2021-22 Basketball happenings around the American Athletic!

[OregonShocker]

Good point, at least as far as in person fan support. Dayton plays in a 13,400 seat home arena (UD Arena) and capacity crowds or near capacity crowds are common. Dayton is wrapping up a 3-phase, $75 million dollar upgrade. Dayton has been in the NCAA Top 35 in attendance every year since the arena was opened in 1969.

VCU also usually has a capacity or near capacity crowd for home games but their Arena only holds around 7,600.

I noticed Dayton also has a volleyball only facility (the Frericks Center) whose 5,000 seat capacity is reportedly the 4th biggest volleyball only facility in the country.

Either program would be a good pairing with Army football. Who know whether anything like that is seriously being considered by all parties.

Remember, you have to look at this through the eyes of ESPN. "Who wants to go sell ads for the big Dayton/East Carolina game this Saturday?"

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

From what I've read, Aresco is saying ESPN money won't change with the additions being reported. Not sure if he knows that for sure, but if so, SDSU could go by themselves and the TV money would more than cover increased travel costs. I just don't see SDSU being a power conference school and tying themselves to BSU would probably screw them for a long time. Pick your poison, MWC without Boise or AAC without Memphis. AAC is still the better conference.

They need to cut bait and head to the American.

I can only speak with hearsay from a connected CSU alum. My understanding is the conference has been told by ESPN exactly how each candidate school (and combinations of them) would affect the TV package, and the only way it stays the same is with all four MWC schools. Boise is the most valuable candidate by a fair margin. SDSU coming without Boise, or even substituting Army for Boise, results in a contract that wouldn't justify SDSU's travel expenses. CSU and AFA's travel costs won't change substantially, so they're good as long as ESPN can provide a payout at least equal to what they're making in the MWC--which is the case in practically every scenario that involves the both of them together.

[wichshock65]

I can only speak with hearsay from a connected CSU alum. My understanding is the conference has been told by ESPN exactly how each candidate school (and combinations of them) would affect the TV package, and the only way it stays the same is with all four MWC schools. Boise is the most valuable candidate by a fair margin. SDSU coming without Boise, or even substituting Army for Boise, results in a contract that wouldn't justify SDSU's travel expenses. CSU and AFA's travel costs won't change substantially, so they're good as long as ESPN can provide a payout at least equal to what they're making in the MWC--which is the case in practically every scenario that involves the both of them together.

Has there been any thought to SDSU moving their Campus to western Kansas? Better yet, to South Dakota?

[AZ Shocker]

San Diego St, Boise St, UNLV and Nevada are my top choices by far. Man I wish Wichita St. still had football!!!!!!

[ROOT ANGRY!]

I know the school has a bad reputation, but Liberty would be competitive in both football and basketball. They also have a large fanbase and good facilities.

I think UAB is the most likely candidate at this point; beyond UAB it gets very murky.

F**k Liberty U.

[WuTheOne]

San Diego St, Boise St, UNLV and Nevada are my top choices by far. Man I wish Wichita St. still had football!!!!!!

If WSU still had football and it was at the level, or remotely near that, when it was dropped, WSU would have no chance of getting into a decent league. Half the Missouri Valley Football Conference would be better realignment candidates. Bad football doesn't get invites in realignment. The financial support for FB would come at the expense of support for BB.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

SDSU thinks that they are destined for the Big 12 or Pac 12. The fan base is delusional and the administration isn't far behind. They would be a tremendous add for the AAC but likely a long shot. They are building out an entire west campus on the site of the former Qualcomm (fka Jack Murphy Stadium) site in Mission Valley complete with a new 35,000 seat football stadium, technology and innovation campus, huge park and open space, and a butt load of housing and retail/office space.

https://missionvalley.sdsu.edu/explore

[AZ Shocker]

SDSU thinks that they are destined for the Big 12 or Pac 12. The fan base is delusional and the administration isn't far behind. They would be a tremendous add for the AAC but likely a long shot. They are building out an entire west campus on the site of the former Qualcomm (fka Jack Murphy Stadium) site in Mission Valley complete with a new 35,000 seat football stadium, technology and innovation campus, huge park and open space, and a butt load of housing and retail/office space.

https://missionvalley.sdsu.edu/explore

Just saw that yesterday while in San Diego. They're on the up fer sure. Hence why I wish Wichita St. still had football. San Diego St. would replace Houston...and brand name Boise St. would replace Cincy. UNLV and Nevada (Reno) additions would absolutely be mutually beneficial to keep the American worthy.

[SubGod22]

If WSU still had football and it was at the level, or remotely near that, when it was dropped, WSU would have no chance of getting into a decent league. Half the Missouri Valley Football Conference would be better realignment candidates. Bad football doesn't get invites in realignment. The financial support for FB would come at the expense of support for BB.

And as bad as our program was at the time, it was better than KSUs. To think it would be destined to remain bad just because is ridiculous. Had we kept football, we would have eventually gotten into a conference that actually played football at the level we were and it would have been easier to build based on that. Having the Valley abandon FBS/D1A hurt WSU quite a bit.

[SubGod22]

Is it wise for SDSU to sit back and wait, risking being left in a heavily depleted MWC if Boise is gone (and others) with no invite to power conference? Bird in the hand kinda scenario.

Why is it unwise? The AAC will still offer them after the B12 decides what it's going to do next. And I could see them wanting a few other western options for travel purposes.

I also don't think we'd double up in Nevada. Possibly if going to 16, but I doubt it. Fresno would be a more likely target than a 2nd Nevada school. May be more likely than a first Nevada school. But the ESPN money has to make sense. I think SDSU is the best overall athletics program in the MWC even if ESPN thinks otherwise.

I'd still prefer a 2nd team in Texas even if we double up in DFW. What about Texas State? I haven't paid much attention to them, but San Marcos is a nice area. I'm not completely opposed to taking a flyer on one school that is deemed to have some major upside, wherever that school may be.

I also still like Buffalo and Liberty if we have to add someone east outside of Army.

[WuDrWu]

And as bad as our program was at the time, it was better than KSUs. To think it would be destined to remain bad just because is ridiculous. Had we kept football, we would have eventually gotten into a conference that actually played football at the level we were and it would have been easier to build based on that. Having the Valley abandon FBS/D1A hurt WSU quite a bit.

Excellent point. The one thing that was/is always going to make this a steep uphill battle is the fact we'd be the 3rd D1 program in state that produces a few hundred at best D1 football athletes every year. It's REALLY tough when you can't start at home, and basically we could never. KU has rarely if even been able to and KSU managed a BIT of success but it's not enough most years, and that's ONE school, not 3. We don't have the population base or interest in football to sustain that base.

[SubGod22]

Excellent point. The one thing that was/is always going to make this a steep uphill battle is the fact we'd be the 3rd D1 program in state that produces a few hundred at best D1 football athletes every year. It's REALLY tough when you can't start at home, and basically we could never. KU has rarely if even been able to and KSU managed a BIT of success but it's not enough most years, and that's ONE school, not 3. We don't have the population base or interest in football to sustain that base.

Kansas still has a strong JUCO system in football. Now, the best of the best of those are typically placed by other schools and you don't get them, but there are quite a few that end up going D1 elsewhere. I will say that for the most part, KS produces more linemen on either side of the ball than anything else and there are a lot of good HS programs you could probably find some solid gems. It's the skill positions that become tougher as those standout types are going to be targeted by KU and KSU more. However, had we had football all of this time I think we would have a pretty good pull from those in the metro+ area. Even if we were to bring it back, I think we would develop some of that in time.

The great thing is you're not stuck to just your state. Oklahoma and Texas both have pretty strong HS football and you can find talent there even as a third KS school. And it's conceivable that Wichita could establish itself as the 2nd best football option in the state in relatively short time and we could very well be that had we not dropped football initially. There's also still quite a bit of talent in the KC area that could be pulled in.

You don't have to get the best of the best to be a solid or even good program. I know Snyder was a rare bird, but he built the worst program in D1 into something much more than respectable by finding 3* kids that wanted to work. You start there and build an identity and you grow from it. Hell, I know basketball is easier to turn around because it only takes a few players, but that's how we recovered from the 90s. A couple of flyers and a plethora of 3* and overlooked kids and we built off of that.

I know some of the schools that have restarted football in the past 20 years are located in areas with higher talent concentrations, but they're also surrounded by bigger fish and more of them. Some of them have still managed to find some success. I know football being brought back is a very long shot, but I will always support the effort to do so. Dropping it was a major mistake and letting it remain dormant has been nearly as big.

With the popularity of football today and had we actually had a football conference, there's no reason to think we wouldn't be averaging 20-30k today for games. We'd also most likely have a larger student population, considering it decreased after football was dropped, we may very well even have a few more NFL players and wealthy alumni.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Just saw that yesterday while in San Diego. They're on the up fer sure. Hence why I wish Wichita St. still had football. San Diego St. would replace Houston...and brand name Boise St. would replace Cincy. UNLV and Nevada (Reno) additions would absolutely be mutually beneficial to keep the American worthy.

I thought all you Zonies leave here by the end of August. JK :)

Ya SDSU is in a good position. Their football program has been on the upswing for a while and is now the only game in town without the dumba$$ Chargers. Their basketball team is stellar just about every year with a rabid fan base and a sold out arena. The peripheral sports are nice as well. Not to mention the new stadium

[Topshock]

And as bad as our program was at the time, it was better than KSUs. To think it would be destined to remain bad just because is ridiculous. Had we kept football, we would have eventually gotten into a conference that actually played football at the level we were and it would have been easier to build based on that. Having the Valley abandon FBS/D1A hurt WSU quite a bit.

Delusion about the past is firmly taking hold here. Football was bankrupting the athletic department. Basketball was suffering from this. I would say, if we had kept football we would never been able to afford and keep the coaches it took to revive basketball. We would have football like Northern Iowa or Missouri State and no recent Final Four.

Not even getting into the fact that very very few people cared about football when we had it. There are more people at high school games than what WSU was drawing for many games.

[1972Shocker]

Remember, you have to look at this through the eyes of ESPN. "Who wants to go sell ads for the big Dayton/East Carolina game this Saturday?"

That says more about ECU than Dayton IMO.