decided to leave for another conference? Let's face it. Even though USA has been pretty good the past few years, the only program that has held the league up since we've been in it is Western. And don't you think if they receive the opportunity to move to a better league that they'll jump at it. Scary thought. But then we'll kind of be in a TAAC type conference where maybe we would have a better chance of winning than we do now. Western is going to be a force in the league every year, even if they don't win it. They'll always have a say in who does.

We would have a hard time making the case that we aren't a TAAC type conference now.

(12-30-2008 12:34 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  We would have a hard time making the case that we aren't a TAAC type conference now.

I'm glad we are in the Sun Belt, and I wish it were a better league, but we saw some pretty exciting basketball in the old TAAC. And we saw some very good players in that league who could have been stars in the Sun Belt as well.

But, I guess if it were a better league, we'd be even further down the food chain than we are in the Belt.

WKU was at the alter and ready to take the plunge with the MAC a few years ago. The MAC presidents rejected WKU even though it would have evened out the divisions in the MAC. I think a lot of WKU fans bought into the MAC hype at the time, but I'm not sure that the MAC would have much support now. Its not really an issue, I think that ship has sailed. The only other possibly realistic option is CUSA and they would have to lose a member before they would add anybody else.

I really think the best possible scenario is a USA-Sunbelt swap up that creates two or three tighter conferences that cut down on travel costs and create better geographic rivalries. Football could benefit if fanbases can travel to one another's stadiums on a tank of gas. I think some of the USA teams would balk at that though. Such a move would have to be initiated by the fringe teams like ECU that don't really want to be in a conference with Texas teams.

But to the original point, I don't think that WKU has been consistent enough to say that the Sunbelt could not do without us.

(12-30-2008 08:16 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  WKU was at the alter and ready to take the plunge with the MAC a few years ago. The MAC presidents rejected WKU even though it would have evened out the divisions in the MAC. I think a lot of WKU fans bought into the MAC hype at the time, but I'm not sure that the MAC would have much support now. Its not really an issue, I think that ship has sailed. The only other possibly realistic option is CUSA and they would have to lose a member before they would add anybody else.

I really think the best possible scenario is a USA-Sunbelt swap up that creates two or three tighter conferences that cut down on travel costs and create better geographic rivalries. Football could benefit if fanbases can travel to one another's stadiums on a tank of gas. I think some of the USA teams would balk at that though. Such a move would have to be initiated by the fringe teams like ECU that don't really want to be in a conference with Texas teams.

But to the original point, I don't think that WKU has been consistent enough to say that the Sunbelt could not do without us.

The league might survive, but it would be seriously weakened from a national prestige perspective.