(01-02-2014 11:56 AM)Cat-Man Wrote: (01-02-2014 09:34 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote: (01-02-2014 09:30 AM)CliftonAve Wrote: (01-02-2014 09:15 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote: AAC football is actually better than most people think. UConn and USF will improve too. Its not the cakewalk conference for the Bearcats.
The issue most people have with the conference is television revenue and bowl tie-ins and access.
If the conference sticks together those things will probably improve; however, like I posted on the AAC board there is always a chance the Big XII takes a page out of the ACC's playbook and picks up UCF and Cincinnati.
Cincinnati just has to make sure they stay upper tier in the American and things will work.
Careful touting the rise of UCF.
Although picking up UCF and UC would be the ideal scenario, there is a chance that UCF leap frogs UC. And it turns out to be UCF and BYU (or someone else). I would think the Big 12 would want to stake claim in Florida before they would Ohio. The upper hand that UC has is the closer proximity to WVA (and better basketball). I haven't checked the numbers, but I thought the Orlando TV market was about the same as Cincy.
UCF could pass Cincinnati but the Big XII would be foolish to grab just BYU and UCF. If the American only loses UCF the league would still be in solid shape. Basketball wouldn't take a hit and there is always the chance USF recaptures some its former magic and becomes the hot school in Florida.
If that every played out, the American would be wise to grab UMass instead of trying to find another Florida replacement. There is some value in basketball plus the northeast is still one region that isn't dominated by one single conference. While it would stink to be passed up again, I don't believe it would change things for UC.
Edit: There is one worst case scenario that does scare me.
Big XII grabs UCF and BYU to go 12 and they stop there.
The ACC grabs Navy as football only to offset Notre Dame and adds UConn for all sports giving them 16.
At this point the American is left scrambling to backfill with the like UMass, Marshall, NIU, Southern Miss, Rice, or whoever is the hot new C-USA school. My picks would UMass, Marshall, and Southern Miss; however, at that point I would seriously considered adding VCU and Wichita State to save basketball.