AAC adding 6 teams

[JayPak]

Only real options for us are stay put, A10 or hope Big East comes knocking. Maybe B12 adds 2 non football schools.... Creighton and Shocks?

An nteresting idea I had never thought about. If a B12 invite were to happen, I don't think CU would accept it.

Then there's the Big Pee. We are not a good fit with those schools. Our baseball would die, travel would be horrendous, we wouldn't be on ESPN any longer, much of the $4M would get absorbed in travel costs,... and good GOD does that conference love soccer.... EVERY school plays.

https://www.bigeast.com/standings.aspx?standings=14

Good point. BE is always the #2 or #3 soccer conference behind the ACC and (sometimes) the PAC. If you want into the BE, could help your cause by adding futbol. And yes, your baseball would die in the BE.

How many Bluejay fans go to NYC for the tournament? There were thousands that went to St Louis. The MVC tournament was among the best in those days.

About 3K in a normal year, compared with 8K in STL. Going to be a harder ticket at MSG with UConn now in the league, though. BE has the best-attended conference tourney of them all, and locked up a long-term MSG contract extension for its preferred dates, despite the ACC and B1G wanting to steal that weekend.

[Singeril]

Just win.

[Dan]

Rice is an oddball to me. They have tons of money but are confined geographically so they can’t spend all that money expanding their campus/growing their student population. They really need to upgrade their athletic facilities, which would probably help a lot in attracting better athletes. They have really high academic standards though, and they aren’t waiving those for athletes. I’ll gladly watch the Shockers in their tiny arena.

[Topshock]

Because presidents care about more than just basketball. We have not a damn thing in common with those schools outside of basketball and it wouldn't help us one bit academically or in student recruitment.

They are called athletic conferences for a reason.

[bleed yellow]

Boatright is probably camping out in his office, right next to the phone on his desk, waiting for calls lol

[wichshock65]

Interesting interview with new Gonzaga athletic director Chris Sandiford.

Q: Gonzaga’s name has surfaced recently in realignment chatter. The Big East could be a fit for basketball, but there are so many other considerations involved, including Creighton being the closest school to Spokane. Is there a way to make it work?
CS: First and foremost, there’s a lot of change that’s going to happen in the next eight weeks, 18 months, that will inform a lot of these discussions. There will be some leagues that get larger and possibly express a larger geographic footprint.

The Big 12 is certainly not done yet. Those things will all inform what the answer to that question is. If everybody stays in the traditional eight to 12 (range for membership) and doesn’t push into 16, that makes it more challenging. If you start looking at geography in a nontraditional way, I think there are a lot of things that are possible.

Q: The Mountain West is apparently showing interest in GU again. Does BYU’s departure from the WCC change Gonzaga’s outlook?

CS: It’s a super dynamic time. I don’t think there’s enough static analysis that can be done to make it just about BYU leaving the WCC and does that make the Mountain West a better alternative. It’s a time where we have to be very open to conversations and evaluating the landscape. Change will continue to happen. Making decisions won’t necessarily be made on known facts. You also have to evaluate what could happen next.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/oct/19/qa-new-gonzaga-ad-chris-standiford-on-mark-fews-su/?amp-content=amp

[SubGod22]

They are called athletic conferences for a reason.

And yet they still impact the academic side in huge ways

[Topshock]

And yet they still impact the academic side in huge ways

I know what you are saying. We are not going to have an option for a perfect situation however. I think the Big East would almost guarantee us long term relevance without the constant uncertainty that comes with football conferences.

[ShockingButTrue]

In my opinion, it wouldn't be wise for WSU to play in a conference where they'd be the only member that occupies the Central Time Zone. Why?

[C0|dB|00ded]

An nteresting idea I had never thought about. If a B12 invite were to happen, I don't think CU would accept it.


Good point. BE is always the #2 or #3 soccer conference behind the ACC and (sometimes) the PAC. If you want into the BE, could help your cause by adding futbol. And yes, your baseball would die in the BE.


About 3K in a normal year, compared with 8K in STL. Going to be a harder ticket at MSG with UConn now in the league, though. BE has the best-attended conference tourney of them all, and locked up a long-term MSG contract extension for its preferred dates, despite the ACC and B1G wanting to steal that weekend.

Yes, having a top soccer conference is extremely valuable.... It's like being the king of the one-and-dones.




The only way a B12 invite is coming to the BJ's is if KU, OSU, etc. are long gone.

It's not hard to fill MSG, but I have no doubt that the Big Pee has a strong following. It reminds me of the Bug-aha'ins gloating over breaking the world record for the women's Olympic swimming practice attendance. Since there's absolutely nothing else to do in Nebraska, folks are gonna come out to watch women in swim caps do laps for 3 hours.

Same goes for the Priest and the conference tournament. Those little programs are so excited to get together celebrating the fact that nobody sees them play on FS1 but here they are in MSG! It was just the same for the Valley tournament. People are so proud of their mid-major programs. I feel my heart swelling even as I type it.

[Wuzee]

I'll be interested to see how basketball works with the additions. Here's one possible scenario:

• A 20-game conference schedule (play everybody at least once)
• A real or implied east / west divisional split with home-and-home against your division (mitigates travel expenses, builds regional rivalries) — 12 games
• Home-and-home with one school from the other division. This would be selected to maximize rating impact for the expected top teams in the league (healthy dose of Memphis, UAB and Temple for us, likely) — 2 games
• Single games against the rest with road and home games chosen to protect the top of the league where possible. — 6 games

For an 18-game schedule, which would be better for us, you could go with just 4 single games from the rest of the league, allowing stronger teams to completely avoid 2 NET-buster teams on the other side.

Tulane and Memphis are the most geographically fluid, but here's my guess for the split.

EAST

• ECU
• Memphis (UAB is the closest AAC school, plus they have some history, I think)
• FAU
• Temple
• UAB
• UNCC
• USF

WEST

• Rice
• SMU
• Tulane (Rice is the closest AAC school)
• Tulsa
• UNT
• UTSA
• WSU

Whatever the plan, it will put even more of a premium on the NonCon schedule -- especially if H/H with UTSA and Rice are in the offing every year.

[SB Shock]

I like your breakdown, but with Memphis looking to leave, I would put Tulane in the East and you would be left with the following.

I

EAST

• ECU
• FAU
• Temple
• UAB
• UNCC
• USF
• Tulane (Rice is the closest AAC school)

WEST

• Rice
• SMU
• Tulsa
• UNT
• UTSA
• WSU

[WuShockFan]

I don't have a problem with the new adds for the AAC. I would have preferred Coastal Carolina over FAU. There are better basketball schools in the CUSA that they could have added, like Western Kentucky, Marshall, and Old Dominion. The fact that they did not add these schools tells me the focus is on football and trying to retain the position of top Group of Five conference.

If we end up staying in the AAC, I hope that Memphis stays and that WSU and Memphis will become the face of the conference in basketball. That way we would have one other basketball power giving legitimacy to the AAC in basketball.

[calfan]

I like the 6 ads for the conference. I had personally wanted 16 teams so 14 works well.

I predicted when we were looking at 12 teams adding UAB, UTSA, Coastal Carolina, and either a mid-Atlantic school or a Florida school.

I got 3 out of 4 right. I was close with my 16 team prediction and the 14 invites.

Some on here didn't like any of my predictions, but I was very close.

Closer than some of you that didn't want to add any more than UAB.

[WeWillShockU2]

Wouldn’t be surprised to see AF and CSU added at some point. They still want central time zone games and exposure to Texas and other recruiting areas. The Big12 may hold their nose and take Boise State. They would probably also add San Diego State if that happens or they could go with Memphis and USF/SMU. It will be interesting to see what happens. Aresco boxed the Mountain West out of Texas unless they go UTEP/Texas State.