2021-22 Basketball happenings around the American Athletic!

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

At this point, I'm so sick of football-driven drama that my ideal scenario is for us to get into the Big East and be done with this realignment crap. Not being an institutional fit for the Big East is a major hurdle to overcome, but we are a perfect athletic fit and we have allies in CU and UConn that would help us.

We will bring tournament credits to the table, we'll bring eyeballs to the TV--we'll do our part.

[ShockTalk]

At this point, I'm so sick of football-driven drama that my ideal scenario is for us to get into the Big East and be done with this realignment crap. Not being an institutional fit for the Big East is a major hurdle to overcome, but we are a perfect athletic fit and we have allies in CU and UConn that would help us.

We will bring tournament credits to the table, we'll bring eyeballs to the TV--we'll do our part.

Heck, the Big East could expand to 16 solid basketball schools by adding: WSU, Dayton, VCU, St Louis, and you pick the last one.

[Shoxing Me Softly]

No way BigVII adds more than 4 max, maybe just 2. Remember they will be losing 50% of their value with UT/OU leaving. Adding back more than 2 will just devalue each share that much more.

I think BYU will be added, heck with them being in a non football league already they can just
add them as a football member. Not sure if that’s ideal just saying BYU is probably the top pick or equal with UCF as far as fan base/market/value/competitive football goes and as pointed out they are free and ready being an independent.

UCF has to be tied for top pick or second. Large and growing school and metro area. Good football, great facilities, in Florida for recruiting. Only downfall is no other team near them but it works for WVU.

Cincy in next tier. Close to WVU, great athletics and facilities, in the state of Ohio for recruiting.

Boise, Memphis, Houston (because in Texas where 3 schools already) in next tier.

who knows but I feel like AAC has ok chance of keeping 2/3 out of Cincy, Memphis, Houston.

Then again Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston, UCF would be a great 4 team addition.

Gotta hope BYU is one of the teams and they don’t expand past 12, hopefully just 10.

[SubGod22]

No way BigVII adds more than 4 max, maybe just 2. Remember they will be losing 50% of their value with UT/OU leaving. Adding back more than 2 will just devalue each share that much more.

I think BYU will be added, heck with them being in a non football league already they can just
add them as a football member. Not sure if that’s ideal just saying BYU is probably the top pick or equal with UCF as far as fan base/market/value/competitive football goes and as pointed out they are free and ready being an independent.

UCF has to be tied for top pick or second. Large and growing school and metro area. Good football, great facilities, in Florida for recruiting. Only downfall is no other team near them but it works for WVU.

Cincy in next tier. Close to WVU, great athletics and facilities, in the state of Ohio for recruiting.

Boise, Memphis, Houston (because in Texas where 3 schools already) in next tier.

who knows but I feel like AAC has ok chance of keeping 2/3 out of Cincy, Memphis, Houston.

Then again Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston, UCF would be a great 4 team addition.

Gotta hope BYU is one of the teams and they don’t expand past 12, hopefully just 10.

The possible hurdle for BYU is they have a deal with ESPN. I'm not sure what they currently make, but ESPN would most likely try to block their move to the B8 if possible.

Boise doesn't have the same pull they once did. And academics still play a part with University presidents and Boise was a Juco in recent memory.

I don't think the remaining Texas schools would want Houston. Memphis has its own issues that seem to put them below where many fans think they fall in this. Cincy and UCF would probably be the first two schools the B8 would want.

With all of that said, I'm still not sure if any of those additions raise the bar enough for Fox to make it worth leaving the AAC and ESPN. Time will tell and we probably won't know for a couple of years.

[Dan]

from an eyeballs standpoint, it would be nice to unite the leftover Texas schools into one conference - SMU, UH, TCU, Tech and Baylor. Combined, they have a big fanbase in some big TV markets.

[Shockm]

No way BigVII adds more than 4 max, maybe just 2. Remember they will be losing 50% of their value with UT/OU leaving. Adding back more than 2 will just devalue each share that much more.

I think BYU will be added, heck with them being in a non football league already they can just
add them as a football member. Not sure if that’s ideal just saying BYU is probably the top pick or equal with UCF as far as fan base/market/value/competitive football goes and as pointed out they are free and ready being an independent.

UCF has to be tied for top pick or second. Large and growing school and metro area. Good football, great facilities, in Florida for recruiting. Only downfall is no other team near them but it works for WVU.

Cincy in next tier. Close to WVU, great athletics and facilities, in the state of Ohio for recruiting.

Boise, Memphis, Houston (because in Texas where 3 schools already) in next tier.

who knows but I feel like AAC has ok chance of keeping 2/3 out of Cincy, Memphis, Houston.

Then again Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston, UCF would be a great 4 team addition.

Gotta hope BYU is one of the teams and they don’t expand past 12, hopefully just 10.

I don't think they want to add anyone. West Virginia has already voiced their displeasure with travel to the mid west as much as they have to (then they add BYU? I don't think so).. Most of the B8 wants to be added to another conference, not add teams to take away more money from their programs with little value added. I think the B8 is a while away from adding teams.

They are looking out for themselves to be added to the BIG, ACC, PAC, and then secondly, they want to stick together to stick it to OU and TU as much as possible. Beyond that, nothing for a while.

Now the KC Star and their beat reporters want them to add these teams, but their Athletic Departments are far from there yet.

Also, KU thinks they are better than the rest of the teams. KSU just hopes to hang on.

[ShoxRoxMySox]

I think Royal is, unfortunately, spot on.

[wichshock65]

https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/status/1432754617687810049?s=19

[Shock Top]

Consider that the AAC is getting $7 mil per school and the L8 is, at worst, is now worth 8-9 mil per school. If the L8 were to take the top 3-4 from the AAC, who are primarily responsible for the $7 mil value, those schools would probably add a mil or two to the per school value of the L8. If they had assurance (which I don't know what that would take) the conference would be stable for 5 years, there is no doubt in my mind that UC, UM, UCF, UH or whoever jump at the extra $3 mil without ever looking back.

I think it's extremely unlikely that the two would merge to form a 20-team conference without teams getting left out (ie, adding Boise and BYU and dropping Navy/WSU). That's why the best case scenario is for one or two of the L8 to jump and some of the rest come to the AAC. But if those other conferences aren't adding new members, we're back to the likely scenario of the L8 staying together and robbing the AAC.

Will the AAC add more teams to replace? Sure. But they are going to pull the best football schools possible, not basketball schools. And I shudder to think what kind of mess we'll be left with on the basketball side of things. I admit, I don't follow college football, so I don't know who the best of the rest are, but I doubt that includes schools like Dayton, VCU or other basketball-centric schools.

I don't think it will be to the point of regretting leaving the MVC, but the resulting AAC may not be a significant improvement.

If that is what shakes out, we should beg the Big East, and heck, even pursue the A-10.

The thing is, Navy is good at football. Better than Tulsa, ECU, Tulane. Coupled with WSU's Olympic sports success, that's what gives WSU/Navy a good chance to survive any B12/AAC merger.

[AZ Shocker]

Let me ask you guys this...
If the money is "right" for some if not all the L8 from an ESPN TV contract...is the L8 or some of the remaining schools simply uptight or timid to be under the American Conference moniker??? I guess what I'm asking is does the remaining L8 schools just want to keep the Big-8 (or12) name and that's their big issue to not want to join forces with the teams in the American???

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Let me ask you guys this...
If the money is "right" for some if not all the L8 from an ESPN TV contract...is the L8 or some of the remaining schools simply uptight or timid to be under the American Conference moniker??? I guess what I'm asking is does the remaining L8 schools just want to keep the Big-8 (or12) name and that's their big issue to not want to join forces with the teams in the American???

EGO and pride...period end of story.

[WstateU]

EGO and pride...period end of story.

Change the name to The ‘Big’ American and maybe they’ll hold their noses and eventually succumb…

[WuTheOne]

https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/st...687810049?s=19

Memphis is out-recruiting the blue bloods. They hired Larry Brown. How long until some of the blue bloods get tired of losing their recruiting targets, and ask for a little "assistance" from the NCAA to limit Memphis' ability to recruit?

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/st...687810049?s=19

It's funny he brings up "Calipari sized expectations". Anybody remember what happened with slick Johnny at Memphis??

[AZ Shocker]

EGO and pride...period end of story.

Interesting...but that's kinda what I thought.