American Athletic Conference

[Ixiah]

With all the changes to the Big East I was not sure who the future basketball members were:

Connecticut
Cincinnatti
Houston
Memphis
SMU
South Florida
Temple
Tulane
UCF

[shox1989]

The C7 seem to think that they'll get MSG. I've heard talk that Memphis could be an option for the BE. They've hosted CUSA I think and done quite well from my understanding. But it's been awhile since I read about all of that.

It looks like the CUSA tournament at Memphis drew less than the Valley tournament in St. Louis last year.

Average attendance per session: 12,457 for the Valley (at St. Louis) vs. 10,845 for CUSA at Memphis:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2012.pdf

[ripemupshocks]

Nothing will happen realignment wise until the C7 gives their list of choices for their new league. I still think that there will be a surprise or two on the list. I just don't know who to guess that it would be.

The Big East is all but dead. I don't think that would be a good decision other than for recruiting purposes. Unless some of the members step up their basketball programs, it will be a 1-2 bid league yearly. Of course that is the MVC most years as well. Just more TV exposure would come from the BE, which is what recruits do look for.

That's kind of my thinking. The MVC without CU takes a hit. Even if Cincy and UConn bolt, this new conference would have Memphis, Temple and Houston which are all solid programs. Tulsa should get back to that and they're looking to get out of CUSA. More money and exposure and I doubt it'd be any worse than the MVC. Especially when UNI and ISU start getting nervous and look to move football up. I'm not saying I'd jump all over it, but I'd hardly dismiss it. They'd look to go E/W to help with travel costs I believe which would have most of our travel to Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Tulane and Memphis. It would be something to consider. Especially since it would be more exposure on TV and and help recruiting as well as money. I believe we get something like 300k from our media deal in the MVC. We'd probably get about 10x that in a conference like this. And if UConn and/or Cincy do somehow stay...

With what's left of the NewLittleEast, I don't think TV exposure will be that great for basketball. And if they lose UConn, Cincy, Temple, and Memphis, it will be even worse. It would be like CUSA without Memphis. And Memphis was the only thing that kept CUSA on the map. If you lose UConn, Cincy, Temple , and Memphis, then no one cares about the NewLittleEast. No TV exposure, and no money.

I know things look grim around the MVC, especially if the Cretins leave. But I'd hate to see WSU make the same mistake Temple, Memphis, SDSU, and Boise made by jumping to a conference that's falling apart. SDSU and Boise realized their mistake before it was to late, and are now going back home. The C-7 currently hold all the cards, and they're playing them close to the vest. Perhaps once they've played their hand, there will be a few good teams that were left out of the mix that would be interested in joining the MVC. And if some current members choose to leave the MVC to pursue FBS football, fine. If the MVC can replace them with good basketball only programs, we could come out ahead. But whatever ultimately happens with WSU, I hope it does not involve what I believe will be the short lived NewLittleEast.

[Steeleshocker]

With what's left of the NewLittleEast, I don't think TV exposure will be that great for basketball. And if they lose UConn, Cincy, Temple, and Memphis, it will be even worse. It would be like CUSA without Memphis. And Memphis was the only thing that kept CUSA on the map. If you lose UConn, Cincy, Temple , and Memphis, then no one cares about the NewLittleEast. No TV exposure, and no money.

I know things look grim around the MVC, especially if the Cretins leave. But I'd hate to see WSU make the same mistake Temple, Memphis, SDSU, and Boise made by jumping to a conference that's falling apart. SDSU and Boise realized their mistake before it was to late, and are now going back home. The C-7 currently hold all the cards, and they're playing them close to the vest. Perhaps once they've played their hand, there will be a few good teams that were left out of the mix that would be interested in joining the MVC. And if some current members choose to leave the MVC to pursue FBS football, fine. If the MVC can replace them with good basketball only programs, we could come out ahead. But whatever ultimately happens with WSU, I hope it does not involve what I believe will be the short lived NewLittleEast.

I know things are very dynamic, but for the lineup listed above, the LittleBigEast has to lose a certain 4-5 members to be irrelevant. The MVC only has to lose WSU and Creighton. 4 > 2.

Although my preference is still to try and get into the MWC.

[SubGod22]

I don't see Memphis or Temple having anywhere to go. Only way Memphis goes anywhere is if the XII decides they're worth it. Nobody else is taking them. I think Temple is in the same boat. Cincinnati is to a lesser degree. UConn will have options at some point. Even without Memphis, you have Temple, Cincy and Houston. The two FL schools have some potential as this conference will get a chance in the media to do something because of who they've been. Hell, there were a number of people on here that wanted to go to CUSA after they'd lost everyone but Memphis, and even after Memphis left some still would consider it. Memphis isn't going anywhere anytime soon and I doubt Cincinnati leaves as the XII doesn't seem to impressed with what they bring to the deal. Tulsa will end up in either the BE or MWC soon, my guess is the BE. There's a chance that either SLU or Dayton and even VCU end up there if the don't get in the C7 and the BE wants basketball schools. The more I read the more I think VCU is left out of the C7. That can change, but if you add them and Belmont and another basketball focused school (Murray St.?), the conference gets even better. I believe the report said 4 basketball schools if they went that direction. And hell, VCU and us are both better than Memphis.

[WSUwatcher]

Plus that would help out Baseball with the E/W thing. That would be a pretty good baseball division.

Would they still play the conference tourney at the Garden? Or would it move around?

They'd probably alternate between the Garden and CKA.

[rrshock]

They'd probably alternate between the Garden and CKA.

Works for me!

[Shocker-maniac]

Will WSU move to the A10? Andy Katz said this morning that it is likely that Butler will be joining the new C7 league. Would our beloved Shockers be considered to take Butler's slot? Katz also said that it is likely VCU will not be joining the C7 league. Who knows, but it seems like a possibility.

[SubGod22]

Will WSU move to the A10? Andy Katz said this morning that it is likely that Butler will be joining the new C7 league. Would our beloved Shockers be considered to take Butler's slot? Katz also said that it is likely VCU will not be joining the C7 league. Who knows, but it seems like a possibility.

Would we want to? The A10 without Xavier, Butler, Dayton and SLU doesn't look very attractive to WSU in my opinion. Plus, we'd definitely be on an island this far west.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Will WSU move to the A10? Andy Katz said this morning that it is likely that Butler will be joining the new C7 league. Would our beloved Shockers be considered to take Butler's slot? Katz also said that it is likely VCU will not be joining the C7 league. Who knows, but it seems like a possibility.

If Butler would be the only team leaving the A-10, and CU comes with us, then I think we have to. However, the chances of the C7 taking Butler and not Xavier and Dayton and/or SLU is slim to none. The A-10 is a very top heavy league, and if they lose the heavy weights it just becomes an MVC of the east.

[SubGod22]

If Butler would be the only team leaving the A-10, and CU comes with us, then I think we have to. However, the chances of the C7 taking Butler and not Xavier and Dayton and/or SLU is slim to none. The A-10 is a very top heavy league, and if they lose the heavy weights it just becomes an MVC of the east.

The only thing that could keep the A10 on our level, even without CU, is VCU. But the bottom of the A10 is worse than that of the MVC.

If the C7 goes to 12, as is expected, I see Xavier, Butler, Dayton, SLU and CU going. Now the A10 is just VCU. And there has been some talk that the football playing BE schools could add some nonfootball members to strengthen basketball and VCU may be a prime target for them. IF that happens, the A10 sucks.

The MVC would be better off replacing Creighton with three schools I think. Who is up for debate, but schools that will be talked about are NDSU, SDSU, Wright State, Milwaukee, Murray State, Belmont and possibly ORU. I'd like to see some discussion for Arlington and even Denver as well. If I had to pick three right now without doing a lot of research, I'm going with Arlington, Wright State and Murray State. That puts us in Texas, Ohio and Kentucky. But I go back and forth on a handful of schools in this situation and more research would need to be done.

[CBB_Fan]

Will WSU move to the A10? Andy Katz said this morning that it is likely that Butler will be joining the new C7 league. Would our beloved Shockers be considered to take Butler's slot? Katz also said that it is likely VCU will not be joining the C7 league. Who knows, but it seems like a possibility.

The problem with going to the A-10 is that the A-10's bottom teams are WORSE than the bottom teams of the MVC. Essentially, the A-10 is structured in such a way that it has a much larger cast of good teams that is balanced with teams like Fordham. Their conference RPI is about equal to the MVC's despite having at least twice as many quality teams. So when you take away Butler, VCU, SLU, and possibly Dayton for the C7 and also Temple and Charlotte, you are left with a bunch of really horrible teams and a pretty horrible conference.

So basically Wichita State would be jumping ship from a conference with a bunch of 100 RPI teams to a conference with a bunch of 200 RPI teams + Richmond/UMass. Actually, maybe UMass is leaving as well. The point is that the conference would not be a multi-bid conference anymore than the MVC would be, and almost certainly would be worse on our RPI.

Additionally, you have to take geography into account. Wichita State and Creighton would make a lot more sense in the A-10 now then they would after the realignment. The reason it makes sense now is because SLU, Dayton, Butler, and Xavier form a geographic bridge to us. Without those teams, we wouldn't have much incentive to join and they wouldn't have much incentive to add us.

TL;DR: Moving to the depleted A-10 will be a downgrade and force us into excessive amounts of travel

[GoShockers89]

Best way to improve our prospects: Keep winning.

[rrshock]

Best way to improve our prospects: Keep winning.

This is true. But no one knows what is going on except the C7 schools.

[rrshock]

If SLU isn't included in the C7, would they be a possibility to join the MVC? It would make alot of sense if they aren't moving. They would no longer have the geographic bridge to the A-10 either. What about Belmont?

I think that NDSU is a better option than SDSU. Murray St. would be good because they seem to be getting better. ORU would be a good addition for our other sports and travel. Murray St. would be a close pick for the poor sisters such as EU, ISUb, and SIU.