01-21-2022, 05:28 PM
For those of you who don't care about basketball (which according to my pick contest is everyone here), here's a look back.
Way back in 1996 the WAC made a big splash and expanded to 16 teams, picking off three former SWC to its existing members along with others. They were to my knowledge the first 16 team conference. They lasted three seasons in football before the MWC-WAC split.
In football, teams were split into four four team quads. The teams had played three seasons in the WAC, two in the original divisions and one with the quads shifted before the MWC-WAC split.
Did the quads contribute to the WAC failing? Should they have just stuck to a regular set of two divisions of eight teams each? Back then no one was even considering divisionless alignments. Would the WAC still be together today? It's unlikely that Utah would resist a call from the Pac-12 or BYU, TCU, or Houston from the Big 12 but would the Mountain West exist if the WAC "got it right"? Could the WAC have gotten it right? Were the quads a concept doomed to fail or did the WAC just choose them totally wrong?
Certainly the idea of a 16 team football conference is relevant (or will be) soon after Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC. Should they even bother with quads? Is a 16 team SEC doomed for an inevitable split like the WAC and 16 team Big East eventually did?
Way back in 1996 the WAC made a big splash and expanded to 16 teams, picking off three former SWC to its existing members along with others. They were to my knowledge the first 16 team conference. They lasted three seasons in football before the MWC-WAC split.
In football, teams were split into four four team quads. The teams had played three seasons in the WAC, two in the original divisions and one with the quads shifted before the MWC-WAC split.
Did the quads contribute to the WAC failing? Should they have just stuck to a regular set of two divisions of eight teams each? Back then no one was even considering divisionless alignments. Would the WAC still be together today? It's unlikely that Utah would resist a call from the Pac-12 or BYU, TCU, or Houston from the Big 12 but would the Mountain West exist if the WAC "got it right"? Could the WAC have gotten it right? Were the quads a concept doomed to fail or did the WAC just choose them totally wrong?
Certainly the idea of a 16 team football conference is relevant (or will be) soon after Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC. Should they even bother with quads? Is a 16 team SEC doomed for an inevitable split like the WAC and 16 team Big East eventually did?