American Athletic Conference

[Kel Varnsen]

Fun fact: Mike Bibby's son will be a sophomore at USF.

I feel so old.

[ShockTalk]

Wish they could start one with the BE, but they have two less teams (maybe get Dayton and VCU involved). PAC-12 would make sense, for obvious reasons.

The number of teams in a conference does break these challenges. The ones I know that are currently going on are:

ACC (15 teams) / Big 10 (14)

Big 12 (10) / SEC (14)

Big 10 (14) / Big East (10) Tip Off Series

MVC (10) / MWC (11)

I don't see the P5 or Big East doing any favors for the AAC. As you can tell, the Big 10 now has 2 of these "challenges" going on.

[1972Shocker]

I feel so old.

You feel old. I'm thinking Henry Bibby's grandson will be a sophomore at USF.

[WuDrWu]

I feel so old.

YOU feel old.....

[LandStander]

One of the happiest days of my life.

Congrats to every Wichita State fan. You willed this program to these levels.

Great to see you back

[Shock Top]

YOU feel old.....

What does "YOU" mean?! More coded messages?! ;)

[WstateU]

I may have misheard what ADDB said but I'm pretty sure he said Utah State.

http://www.kfhradio.com/blogs/kfh-staff/mike-kennedy-talks-wsu-ad-darron-boatright-about-move-aac?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[1972Shocker]

http://www.kfhradio.com/blogs/kfh-st...medium=twitter

A couple of things I failed to mention in my earlier post was the brief comments on a new deal with an unidentified apparel provider for the entire department something they have never had before.

Also said he was going to deal with a marketing strategy to have regarding WSU adopting Navy as their football team.

This is a good interview by Mike and a worthwhile listen.

[Shock Top]

Another great article by Sully

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/paul-suellentrop/article143550254.html

The American is a football conference with schools that played in the Orange and Sugar bowls in recent seasons.

The American doesn’t need help with football. It wants help with basketball and it chose Wichita State.

It chose Wichita State because Wichita State is all about basketball. Wichita State stays all about basketball and it’s OK to wonder if the American knows what it did.

[rrshock]

The number of teams in a conference does break these challenges. The ones I know that are currently going on are:

ACC (15 teams) / Big 10 (14)

Big 12 (10) / SEC (14)

Big 10 (14) / Big East (10) Tip Off Series

MVC (10) / MWC (11)

I don't see the P5 or Big East doing any favors for the AAC. As you can tell, the Big 10 now has 2 of these "challenges" going on.

Pac 12 is open. That is an equal amount of teams.

[shockerfan]

This quote right here is the difference between Elgin and Aresco. Elgin is reactive while Aresco is being proactive. Fits right in to how our administration thinks as well.

“We really couldn’t see a downside,” Aresco said. “Just because we don’t need to do something, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something, or you shouldn’t consider something it if helps you. This strengthens us. This helps us in so many ways.”

Big 12’s decision to stand pat opened American’s door to Wichita State

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article143550084.html

[ShockBand]

This quote right here is the difference between Elgin and Aresco. Elgin is reactive while Aresco is being proactive. Fits right in to how our administration thinks as well.

“We really couldn’t see a downside,” Aresco said. “Just because we don’t need to do something, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something, or you shouldn’t consider something it if helps you. This strengthens us. This helps us in so many ways.”

Big 12’s decision to stand pat opened American’s door to Wichita State

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...143550084.html

Though the success of men's basketball is certainly the driving factor, from this article it sure sounds like the other moves forward President Bardo has made helped us pass muster on the academic side.

[1972Shocker]

Another great article by Sully

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...143550254.html

Agree. Very good work by Sully. So far the Darron Boatright tenure is off to a great start. He has set the expectations bar at a very high level now, but that is good thing.

[Bearcats#1]

I love the Bearcats

Pony94 is a good egg

LOL @ the UCONN fan who said they were carrying the AAC. In what? Women's hoops I guess. Not men's hoops. We swept them 3-0 last year. Yeah...carry on UCONN. Your coach SUCKS you losers.

Anyway, welcome WSU!!!

[ShockTalk]

Pac 12 is open. That is an equal amount of teams.

My point being, the P5+1 are playing each other more and more, trying to shut out chances for the AAC, MWC, as well as top mids. IMO, they want to make it as difficult as possible for schools/conferences outside of those 6 to make a splash. Gonzaga got in early, so it's now too obvious to hold them down.

Look at the seeds of WSU, Cincinnati, SMU, Rhode Island, and VCU. Dayton and St. Mary's got decent seeds, so they put them up against WSU and VCU. To me, the seeding this year reeked of "if the 1st round doesn't get'em, the 2nd round will".

I really do not believe the P5+1 will try to move to their own tournament. Too strong a viewership to watch the "Cinderellas" the first weekend. So, the manipulation will take other forms like "how many top 50 wins did you have". We will see in the future just how much the committee will look at other metrics.

Just my opinion, but I feel the AAC is, by far, in the best position to challenge this wave. However, it will take more than just 3 or 4 teams rotating at the top. The bottom of the conference needs to be no worse than 200 or better RPI. ECU may have a good football program from time to time, but they need to up their basketball program. Same goes for South Florida.

The AAC is not going to challenge the P5 football as a conference (sorry, the AAC is just the next best). However, the AAC can challenge the P5+1 in basketball. If the AAC is consistently ahead of some of those 6 conferences, it may find that their football programs, from top to bottom, will improve because of that recognition in basketball.

Look at the schools the Big 12 have lost: Nebraska, Texas A&M, Missouri, Colorado. They are still the best source for the other P4 conferences to pillage and are 1 quality school leaving from falling apart and a couple of AAC schools being added to the Big 12 wouldn't stop that.