I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

(03-17-2013 02:49 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

That's what I'm saying. A 10-team round-robin schedule for basketball would work so much better. You would get home & homes with Memphis, Cincy, UConn, Temple and Louisville. That's big for TV ratings and doesn't water down the league just to fill a spot. I still say Navy backs out. What Aresco should do is wait to see if Navy comes or not and then make a move. No reason to add TU or anyone else for all sports or just for hybrid at this point.

(03-17-2013 02:49 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

I'd agree with that in general. It's just that an 11-team league (which is what the new Big East is facing) is inherently awkward. The only reason the Big Ten stayed at 11 for so long is that they legitimately thought Notre Dame was going to join on 2 separate occasions (1999 and 2003), so that 12th spot was kept open for them. Otherwise, the championship game revenue is generally enough to cover the cost of expanding by 1 to get to 12. Out of the available choices, I'd say Tulsa is the best with UMass at #2.

(03-17-2013 02:49 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

Thought otherwise = Conference Championship Game

(03-17-2013 02:55 PM)GTG Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:49 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

That's what I'm saying. A 10-team round-robin schedule for basketball would work so much better. You would get home & homes with Memphis, Cincy, UConn, Temple and Louisville. That's big for TV ratings and doesn't water down the league just to fill a spot. I still say Navy backs out. What Aresco should do is wait to see if Navy comes or not and then make a move. No reason to add TU or anyone else for all sports or just for hybrid at this point.

Well that's why I don't see any announcements anytime soon. Navy if they are coming will be for 2015 no need to announce Tulsa or anyone else until 2014

TV wants 12 for inventory, so we get a 12th. It needs to be a good football school, and I can only think of two worth the trouble. This conference is for short-term growth, not long-term, get what's best today, not 10 years from now.

If USM could get Tyndall locked up at a legit salary I'd want them over Tulsa for basketball reasons alone.

(03-17-2013 02:58 PM)ECUPirated Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:49 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

Thought otherwise = Conference Championship Game

Yes, which adds probably a quarter to our TV "deal".

GTG, Tulsa basketball attendance hit a 33 yr low last season before we finally fired Wojcik. It improved slightly this year, but still was half of what it was & half of what it will be in a few years from now. Tulsa basketball will be back soon & with that , the fans will come. No one thinks Memphis football will always be as bad as it's been recently. Tulsa basketball will soon return to it's historically competitive levels & the fans will return. Joining the new conference will help Danny Manning speed up this process.

I just read the thread title and I agree!!

This is not unique to Tulsa. Most of our schools suffer a bit with 'big brothers' lurking about. Houston and SMU deal with the shadow of UT and A&M... USF and UCF deal with UF and FSU... ditto Cinci to some degree lives with OSU nearby... and the list goes on.

The fact that Tulsa has OU and OSU nearby is understandable, and not an exclusion criteria.

I have a feeling any additions are on hold until the TV deal is nailed down. Once the revenue picture is clear, then I would suspect that we would look to Navy to give us a clear go/no-go signal. If Navy comes, then Tulsa gets added. If not, then I think we are better off staying at 10 in football and adding two or three olympic sports schools (maybe UMass, VCU, and Wichita). Adding top performing Olympic sports schools (that challenge for tournament bids yearly) decreases the pie less and increases the footprint and national profile in a way that adding average football wont. Gripe about the hybrid all you wish, but its use in a very limited way can be an effective way of making the Big East a significant player in March and increase our ratings in the cities where our olympic-only members are located during football season.

I definitely agree with those who think adding a couple of BB schools to make us more a force in BB is a wise move, not a problem. Sure, a 50-50 split is a headache... but adding a couple of strong schools is only a winner.

(03-17-2013 03:26 PM)Bull Wrote:  This is not unique to Tulsa. Most of our schools suffer a bit with 'big brothers' lurking about. Houston and SMU deal with the shadow of UT and A&M... USF and UCF deal with UF and FSU... ditto Cinci to some degree lives with OSU nearby... and the list goes on.

The fact that Tulsa has OU and OSU nearby is understandable, and not an exclusion criteria.

Edit - I had uncharacteristically rambled on.

Suffice to say, UConn is an exception. UConn is not under the shadow of any college program. But living two hours from the Giants & Patriots is not easy.

There's no need to add anyone unless and until Navy joins. If they bail I'd much rather stay at 10.

(03-17-2013 03:05 PM)Psicosis Wrote:  If USM could get Tyndall locked up at a legit salary I'd want them over Tulsa for basketball reasons alone.

If the new conference has the same agenda on the academic side as the BE did; then USM and Marshall will not be asked to join.

(03-17-2013 03:26 PM)Bull Wrote:  This is not unique to Tulsa. Most of our schools suffer a bit with 'big brothers' lurking about. Houston and SMU deal with the shadow of UT and A&M... USF and UCF deal with UF and FSU... ditto Cinci to some degree lives with OSU nearby... and the list goes on.

The fact that Tulsa has OU and OSU nearby is understandable, and not an exclusion criteria.

Except Tulsa is really small. At least most of the other schools have lots of alums/fans.

(03-17-2013 02:49 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 02:41 PM)GTG Wrote:  I watched the CUSA tournament and noticed at how little support Tulsa had for their big semi final game against nationally ranked Memphis. The do not support the local school in the heart of Big 12 country. The Tulsa support goes to Oklahoma and OSU. Not TU. Their fans do not travel well at all either for football or basketball. The Tulsa market is outside of the top 50 and therefor would not add anything worthy to the new America12 or whatever it will be called conference.

To be truthful, there's really not a good option for the 12th member, which is why we should have stopped at 10. But Tulsa is not a good option at all.

Never understood 12-team-leagues, just for the sake of 12-team-leagues, without any thought otherwise.

Only good for a football championship game.

I'm totally in favor of Tulsa...VERY good football program...tradition rich basketball...good market...they are the best choice out there.