The new CUSA places the Aggies in the same conference as I-10 rival UTEP for the first time since the two schools were in the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, also known as the Border Conference, in 1962.

CUSA is a significant upgrade from the WAC as a basketball conference, both in terms of program sizes and funding and in overall quality of conference opponents. Kenpom, which ranks all 358 men's college basketball teams by adjusted efficiency margin, ranks the average C-USA team 163, assuming the conference does not gain or lose another school before 2023. The current 13-member WAC's average Kenpom ranking is 217.

The potential nine-team CUSA, will likely be led by Louisiana Tech, Liberty, WKU and New Mexico State from a basketball standpoint. NMSU's $3.3 million men's basketball budget ranks third behind Liberty's $3.5 million budget and UTEP. All four schools have enjoyed at least four consecutive winning seasons, and WKU, Louisiana Tech and Liberty have won at least 20 games in each of their last three campaigns.

The move to C-USA also guarantees NMSU will play UTEP at least twice per year as a conference foe. The two schools have played regularly since the series began in 1914-15, and NMSU leads the all-time series 117-104.

Last year, CUSA received $17 million from the CFP (more than 1M per team) to be distributed. New Mexico State received a minimum distribution of 300K for the football team's Academic Progress Rating. The current television deal for C-USA is among the worst in the G5, but the CUSA TV deal does distribute 500K per school and that is greater than New Mexico State's current deal, which is a minimal amount with the WAC for Olympic sports.

The move will cost NMSU a $1.5 million entry fee to join CUSA. The school will make an initial payment of $250K next year and then will make equal payments of $250K spread out of five years and that money will be taken out of future revenues generated. NMSU will also have to pay the WAC an $85K exit fee.

Glad they rounded up WKUs win total last season from 19 to 20, 20 looks better....

The new CUSA will be a tough tough basketball league

(06-28-2022 11:14 AM)solohawks Wrote:  The new CUSA will be a tough tough basketball league

It will but I am scared that it will end up with a bunch of similar sub-100 teams beating up on each other and still end up with one bid.

What's the conference's EM with the future lineup?

(06-28-2022 11:42 AM)dawgonit Wrote:  

(06-28-2022 11:14 AM)solohawks Wrote:  The new CUSA will be a tough tough basketball league

It will but I am scared that it will end up with a bunch of similar sub-100 teams beating up on each other and still end up with one bid.

The ONLY way we avoid a scenario where we beat each other up and wind up with a single bid is for all our teams to schedule strong, and our top 2-3 teams collect some big wins out of conference during the regular season.

If we can't do that, we'll get what we've earned. Nothing more.

The OVC is a terribly weak conference overall, but got two bids in 2019 because the conference runner-up, Belmont, had marquee wins over Illinois State, MTSU, Samford, UCLA, and WKU.

Two short years later, Belmont again finished as the runner-up, but stayed home despite a shiny 26-4 record, because their highest profile non-conference win came against a 13-9 George Mason squad.

Quality wins matter.

The rankings seem to favor smaller leagues too since there will be less dead weight

The pre Southland Texas expansion WAC usually in the top 3rd of the NET Conference rankings.

This new CUSA will be much stronger than that WAC and I think it may be able to compete for a 2nd big if the top tier schools pull their OOC weight.

(06-28-2022 02:11 PM)whupemall Wrote:  

(06-28-2022 11:42 AM)dawgonit Wrote:  

(06-28-2022 11:14 AM)solohawks Wrote:  The new CUSA will be a tough tough basketball league

It will but I am scared that it will end up with a bunch of similar sub-100 teams beating up on each other and still end up with one bid.

The ONLY way we avoid a scenario where we beat each other up and wind up with a single bid is for all our teams to schedule strong, and our top 2-3 teams collect some big wins out of conference during the regular season.

If we can't do that, we'll get what we've earned. Nothing more.

The OVC is a terribly weak conference overall, but got two bids in 2019 because the conference runner-up, Belmont, had marquee wins over Illinois State, MTSU, Samford, UCLA, and WKU.

Two short years later, Belmont again finished as the runner-up, but stayed home despite a shiny 26-4 record, because their highest profile non-conference win came against a 13-9 George Mason squad.

Quality wins matter.

Totally agree. OOC games are crucial for “mid-major” conferences. Whether it’s away games or at a neutral site tournament getting some quality OOC wins is what will bolster each schools and the conferences resume overall. This last year as the WAC rep us NMSU fans were dreading our seeding, especially since we dropped some head scratching games (see chi st). But our strong OOC resume resulted in that being overlooked and us getting a decent 12 seed.

(06-28-2022 03:58 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The rankings seem to favor smaller leagues too since there will be less dead weight

The pre Southland Texas expansion WAC usually in the top 3rd of the NET Conference rankings.

This new CUSA will be much stronger than that WAC and I think it may be able to compete for a 2nd big if the top tier schools pull their OOC weight.

No, it wasn’t. Not even close.