2021-22 Basketball happenings around the American Athletic!

[Maizerunner08]

Trolls are out I see. Crappy situation but not the end of the world. Will be interesting to see how things play out.

[JayPak]

Since the new BIG EAST started in 2013, only 6 schools have ever publicly been supported by member institutions as expansion candidates.

1) VCU had support from Georgetown’s president in 2015 but a suitable partner candidate was not found, the western members did not want VCU alone, and at that time being a public institution was considered disqualifying, although it was acknowledged that Connecticut would theoretically be welcomed back with open arms.

2) Wichita State was supported by former Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen in 2016.

3) Connecticut applied in 2019 and was easily accepted. The league chose not to expand further at that time in order to keep the true round robin basketball schedule.

4, 5, and 6) In 2021, prior to his retirement Creighton AD Rasmussen urged the conference to think outside the box and reach out to Gonzaga, Kansas, and Baylor, saying if the conference added strong basketball brands such as those, it would be sure to be included if the P5 someday have their own basketball championship.

There has never been any support for adding SLU, Dayton, Richmond, St Bonaventure, or other schools that fans sometimes mention as candidates for BE expansion. Dayton specifically will never get in, as Xavier won’t allow it.

[Dan]

It will be interesting to see how much the Big 12 likes UH when they realize its a commuter school that doesn’t attract fans to basketball or football games. Yes, they’re in a big market and made the Final 4, but their student base and TV appeal is very weak.

[Stickboy46]

we lost to F'ing Drake. That didn't look good on a resume when we were in the valley and it doesn't look good on the resume of the AAC champion. We are losing to no-names early in the tourney. Creighton got into the Big Priest with similar results, but they perfectly fit the model of that league. WSU does not.

AAC exit fees are a weak argument? We're going to come up with $10 mill by moving to the A-10? Dang! We struggled to come up with $2.5 mill to get into the AAC. Times have been a little tough on the financial end lately.

If you're looking for the troll in the thread, grab a mirror.

I don't have the AAC contract at hand, but we get approx 30% of the revenue of a full member (Navy gets the other 70%). I'd assume our exit fee is portional too. So while a full member has to pony up 10 mil, ours is likely closer to 3 mil. Someone might be able to pull up the actual contract to verify.

[ShockingButTrue]

It will be interesting to see how much the Big 12 likes UH when they realize its a commuter school that doesn’t attract fans to basketball or football games. Yes, they’re in a big market and made the Final 4, but their student base and TV appeal is very weak.

Nobody is going to confuse the new b12 to the old b12. They're going to lose lots of ad revenue going forward. But hey, there's still a b12, by god.

[shockerfan]

I don’t know about most of you on here, but there’s a lot of debate about current value of a college education. I have a daughter applying to schools now and many colleges are quoting $65k+ per year for tuition, room and board. I don’t know how many majors are worth $250k + for an undergraduate degree. These colleges need donors to keep giving. A decline in competitive sports doesn’t help keep the alumni base excited about giving money. With the way technology is taking over the world and the rate at which everything is changing, there’s not going to be a lot of good job opportunities outside of engineering and medical degrees, How do colleges justify charging a kid $250k to be a teacher or liberal arts major? This is about so much more than basketball affiliation.

65K a year? Is she only applying at SMU? LOL

I went through the same last year and the only colleges approaching that number was SMU, Rice and Case Western and that is before aid. After her scholarships (basic scholarships that just about everyone gets) SMU went to 45k...which is still way too much of course.

But all the public schools never came close to 65k.....

She now goes to WSU, she got a few smaller scholarships and ended up with a 20k loan for this year after all was said and done. That is with room and board.....

But I digress and your point is still valid

[shock]

Don’t know if it’s been posted (the mail man just came by on a moose, apparently someone has been trying to get in contact with me about my dog sled’s extended warranty, I should refinance my igloo) but Cinci applied for B12 membership today.

[Dan]

65K a year? Is she only applying at SMU? LOL

Tulane is even higher and one of the schools on her list. She’s looking at a couple state schools as well, but not that excited about them.

[SubGod22]

I don’t know about most of you on here, but there’s a lot of debate about current value of a college education. I have a daughter applying to schools now and many colleges are quoting $65k+ per year for tuition, room and board. I don’t know how many majors are worth $250k + for an undergraduate degree. These colleges need donors to keep giving. A decline in competitive sports doesn’t help keep the alumni base excited about giving money. With the way technology is taking over the world and the rate at which everything is changing, there’s not going to be a lot of good job opportunities outside of engineering and medical degrees, How do colleges justify charging a kid $250k to be a teacher or liberal arts major? This is about so much more than basketball affiliation.

The government guarantees the funding to the school so there's really no risk to the schools in charging so much.

[Stickboy46]

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/2021/09/08/big-12-expansion-ucf-houston-cincinnati-byu-aac-commissioner-mike-aresco/5778621001/

One good quote from this ..

"Aresco declined to go into specifics about potential candidates to join the AAC and said staying within the geographic parameters of the current league map would not be part of the decision-making process."

Sounds like MWC poaching is on the table. Let's see what magic Aresco can pull. I feel more confident having him leading it than our previous conferences leadership.

[calfan]

If he wants to jump the new big 12, I would like to see the conference go to 16 teams.

[WstateU]

If he wants to jump the new big 12, I would like to see the conference go to 16 teams.

"Though Aresco declined to reveal potential new members, the top options are likely to start with UAB, a rising power in the G5 located in the heart of the Deep South. Football success is an important piece to any new additions, as well as fan support and school resources. Several others may fit that mold, including Air Force, Army, Colorado State, Boise State, North Texas, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina and Arkansas State.

The last four teams to leave the AAC were the top four Group of 5 public schools in athletic department revenue, according to figures from USA Today. UConn topped that list, ranking behind 51 Power 5 programs with $80.9 million in revenue in 2018–19. Houston, UCF and Cincinnati are the next three, followed by Air Force in the Mountain West, East Carolina (AAC) and Colorado State (Mountain West)."

AAC Commissioner: We Will Expand, Remain 'Power 6' in Light of Big 12 Realignment (msn.com)

[Shocktoberfest]

https://www.commercialappeal.com/sto...co/5778621001/

One good quote from this ..

"Aresco declined to go into specifics about potential candidates to join the AAC and said staying within the geographic parameters of the current league map would not be part of the decision-making process."

Sounds like MWC poaching is on the table. Let's see what magic Aresco can pull. I feel more confident having him leading it than our previous conferences leadership.

Which isn't saying much. Ha!

[SubGod22]

I wouldn't be opposed to adding the front range schools at least. Going coast to coast may be complicated and I'm not sure if the money would work to do so.

I don't see any football only invites unless they finally pull Army in. AFA would want to keep theirs together and I don't think they would want to try and move their Oly sports to the MVC or WAC.

I'd be curious if there's anyone in Texas that could make any sense. Rice and North Texas would possibly be looked at. I don't follow enough college football to know if any others show some promise and might be able to capitalize off of more exposure/prestige. Rice would be a purely academic add but I'm sure Tulane and a few others would support them.

Buffalo is somewhat intriguing and would help Temple out a bit since they lose UCon and now Cincy. Could a school like Toledo make a case? The MAC is pretty safe and compact but seems like they've had flashes at least in both major sports.

UAB would be near the top of the list. USM might be as well. I believe both have some history with current schools and have had some levels of success in the past. I'm not sure if there's a FL school that would make sense. Coastal Carolina would appear to help football some. Charlotte has a market but not sure where anything else stands. Arkansas State has had some minor football success.

I think as far as we're concerned and with basketball, the front range schools would be the best bet. New Mexico has some tradition. Colorado State is fairly solid more often than not. Wyoming has been surprisingly decent in the past. AFA draws attention.

Obviously nobody replaces those leaving, but that's not really an option unless going coast to coast makes sense and you can bring in SDSU, UNLV/Nevada, New Mexico and a couple of others to make sense. That would probably be the best way to lessen the blow. Just need ESPN to make something like that happen.

[OregonShocker]

As I recall, getting out of the MVC and into AAC was basically to improve our chances for an at large bid to the tourney. We need to see what alignment preserves this. Other teams shuffling around doesn't change the # of bids going out. In fact, it MAY hurt OU and Tx to play somewhere other than big 12.