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(03-20-2013 08:49 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(03-20-2013 07:33 PM)GreenMississippi Wrote:  I say raid the A-10.

Take UMass*, VCU, Richmond, George Washington, St. Joes, and either Fordham/Duquesne/Rhode Island. That would leave them with 4 members (assuming SLU and Dayton are also gone). That might be enough to dissolve the conference so no exit fee is required.

C*USA goes to 19 total (assuming Tulsa leaves) for a 14 football+5 Olympic Only league. Everyone plays 9 Home and 9 Away games in Basketball. This would be a much better basketball league than what the A-10 is about to become after this year.

Worked great for the Big East, right?

You're talking about Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Louisville, West Virginia, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College? For it's time it was far ahead of Conference-USA. UConn (and maybe Cinci) will eventually rejoin the group I just mentioned. Stability means nothing if we are stably stuck in neutral. The group calling themselves the Big East is Conference-USA with a few tweaks they think is bringing them ahead (which remains to be seen).

So that hybrid conference that "fell apart" (or became the ACC North) did quite well, so well that 75% of the football playing teams from Big East Football 1.0 and 2.0 (not counting Temple) are still in a major conference.

That's better than where we are right now, the "Group of 5".

BTW Charlotte left the great A-10 to come to C-USA. No thanks, I will stay where we are at for now.

CUSA is a complete craphole for basketball..... and im getting a little weary of folks defending it. I do like the idea about raiding the a10s remaining basketball teams. But in its current makeup and its current expansion strategy it is quite obvious that the powers-that-be are perfectly fine with 2000 in attendance to see a UTSA vs Rice barn-burner for the next 7-10 years.

And whoever suggested that VCU, Umass etc wouldn't draw any better than the current slate is smoking something pretty potent.

Sorry but as a basketball fan football is turning into a gigantic ball-and-chain for us that not only doesn't pay the bills but doesn't even allow us to go pursue a great conference in basketball.

Sorry to rant but I just got through watching Withchita State bounce Gonzaga and it reminded me once again about how we are approaching SWAC status as a basketball conference. Even though the big east snagged Memphis from us at least they took out some of the garbage too (Tulane, etc). Maybe we will go and swipe some decent replacements from the A10... Even if they {GASP!} don't play football....

basketball will be better next year. Charlotte, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee all had good years. Whichever of the FU's that has Pitino's son has shown promise as well. Old Dominion is a traditional basketball power. The league will be more competitive and stronger overall.

And I'm sorry you are weary. Go rest.

Bartowfan, do you like foossball, and if so wouldn't you rather watch the Blazer

Are we seeing the makings of a civil war here? Basketball fans vs. Football fans?

(03-24-2013 12:54 AM)tibber Wrote:  Are we seeing the makings of a civil war here? Basketball fans vs. Football fans?

No.

(03-24-2013 12:54 AM)tibber Wrote:  Are we seeing the makings of a civil war here? Basketball fans vs. Football fans?

Yes.

What I see is bickering between people who think football is why basketball has struggled (never mind Mediocre Mike) and those who think UAB needs both sports.

I don't believe a single egg in the football basket is at the expense of those in the basketball basket.

(03-23-2013 10:41 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  basketball will be better next year. Charlotte, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee all had good years. Whichever of the FU's that has Pitino's son has shown promise as well. Old Dominion is a traditional basketball power. The league will be more competitive and stronger overall.

And I'm sorry you are weary. Go rest.

for myself I will prefer a weak bb league and be able to make the tournament every year

A question for the "raid the A-10" guys... why on earth would any decent A-10 team want to join CUSA? I mean, seriously? Even with Tulane and SMU gone?

(03-24-2013 09:28 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  A question for the "raid the A-10" guys... why on earth would any decent A-10 team want to join CUSA? I mean, seriously? Even with Tulane and SMU gone?

When you raid something, those who are raided, don't have a choice in the matter? Raiders take forcibly and don't give a choice.

(03-24-2013 09:28 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  A question for the "raid the A-10" guys... why on earth would any decent A-10 team want to join CUSA? I mean, seriously? Even with Tulane and SMU gone?

The potentially valuable targets remaining in the A-10 (assuming SLU and Dayton also leave):
VCU, St. Joes, UMass, George Washington (25,000 students in D.C., large endowment), Richmond (Recent success, large endowment).

The others in the A-10:
La Salle, Rhode Island, St. Bonnaventure, Fordham, Duquesne.

Potential Division Rivals for those schools in C*USA:
Charlotte, Old Dominion, MTSU, WKU, UAB, USM, La Tech.

We have some ugly schools in F_U, Rice, and UTSA (UTEP is too far away, UNT and Marshall are neutral) but that can be minimized with regional and rivalry-based scheduling.

The A-10 will be short on attractive back-fill targets. The leaving schools might be able to just dissolve the conference and pick whatever they want with minimal penalty.

U-Mass would be a great target IMHO. They now have FBS football and would be a nice add for basketball.

(03-24-2013 07:52 AM)Smaug Wrote:  What I see is bickering between people who think football is why basketball has struggled (never mind Mediocre Mike) and those who think UAB needs both sports.

I don't believe a single egg in the football basket is at the expense of those in the basketball basket.

As long as the "A" in UAB stands for Alabama, we need the credibility football brings, no matter what the quality. That said, I believe UAB is on the cusp of becoming very good in BOTH sports, and the reality is that BOTH are going to be kept as programs for the future. At this point, we are not even debating WHERE UAB will be playing either sport for some years.

As long as UAB is nationally perceived as unable to make its own decisions (with the BIG RED ELEPHANTS (& their BOT) standing behind us), there is little likelihood that it will be invited into any major conference now that Gene Bartow's considerable influence is gone. (It is likely that without him, the teams at UAB would be presently playing in an FCS league, if they existed at all. What conference upgrade have we seen since Coach Bartow retired?)

(03-23-2013 10:41 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  basketball will be better next year. Charlotte, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee all had good years. Whichever of the FU's that has Pitino's son has shown promise as well. Old Dominion is a traditional basketball power. The league will be more competitive and stronger overall.

And I'm sorry you are weary. Go rest.

Ah yes how long have we been hearing this.... How "SMU is on the way up...." Or how "once (insert garbage school here) gets this recruiting class in (insert has-been former Unc/auburn/etc coach) will have them in the tourney."

And I love football. But it seems more often than not to get in the way of the thing that we're good at: basketball.

How exactly has football gotten in the way of basketball?

Spell it out for the slow among us, please.

(03-24-2013 11:32 AM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(03-24-2013 07:52 AM)Smaug Wrote:  What I see is bickering between people who think football is why basketball has struggled (never mind Mediocre Mike) and those who think UAB needs both sports.

I don't believe a single egg in the football basket is at the expense of those in the basketball basket.

As long as the "A" in UAB stands for Alabama, we need the credibility football brings, no matter what the quality.

Huh? How can the quality not influence the credibility? And let's say you're right, that we need the credibility that football brings and that having a football team with our rotten facilities actually brings some.....

We need it to do what? Was life really that awful in this state in the 1980s when we didn't have football but were appearing in multiple sweet 16s? And this being a football crazy state is almost a reason NOT to have it (or at least not let it dictate your conference affiliation)..... The market is saturated and the BOT will allow us to escape from the armpit known as Legion Field.

And the single egg in the football basket IS at the expense of basketball if it is driving our membership in CUSA.

(03-24-2013 12:30 PM)Smaug Wrote:  How exactly has football gotten in the way of basketball?

Spell it out for the slow among us, please.

Because it is the driving factor on who our conference affiliation is. In this age of expansion and realignment, basketball should be the focus on who we are adding or where we are looking to move to. I would take the MVC conference any day over CUSA.

(03-24-2013 12:47 PM)bartowfan Wrote:  

(03-24-2013 12:30 PM)Smaug Wrote:  How exactly has football gotten in the way of basketball?

Spell it out for the slow among us, please.

Because it is the driving factor on who our conference affiliation is. In this age of expansion and realignment, basketball should be the focus on who we are adding or where we are looking to move to. I would take the MVC conference any day over CUSA.

That would suck Creighton is leaving, ODU,UNCC,WKU,UTEP,USM is a decent basketball setup.