(02-28-2020 01:08 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(02-28-2020 12:03 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  Maybe instead of SLU, the Big East can target Washington Univ, for instance.

Thing is, whether there's a move in the next few years or not, it won't be about whether the Big East "targeted" a school.

It will be about one of the dozens of schools that would love to be in the Big East bringing themselves up to the level that when school talks to the Big East and the Big East talks to their Media Partner, things work out.

The Big East had no pressing need to expand from 10 ... they took UConn because of UConn's history and their history with UConn for really the same reasons in media value terms ... UConn's BBall brand value is leveraged inside the Big East by it's history with other Big East schools.

But everything else equal, 11 is better than 12, 12 is better than 13, and 13 is better than 14. The Big East is not "looking to expand" ... they are on the lookout for interest from schools that bring enough to justify the generic disadvantages of expansion.

So they have no need to target anybody. They can sit back and when it's time to switch from, "maybe someday, we'll see" to "I think it's time we sat down and talked", that'll be the move.

Some good points from BruceMcF, particularly with the numbers.

If we see each of the comprehensive Power 5 leagues move to 15 to 16 programs, the Big East (if anything to improve its chances of landing a corresponding number of teams in the NCAA Tourney in relation to the P5) would likely go to 12, 13 or 14. It's sheer numbers.

An 11-team Big East in, say, 2026, does not want to have invited to the Big Dance six to eight teams if the other power leagues (at this point with 15 or more members) have invited, for example, nine to 11 teams.

And that has been my main argument for why the BE should be considering expansion (which I surely feel it is — even if preliminarily so). We know the likely candidates for future BE inclusion and they are all worthy.