I know most of you don't really have a clue what the SBC use to be like but this article I ran across while doing some research will clue you in...


the SBC use to be "bigtime" and this is the point Western fans make when you some of the clueless fans on this board calls their school "mid major"


Before espn and the recruiting rags put a label on conferences...then schools recruiting like this was still possible. No it wasn't just a "good year" it was actually fairly normal to go up against what espn today calls..."major" and beat them out for recruits more times than not

So what's your take on what happened WKUYG? VCU, UAB, UNCC all left. Why did Jacksonville leave? What about ODU and USF?

I heard once that the Sun Belt was founded in an office at the GSU Sports Arena. I'm not sure if that's technically true though.

(01-20-2014 08:33 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  I know most of you don't really have a clue what the SBC use to be like but this article I ran across while doing some research will clue you in...


the SBC use to be "bigtime" and this is the point Western fans make when you some of the clueless fans on this board calls their school "mid major"


Before espn and the recruiting rags put a label on conferences...then schools recruiting like this was still possible. No it wasn't just a "good year" it was actually fairly normal to go up against what espn today calls..."major" and beat them out for recruits more times than not

Well SOCON was FBS when FBS/FCS first started but that's not changing back


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(01-20-2014 08:33 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  I know most of you don't really have a clue what the SBC use to be like but this article I ran across while doing some research will clue you in...


the SBC use to be "bigtime" and this is the point Western fans make when you some of the clueless fans on this board calls their school "mid major"


Before espn and the recruiting rags put a label on conferences...then schools recruiting like this was still possible. No it wasn't just a "good year" it was actually fairly normal to go up against what espn today calls..."major" and beat them out for recruits more times than not

We just left a conference that was getting to where it was considered a high major conference. Does that mean we were a high major team? Also, if it did, are we still a high major team?

Not of this matters. Saying you're a high major means nothing if you can't win in bball or go past the first round of the NCAA's. Hell, the terms mid-major and high-major aren't even official things; they're just some thing someone made up to differentiate between the BCS schools and the rest of us.

Conference Realignment:

the Great Midwest happened for UAB. Metro for UNCC VCU USF. ODU went to the Colonial
The Great Midwest and Metro combined and formed CUSA. So in a weird way it is CUSA's fault the the SBC isn't any good in basketball.

Then the SBC picked up a bunch of schools in 1991 that were football heavy in d1aa

Like some of you also mentioned: ESPN is the biggest reason for Conference Realignment. They put a lot of money in college athletics. They are the ones that started the whole Mid Major and Major tags. They own 90% of bowl games too if I'm not mistaken.

The Sun Belt was a basketball conference pre 1990.

Those were the days . I was a little guy but I remember them well. Big crowds. Great rivalries.

(01-21-2014 07:16 AM)Theflash Wrote:  Those were the days . I was a little guy but I remember them well. Big crowds. Great rivalries.

Yep same here, when UAB came to town it was a big deal, crowds over 11k, big time atmospheres.....VCU, ODU you name it and it was usually big time crowds...I am sure some of the younger ones are surprised, but WKU used to be regularly on CBS in hoops...Not CBS Network but CBS....

How times have changed now, the best team at this point in the SUn Belt is now bragging about being ranked 25th in the Mid Major Poll...

(01-21-2014 09:42 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 07:16 AM)Theflash Wrote:  Those were the days . I was a little guy but I remember them well. Big crowds. Great rivalries.

Yep same here, when UAB came to town it was a big deal, crowds over 11k, big time atmospheres.....VCU, ODU you name it and it was usually big time crowds...I am sure some of the younger ones are surprised, but WKU used to be regularly on CBS in hoops...Not CBS Network but CBS....

How times have changed now, the best team at this point in the SUn Belt is now bragging about being ranked 25th in the Mid Major Poll...

Well I am assuming youre not included because...well you know...WKU is not a Mid Major...

(01-21-2014 10:10 AM)panama Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 09:42 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 07:16 AM)Theflash Wrote:  Those were the days . I was a little guy but I remember them well. Big crowds. Great rivalries.

Yep same here, when UAB came to town it was a big deal, crowds over 11k, big time atmospheres.....VCU, ODU you name it and it was usually big time crowds...I am sure some of the younger ones are surprised, but WKU used to be regularly on CBS in hoops...Not CBS Network but CBS....

How times have changed now, the best team at this point in the SUn Belt is now bragging about being ranked 25th in the Mid Major Poll...

Well I am assuming youre not included because...well you know...WKU is not a Mid Major...

True, part of it though is we are not even good enough to be ranked in mid major poll.....Not to long ago we were ranked in you know the actual Top 25....

(01-21-2014 11:02 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 10:10 AM)panama Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 09:42 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 07:16 AM)Theflash Wrote:  Those were the days . I was a little guy but I remember them well. Big crowds. Great rivalries.

Yep same here, when UAB came to town it was a big deal, crowds over 11k, big time atmospheres.....VCU, ODU you name it and it was usually big time crowds...I am sure some of the younger ones are surprised, but WKU used to be regularly on CBS in hoops...Not CBS Network but CBS....

How times have changed now, the best team at this point in the SUn Belt is now bragging about being ranked 25th in the Mid Major Poll...

Well I am assuming youre not included because...well you know...WKU is not a Mid Major...

True, part of it though is we are not even good enough to be ranked in mid major poll.....Not to long ago we were ranked in you know the actual Top 25....

..and wow

ASU refuses to use the Mid Major label as well. We used to be really decent at basketball back in the 80's...had crowds of 7K regularly, and won a lot of games. We made our first NCAA tournament as a member of the Sun Belt in 1998 and seemed destined to become a great program. Then Dickey Nutt personally destroyed our basketball program to the point of no return, and while that was happening, we discovered this thing called football and haven't looked back.

The basketball program is so bad now that we've been reduced to signing 6 JUCO players next season. Meanwhile, all of the sudden our baseball program has started to become decent, and is beginning to get its share of attention.

I seriously wonder if basketball will ever return to what it was here. Especially with fans no longer caring about the sport. Basketball is such a problem here now that we're reduced to making a big deal about honoring our football team, and how big a recruiting weekend it is, to draw any semblance of a good crowd against UALR, and they have been our biggest basketball rival for decades.

Please only refer to Georgia State by preceding our name with SEC Champion.

Thanks

Panama-I agree with you most of the time,however,you are mistaken about the "M-M" label.There are so many downfalls from allowing your school or yourself to be labeled they are too numerous to mention.Fans with aspirations for their program should fight these efforts to belittle in every way possible.Much respect to Georgia State as a founding member with outstanding potential.

I grew up rooting for SBC basketball in the 80s. Those were some good times. Ranked teams. Multiple bids and an even conference.

What happened?

First, the Great Midwest plucked a couple of teams. USA got left behind.
Second, the Sun Belt decided to focus on football. Had we not focused on football, I doubt we'd have some of the teams we have now.

Oddly enough, our basketball (USA excepted - WTF) seems to be doing a bit better this year.

I grew up rooting for Gamecocks, because in my state before it was overwhelmed by fat faced yankees like eagleskins you were born either pulling for USC or those peckerwoods in Orange.

(01-21-2014 11:38 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  ASU refuses to use the Mid Major label as well. We used to be really decent at basketball back in the 80's...had crowds of 7K regularly, and won a lot of games. We made our first NCAA tournament as a member of the Sun Belt in 1998 and seemed destined to become a great program. Then Dickey Nutt personally destroyed our basketball program to the point of no return, and while that was happening, we discovered this thing called football and haven't looked back.

The basketball program is so bad now that we've been reduced to signing 6 JUCO players next season. Meanwhile, all of the sudden our baseball program has started to become decent, and is beginning to get its share of attention.

I seriously wonder if basketball will ever return to what it was here. Especially with fans no longer caring about the sport. Basketball is such a problem here now that we're reduced to making a big deal about honoring our football team, and how big a recruiting weekend it is, to draw any semblance of a good crowd against UALR, and they have been our biggest basketball rival for decades.

Winning solves all problems my friend. And not just 16 games a year.

I had a friend back in the mid-90's that was a Villanova grad. They were in the top 5 consistently and South was in the "Additional teams receiving votes" section of the Top-25. But at least we were there.

The conference right now only looks like it is doing better is because we are playing conference games, as a conference we did horrible in our OOC play this year. Was not a good start to the season after another good football season. As we have focused on bringing in quality football schools, we have abandoned the basketball schools. Maybe that is what Ga St can be for us, and if we are going to be associated with NMSU, they must be in for all sports.

(01-20-2014 09:15 AM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  So what's your take on what happened WKUYG? VCU, UAB, UNCC all left. Why did Jacksonville leave? What about ODU and USF?

Important to note that ODU, UAB, UNCC, USF, and VCU, all left at the same time in 1991. That was the end of what we might call "Sun Belt 1.0", and that change was caused by the football realignment happening at the SEC/ACC/B1G level.

Jacksonville dropped down to the Atlantic Sun in 1998 because it either couldn't spend (or else didn't want to spend; not sure which) the $$$ needed to compete in the SBC.

(01-27-2014 10:45 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 09:15 AM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  So what's your take on what happened WKUYG? VCU, UAB, UNCC all left. Why did Jacksonville leave? What about ODU and USF?

Important to note that ODU, UAB, UNCC, USF, and VCU, all left at the same time in 1991. That was the end of what we might call "Sun Belt 1.0", and that change was caused by the football realignment happening at the SEC/ACC/B1G level.

Jacksonville dropped down to the Atlantic Sun in 1998 because it either couldn't spend (or else didn't want to spend; not sure which) the $$$ needed to compete in the SBC.

Jacksonville had some great players and teams in late 80's and early 90's, but even with good teams they never drew well which of course is not a suprise...Also Jax has a great history for a new program when the got Artis Gilmore...Used to be a huge rival for WKU in early 70's....