American Athletic Conference

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Wherever we end up, Coach Marshall has this program on a route to be an at-large team whether or not we win our conference. We would have much more road/neutral games, but he would get our schedule to that point.

I also heard yesterday it being floated we may starting going to one road "buy" game a year. Make a payday (good schools are making $80,000+) and give ourselves a chance to get a good win. I'm not talking about the Alabama and Tenn of the world, more along lines of Kentucky, Duke, etc.

I believe.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

The Presidents of the C7 have officially informed the Big East of their intent to withdraw.

It appears they will not try to keep the name Big East.

[Veritas]

I won't speculate on what it would have meant if WSU had football. However, at this point, I'd rather see WSU go for two options.

1. Solidify the MoVal by aggressively pursuing schools that have a similar fit and somewhat close geographic fit. I'm not sure if Elgin has the clout to do this, but CU, WSU are the bookends holding this conference together. Elgin must do whatever is necessary to hold WSU and CU in the MoVal. Losing either one isn't good for the conference.

2. If option #1 is not going to work, then ADES needs to shake the victim cloak and grow the athletic department and go after a better conference (one that might include football).

WSU's geographic location stinks with reallignment talks. Still would like to see Tulsa, Missouri State, Wichita State somehow end up together with football.

I think there will be some positive news coming out of this for Wichita State. This is will be a legacy moment for ADES. I don't see Bardo allowing WSU to be a victim in all of this.

[shoxlax]

Take this for what it's worth, which is not very much...but I figured it was worth passing along for fun:

GoShockers89 is not well connected enough to have any inside dope on what will actually happen. However, I did have a nice lunch today with two friends who work in a BCS athletic department in my city in north carolina (there are 4 potential schools here so I'm not worried about outing anyone). One of these guys is pretty dialed in to the realignment stuff, the other not so much.

The informed friend stated that he'd heard through another friend (see...this is starting to get pretty stretched) that the Shockers and the MWC have had some contact and there is mutual interest. WSU could fill an all-sports slot that Hawaii leaves open (the Bows participate in football only in the MWC). He said the MWC is cautious on pulling the trigger on anything right now given the state of flux with BSU and SDSU w/the Big East, but the expectation is that those two will return to the conference since there's no longer much to gain by leaving.

I had never discussed realignment with him before, so it was interesting to hear his thoughts (most of which has already been speculated on in the megathread at some point). I think the biggest takeaway is that our athletic department is at least not asleep at the switch.

I've heard the same thing. Trying to see if I can get any verification from a MWC expert, Tracy Ringolsby.

That would be a helluva conference, four or five bids minimum every year.

[shoxlax]

Tracy tweeted me and said he saw it as a possibility since Hawaii was football only. Not really the scoop I was looking for.

[tropicalshox]

Am I correct that current MWC basketball members are Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming this season with San Jose State and Utah State joining next year? Boise State and SDSU may or may not be members next year?

[GoShockers89]

Am I correct that current MWC basketball members are Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming this season with San Jose State and Utah State joining next year? Boise State and SDSU may or may not be members next year?

Yep, that's right.

[tropicalshox]

From the Creighton board I'm picking up that Dave Reynolds of the Evansville paper said that CU and Evansville are leaving the MVC today. Most question the today part of it. They also say the Evansville AD confirmed the MVC leaders are meeting "soon" to discuss Creighton.

It's all over that the report came from Dave Reynolds, a solid reporter which is much different from just somebody on MVCFans. I have not had time to find the original report from Dave Reynolds.

[BAShocker]

Will SMU, Houston, Memphis, et al. will stay in what will be left of the Big East?

[GoShockers89]

From the Creighton board I'm picking up that Dave Reynolds of the Evansville paper said that CU and Evansville are leaving the MVC today. Most question the today part of it. They also say the Evansville AD confirmed the MVC leaders are meeting "soon" to discuss Creighton.

UE AD came out and vehemently denied the report of the Aces to the Horizon, looks like Reynolds jumped the gun.

[tropicalshox]

UE AD came out and vehemently denied the report of the Aces to the Horizon, looks like Reynolds jumped the gun.

Yes, it was a tweet by Reynolds. Here is the link of the denial which includes the meeting by MVC heads.

"Missouri Valley Conference presidents will plan to conference sometime this weekend to discuss Creighton’s future now that the Big East Conference’s seven basketball-only schools have made their intention to leave official."

http://www.courierpressblogs.com/sports/ue/?p=2099

I also picked up on Tweeter that the Big Priest will have to pay exit fees if they leave before June, 2015. Why would there be a meeting if CU has not expressed thier desire or plan to leave?

[tropicalshox]

The MWC might not be stable. There is new talk of a cross-continental sports league which includes prominent members of the MWC along with Big East members.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2012-12-14/cincinnati-uconn-acc-big-east-leaving-conference-realignment-connecticut

[CBB_Fan]

Already, I've picked up some information on what the Big East wants to do. This comes from fans of Big East schools and a few twitter pages that probably have some contacts:

First, the Big East is going to try and convince Notre Dame to join in basketball only. If they do that, they'll still with the original 7 and Notre Dame. However, most fans feel this is a pipe dream.

Second, they'll try and retain some of the Big East members they'd be leaving behind, but only in basketball. The first priority are UConn and Cincinnati, but there is also interest in Memphis and Temple. The feeling is that these schools are the best combination of major markets and quality programs, but the football thing is the big drag. The other reason for doing this is that they would be able to dissolve the conference, which requires two football school votes. It could also prevent some legal action by those schools against the defectors.

If both of those fail, they will go after Butler, Xavier, and Saint Louis. The reasoning is that all of those schools are major basketball schools with considerable investment AND are in major markets. They would not immediately expand beyond that until a media deal is worked out. The ideal deal would involve paying the teams based on the first 10 members, similar to the Big 12's deal which sets the media money based around the first 12 teams to join (which is why the Big 12 is only going to add teams like FSU and Notre Dame, to get the most money).

After that, they will probably take some time and evaluate their options. Most executives don't want to rush into an important decision, and the Big East officials are no different. They want to form a stable conference as soon as possible, but they don't want to immediately add a lot of teams. However, I feel like they will decide to add 2-4 schools after evaluating their options, especially if they can get the aforementioned media deal. These schools will be chosen primarily to improve the basketball standing of the conference, with less priority given to media markets. The first two schools they may target are VCU and Creighton, because those two schools have had the most recent success (certainly more than the subpar schools in the Catholic 7 like DePaul, Providence, St. John's, and Seton Hall).

I feel like the push is going to be going to 14 teams. If they do so, they will likely go for Dayton and one other school. Gonzaga has been thrown around, but I doubt that they will make the final cut because of geography (though you could make an argument for them joining the MWC as an all-sports member). I feel that this is where we may start getting consideration, but it will require continued success over the next couple of years and a tremendous push by our athletic department.

[wu_shizzle]

If the Valley starts to break up, I'd rather see us in a league with Tulsa, Houston, SMU and Memphis than the MWC.

[pinstripers]

or the Big 12?...................yeah