(02-14-2019 03:42 PM)orangefan Wrote:  As I think about it, it is pretty obvious that Penn State's biggest mistake was delay. Syracuse began meeting with Providence, Georgetown and St. John's to discuss forming what would become the Big East in 1978. https://cuse.com/sports/2001/8/8/history.aspx Syracuse had no particular rivalry with Providence or Georgetown, only St. John's. BC was not invited until later, once the initial four had decided to move forward.

Paterno didn't make his move until 1981 (or possibly 1980, at the earliest). By then, the Big East was a huge success and Syracuse and BC would have something significant to lose if they left. In 1978 neither had nothing to lose.

For the 10 seasons from 1968 though 1978, Syracuse played the football schools and the early Big East members the following number of times:

Penn State: 20 (home and home every season)
Pittsburgh: 10
West Virginia: 10
Temple: 10
Rutgers: 8 (8 consecutive seasons from 1970-78)
BC: 5 (5 consecutive seasons from 1973-1978)

St. John's: 10
UConn: 7 (6 consecutive seasons from 1968-1974)
Providence: 1
Georgetown: 0
Seton Hall: 0
Villanova: 0

In other words, Syracuse had significant ongoing basketball rivalries with its fellow football schools, not with this group of basketball schools (aside from St. John's).

These schools had made the following number of NCAA and NIT appearances during the same 10 years:

Syracuse: NCAA 6(Final Four 1975), NIT 2

Rutgers: NCAA 2 (Final Four 1976), NIT 5
Temple: NCAA 2, NIT 2
BC: NCAA 1, NIT 2
Pittsburgh: NCAA 1 (Regional Finals 1974), NIT 1
Penn State: 0
West Virginia: 0

St. John's: NCAA 5, NIT 5
Providence: NCAA 5 (Final Four 1973), NIT 3
Villanova: NCAA 5 (Final Four 1971), NIT 1 (1971 results vacated by NCAA)
Georgetown: NCAA 2, NIT 3
UConn: NCAA 2, NIT 2
Seton Hall: NCAA 0, NIT 2

The non-FBS basketball schools that were early members of the Big East collectively had quite a bit stronger history than the FBS football schools, aside from Syracuse. Undoubtedly, this is why the founding group was talking.

It is worth noting that the football schools generally had better basketball facilities.

Syracuse: Manley Field House, capacity 9,536

West Virginia: WVU Coliseum, capacity 14,000
Penn State: Rec Hall, capacity 8,600 (record crowd 1973)
Rutgers: Louis Brown Athletic Center, capacity 8,000
Pittsburgh: Fitzgerald Field House, capacity 5,308 (1978), expanded to 6,360 in 1980.

Providence: Providence Civic Center, capacity 13,000
UConn: Hartford Civic Center, capacity 11,000 (expanded to 15,000 in 1979)
St. John's: Alumni Hall, capacity 6,000

All other schools played in smaller campus gyms with capacities in the 3,000-4,000 range, although all had access to larger NBA or NHL arenas.

The groups were present in the following large TV markets (the market ranking is my recollection of the rankings at the time):
New York (1): Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall
Philadelphia (4): Temple, Villanova
Boston (6): BC
Washington DC (8): Georgetown
Pittsburgh (11): Pittsburgh
Hartford (22): UConn

My point is that in 1978, Syracuse and BC would have had significant interest in an all sports conference as an alternative to the Big East. By the time the option was presented to them, the Big East was an overwhelming success, and they would have made a significant sacrifice by leaving.

Because the Eastern Independents stuck together for football after the decision to decline Penn State's invitation and the Big East's decision to bypass Penn State, they lost nothing on the football side. Even when Penn State did leave, SU, BC and Pittsburgh were extremely fortunate to "replace" Penn State with Miami, maintaining a solid football arrangement until at least 2000, when the Big East's second TV contract for football turned out to be a disappointment.

Given who Syracuse was playing on a regular basis, you wonder why they weren't in the Eastern 8. PSU, Rutgers, Pitt, WVU and Villanova were all members there (although PSU left for a while). If BC and Syracuse had joined, that would have been the all sports conference (espeically if Temple joins in 1982 after Villanova drops football).