Conference Shake Up 2.0

[RoyalShock]

I just finished reading the whole article and if the BE chooses to strengthen their basketball conference, it appears that Memphis might be on the list. It makes sense, but I'm surprised they haven't been mentioned before. If Memphis is open to that than I'd be a little weary of joining CUSA if presented. It's a solid conference either way, but takes a hit without Memphis.

Agreed. Without Memphis I'm not convinced the league will end up being better than the MVC for us. I think having Memphis in CUSA helps the other schools in recruiting, TV, etc. Memphis leaves, the others drop a little and so does the conference profile.

The head-scratcher for me is, why haven't we been hearing Memphis as a legitimate prospect for the Big East or Big 12? Sure, they've been speculated about but only in a "if-league-x-wants-to-strengthen-basketball" context.

[SubGod22]

Reading through one of their message boards, their football team is apparently horrible and they think their AD is an idiot. There does seem to be some speculation about them possibly being invited as a non-football member of the BE. Then the question is, do they want to take football Indy? Is losing the CUSA football money worth a jump for the other sports? I think that's what's holding them back right now. That and that nobody wants to take on their football program. Especially the BE right now as they're trying to maintain AQ status.

[Shox21]

If the Big East does, in fact, add all that have been invited, they really should change the conference name -- maybe to "The Coast-to-Coast Conference" ("CCC")?????? I would not want to be the one paying the travel expense for an entire football team that will need to travel halfway across the country, East and South. I've traveled to Boise (albeit from Wichita which is not exactly a hub), and it's not a direct flight, however I suppose it could be from most of the Big East cities. Can Boise State foot the bill for chartered flights to all away games?

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Mizzou to SEC done. Will be announced by Tues.

[kcshocker11]

Mizzou to SEC done. Will be announced by Tues.

Hate to see this, but it is best for MU.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Hate to see this, but it is best for MU.

Money wise, probably. Competition wise... not so sure.

[SubGod22]

And we're back. Big East expected to make official announcement Wednesday and it appears that SDSU and Boise will be joining for football only. That's a hit to the MWC and it'll be interesting to see where SDSU and Boise place their other sports. WCC? That may become a pretty solid basketball conference soon if that's what happens. Also being added for full membership will be SMU, Houston and UCF. Navy is still being rumored for football only as well.

Although, it sounds like the WCC isn't interested in adding members and I didn't realize the WAC would let non-football members join. I know they have some teams joining that are transitioning with football so maybe it makes sense. I still think the WCC should try and land these two schools, especially SDSU. At them to Gonzaga and Saint Mary's and you may be on to something.

I believe this will take CUSA to 9 and the MWC to 7. Not sure what their plans are. I believe CUSA will look to add North Texas and maybe target Ohio and have heard some rumors of going after ODU. They could also bring in one of the LA schools and also one, if not both, of FIU and/or FAU to keep a foothold in FL.

I don't know what the MWC does at this point. They were looking solid until this news hit. I could see some smaller schools with football getting a shot to move up.

[AndShock]

SDSU fans have been saying Big West, which would be a huge hit to their b-ball program. Most of them aren't thrilled with the conference move because of what it's going to mean for basketball.

[MadDog]

I thought it was announced in about October that CUSA and MWC would move all of their football programs to a combined football only conference. That leaves the rest of their sports up for grabs. I can't imagine why CUSA would want to add the FIU/FAU types because they don't bring anything. Same with North Texas. And the options for the MWC are no better.

I still think we need to be proactive on this conference re-alignment thing. You've got two conferences with name schools that are now imploding. I think we could take parts of CUSA, MWC, and MVC and make a very nice geographically sensible conference. If you carved out a central mid-states corridor, you could get an all sports but football conference consisting of: Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, WSU, Creighton, Mo State, Tulsa, UTEP, New Mexico and Rice. If you wanted to look to get to 12 schools, you could add NMSU or Tulane or maybe St. Louis. I think its important to get in with schools with similar basketball budgets. These low budget Illinois schools are really pulling us down.

I get tired of hearing "WSU has no options". Why not? We probably don't if we just sit here and hope someone asks us to dance. We should partner up with a few key MVC brothers and shop ourselves around. Not good to take on the victim mentality. Lets do something before its too late!

[ShockTalk]

Really strange. How is adding SDS for football only improving anything?? They've been OK the last two years, but they're generally a mid to lower football team in the MWC. Over the last 10 years they are 31-45 in conference and 49-72 overall (that's 18-27 OOC). And adding at least 2 of those 3 C-USA teams will only give the current Big East basketball bottom feeders company. Can't imagine why Boise would hook up with the Big Least when all the other new teams are not improving their chances of continuing to have BCS status. There is some real desperation going on from both sides.

[AndShock]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7346708/san-diego-state-aztecs-move-14-sports-big-west-2013-14

SDSU to the Big West. Sucks for them.

[ShockTalk]

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. The MWC pillaged the WAC to make up for earlier losses (at least in number of teams) and now has lost more. They are a shadow of their previous selves. C-USA also took some hits, particularly weakening the western division. As there is not much left to pick from, will the MWC add a few of the leftover western C-USA teams? What else can they do?

[Aargh]

And it continues in the BEast

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/2011/12/21/2653048/big-east-realignment-two-schools-discuss-leaving-basketball-league

2 Big East members reportedly discussing leaving the Big East and forming a league of basketball-oriented schools.

[ShockTalk]

Speculate: Georgetown and St. John's probably aren't going to leave the Big East. Seton Hall and Providence aren't that attractive and more than likely feel lucky to be in the Big East.

That leaves: Best two combo: Villanova and Marquette. Likely regional combo: Marquette and DePaul (DePaul not attractive either).

Villanova might be interested if Xavier and Temple are involved. I'd think if Marquette and DePaul left, Temple and Xavier would be more likely to go to the Big East. Temple plays football.

I'm still surprised Louisville and Cincinnati aren't being added to the Big 12 or whatever it is this week.

[SubGod22]

Speculate: Georgetown and St. John's probably aren't going to leave the Big East. Seton Hall and Providence aren't that attractive and more than likely feel lucky to be in the Big East.

That leaves: Best two combo: Villanova and Marquette. Likely regional combo: Marquette and DePaul (DePaul not attractive either).

Villanova might be interested if Xavier and Temple are involved. I'd think if Marquette and DePaul left, Temple and Xavier would be more likely to go to the Big East. Temple plays football.

I'm still surprised Louisville and Cincinnati aren't being added to the Big 12 or whatever it is this week.

I think it's only a matter of time before the B12 gets Cincy and L'ville.

If Marquette and 'Nova chose to form a new conference, I could see them wanting to grab Xavier and Butler. They may even try to get DePaul for Chicago. Then they'd make a run at Creighton and Saint Louis. There's seven and I don't think any of them have football. I don't think 'Nova wants to be involved with Temple as I've heard that they're the reason they haven't been invited to the BE already.

If something like this happened, would Georgetown still stay put? Could they entice Notre Dame to join? Would Bradley be in play at all? These are all private schools aren't they? Is this the beginning of the Catholic League that Creighton fans dream of?

I don't see this move, if it happens, leading to Wichita joining up with them.

Now, if we want to dream about us being involved in a move like this, we could have a conference of: Marquette, 'Nova, Creighton, DePaul, Bradley, Saint Louis, Notre Dame, Xavier, Butler and Georgetown/Dayton. That would be a brutal conference.

That would put the conference in WI, KS, NE, IL, IN, OH, PA, MO, (MD)

I still think the best chance of us leaving would be if CUSA could stabalize and maybe consist of: Memphis, UAB, North Texas, USM, Rice, UTEP, Tulsa, Marshall, Wichita, Missouri State and whoever else would be around.

Problem is, ECU wants out and so does UAB. I don't know what the deal is with Memphis. Football sucks but basketball is pretty good. I'm not sure if any of the other schools have a huge desire to leave or would be attractive to anyone. I know CUSA is going to go back to FLA and add either FIU or FAU. Lets say that both ECU and UAB finally leave, CUSA would look something like: Memphis, Tulsa, UTEP, Rice, USM, FAU/FIU, Marshall, Tulane. Lets say they want to get to 12 and would add Wichita. That would mean three more. Add North Texas to the list to get to 10. That's nine football schools though. You'd think they'd want 10 in this scenario. Do they take a shot at Western Kentucky who had a nice run in basketball not too long ago? I don't know how their football team has done in the Sun Belt. Would give Marshall a closer team. Or maybe get Ohio who I believe has a nice little rivalry with Marshall from Marshall's days in the MAC? As it is, I have Wichita as the only non-football member. Not sure how that would work. I guess I'm not as up for this round of fun and pointless speculation as I usually am.

East:
Marshall, FAU/FIU, USM, Memphis, WKU/Ohio, ???

West:
Tulsa, UTEP, Rice, Wichita, North Texas, Tulane

Marshall is solid, Memphis is Memphis, USM is progressing. WKU/Ohio would be wildcards that are capable of being respectable to good.

Tulsa can be better, but is solid. UTEP is fairly solid. North Texas has lots of potential. Wichita has loads of potential and is pretty solid.

Would we consider Wichita, Memphis, Tulsa, UTEP, North Texas, Marshall better than Wichita, Creighton, Missouri State, Northern Iowa?

I need a nap