Conference Shake Up 2.0

[rjl]

C-USA and the MWC are now talking about a merger:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7554045/conference-usa-board-discuss-possibility-merging-mountain-west-source-says

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

C-USA and the MWC are now talking about a merger:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...st-source-says

How about that for a road trip - East Carolina @ Hawaii?

[ShockTalk]

C-USA/MWC possible merger has been out there for a while, now coming to the time for real talks. I find this group of teams, stretching from the east to west (and beyond) coasts, a move that will take some imagination on how to keep costs managable. With 16 football teams, will they play only in their east/west divisions? Will east coast teams be required to go to Hawaii every so many years and visa versa? Figuring out how to handle many of the other sports should be even more challenging.

[SubGod22]

C-USA and the MWC are now talking about a merger:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...st-source-says

That's been ongoing for quite some time. If CUSA was on the fence about a full fledged merger, they shouldn't be anymore. They're still a solid league, but the loss of Memphis is a big kick in the crotch for basketball.

Expect to see a 16 team conference split up as East and West.

East: ECU, Marshall, Tulane, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, Tulsa, UTEP

West: Wyoming, Colorado State, UNLV, New Mexico, Fresno State, Hawaii (football only), Nevada, Air Force

Not sure if they add a non-football member to offset Hawaii or convince Hawaii to join in all sports.

I don't know about football, but basketball would be pretty decent with Southern Miss, UAB, Tulsa, UTEP, UNLV and New Mexico. Colorado State is solid enough.

They could go even bigger and get Utah State in the West and the East could then add one of FIU/FAU to have a presence in FL.

ECU won't be happy with this and may look elsewhere. They already complain about travel costs in CUSA. Would Marshall and ECU join the MAC?

Either way, this Alliance is getting pretty spread out and if the TV money isn't there it may not be worth it to some schools who'll look elsewhere. The Sun Belt could possibly benefit if schools decide the travel isn't worth it what they're getting.

It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds.

[SubGod22]

I'm now wondering if the MWC just tries to go ahead and poach UTEP away. I can't remember how many are in the MWC after all of these moves. Would they need to add two more? Utah State still makes sense.

If the Alliance doesn't happen, you can look for CUSA to add one of the F_U schools and maybe a MTSU. Could help for football to some degree, okay basketball schools but nothing great.

I really wish we had football so we might have something to look forward to. With all the chaos right now, and if we had football.... Wichita, Tulsa, UTEP, Southern Miss, North Texas, Tulane, Rice, UAB, New Mexico/NMSU, MTSU?. I'm struggling a bit with number 10. That looks like a conference that would be pretty solid and football, basketball and baseball. You could go to 12 and add a Georgia State, Western Kentucky, F_U or something. I don't follow college football that closely so I may be off. This would also put a conference in some pretty solid TV markets and recruiting areas. But we don't have football.

[RoyalShock]

Gonna happen.

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/34822810

[SubGod22]

I keep going back and forth on if this is a good thing for the conferences or not. I think it benefits CUSA more than it does MWC. I think the MWC should have tried to take Tulsa and UTEP and then piss on the ashes of what's left of CUSA.
New Mexico, UNLV, UTEP, Tulsa, Wyoming, Air Force, Freson State, Colorado State, Nevada, (Hawaii). That'd be a pretty solid basketball conference and I think respectable for football. Go and get Utah State and that's a nice looking western conference with some potential star power.

And from reading some message boards, it doesn't sound like a lot of CUSA fans are excited about this new conference. Or haven't in the past. Haven't checked them out yet today.

[GoShockers89]

Temple to the Big East effective next year. The day of reckoning for CU and WSU to make a move inches closer.

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/34946571

[SubGod22]

Interesting. Looks like Nova got overruled by the rest as they've been striving to keep Temple out.

Not sure how this effects CU and WSU unless you think the A10 will add one to replace Temple. If they were to pick one of the two, I'd guess they'd go with CU. But I also think they're more likely to poach a CAA team.

[GoShockers89]

I still think there is a decent chance that the midwestern (more successful and well-supported) A-10 schools will break away from the northeastern dregs soon. Xavier, Dayton, and St. Louis perhaps linking up with Butler and poaching WSU, CU, BU, Illinois State and Missouri State.

[SubGod22]

I see where you're going, but I don't see it happening. Some of those East coast schools may not carry a lot of weight, but the conference as a whole is pretty solid.

In a semi-perfect world we could be part of a pretty nice conference by combining forces with a few other midwestern universities. Dayton, Xavier, Wichita, Creighton, Butler make a pretty nice base with some solid success. Over the last 8 seasons, all have an average RPI in the Top100. Then you could throw in SLU and BU, ISU and MSU and you have 9 solid schools. MSU is also in the Top100. You'd need to get to 10 or 12 though. You're already in KS, NE, MO(2), IL(2), IN, OH(2). Footprints and markets are a big deal since we'd need a decent TV package as well. But who else would you be willing to consider? Wright State (another OH school in Dayton)? Cleveland State (another OH school but Cleveland market)? Milwaukee (bring in a nice market in Wisconsin)? ORU (Tulsa)? Belmont (Nashville, TN)? Detroit (Detroit, MI)? Valpo (another IN school)? Little Rock (NWA)? I'm really reaching for schools in neighboring areas. Obviously, not every school is going to be great but would be nice if there were at least some potential. I don't know what the finances of any of these schools are.

[GoShockers89]

Agreed, getting to 12 would be something of a stretch. I would probably take Western Kentucky or Murray State over the teams you listed. WKU would be a reach because of football. Murray State would probably be more feasible.

Denver would also be a possibility.

[AndShock]

Wichita State is not going to be involved in any new conference. If a new Midwest conference were to be formed, Wichita State would be one of the "classes of the conference" and would have to be one of the schools leading the creation. We do not have the people in position to do that.

Our best bet is getting lucky and getting picked up by the A-10, but I think if it comes to a point where the A-10 wants us, The Valley will probably be the better choice.

[SubGod22]

Did I forget to put Murray in there? My bad. I was trying to avoid FBS schools like WKU. I did miss Denver. Good market but kind of out there geographically. Their BB program hasn't been good with an RPI average over 200 though.

I'll admit that most the schools I listed don't bring a lot of excitement. Solid programs though for the most part. If you're only looking for a 10th member, I think most of them would do. There do have to be teams you beat up on but you hope those teams will try to compete and be solid. But if we joined any league like this, you'd want to feel confident about it being a 3 or more bid league most every year. I think it has that potential with the 9 we started with.

Markets aren't bad either.

3 - Chicago (Bradley/ISU)
21 - Saint Louis (SLU)
25 - Indianapolis (Butler)
34 - Cincinnati (Xavier)
64 - Dayton (Dayton)
69 - Wichita (WSU)
74 - Springfield (MSU)
76 - Omaha (Creighton)

Looking at the others that have been mentioned.
11 - Detroit (Detroit)
17 - Cleveland (Cleveland St.)
18 - Denver (Denver)
29 - Nashville (Belmont)
35 - Milwaukee (Milwaukee)
56 - Little Rock-Pine Bluff (Little Rock)
61 - Tulsa (ORU)
64 - Dayton (Wright State) Already in Dayton

I don't know where a Valpo would fit in...

Markets aren't everything and not everyone is a major player in their market, but I'm not sure that 100% matters when it comes to TV deals. And I'm sure we could throw other schools into the mix for 10-12 teams. It's interesting to think about, just not sure it'll actually happen. I think schools like Dayton/SLU/Xavier enjoy the east coast exposure.

[GoShockers89]

Good info, Sub.

I think there is a lot riding on who WSU settles on to replace Beggs. While I agree with @AndShock: that ADES would never spearhead such an innovative effort, I do believe that someone at Creighton or elsewhere WILL take this kind of initiative in the near future. Our current success bodes well for our odds of being invited along for the ride, provided we have a forward-looking University Prez. ADES strikes me as someone who would quietly go along with whatever the guy in charge says.