss
6	Temple	0 - 1	0.000	1	5 - 6	0.455	141	0.5099	0 - 1	4 - 6	1 Loss

As you can see, after Lewis-vile leaves, and if they lose Cincy, UConn, and Memphis, there isn't much left (Temple has great history and a good coach, but this is a rebuilding year so they're down). SMU will only be good as long as Larry Brown is there. Once Jankovich takes over, he'll have them back in the toilet within three or four seasons, because JANK IS A LOUSY COACH! And the teams that are joining the AAC next year, ECU, Tulane, and Tulsa, are not good basketball programs (Tulsa may be the exception, but Danny Manning isn't helping). So without the uppercrust teams in the AAC, it is a much worse basketball conference than the current MVC.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

But where would Cincy, UConn, and Memphis go? None of the old BCS conferences want them. It's highly likely the Big 10 is done expanding after Maryland and Rutgers. Louisville may be the ACC's last addition for a long time, although I can make a case for West Virginia getting out of the Big 12 for the ACC. If that happens, I can maybe buy that Cincinnati may be attractive to the Big 12, but I highly doubt Memphis is (football is mediocre at best), and bringing this back to the subject of the AAC's attractiveness to WSU, losing Cincinnati wouldn't hurt the AAC's basketball reputation like losing UConn or Memphis would.

[Play Angry]

Memphis is almost certainly stuck.

Their academics are far too terrible for the ACC or B1G, the Big XII does not want them, and the SEC just snickers when they are mentioned.

I actually have some sympathy for them. Their hoops program has been top-notch for most of four decades and they just cannot catch a break in realignment.

[Steeleshocker]

I'm also not seeing any 300+ RPI teams in the AAC.

Edit: also, if it was just us and Memphis it would be about like the valley was with Creighton around. As long as there are two really good programs, I've got to think it's better than the status quo. And as a bonus there are some other good programs who appear to be stuck, even if only for a few years.

[shox1989]

I'm also not seeing any 300+ RPI teams in the AAC.

Edit: also, if it was just us and Memphis it would be about like the valley was with Creighton around. As long as there are two really good programs, I've got to think it's better than the status quo. And as a bonus there are some other good programs who appear to be stuck, even if only for a few years.

I agree. And if you check espn or any other sports site they always include the American as a power conference. The Valley may get included once in a while (probably only because of WSU) but most of the time the Valley is not included or is just part of "and the rest".

When the split comes in division 1 basketball, the American has a good chance to be on the right side of the split. The Valley has very little chance (unless some other teams really improve).

[AndShock]

We need to bring Cold back so I can read another essay on why we should go Independent.

[MoValley John]

Being selfish and in all seriousness, I would love for Wichita State to be an 11 or 12th member of the NBE. Ialready miss not seeung the Shockers in Omaha, and I'm not all that excited about seeing DePaul, but I don't miss any of the other Valley crap.

[shock]

We need to bring Cold back so I can read another essay on why we should go Independent.

I'd rather go libertarian

[MadaboutWu]

Found this on the CBS piece somebody linked in another thread: Marshall mentioned he's in discussions with UConn about a possible home-and-home.

Not really realignment news but an exciting possibility with an AAC team. If Mohammed can't go to the mountain...or vice versa...