(10-22-2017 09:10 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I think what Kittenhead is saying here is that while in the pre-Big East FB days Rutgers and Temple played big time east coast schools like Pitt, Syracuse, BC, Penn St, and WVU they usually lost and were not considered elite, just part of the club based m proximity and the need to fill dates on the schedule.

The UMass situation is a little different. They are in the same geographic area as several big programs but for the most part no one is rushing to be their friend and conference scheduling makes an ongoing long term series with the Minutemen unnecessary.

UMass screwed up when they turned down full membership in the MAC. What they should have done was counter offered a proposal where the MAC would also bring in some top basketball schools from the A-10 to make for a 16 member league that kept the best of both worlds. Dayton, VCU, and St Louis would have made for a solid group. Temple too if you could convince them that this was a better plan than the American.

Temple and Rutgers put some good seasons together in the 15 years prior to Big East formation.

Temple was a legit Top 15-ish team in 1979. Had a few winning seasons in the 1980s, and were 7-4 in 1990, the year directly prior to the Big East forming.

Rutgers averaged 5-6 in the 6 years with Dick Anderson as coach in the late 1980s. 4 winning seasons for the 1980s as a whole - they lost more than they won but they had wins over PSU, Pitt, WVU and Syracuse in the decade.

Point being - Massachusetts has done nothing even close to what Temple & Rutgers did in the 1980s.