CSNbbs

Southern Miss has been left out and received the short end of the stick in conference realignment and leaves them hopeless in the sorry excuse for a conference also known as CUSA 3.0. The next conference realignment stage will occur around 2024-25 as most of the TV contracts for the P5 conferences end around then, excluding the SEC. Multiple scenarios leave the AAC stripped of 2 or 3 teams which leaves them with some schools to invite. Do any of you see USM as an option? They have a strong fan base when they are on track as far as winning, they travel well, and is in a strong SEC recruiting hot bed. They used to dominate CUSA 2.0 so why didn't they get an AAC invite over a Tulane or a Tulsa? Because TV money. It's all about how many TV sets each team has access to so the conference can get the best possible TV deal. This next time around, I see the conference looking to add quality programs with interested fan bases, because the TV money has dried up. Southern Miss has been terrible in basketball for the last few years because they have been burdened by a harsh NCAA punishment which limits them to only 5 scholarship players. I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on whether or not USM would be a viable option for the future addition to the conference. Yes I am a USM fan and yes I so tired and embarrassed of being in the CUSA. We had a few good rivalries that drew some genuine excitement and here I am trying to fool myself into getting excited for our 'huge rivalry' with La Tech. I'm hoping we can sneek in the AAC when its all said and done. SMTTT!

Naw. Southern Miss doesn’t add anything to help with our TV deal. We already have Tulane

The TV money is all dried up.

Seems legit



just no teams from the molehill west conf.

Good post, but never gonna happen.

There was some word around Memphis last year that if the Big 12 had expanded with AAC teams, the AAC was looking at USM, but that was then. No telling what 2024 would bring.

No.

(10-21-2017 12:04 AM)Yu-Es-Em Wrote: [ -> ]Southern Miss has been left out and received the short end of the stick in conference realignment and leaves them hopeless in the sorry excuse for a conference also known as CUSA 3.0. The next conference realignment stage will occur around 2024-25 as most of the TV contracts for the P5 conferences end around then, excluding the SEC. Multiple scenarios leave the AAC stripped of 2 or 3 teams which leaves them with some schools to invite. Do any of you see USM as an option?

I enjoyed USF competing against USM in football in the early 2000s as part of C-USA, and in basketball in the early 1990s as part of the old Metro Conference.

Would like having USM in the AAC, still don't know how your football went from 12-2 in 2011 to winning one game the next two seasons. But the history is there - you guys have won 9 bowl games in the past 20 seasons.

no

Probably should have went Southern Miss over Tulsa, but that is life. Ucf didn't get invited in the c-USA is the early stage. Nobody was fighting for us.

First, let me start off by saying that I like both USM and Marshall and wanted them to come with us when we joined the AAC. That said, however, I think it will be an uphill battle for USM to join. USM needs to dominate C-USA for years at the very least.

The main headwind USM faces are that it is in a small media market. Secondly, if AAC teams leave in 7 or 10 years, other teams may make more sense to replace them. If the AAC lost the Florida twins, it may make sense to replace them with FIU/FAU. Alternatively, the AAC may expand west and pick up some MWC schools and form a true west division. So although I like USM, I don't see a lot of hope for them unless the AAC loses a ton of teams or USM really dominates C-USA and gets a lot of national attention.

on top of all the other problems southern miss has, their basketball facilities situation is a deal killer. you cannot believe what a wretched place that is

Southern Miss has absolutely been crushed during alignment. Unfortunately I do not think things will get better for that great and proud fan base. There are now to many schools like Ark State, South Alabama and Troy that are competing for players and fame.

Southern Miss certainly deserved a shot at the AAC and imo the AAC would have done wonders for that program. Now, USM is stuck in a dying conference.

Conf USA is a dying a slow death. I suspect their next media contract will be even worse and in terms of exposure even the Sun Belt has over taken them.

Had ECU not gotten into the AAC we would have been in the same boat as USM.


At this point USM is probably 7 or 8 on the list of replacement teams after schools like BYU, Air Force, Army, Boise State etc.

Sucks for USM they certainly deserved better. Why though do Cusa fans always pretend to know the future when it comes to Tv contracts?who is to say we will lose anyone? I just think the whole 10 years from. now stuff is all a bunch of bs.

(10-21-2017 07:45 AM)tigerjeb Wrote: [ -> ]on top of all the other problems southern miss has, their basketball facilities situation is a deal killer. you cannot believe what a wretched place that is

As Jeff Bowers once said, "Quality, not quantity"

ECU took the spot that USM would fill because at the time of expansion, we were pretty decent at football and USM was going through one the worst periods of its long football history (and it still took Boise backing out for us to get that invite). Kinda like what we went through during initial Big East expansion.

It is all about Markets, USM has no market of real value. Too bad because they have a great history.

I too would like USM in the AAC because it is likely Memphis' oldest rival, is a good H/H rivalry within driving distance for fans (something that is sorely missing in the AAC except in a very few incidences). But USM doesn't move the needle for the TV contract. And unfortunately, that is the qualifier these days. But heck, I wish Memphis played USM every year now - JMO.

it was always a mystery to me why they didn't go full bore into making the gulf coast all the way into Pensacola "their" market. sure you've got the big boys commanding the most attention, but there was an opportunity to get the casuals or people who couldn't go to Baton Rouge, Auburn, Tallahassee or Tuscaloosa every weekend. now troy & south Alabama are plowing that field

(10-21-2017 07:45 AM)tigerjeb Wrote: [ -> ]on top of all the other problems southern miss has, their basketball facilities situation is a deal killer. you cannot believe what a wretched place that is

Co-sign on this. Easily the worst college "arena" I've ever been to.

If it was just about football Southern Miss would be a good addition. Unfortunately,(or fortunately if you are one of the P5) football these days is all about money. It will be hard for them to advance.