Quote:The problem is consistency.
i agree with you here, to a degree: consistently being on top is what got TCU the first invite. but the reasons for conference expansion are multifaceted, and consistently winning is not always a deciding factor (see usf, 'nova).
Quote:Fans in general have a short memory, but remember wanting to throw up watching the Rutgers game last season? I sure do, and the fact I was there and seeing it live was even more awful.
yes! i think maybe you've lost touch with the 'average' fan. most fans have a short memory, and that's certainly to ucf's advantage. when i first got to ucf (Fall 08), i had no idea what conference usa was, who our rivals were, or what our accomplishments / failures were. the 2009 season was my first season as a ucf fan, and neither the 2007 championship nor the losing streak really mattered to me. when i return to new england for breaks, sometimes locals in my town ask me where i'm off at college. when i reply "ucf, central florida", i've even been met with "oh yeah? didn't they win that national championship last year?" we are in the age of instant-gratification. what percentage of the fans in bright house stadium during the first game this year will be able to recall the score of the rutgers-ucf bowl game in 2009? what ... 30%? speaking as a ucf student, and a fan, a majority of the fans i know (i.e., people who might go to a handful of games, buy gear, and watch them on tv, but are not message board goers or fans who think about the team during the offseason) are unlikely to care about what happened even a few years back, unless it's something important like a national championship, final four, etc.
Quote:You also act as if other conferences don't have schools that have poor teams in one sport and strong teams in other sports.
isn't that pretty much the big east in a nutshell?
Quote:Basketball, got ranked, then got smoked in conference. Yes, we beat UF, but am I supposed to be impressed with beating W. Florida? Are we a Florida only conference? You are trying to sell me on the BE conference, but you are trying to sell UCF based on our OOC?
We had the SAME finish as we did the year prior, and I was not happy with that. Finishing 9th isn't going to impress anyone.
we had nowhere near the same finish in hoops as we did last year. we're a completely different team. we have a new coach. we were ranked. we beat practically every team in florida and
that's what most students / lay fans will remember, not what happened against ecu in the first round of the conference tournament. hell, i know you're going to cringe at this, but i think from a pr standpoint that beating florida for ucf > winning the conference usa championship. If you don't think so, go ahead and ask a group of average fans what the best victory in school history was. i bet you that they won't mention the '07 win vs tulsa. the win vs. georgia and the win vs. florida will be the top two. they are recent, and they are big names. i respect c-usa as much as anybody here, but again - outside of fans like you and i,
wins against ranked, big-name in-state schools have precedence over important c-usa games.
i think this also applies to most other c-usa schools with big-name in-state rivals. go ahead and ask your average ecu student whether they'd rather win a c-usa title or defeat duke in men's basketball.
Quote:Tulane went and beat Rutgers this year, so while our bottom feeders are bad, why do you think the Big East will be some great step up?
how many fans would show up to watch ucf clobber
who's that team? would it get tv coverage?
how many fans would show up to watch ucf in a dog-fight against wvu? would it get tv coverage?
how many four-star recruits would rather visit a full bright house stadium to watch the knights and bearcats get televised on tv?
i know it's a bit superfluous, but there's your answer.