Jackson1011
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This is why there is no WVU/UL home and home...the quote is from Andy katz...I guess we can blame it on ESPN
Quote:'Under the Big East's television agreement, CBS has the first choice of a game but then ESPN has the right to pick the same matchup, essentially forcing a home-and-home series. Odjakjian said CBS chose West Virginia-Connecticut and West Virginia-Louisville but ESPN decided against choosing those two games and creating home-and-homes.'
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07-08-2005 08:08 AM |
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CardinalEmpire.com
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So we can guarantee a Louisville-WVU matchup on CBS? I don't know if that's a good thing or not.
I guess at least we don't have to listen to Rick Majerus incorrectly call Tello Palacios "Ellis Myles" or "the big senior" again... :bang:
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07-08-2005 08:48 AM |
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GunnerFan
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Jackson1011 Wrote:...I guess we can blame it on ESPN
Afraid I can't agree with you on that one. This is the fault of having the 16-team marriage.
That clause was in the contracts before all this started, IIRC, as a preventative measure against ESPN missing out on Cuse-UConn and other match-ups when the BE was at 14 for basketball. Overprotective legalese, maybe, but they're trying to protect their interests in what they paid for. Simply, this is something the BE probably knew would come about with the 16 member line up but didn't have the time or desire to sort through the ramifications at that time. Securing the membership of each faction took precedence when the decision had to be made.
It sucks for now, but at least that's the appeal of having such a deep league. Very few real cupcakes regardless of who you play. As a Cuse fan I'll be sucking it up and focusing on winning against whichever team they're playing.
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07-08-2005 09:05 AM |
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omniorange
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Quote:GunnerFan Posted on Jul 8 2005, 09:11 AM
Quote: (Jackson1011 @ Jul 8 2005, 08:14 AM)
...I guess we can blame it on ESPN
Afraid I can't agree with you on that one. This is the fault of having the 16-team marriage.
That clause was in the contracts before all this started, IIRC, as a preventative measure against ESPN missing out on Cuse-UConn and other match-ups when the BE was at 14 for basketball. Overprotective legalese, maybe, but they're trying to protect their interests in what they paid for. Simply, this is something the BE probably knew would come about with the 16 member line up but didn't have the time or desire to sort through the ramifications at that time. Securing the membership of each faction took precedence when the decision had to be made.
It sucks for now, but at least that's the appeal of having such a deep league. Very few real cupcakes regardless of who you play. As a Cuse fan I'll be sucking it up and focusing on winning against whichever team they're playing.
Disagree, that clause was in the contract when it was a 14 team league. The addition of two more teams doesn't have any impact on what is being discussed. (It does have other impacts, but not on this).
What this tells me is that ESPN is not sold on WVU - and rightfully so. Cinderella stories from the tourney rarely go on to have the same kind of impact the next season.
Therefore ESPN is playing it 'safe' and is putting more value on traditional match-ups such as UConn-SU and UL-Cincy and anticipating Nova to be a Top 10 team next year.
Could ESPN be wrong? Sure. The Neers could very well duplicate or even surpass last year's showing and Nova could crumple under the weight of expectations and/or the injury bug that continually seems to plague that team.
But ESPN is playing the odds and as a result, more attractive (if not necessarily, more interesting) 'mirror' games were developed amongst the Top 6 BE teams.
Cheers,
Neil
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07-08-2005 11:29 AM |
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Jackson1011
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Quote:Disagree, that clause was in the contract when it was a 14 team league. The addition of two more teams doesn't have any impact on what is being discussed. (It does have other impacts, but not on this).
What this tells me is that ESPN is not sold on WVU - and rightfully so. Cinderella stories from the tourney rarely go on to have the same kind of impact the next season.
Therefore ESPN is playing it 'safe' and is putting more value on traditional match-ups such as UConn-SU and UL-Cincy and anticipating Nova to be a Top 10 team next year.
Could ESPN be wrong? Sure. The Neers could very well duplicate or even surpass last year's showing and Nova could crumple under the weight of expectations and/or the injury bug that continually seems to plague that team.
But ESPN is playing the odds and as a result, more attractive (if not necessarily, more interesting) 'mirror' games were developed amongst the Top 6 BE teams.
-- Yeah...probably hit the nail on the head with that one Neil....but that really works in our favor though...out of the BE teams that are going to be ranked in the Top 25 preseason...WVU has the easiest conference schedule...
-- As for right now WVU has three games on CBS....WVU@UCLA, Uconn@ WVU and UL @ WVU...I think most Mountaineer fans are thrilled with that
Jackson
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07-08-2005 12:33 PM |
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GunnerFan
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As always, Neil, well thought out post. Let me angle it this way, then: In the absence of the two extra teams does that increase the likelihood of WVU and Louisville playing home-and-home? I think so, but I was wrong once last week, too! :D JK
I can agree that ESPN made the decision to circumvent the match-up presented to them for the reasons you provided, but also feel that the BE's decision to not split, let alone go to 16 members, allowed that action by ESPN to take place.
Very French of them, oui?! C'est la vie.
Cheers back at ya,
Adam
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07-08-2005 01:53 PM |
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omniorange
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Quote:GunnerFan Posted on Jul 8 2005, 01:59 PM
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As always, Neil, well thought out post. Let me angle it this way, then: In the absence of the two extra teams does that increase the likelihood of WVU and Louisville playing home-and-home? I think so, but I was wrong once last week, too! JK
I can agree that ESPN made the decision to circumvent the match-up presented to them for the reasons you provided, but also feel that the BE's decision to not split, let alone go to 16 members, allowed that action by ESPN to take place.
Ah, but if the split had occured, it would all be round-robin and therefore no need to try and decide who would get 'mirror' games and who would not.
This board has discussed ad infinitum the reasons why there was no split. I'm not happy about it from a BE football conference perspective, but on the other hand I recognize that it was the right and fair thing to do.
Cheers,
Neil
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07-08-2005 04:17 PM |
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