With rival Memphis leaving C-USA, UAB should but won't join Sun Belt

Published: Thursday, February 09, 2012, 5:30 AM

By Jon Solomon -- The Birmingham News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Fittingly, on the day Memphis left Conference USA, UAB and Southern Miss played each other in basketball. It was a thorough UAB victory over the league's first-place team.

Forget this year's standings. It's time to look at the big picture.

UAB and Southern Miss are joined at the hip now. Their futures are being determined by others as the haves and have-nots get divided, the original C-USA now down to UAB, Southern Miss and Tulane. UAB's old Great Midwest Conference rivals? All gone. Central Florida, Houston and SMU will join Memphis in the Big East, too.
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Holy shite our perception is terrible.

(02-09-2012 08:36 AM)slappycajun Wrote:  Holy shite our perception is terrible.

But a lot better than it has been, and it will be better in the future.

Other then More bowl tiein's CUSA is starting to look sad.

They lost Houston (top Football team, large market) UCF (Large Market, improving teams) SMU (probably the least harmful) and Memphis (Great Basketball, good market)

Whoever our new commissoner is I hope he does at least engage schools, things are certainly changing.

Save face CUSA...I'm sure rich people who lose everything still look at themselves as better then everyone else. I like how the article mentions the Cajuns in a negative light, they still must be smarting from the 34-0 drubbing they received at Cajun Field during the ultimate low point of our football program under Jerry Baldwin in 2002. Leave UAB out in the cold...hell leave them all out in the cold. The us against the world mentality has made the Sun Belt stronger year by year. While the holier than thou, no honor among thieves mentality of the WAC, CUSA, and MWC have made them ticking time bombs just waiting to implode into oblivion. Now they have to merge just to stay together as their bones have been picked clean. Let the vultures finish up with them, as long as the SBC sticks together, nothing can stop us.

(02-09-2012 09:09 AM)cajunhawk Wrote:  Save face CUSA...I'm sure rich people who lose everything still look at themselves as better then everyone else. I like how the article mentions the Cajuns in a negative light, they still must be smarting from the 34-0 drubbing they received at Cajun Field during the ultimate low point of our football program under Jerry Baldwin in 2002. Leave UAB out in the cold...hell leave them all out in the cold. The us against the world mentality has made the Sun Belt stronger year by year. While the holier than thou, no honor among thieves mentality of the WAC, CUSA, and MWC have made them ticking time bombs just waiting to implode into oblivion. Now they have to merge just to stay together as their bones have been picked clean. Let the vultures finish up with them, as long as the SBC sticks together, nothing can stop us.

Bustle was the coach for that game.

(02-09-2012 09:11 AM)slappycajun Wrote:  

(02-09-2012 09:09 AM)cajunhawk Wrote:  Save face CUSA...I'm sure rich people who lose everything still look at themselves as better then everyone else. I like how the article mentions the Cajuns in a negative light, they still must be smarting from the 34-0 drubbing they received at Cajun Field during the ultimate low point of our football program under Jerry Baldwin in 2002. Leave UAB out in the cold...hell leave them all out in the cold. The us against the world mentality has made the Sun Belt stronger year by year. While the holier than thou, no honor among thieves mentality of the WAC, CUSA, and MWC have made them ticking time bombs just waiting to implode into oblivion. Now they have to merge just to stay together as their bones have been picked clean. Let the vultures finish up with them, as long as the SBC sticks together, nothing can stop us.

Bustle was the coach for that game.

For some reason I remembered that under the Baldwin years, maybe because it was still fresh in 2002 how miserable of a coach he was. My bad.

What has UAB ever done ?

(02-09-2012 01:12 PM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  What has UAB ever done ?

They went bowling in 2005 against Hawaii and lost.....

I dont want UAB in the Sunbelt.....They would be a step down for us..

(02-09-2012 02:15 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  I dont want UAB in the Sunbelt.....They would be a step down for us..

For the sake of discussion, if the Sun Belt adds two, I want Southern Miss and Tulsa.

(02-09-2012 02:43 PM)Lafitte the Pirate Wrote:  

(02-09-2012 02:15 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  I dont want UAB in the Sunbelt.....They would be a step down for us..

For the sake of discussion, if the Sun Belt adds two, I want Southern Miss and Tulsa.

I doubt very seriously either would consider.

Tulsa fits geographically well enough in the MWC that they could make that move and as a league with a less than stellar academic reputation, I just don't see them(as a private university) joining a league full of mostly regional public universities.

Southern Miss would be a major stretch, but they would be a major reach geographically speaking for the MWC and if push comes to shove there is a scenario in which we could be their best option, but I just don't see it. I cannot imagine Southern Miss or ECU ever "lowering themselves" to the Sun Belt and as long as they have hangers on like Marshall, UAB and Tulane who don't really fit anywhere else geographically either, I think that even if CUSA were to lose Tulsa and UTEP to the MWC, I think CUSA would backfill with top Sun Belt/FCS schools before any of them would consider joining the Sun Belt.

I guarantee you USM fans would rather be:
ECU
Marshall
UAB
Tulane
Rice
USM
+ the best package of 3-6 teams they can put together out of the Sun Belt, ODU, UNC-Charlotte etc.

UAB went to the final four in basketball in the not too distant past.

Sounds like at least their coach wants to join the SBC... I dunno, UAB has had troubles. They've got a lot of potential and they are an OK basketball school.

(02-09-2012 11:29 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  UAB went to the final four in basketball in the not too distant past.

So did Austin Peay. And Charlotte when they were in the SBC with Cornbread Maxwell.

(02-10-2012 12:51 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

(02-09-2012 11:29 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  UAB went to the final four in basketball in the not too distant past.

So did Austin Peay. And Charlotte when they were in the SBC with Cornbread Maxwell.

I was thinking it was much more recent, but upon looking it up it wasn't.

At any rate, they have had a good basketball program over the years, several NCAA wins / at large bids in the last ten years.

UAB has nothing to offer the SBC. For that matter, UAB uas nothing to offer period.

UAB joining would be bittersweet. Given I live in Birmingham and I can tell you that literally half the city doesn't even know they play anything besides basketball. I still don't even know if UAB has a track team or not.

UAB would not bring anything besides a heck load of big headed fans of a school that has never done anything besides make UA grads doctors like it was intended to. They have been hanging on to making the final four and losing for forever Jesus. VCU doesn't even hang on making it to the title game the way UAB fans hang on to a final four loss.

Even in terms of market UAB will never deliver Birmingham no matter what they do because the University of Alabama is an hour or less away and UAB has yet to even post ten winning seasons in their entire football history. I would like them in the conference just because it's an easy drive or flight for every team but they would probably be 6th or lower annually in football and be decent at basketball.

Their fans have some kind of delusion that if they joined they would dominate the conference.

(02-10-2012 02:15 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  UAB joining would be bittersweet. Given I live in Birmingham and I can tell you that literally half the city doesn't even know they play anything besides basketball. I still don't even know if UAB has a track team or not.

UAB would not bring anything besides a heck load of big headed fans of a school that has never done anything besides make UA grads doctors like it was intended to. They have been hanging on to making the final four and losing for forever Jesus. VCU doesn't even hang on making it to the title game the way UAB fans hang on to a final four loss.

Even in terms of market UAB will never deliver Birmingham no matter what they do because the University of Alabama is an hour or less away and UAB has yet to even post ten winning seasons in their entire football history. I would like them in the conference just because it's an easy drive or flight for every team but they would probably be 6th or lower annually in football and be decent at basketball.

Their fans have some kind of delusion that if they joined they would dominate the conference.

I agree with this.....Remember UAB was FAUs only win this year and I know my Trojans stunk it up this year but we put a woopin on FAU as did most everyone else...

(02-10-2012 02:20 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  I agree with this.....Remember UAB was FAUs only win this year and I know my Trojans stunk it up this year but we put a woopin on FAU as did most everyone else...

How we won this game is TRULY beyond me. They had just beat USM the week before and must of let thier guard down.

FAU had nothing play for other then not sending thier departing coach out with an 0-12 season.