RE: If Temple had not been expelled from the Big East...
The reason Rutgers got into the Big East over the objections of Seton Hall, but Temple did not make it in over the objections of Villanova, was, as I stated before, that the Catholic basketball schools were forced into choosing the two least of four evils. A gun was pointed at their heads in 1994 and they had to pick two new members out of Rutgers, Temple, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech. If they had not done so, the football schools would have left the Big East and formed a separate league at that time. Look at the article posted by Catsclaw once more.
It was simply a case that Pitt probably went to bat for West Virginia, Rutgers was seen as having more upside than Temple even at that time, and no one was particularly enamored with Virginia Tech. Notre Dame also gained admission as part of a compromise with the Catholic basketball members to end the standoff that had developed. The unbalanced schedule created by having 13 teams is the only reason the Hocakes eventually gained full membership in 2002. As for the Owls, they were left behind again, and that helped seal their downward spiral.
1979
Basketball - 5 (Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's)
Football - 2 (BC, Syracuse)
1980
Basketball - 6 (Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 2 (BC, Syracuse)
1982
Basketball - 6 (Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 3 (BC, Pittsburgh, Syracuse)
1990
Basketball - 6 (Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 4 (BC, Miami, Pittsburgh, Syracuse)
1995
Basketball - 7 (Connecticut, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 6 (BC, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia)
2002
Basketball - 7 (Connecticut, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 7 (BC, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia)
2004
Basketball - 6 (Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 6 (BC, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia)
2005
Basketball - 8 (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova)
Football - 8 (Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia)
Why do people keep trying to revise history? Virginia did not want Virginia Tech in the ACC. The governor of Virginia got the Hocakes into the ACC via political pressure. Syracuse and BC would have been voted into the ACC in July 2003 if he had not intervened. The Big East was also never going to settle on an unbalanced hybrid in the wake of the ACC raid. Even in 1994, the Catholic basketball schools were saying they did not want to be outvoted, so there was just no way they would have voluntarily put themselves into the voting minority in 2003.
The voting balance in the Big East has always been in favor of the Catholic basketball schools or else evenly split. If the ACC raid had not taken place, however, Connecticut would have eventually swung the voting balance to an 8-6 advantage for the football schools. Miami and the ACC, of course, made sure that this would not occur. The BCS is never going to force any conference to do anything, the Big Ten and Pac-10 guarantee this, so that fantasy needs to die. If the Big East adds one new member, it will add two, 17 teams is never happening.
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