(06-21-2014 10:05 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 10:36 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 10:14 PM)4x4hokies Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 05:45 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 04:31 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  So since there has to be exceptions, who are they?

IMO:

Definitely
Notre Dame

Probably
Oklahoma

Maybe
Virginia Tech
Syracuse
UConn

Nope
Cincy
Boston College

hell yes
notre dame

highly likely
syracuse- being a past AAU, historic rival of a number of b10 schools, and having solid academics, solid athletics/markets, and being in the most sensible state to expand into next, makes them the #2 most likely school IMO to break the aau barrier

has a chance but smaller
boston college- essentially a poor mans version of SU in this situation

^^^^^all three of these schools are a case of solid academics but non research orientated

oklahoma- decent football/market, but unlike all the other schools on this list, they have terrible academics to reaffirm why they are not AAU

no chance
UCONN
Virginia tech

there are far too many reasons to list why these schools will never get an invite and AAU is just one of many.

Virginia Tech fits the profile of a Big 10 school much better than UVA does. Large state school, land grant, and high research. If the AAU expands again, VT is very likely to make it in.

my issue with vtech:

1. the b10 has the biggest hard on among any conference for flagship status. 11/13 public schools in the B10 are flagships, most of which completely dominate their state with little to no in-state competition. vtech is a huge contradiction to that philosophy....a philosophy in which their last 3 additions fit in with perfectly.

2. It is hard to say how the whole "military college" aspect plays into things. it is definitely not a positive, the only question is wether or not it is a negative.

3. vtech doesn't have the best geographical location within its state. not in the most accessible place within the state nor located near the major population centers.

Virginia Tech is a football first school though. It would be like the B1G addition of Nebraska to the lineup.

The geographical location arguement doesn't hold much wait with VT because nobody has a good geographical location that plays football. Even ODU is in a second tier population center. The first tier population center is Northern Virginia.

There has long been the dream of having a power football conference in the Northeast. The B1G could make it happen if it continues to pull in land grant schools.