Even in 1-AA football, there is conference reshuffling.

<a href='http://www.dnronline.com/sports-story3.asp?session=6oAFZDD7aeVCyPCIVvPWxFydye' target='_blank'>Link</a>

While we are on the subject of the A10...it will be intersting to see what the future of that league is....when the post 2010 Catholic BE forms...how many schools will it take? I think we can all agree that Xavier probably would get in...but I gurantee that Dayton, St Joes, La Salle, Fordham, Duquesne and St Louis etc are going to be clamoring to be in the Catholic league


Jackson

I wonder what Notre Dame is thinking?

If we assume that ND stays with the Catholic, non-football schools, why would they have to add additional members? They're already at 8. Unlike football conferences, there's no compeling reason to go much more than 8. You don't need to go to 9 for the sake of "even conference games" and 8 allows all members to go to the conference tourney.

This puts the heat on schools like Villanova and UMass and maybe others to re-consider moving up to Division I-A and joining the Big East. I'm especially going to keep a close eye on UMass.

I agree Nova and UMass should move up.

Cat's_Claw Wrote:This puts the heat on schools like Villanova and UMass and maybe others to re-consider moving up to Division I-A and joining the Big East. I'm especially going to keep a close eye on UMass.

I've heard rumblings in the past that UMass is strapped for cash and moving to 1-A is not even a remote option. Perhaps someone with knowledge of their program could chime in.

Quote:I've heard rumblings in the past that UMass is strapped for cash and moving to 1-A is not even a remote option. Perhaps someone with knowledge of their program could chime in

Here you go L-Yes....<a href='http://www.umass.edu/umhome/athletics/football/report.pdf' target='_blank'>Umass football</a>.....This was posted on another board awhile ago...if memory serves the study found that Umass couldn't make the jump without support from the state government or without guranteed membership in a BCS league like Uconn got


-- If Umass makes the jump up there in..period...ECU, MEmphis and UCF will become afterthoughts very quickly



Jackson

i think it's a mistake for the A-10 to let them go without at least making an attempt to keep it together.

It's their prominent 1-AA football conference that helps them maintain the illusion that their BB league is above mid-major status.

Let's face it - stack the MVC or MAC against the A-10 year in and year out, and they would be very close. But the A-10 has a percepton higher than those other 2, and i think a big reason for that is the history, and the successful football league.

Jackson1011 Wrote:While we are on the subject of the A10...it will be intersting to see what the future of that league is....when the post 2010 Catholic BE forms...how many schools will it take? I think we can all agree that Xavier probably would get in...but I gurantee that Dayton, St Joes, La Salle, Fordham, Duquesne and St Louis etc are going to be clamoring to be in the Catholic league

Dayton is a given, or there is no Xavier to that league. I would imagine St. Joe's would be a 3rd team that got in. St. Louis has a chance, but they don't have a good travel partner with how far west they are, so I wonder how high on the radar they would be. It all depends on how big they want to make the league on how many of those get in.

mlbUC Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:While we are on the subject of the A10...it will be intersting to see what the future of that league is....when the post 2010 Catholic BE forms...how many schools will it take? I think we can all agree that Xavier probably would get in...but I gurantee that Dayton, St Joes, La Salle, Fordham, Duquesne and St Louis etc are going to be clamoring to be in the Catholic league

Dayton is a given, or there is no Xavier to that league. I would imagine St. Joe's would be a 3rd team that got in. St. Louis has a chance, but they don't have a good travel partner with how far west they are, so I wonder how high on the radar they would be. It all depends on how big they want to make the league on how many of those get in.

Dayton left X once, they would do it again. X is not a shoe-in. Its a very small school. Once season removed from the elite 8 and it no longer is selling out their 10,000 seat arena. I would think that their future depends directly on its future success. As a side note, unlike Dayton, X does not award doctorates. Academics is going to play a major part in such a conference. All of the schools are trying to upgrade their academic images. A few other points:

First, there is no guarantee the school will be Catholic. Adding a non-Catholic school removes the Catholic designation from the conference which may be viewed as a positive to some.

Second, holding at 8 is possible, but it would involve a lot of reshuffling of sports at the member schools. The right fit at 9 makes the process easier.

Third, if you go to 12, you have to consider schools like Creighton and SLU. At 9, I don't think those schools are a consideration.

Fourth, don't forget Holy Cross. It has a long history of hoops success and it is operated by the same order of priests as some of the BE schools.

Fifth, 12 allows you to break into two divisions, one based in the midwest and one based in the east. This, in turn, amy decrease travel costs for the member schools. However, would adding 4 schools make financial sense? That is a big unknown.

There are as many questions regarding expansion of the hoops schools are there are for the football ones. The questions may be different, but there are some similarities.

Another reason the Catholic schools may expand beyond 8 or 9 (the ideal basketball conference numbers) is to meet the minimum requirements for olympic sports. Going to 12 or higher could compensate for the fact that some schools play/don't play baseball/hockey/track/whatever.

I, like everybody else on this board, care more about the football schools and their future expansion, but I think it's cool that there is gonna be a major major basketball only league in college hoops. The A-10 is a good conference, but it's still viewed as being below the Big Easts, ACCs, Big 12s, etc. of the world. That won't be the case with the 'Catholic Conference.'

nflsucks Wrote:Another reason the Catholic schools may expand beyond 8 or 9 (the ideal basketball conference numbers) is to meet the minimum requirements for olympic sports. Going to 12 or higher could compensate for the fact that some schools play/don't play baseball/hockey/track/whatever.

I, like everybody else on this board, care more about the football schools and their future expansion, but I think it's cool that there is gonna be a major major basketball only league in college hoops. The A-10 is a good conference, but it's still viewed as being below the Big Easts, ACCs, Big 12s, etc. of the world. That won't be the case with the 'Catholic Conference.'

Actually, going to 9 pretty much gets you there in terms of Olympic sports. There will have to be a program added here and there, but you are close. If a couple schools picked up womens golf, rowing and/or tennis along with a couple that add men's tennis, and you are over the hump. Definitely no need to go beyond 12.

PS:

While I like your optimism, any conference without football will be looked at as second tier. It may be the best of the second tier conferences, but it still won't be considered one of the elite.

Quote:Dayton left X once, they would do it again. X is not a shoe-in. Its a very small school. Once season removed from the elite 8 and it no longer is selling out their 10,000 seat arena. I would think that their future depends directly on its future success. As a side note, unlike Dayton, X does not award doctorates. Academics is going to play a major part in such a conference. All of the schools are trying to upgrade their academic images. A few other points:

First, there is no guarantee the school will be Catholic. Adding a non-Catholic school removes the Catholic designation from the conference which may be viewed as a positive to some.

Second, holding at 8 is possible, but it would involve a lot of reshuffling of sports at the member schools. The right fit at 9 makes the process easier.

Third, if you go to 12, you have to consider schools like Creighton and SLU. At 9, I don't think those schools are a consideration.

Fourth, don't forget Holy Cross. It has a long history of hoops success and it is operated by the same order of priests as some of the BE schools.

Fifth, 12 allows you to break into two divisions, one based in the midwest and one based in the east. This, in turn, amy decrease travel costs for the member schools. However, would adding 4 schools make financial sense? That is a big unknown.

There are as many questions regarding expansion of the hoops schools are there are for the football ones. The questions may be different, but there are some

-- Nice post MU 88...I think you spelled things out very well.....it seems there is a lot of unknowns about how this is going to play out on the Catholic side just like there are on the football side

-- Also interesting that you mentioned Holy Cross....as legend has it.. school that turned down membership in the orginial BE..yikes....talk about mistakes :bang:


Jackson

Trust me Xavier is a lock for the Catholic conference. In fact, I would go as far as the say that they would be the #1 pick up for the new conference.

Cat's_Claw Wrote:Trust me Xavier is a lock for the Catholic conference.&nbsp; In fact, I would go as far as the say that they would be the #1 pick up for the new conference.

Trust me, they are not. What ND wants.....

What Catholic Confrence? Link?

MU88 Wrote:Dayton left X once, they would do it again. X is not a shoe-in.&nbsp; Its a very small school.&nbsp; Once season removed from the elite 8 and it no longer is selling out their 10,000 seat arena.&nbsp; I would think that their future depends directly on its future success.&nbsp; As a side note, unlike Dayton, X does not award doctorates.&nbsp; Academics is going to play a major part in such a conference.&nbsp; All of the schools are trying to upgrade their academic images.&nbsp; A few other points:

First, there is no guarantee the school will be Catholic.&nbsp; Adding a non-Catholic school removes the Catholic designation from the conference which may be viewed as a positive to some.

Trust me, Dayton won't do it again. They ended up having to beg for help from Xavier to get into the A-10 after the Great Midwest died. From what I have heard UD and XU are pretty much a package deal for moving to any new conferences (and the fact they are only 50 miles apart helps in reguard to other sports since they are great travel partners).

I do think that a non-Catholic school would be a smart move.

Coog: the Catholic Conference would be the 7-8 BB onlies who would break away from the Football schools.