"We are prepared to do whatever is necessary to secure and advance Villanova and our brand. The Big East membership has expressed openness to our insistence to work to further advance the core asset of the Big East Conference--its basketball programs. With Villanova taking a leadership role, the basketball schools are exploring every avenue to do just that."

http://www.villanova.com/genrel/112912aab.html

Wow - I read that as we are fed up with football members and will lobby to remove them while we have majority vote before CUSA teams get here. I also read this as - hey we are still bitter about Temple and Temple will never get the chance to play us in bball and will kick their football team back out.

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(11-30-2012 12:29 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  "We are prepared to do whatever is necessary to secure and advance Villanova and our brand. The Big East membership has expressed openness to our insistence to work to further advance the core asset of the Big East Conference--its basketball programs. With Villanova taking a leadership role, the basketball schools are exploring every avenue to do just that."

http://www.villanova.com/genrel/112912aab.html

Wow - I read that as we are fed up with football members and will lobby to remove them while we have majority vote before CUSA teams get here. I also read this as - hey we are still bitter about Temple and Temple will never get the chance to play us in bball and will kick their football team back out.

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I wonder if this response due to the thread I started about Big East needing to dissolve and reconstitute itself as the Big East of old.

Of course, the rooster thinks the sun rises because of his crowing...

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=603643

Would love to see all the basketball only schools break off from the Big East (or boot everyone else). What they should do is rescind the rule that conferences need to have twelve teams to have a championship. Then conferences can still make their money and stop the insanity of these super conferences which robs everyone of their identity.

(11-30-2012 01:10 PM)ouvan59 Wrote:  Would love to see all the basketball only schools break off from the Big East (or boot everyone else). What they should do is rescind the rule that conferences need to have twelve teams to have a championship. Then conferences can still make their money and stop the insanity of these super conferences which robs everyone of their identity.

Reading that letter I assume everything is 'on the table'.

Needless to say, if the BE attempt to vote and dissolve ala the USSR in 1991 that is a huge deal, it is a very complicated legal deal, and would involve distributing conference assets, brand rights, television rights, etc. and then trying to reorganize a new conference.

Lawyers will have a field day!!

I can see the lawsuits "Old" Big East vs. "New" Big East as members of the existing Big East not invited to join the "New" Big East sue the old Big East members.

There would be more action in court than on the playing field.

(11-30-2012 01:20 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 01:10 PM)ouvan59 Wrote:  Would love to see all the basketball only schools break off from the Big East (or boot everyone else). What they should do is rescind the rule that conferences need to have twelve teams to have a championship. Then conferences can still make their money and stop the insanity of these super conferences which robs everyone of their identity.

Reading that letter I assume everything is 'on the table'.

Needless to say, if the BE attempt to vote and dissolve ala the USSR in 1991 that is a huge deal, it is a very complicated legal deal, and would involve distributing conference assets, brand rights, television rights, etc. and then trying to reorganize a new conference.

Lawyers will have a field day!!

I can see the lawsuits "Old" Big East vs. "New" Big East as members of the existing Big East not invited to join the "New" Big East sue the old Big East members.

There would be more action in court than on the playing field.

MWC did it.

Set up an all catholic league, including Georgetown (catholic institution in name only) and move on. It would be a great league without the football members.

The simpler course of action would be for the Catholic schools to find a way to kick out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7 (Cincy, USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Houston). The BE-5 (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown) and the Midwest-2 (Marquette, DePaul) could then use the Big East name to assemble the top non-football league in the country.

EAST
Providence \ Northeastern
St. John's \ Seton Hall
Villanova \ Georgetown

WEST
Xavier \ Dayton
Butler \ St. Louis
DePaul \ Marquette

I tossed in Northeastern because some Presidents might think it's important to have a second New England school as a travel partner for Providence, as well as access to Boston, and markets are ruling the day everywhere else anyway. Stopping at 12 should be good enough to ensure a strong product with a good television contract. No need to extend all across the nation.

(11-30-2012 02:45 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  The simpler course of action would be for the Catholic schools to find a way to kick out UConn, Temple, and the CUSA-7 (Cincy, USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Houston). The BE-5 (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown) and the Midwest-2 (Marquette, DePaul) could then use the Big East name to assemble the top non-football league in the country.

EAST
Providence \ Northeastern
St. John's \ Seton Hall
Villanova \ Georgetown

WEST
Xavier \ Dayton
Butler \ St. Louis
DePaul \ Marquette

I tossed in Northeastern because some Presidents might think it's important to have a second New England school as a travel partner for Providence, as well as access to Boston, and markets are ruling the day everywhere else anyway. Stopping at 12 should be good enough to ensure a strong product with a good television contract. No need to extend all across the nation.

#12, Northeastern, is a bit of a stretch but this is the time in collegiate sports history when 'stretch' isn't a dirty word.

How about 'facilitative choice'...

That said, if the BE folks are reading your post, they have their lawyers drawing up papers to disband and then rebrand as the 'new' Big East minus all of the FB schools!

You'd have to include the Univeristy of Detroit in a Catholic league....it's a pretty bigmedia market to ignore.

Plucking Creighton from the Valley would be huge, and might not be difficult since they are Jesuit and the only Catholic MVC school. Yeah it's Omaha but it's not far from The Lou and Chicago/Milwaukee by air. 18K seat arena that they fill annually.

(11-30-2012 04:01 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  Plucking Creighton from the Valley would be huge, and might not be difficult since they are Jesuit and the only Catholic MVC school. Yeah it's Omaha but it's not far from The Lou and Chicago/Milwaukee by air. 18K seat arena that they fill annually.

Good point about Creighton.

BTW, remember Holy Cross (and Bob Cousy). Well before my time.

Maybe ND would like to be in the "New" Big East hoops conference and a true independent in FB?

Holy Cross had a chance to be in on the Big East ground floor and turned it down. Perhaps they've changed their minds.

The problem with Detroit and Creighton is that 12 is the limit. Somebody has to get left out. Too bad.

As for Holy Cross, it could be them or BU or Hartford, instead of Northeastern. I just typed in a name.

Jealous fans from schools like Richmond also keep attacking me for typing Holy Cross instead of them.

(11-30-2012 01:27 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 01:20 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 01:10 PM)ouvan59 Wrote:  Would love to see all the basketball only schools break off from the Big East (or boot everyone else). What they should do is rescind the rule that conferences need to have twelve teams to have a championship. Then conferences can still make their money and stop the insanity of these super conferences which robs everyone of their identity.

Reading that letter I assume everything is 'on the table'.

Needless to say, if the BE attempt to vote and dissolve ala the USSR in 1991 that is a huge deal, it is a very complicated legal deal, and would involve distributing conference assets, brand rights, television rights, etc. and then trying to reorganize a new conference.

Lawyers will have a field day!!

I can see the lawsuits "Old" Big East vs. "New" Big East as members of the existing Big East not invited to join the "New" Big East sue the old Big East members.

There would be more action in court than on the playing field.

MWC did it.

Yes, the MWC did. But there was a price to pay. The WAC got to keep the automatic NCAA bid. The WAC also got to keep the name and whatever rights fees, marketing fees, etc. there were at that time. The MWC had to put in a certain number ( 3 or 5?) of years as a conference before they got the NCAA automatic bid. A new catholic league would have to jump through the same hoops.

I think some fans here are a little bitter about Temple. Why would Villanova be bitter about them? Why would they ever refuse Temple in basketball? The league is falling apart and Temple is easily one of the best basketball programs in the conference that also plays football. The only issue the Big East ever had with Temple was in football... Not in basketball.
The Big East basketball members have a lot to be bitter over... Temple is not one of those things.

(11-30-2012 08:20 PM)The Optimist Wrote:  I think some fans here are a little bitter about Temple. Why would Villanova be bitter about them? Why would they ever refuse Temple in basketball? The league is falling apart and Temple is easily one of the best basketball programs in the conference that also plays football. The only issue the Big East ever had with Temple was in football... Not in basketball.
The Big East basketball members have a lot to be bitter over... Temple is not one of those things.

Go ask the Temple board what they think of Villanova. They pretty blatantly tried to keep them out of the BE to be the only power conf BB program in Philly. Nova even received some sort of financial compensation for agreeing to let Temple into the BE.

I'm not arguing they like each other. I'm not even arguing Villanova was happy to let them in when they did. But now? Temple is the last team basketball schools in the Big East are worried about.

They just let in Tulane.

(11-30-2012 07:35 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  The problem with Detroit and Creighton is that 12 is the limit. Somebody has to get left out. Too bad.

As for Holy Cross, it could be them or BU or Hartford, instead of Northeastern. I just typed in a name.

Jealous fans from schools like Richmond also keep attacking me for typing Holy Cross instead of them.

It's true, though. Richmond and Creighton would be way ahead. There's just no Boston-area private outside BC that could stack up with the BE/A10/MVC schools' facilities and recent histories.

Holy Cross is in the same boat as a school like Niagara, another once big-time Eastern program passed over for the BE and lapped many times by others. And, a Worcester team isn't gonna bring Beantown. Patriot teams, and a bad AE team in Hartford are generally low-majors, not close to competing with even A-10 programs.

Northeastern is 'Hockey comes 1st' and hasn't made the tourney in 21 seasons. They can't even get in the A-10, a dream they share with Hofstra that would only come true for either if the A-10 totally implodes.

Fordham and Saint Joe's would have a better shot at a CYO league, if not for the Johnnies and 'nova defending their turf. Duquesne would likely be looked at, but passed as its program is more like a St Bonaventure and LaSalle, then an X and Dayton.

Big East has to get back to basics and build back up as premier hoops conference.
St Louis, Creighton, Butler and Xavier with Depaul and Marquette for the west division. Seton Hall, Providence, Villanova, Georgetown, St John's and UConn hoops in the East. UConn puts football with the MAC in a bold move.

Xavier wants Dayton to stay with them, so that squeezes out Creighton, as there simply isn't room. No way will UConn put football in the MAC, as their sights are set on the ACC, but UMass might be open to playing basketball with the Catholic schools. I agree that none of the New England privates but Providence can move the needle in hoops anymore, but market madness has taken over expansion now, and it is slightly possible that the schools might gamble on Holy Cross or Northeastern simply to pull the slightest sliver of interest from Boston. Due to this factor I won't say they're out of contention.