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(07-30-2019 07:58 AM)Def Berkkat Wrote:  

(07-29-2019 03:47 PM)converrl Wrote:  

(07-29-2019 01:32 PM)Def Berkkat Wrote:  

(07-29-2019 01:18 PM)converrl Wrote:  

(07-29-2019 12:16 PM)OKIcat Wrote:  Let your imagination run wild on what other school's recruiters must have been telling 17 year old prospects about where UCONN football was headed. With UCONN's decision, football's prospects just got considerably worse, not better.

I'm convinced UCONN covertly conducted extensive due diligence to determine it had no realistic pathway to the P5. They cut their losses and have pretty much decided to just be an east coast basketball school--football will exit stage left in the next couple years I believe. Unfortunately, I think its best days are in the rearview mirror in basketball too.

I don't think so...MBB/WBB are now the revenue sports for their AD. They get to cut a considerable number of scholarships on the women's side and reset their finances. Any coach/recruit now knows that BB is KING at UConn...no diverging of the AD budget to FB. All recruiting all the time. And a solid BB conference to boot.

You mean, getting in the same conference a Villanova.

I think the AAC is on it's way up in BB.

I also think the BE is trending downward. If Villanova's not any good, what else is left?

Creighton and Butler and spiraling and not coming back. Zavier looked a step below where they were with Putin in charge.

Georgetown is a big name, but that's all. Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall and St John's are all never-was has-beens.

UConn is going the way of Army football. They had a nice run. They're quickly becoming a nobody.

I disagree with your assessment of BE MBB. Solid programs include XU, GTown, Butler, Creighton, Nova...all fairly solid with recent success. The conference will become more attractive to top recruits because they will play top-notch competition and the programs won't have to split their budgets with FB.

I find it interesting that several schools with minimal or no FB have made it to the championship over the past decade--especially when you consider that they make up a minority of DI programs. I think it speaks to a trend--if you put the bulk of your resources in one revenue sport, that sport will have a greater chance of success.

There's the sticking point with me.

Yes, they've all had recent success. But where are they headed?

Brad Stevens doesn't coach Butler anymore. If Miller gets IU turned around... bye bye Butler.

Creighton hasn't been much since the coach's kid left.

Villanova has been legit, but they seem to go up and down. If Wright leaves, forget them.

Zavier hopefully has ended their run of lucky coaching hires.

I personally would rather hang around with Houston, Memphis and Wichita St than those guys.

If Temple, SMU and UCF get their acts together, I just don't see how the BE is better than the AAC.

Disagree if you want. I think I'm right.

I think last year's Big East is more in line with where the Big East will be going forward, however, Villanova under Jay Wright is likely to still be a force.

The new Big East was a perfect storm of things going right for a few years. They have a power in Villanova to really boost the league. Whatever you think of Xavier, Mack was great there and they were the best they've ever been in 2 of his last 3 years. They had a plethora of 50-100 kenpom type teams so that every game could be a quality win. While the committee was still focused on the RPI they understood how to game the RPI rankings. Their conference consistently had teams with RPI's far above their predictive metrics.

The Big East is a really solid basketball league. I see it as a 3-7 type conference every single season. There's no reason the AAC can't get to that level as well. The biggest issues for the AAC are having a program or 2 step up to being a top 10-15 type program AND getting their bottom teams into the top 100 type range. They've made progress on both fronts in recent years, but need to avoid those Tulane/ECU type seasons.