(02-01-2018 10:33 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(02-01-2018 02:14 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(02-01-2018 01:13 AM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(01-31-2018 12:09 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  You answered your own question, Dayton is a better fit. They have always filled their arena win or lose, actually are Catholic and are basically the only game in town. SLU may be a typical doormat but they are the highest level of basketball in St. Louis and also have a sizeable arena, plus a larger, less saturated market than Butler.

Here I think you've at least given a concrete reason as to why Butler shouldn't be in the Big East....because they aren't a catholic university.

But I don't think its too important. It not like its 1930 where Northeast protestants were the elites in every sector of the economy. Today they are in the minority of the elite sectors of the economy. Anti-catholic bias hasn't existed in elite sectors in decades. In my estimation catholics are probably the largest representative of the elite sector since they have a strong population base in the coastal elite cities.

Nothing to do with that. I'm happy that Butler rose from underdog status to reach one of college basketball's top conferences. But the Big East may be saddled with deadweight one day. Look at DePaul. They never played for an NCAA title but were better than Butler for a longer stretch of time. They look like they belong in the Valley or Horizon these days. Or even C-USA.

And yes, someone has to be a doormat in these conferences but DePaul hasn't been very good for a full quarter century, with just two Tournament bids despite playing in a very good multi-bid conference most of that time.

The thing is that Butler is still an institutional fit - a private university in a large market (Indianapolis) that geographically aligns with the Big East overall. Even if you stripped away all of Butler's on-the-court achievements, it is still in institutional alignment with the rest of the Big East schools and that's a factor that will never change. So are schools like DePaul and St. John's, albeit they're located in even larger markets. Now, if the Big East had added, say, VCU or Wichita State, which are schools that have absolutely nothing in common with the rest of the Big East outside of the fact that they all have basketball teams, then you could argue that it was a short-sighted move based on recent success. However, Butler fits into the Big East whether they're good on the court or not (which is ultimately what you want out of any conference realignment move).

Doesn't this mean taking Louisville over UConn was a bad realignment move? Not that the ACC has ever had the curremt Big East's level of institutional similarity but Louisville (large urban public) isn't like any ACC school. I guess if you squint it's a "state's second public school" like Clemson and FSU and NCSU...