(03-05-2010 02:25 PM)wvucrazed Wrote:  Here are the only realistic candidates should expansion be needed within the next 3 years:

1. Memphis
2. East Carolina
3. Temple
4. Central Florida
5. Southern Mississippi
6. Buffalo
...Villanova, as discussed elsewhere, is a non-starter.

Or in other words, "private schools need not apply." Especially if you play football already.

(03-05-2010 01:50 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  ECU has good attendance to their football games, and UCF has some upside but i dont think either one adds anything other than a conference USA feel to the big east.

Next time you are up this way, let me know and I'll host you at an ECU home football game....I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that you find a "feel" to the experience at least as good as most in the Big East - and better than some.

(03-05-2010 04:13 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  Or in other words, "private schools need not apply." Especially if you play football already.

When Georgetown and Villanova decide to start the long, incredibly expensive process to start playing 1-A football, I will be the first one to celebrate. But there is no indication that will ever happen. G'town isn't even able to field a competitive 1-AA program in one of the worst leagues in the sport. Villanova has limited fan support, and no place to play. Are they going to build a new stadium? Who will fund it?

Villanova posters here and elsewhere who are knowledgeable about the program almost uniformly say there is almost zero chance of Nova moving up to 1-A in the foreseeable future. If they are wrong I will gladly add them and G'town to the top of the list.

(03-05-2010 03:18 PM)WVUeer Wrote:  Now to what I think will happen....

MIZZOU, Pitt and Rutgers go Big Ten. The BEast offers Maryland, BC among a few other "high profiles" etc and all decline. BEast sets up meetings with CUSA to talk about possibilities, out of those negotiations CUSA helps push East Carolina and Marshall since both are far out of the footprint of CUSA but fit well in the BEast footprint. Both sides agree so BEast offers both ECU and Marshall to go along with Memphis and UCF. Memphis +1 becomes full members, the other two of the group are "football only". BEast finalizes the 12 team football league by adding two more "Football only" in "Army and Navy".......preserves the 16 team basketball league.

Is that really, truly what you "think will happen"?

And if it ever did happen... does that "new" version of the Big East sound like a BCS-conference to you?

(03-05-2010 04:24 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(03-05-2010 03:18 PM)WVUeer Wrote:  Now to what I think will happen....

MIZZOU, Pitt and Rutgers go Big Ten. The BEast offers Maryland, BC among a few other "high profiles" etc and all decline. BEast sets up meetings with CUSA to talk about possibilities, out of those negotiations CUSA helps push East Carolina and Marshall since both are far out of the footprint of CUSA but fit well in the BEast footprint. Both sides agree so BEast offers both ECU and Marshall to go along with Memphis and UCF. Memphis +1 becomes full members, the other two of the group are "football only". BEast finalizes the 12 team football league by adding two more "Football only" in "Army and Navy".......preserves the 16 team basketball league.

Is that really, truly what you "think will happen"?

And if it ever did happen... does that "new" version of the Big East sound like a BCS-conference to you?

It ain't chopped liver .... not bad really still good balance for football and basketball. If their is no AQ involved so be it... Hope they can preserve AQ if not I actually still like the set up...

(03-05-2010 04:24 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(03-05-2010 03:18 PM)WVUeer Wrote:  Now to what I think will happen....

MIZZOU, Pitt and Rutgers go Big Ten. The BEast offers Maryland, BC among a few other "high profiles" etc and all decline. BEast sets up meetings with CUSA to talk about possibilities, out of those negotiations CUSA helps push East Carolina and Marshall since both are far out of the footprint of CUSA but fit well in the BEast footprint. Both sides agree so BEast offers both ECU and Marshall to go along with Memphis and UCF. Memphis +1 becomes full members, the other two of the group are "football only". BEast finalizes the 12 team football league by adding two more "Football only" in "Army and Navy".......preserves the 16 team basketball league.

Is that really, truly what you "think will happen"?

And if it ever did happen... does that "new" version of the Big East sound like a BCS-conference to you?

Short of successfully holding Notre Dame hostage to play in the Big East, or getting BC back and luring Maryland to come with 'em, there's really no version of a "new" Big East that "sounds" like a BCS conference.

At least with ECU, you get a two-time conference champ (ECU) and a school that enjoyed some limelight years ago (Marshall) -- although I'd take Central Florida over Marshall.

(03-05-2010 04:24 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(03-05-2010 03:18 PM)WVUeer Wrote:  Now to what I think will happen....

MIZZOU, Pitt and Rutgers go Big Ten. The BEast offers Maryland, BC among a few other "high profiles" etc and all decline. BEast sets up meetings with CUSA to talk about possibilities, out of those negotiations CUSA helps push East Carolina and Marshall since both are far out of the footprint of CUSA but fit well in the BEast footprint. Both sides agree so BEast offers both ECU and Marshall to go along with Memphis and UCF. Memphis +1 becomes full members, the other two of the group are "football only". BEast finalizes the 12 team football league by adding two more "Football only" in "Army and Navy".......preserves the 16 team basketball league.

Is that really, truly what you "think will happen"?

And if it ever did happen... does that "new" version of the Big East sound like a BCS-conference to you?

Yes, that is truly what I think will happen and be reality. Will it still be BCS? By default....Yes. Will it stay that way for the future? Only time would tell. If its only one we loose instead of two, Army is out of this picture but the others remain.....Memphis, UCF, Marshall, Navy, East Carolina.

1) TCU
2) ECU
3) 'Nova
4) Navy
5) Houston
6) Memphis
7) UCF
8) USM
9) Temple
10) Tulsa

I really hope that most of the USF fans on this board are correct and the Big East does pass up UCF. The idea of being stuck in a northeastern football league is not good. That simply does not fly here in Florida. Miami tried it and while they dominated the league, their attendance was nothing. Florida teams need to play southern teams, there is nothing wrong with mixing in northern teams ever once in a while, but a full schedule sucks.

1) Temple (great basketball, football revival, whole university improving and growing, actual rival to 5 of the current 8 BE FB schools, in the core footprint of the conference, need I go on)
2) Memphis (great basketball, part 3 of the Memphis-Louisville-Cincy tirumvate, not so far out of the footprint, good recruiting area opened up to BE schools, football could improve in a hurry with BCS label)
3) ECU (great football, great fairly large fanbase, facilities undergoing expansion and renovation, great baseball and non-rev sports, horrid basketball though, not far out of footprint and would likely become the next Va Tech with the BCS label)
4) UCF (good football, one of the largest student populations in the nation, great market, travel partner and rival for USF, new and/or improving facilities, adds a guaranteed Florida trip annually to everyone's schedule)
5) Buffalo (ok basketball, ok football but remains to see if the improving trend continues, within core footprint of the conference)
6) Ohio (good football, one of the all around best programs in the MAC, in footprint of conference gives us more in roads into the Ohio recruiting scene)

Several 1-AA teams could end up warranting a look including Delaware, UMass, Charlotte and Georgia State.

(03-05-2010 05:23 PM)brista21 Wrote:  1) Temple (great basketball, football revival, whole university improving and growing, actual rival to 5 of the current 8 BE FB schools, in the core footprint of the conference, need I go on)
2) Memphis (great basketball, part 3 of the Memphis-Louisville-Cincy tirumvate, not so far out of the footprint, good recruiting area opened up to BE schools, football could improve in a hurry with BCS label)
3) ECU (great football, great fairly large fanbase, facilities undergoing expansion and renovation, great baseball and non-rev sports, horrid basketball though, not far out of footprint and would likely become the next Va Tech with the BCS label)
4) UCF (good football, one of the largest student populations in the nation, great market, travel partner and rival for USF, new and/or improving facilities, adds a guaranteed Florida trip annually to everyone's schedule)
5) Buffalo (ok basketball, ok football but remains to see if the improving trend continues, within core footprint of the conference)
6) Ohio (good football, one of the all around best programs in the MAC, in footprint of conference gives us more in roads into the Ohio recruiting scene)

Several 1-AA teams could end up warranting a look including Delaware, UMass, Charlotte and Georgia State.

Great analysis Brista. Memphis is probably my #1 choice. Ohio University is also an intriguing choice, but I wonder if Ohio could sustain three BCS schools.

(03-05-2010 05:23 PM)brista21 Wrote:  1) Temple (great basketball, football revival, whole university improving and growing, actual rival to 5 of the current 8 BE FB schools, in the core footprint of the conference, need I go on)
2) Memphis (great basketball, part 3 of the Memphis-Louisville-Cincy tirumvate, not so far out of the footprint, good recruiting area opened up to BE schools, football could improve in a hurry with BCS label)
3) ECU (great football, great fairly large fanbase, facilities undergoing expansion and renovation, great baseball and non-rev sports, horrid basketball though, not far out of footprint and would likely become the next Va Tech with the BCS label)
4) UCF (good football, one of the largest student populations in the nation, great market, travel partner and rival for USF, new and/or improving facilities, adds a guaranteed Florida trip annually to everyone's schedule)
5) Buffalo (ok basketball, ok football but remains to see if the improving trend continues, within core footprint of the conference)
6) Ohio (good football, one of the all around best programs in the MAC, in footprint of conference gives us more in roads into the Ohio recruiting scene)

Several 1-AA teams could end up warranting a look including Delaware, UMass, Charlotte and Georgia State.

I agree with 5 of your 6. I'm not sure about Ohio U... Don't know if they would add much. Their stadium is pretty small, and they are in the shadows of Ohio State. If we're going to look at Ohio MAC schools, Akron might be worth a glance. They just build a fantastic new stadium.

(03-05-2010 03:13 PM)wvucrazed Wrote:  

(03-05-2010 03:06 PM)UofL07 Wrote:  2. UMass/UDel - bump up

I'd love to see both of these happen - but thus far I've seen no indication that either is prepared to invest the $$$$ necessary to make it happen. But if it were possible, they would both be ideal.

That's not on us. We (UMass) asked the Big East about membership if we made the necessary investment and were told no, the Big East is only considering programs like Penn State. That's not something I pulled out of my butt, that's what the Big East commissioner (Tranghese) told our AD, who repeated it at our board meeting, where it was recorded in the minutes of the meeting and is now a matter of public record. Neither UMass football nor Delaware football is going turn into Penn State football in the next couple decades, so that's the end of the discussion.

But the point is, this is how your conference's combined leadership thinks. There is absolutely no chance the Big East is going to expand unless there's a gun to its head, end of story. And even then, they'll probably wait until the bullet is halfway down the barrel, just to make sure the shooter isn't bluffing. That being the case, you can throw out any consideration of adding any other BCS members or successful independents (ND, Navy and Army). None of them are going to jump into the path of a bullet. You can also throw out any consideration of FCS move-ups, because once the bullet is on the way it will be too late for a FCS move-up to help you, you'll need an immediate FBS replacement to maintain standing as a FBS conference, which requires a minimum of 8 members.

So the only prospects you need to think about are CUSAs, MACs, Sun Belters, La Tech and TCU. You don't even need to think about Villanova. They're not going to jump into that mess. UConn just about had a heart attack when they made the move only to see the Big East nearly lose its BCS status after the ACC raid. There were a couple months where if they could have hit the "do-over" button and gone back to FCS, they might have considered it. Obviously it worked out for them though, at least until we see what the Big Ten has in store for the Big East.

(03-05-2010 02:31 PM)KnightTower Wrote:  TCU looks good, but could you imagine the travel expenses? Say...Syracuse or Rutgers or UCONN has to go to TCU. That's a 1300/1400/1500 mile, respectively, flight both ways. That ain't cheap. Not to mention everyone else (except L-ville) would also have to travel 800-1000 miles to play them.

And before everyone jumps on the Memphis train, I'd wait a year or two to see which direction their b-ball program goes...

Memphis has the #1 recruiting class coming in and has verbals from several in the next class which includes anothet top ten player. Basketball is not going anywhere at Memphis. This year it lost virtually the entire program and is 22-8. Next season it will be back to it former level of the last few seasons.

(03-05-2010 03:51 PM)goalie eagle Wrote:  

(03-05-2010 03:42 PM)bluesox Wrote:  If its just a one school add, pitt, cuse, or rutgers to the big 10, than i would guess its either cfu or memphis coming on board. Yet, if the big east loses 4 at one time, not sure how that would go down, than who knows what happens...maybe the hybrid could be 8 catholic 4 football with no more big east football and the 4 football school's join either cusa or mwc as football only members.

Not sure about the MWC but C-USA requires all sports to played in the conference. No partial members in major sports.

Kentucky plays mens soccer in cusa since the sec doesnt sponsor that sport

LOL @ USM, Marshall and Nova over Temple.

My list in order is as followed.

Temple
Memphis
ECU
UCF
Middle Tennessee State
FIU


Future teams that is if they happen to move up from FCS to FBS

Villanova
UMass
Delaware


Teams I would not mind seeing added once they have had time to develop in a 10-15 year time frame if not sooner if it appears they are progressing a head of schedule.

Charlotte
Georgia State

I personally think that the football schools need to go no further west than Memphis to make this new conference workable for if it reaches out further west then the expense is going to kill it before it is able to show progress IMO.

I didnt really think about FCS teams when i made my post. Id love it if Delaware and UMASS made the jump and joined the conference. I could see both of them pulling it off similarly to how UCONN did. I'd amend my list to:

1. TCU
2. Memphis
3. Houston
4. Temple
5. UMASS
6. Delaware
7. ECU
8. UCF
9. Buffalo
10. Charlotte

Unfortunately, any add we make will have to be in desperation mode, otherwise i may even move the 3 1aa schools, and even Georgia State up a bit. I could see a good scenario where we only lose 1 team, rutgers for example, split, add Memphis, TCU, and Houston to go to 10 teams, then add UMASS and Delaware as everything but FB members, so that theyll know their financial situation will be stable to start exploring the move to 1a. In 4 or 5 years we are a 12 team league with UMASS and Delaware. This would be contingent on them expanding their facilities, i think 40k should be an absolute minimum for the big east.

The BE is doomed if it has to rely on the future prospects of FCS schools.

The only way the BE could consider a fledgling program (UMass, Delaware G-town etc) is if ND, PSU or another college football behemoth joined...Ain't gonna happ'n!!!!

My current non-AQ BE expansion list

To stabilize football lost:
1. TCU
2. Navy
3.UCF
4. Houston

To have a football program with potential that also has very good to great basketball:
1. Villanova
2. Memphis
3. Temple
4. Richmond