(07-28-2021 09:31 AM)Z-Fly Wrote: [ -> ]If the top half of the AAC can drop the bottom half of the AAC, and add 6 or so equals, that's a massive win. Massive. That's the realistic goal IMO. ACC is a lottery ticket, but it's worth scratching.
I'm not as down on the bottom half of the AAC as many here seem to be. To that end, I bet we'd see a lot of different versions of the "bottom half" of the AAC even among posters here. More importantly, ditching any team is a very risky maneuver and I'm not sure I'd support it except as a last resort. I think the more realistic version, and the one I'd probably prefer, is adding 3-8 from the Big12. 3 would make 14 for football including Navy. All 8 would make 18 for football excluding Navy. Or go even bigger and add BYU for football only to make 20 for football and 18 for most other sports. I don't see how BYU could turn this down if they can find a plausible home for their other sports, but if they did we might have to take a hard look at how football-only Navy fits in.
So I like the idea of adding 6 and going to 2 divisions of 8 (9 for football including Navy and BYU). Take OK St. ($), Kansas (BB royalty), WVU (they just fit geographically) and Iowa St. (good all around and midwest culture). And then take two from Baylor/TTU/TCU/KSU. I kinda tentatively like Baylor primarily for the BB NC and I guess KSU because they aren't in Texas, but whatever. We could see:
East: UC, UCF, USF, Memphis, Tulane, Temple, WVU, ECU plus Navy for football
West: Houston, SMU, Tulsa, OK St., Kansas, Iowa St., and 2 from Baylor/KSU/TTU/TCU plus BYU for football
I'm a little leery of us getting too Texas filled, but if we went with all 8:
East: UC, UCF, USF, Memphis, Tulane, Temple, WVU, ECU, Iowa St. (and Navy for football)
West: Houston, SMU, Tulsa, OK St., Kansas, Baylor, KSU, TTU, TCU (and BYU for football)
Not especially huge markets but very strong football and basketball in both divisions.