BAD TIME TO BE BACK IN BIG EAST
By John Smallwood, Dec. 15, 2012, Philly.com

I kind of feel bad for Temple University, but I don't feel like it is getting screwed.

That Temple's long desired arrival into the Big East Conference is now turning into a doomsday nightmare is a self-inflicted wound that should have been anticipated.

The higher ups at Temple were so married to the idea of being part of "big time" college football that they jumped into a shot gun wedding with a reluctant suitor that had already dumped them once and this time looked down upon them even as they were walking down the aisle.

I mean, shouldn't Temple have been a little suspect about its stature with Big East football when the league invited Boise State, San Diego State, Central Florida, Houston, Southern Methodist, Navy, and Memphis before them?

But Temple was so eager to play football with the big dogs, it jumped in March when invited.

Now, Temple is finding out there is a big difference between "big time" and "BIG TIME" college football.

It's finding out that the grass isn't always greener on the football field--especially if you are a program north of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi.

The Big East is to the other BCS conferences what Temple football was to the Big East.

It's something you take as a last resort, but you'd just soon do without.

Cincinnati and Connecticut are licking their wounds and trying to figure out who they can get to absorb them in the next round of expansion.

The problem is that for all of its desires to be more, Temple is still a basketball centric school swimming in an ocean of football great white sharks. Now, without the protection of Big East basketball previously provided, it's likely going to be part of the chum once the final feeding frenzy begins.

The higher-ups at Temple should have had more foresight.

Temple had to have a sense that the Big East basketball schools would eventually make a move to protect themselves from being overrun by football.

Temple is in a Big East Conference that is now "Big" in football in name only and will be stripped of the thing that gave it birth and significance -- "BIG TIME" college basketball.

Ouch.

off topic

You have to think they have at least had a few conversations with the CYO-7 about hanging with them in hoops while exploring 'other options' in football.

Clearly working with ESPN, CBS, McMurphy, Dodd, Blaudschun and Bianchi to undermine the Big East.

TallGrass,

I think Tulsa is going to be the next BE candidate if SDSU stays in the MWC... Along with USM and ODU (so much potential in the Eastern Time Zone).

I also think most are realistic in seeing that the nBE is for the most part CUSA. I don't see a repetitive message doing any good. Those few who are completely delusional and blinded by what they want to see, will not be convinced otherwise anyway......

No need to keep kicking these guys while they are down, when some of our teams will likely end up joining them.

All of this, comes from the number one anti-BE person.... ME.

(01-05-2013 05:31 PM)Big Dub Wrote:  Clearly working with ESPN, CBS, McMurphy, Dodd, Blaudschun and Bianchi to undermine the Big East.

Clearly...

Typical spin from a Negadelphia sports writer. They tend to write these fatalistic articles for shock value (to sell papers) or on a slow news day. The guy who wrote it does offer good sports opinions, but on this he's just creating some smoke. Temple joining the Big East at the time they did was the right thing to do. Their Basketball program will be fine regardless.

The article is almost a month old.

(01-05-2013 05:41 PM)RUNVSFD MINER Wrote:  TallGrass,

I think Tulsa is going to be the next BE candidate if SDSU stays in the MWC... Along with USM and ODU (so much potential in the Eastern Time Zone).

I also think most are realistic in seeing that the nBE is for the most part CUSA. I don't see a repetitive message doing any good. Those few who are completely delusional and blinded by what they want to see, will not be convinced otherwise anyway......

No need to keep kicking these guys while they are down, when some of our teams will likely end up joining them.

All of this, comes from the number one anti-BE person.... ME.

That is what has me worried. It certainly looks like Nbe will fold after SEC and B1G raid ACC, and selected ACC and Nbe leftovers come together for an eastern based conference resembling the old Big East with a southern fill in. Tulsa most likely would be stranded on an island, much like SDSU.

While the two articles I posted are repetitive of previously raised questions from some time ago, the fact that they are now coming from neutral but knowledgeable sports observers serves as a warning to all to be extremely careful, and look beyond the day to what is on the horizon. That message bears repeating.

My hope is now Nbe stays at 10, any additions will neither add to prestige or payout per Nbe team. Nbe should realize that any moves now on their part are totally fruitless. And, together, those two articles pound home that fact.

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=611041

As TU considers its options.
Tulsa is in a good enough position
2 B selective, 2 B prudent,
& not B in a hurry
2 years from now,
Tulsa will still B a desired product
by the upper minor conferences

TU could easily continue
in Conf USA for the next 2 years
& see how the landscape unfolds
there's no hurry 2 move today!

Since joining Conf USA
Tulsa's Athletic Dept has won
more Conference championships than any other school
Conf USA has been very good 4 Tulsa
I guarantee the Tulsa administrators know that
Plus, they won't give up playing games in Texas.
Easy travel, good 4 recruiting

(01-05-2013 05:27 PM)CurveItAround Wrote:  You have to think they have at least had a few conversations with the CYO-7 about hanging with them in hoops while exploring 'other options' in football.

There is absolutely no way Villanova will allow Temple to go to the C7. They never wanted them in the Big East, and had to be bribed into it with money from the league office. Temple is stuck with UConn, Cincy, ECU, USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, Houston, SMU, Navy, and one or three more going forward.

(01-05-2013 07:05 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  

(01-05-2013 05:27 PM)CurveItAround Wrote:  You have to think they have at least had a few conversations with the CYO-7 about hanging with them in hoops while exploring 'other options' in football.

There is absolutely no way Villanova will allow Temple to go to the C7. They never wanted them in the Big East, and had to be bribed into it with money from the league office. Temple is stuck with UConn, Cincy, ECU, USF, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, Houston, SMU, Navy, and one or three more going forward.

Temple is stuck - period.
Uconn and Cincy are ACC possibilities; especially if there is movement beyond UMD.

SMU and Houston are likely going to the MWC.

Memphis, by virtue of it's market and mbb tradition should have options; including the MWC, ACC, and CUSA.

Navy could become independent and make it work.

The nBE could end up as:

Temple, ECU, Tulane, and USF and UCF (and maybe Navy)

All things considered, I think this still is a good move for Temple.

(01-05-2013 08:54 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  All things considered, I think this still is a good move for Temple.

(01-05-2013 07:02 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  As TU considers its options.
Tulsa is in a good enough position
2 B selective, 2 B prudent,
& not B in a hurry
2 years from now,
Tulsa will still B a desired product
by the upper minor conferences

TU could easily continue
in Conf USA for the next 2 years
& see how the landscape unfolds
there's no hurry 2 move today!

Since joining Conf USA
Tulsa's Athletic Dept has won
more Conference championships than any other school
Conf USA has been very good 4 Tulsa
I guarantee the Tulsa administrators know that
Plus, they won't give up playing games in Texas.
Easy travel, good 4 recruiting

The MWC late night games that would have been played in Texas and its Central Standard Time the revenues wiould be greatly reduced due to late kick-off timelines. TCU fans had a very frustating time with that even though their schedules were accomodated to some extent for some of the Frogs home games, but there were still those late night games for TCU's MWC road games.

State of Texas public universities in CUSA will all have a difficult time leaving their more regionalized CUSA due to budgetary concerns by their respective presidents, each school's BOR's and the Texas legilslature.

Cut backs in Texas public universities due to our national economic disaster would make selling a conference move to another region and time zone of the USA almost next to impossible.
If the TV revenues are close to the same (and right now CUSA's is larger than the MWC), why would anyone leave their present situation never-minding campus and Austin-based politics?

The MWC gets Boise, maybe BYU and possibly even San Diego State U back in the fold, but the population advantage that CUSA clearly has will still trump any differences those 3 MWC re-additions would produce. PLUS...those 3 will no doubt get MWC TV revenue extras (much like UT-Austin was given to stay in the Big 12); but at the same time, leaving the rest of the schools in the MWC with lesser TV revenues. Not exactly a great bargaining tool for any Texas-based school to leave CUSA most would agree.

SMU and UH would likely join the MWC when the Big East finally implodes this year or the next or even the next but would still be making less TV revenue than the conference (CUSA) they are leaving to ultimately end up in the MWC; and at the same tiime adding exhorbitant travel costs to tour the western part of the USA for both of their school's men and women's varsity sports teams. SMU and UH are almost out of options altogether because they simply cannot find enough schools they want to be associated.

(01-05-2013 07:02 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  As TU considers its options.
Tulsa is in a good enough position
2 B selective, 2 B prudent,
& not B in a hurry
2 years from now,
Tulsa will still B a desired product
by the upper minor conferences

TU could easily continue
in Conf USA for the next 2 years
& see how the landscape unfolds
there's no hurry 2 move today!

Since joining Conf USA
Tulsa's Athletic Dept has won
more Conference championships than any other school
Conf USA has been very good 4 Tulsa
I guarantee the Tulsa administrators know that
Plus, they won't give up playing games in Texas.
Easy travel, good 4 recruiting

The MWC late night games that would have been played in Texas and its Central Standard Time the revenues would be greatly reduced due to late kick-off timelines. TCU fans had a very frustating time with that even though their schedules were accomodated to some extent for some of the Frogs home games, but there were still those late night games for TCU's MWC road games.

State of Texas public universities in CUSA will all have a difficult time leaving their more regionalized CUSA due to budgetary concerns by their respective presidents, each school's BOR's and the Texas legilslature.

Cut backs in Texas public universities due to our national economic disaster would make selling a conference move to another region and time zone of the USA almost next to impossible.
If the TV revenues are close to the same (and right now CUSA's is larger than the MWC), why would anyone leave their present situation never-minding campus and Austin-based politics? You want to be the next BCS bowl buster competing against Boise; most likely BYU and San Diego State, too? Well, knock yourself out.

The MWC gets Boise, maybe BYU and possibly even San Diego State U back in the fold, but the population advantage that CUSA clearly has will still trump any differences those 3 MWC re-additions would produce. PLUS...those 3 will no doubt get MWC TV revenue extras (much like UT-Austin was given to stay in the Big 12); but at the same time, leaving the rest of the schools in the MWC with lesser TV revenues. Not exactly a great bargaining tool for any Texas-based school to leave CUSA most would agree.

SMU and UH would likely join the MWC when the Big East finally implodes this year or the next or even the next but would still be making less TV revenue than the conference (CUSA) they are leaving to ultimately end up in the MWC; and at the same tiime adding exhorbitant travel costs to tour the western part of the USA for both of their school's men and women's varsity sports teams. SMU and UH are almost out of options altogether because they simply cannot find enough schools they want to be associated.

No matter what in this wild and wacky world of Gang of 5 musical chairs, CUSA will still have its two Top 10 TV markets in Houston and the DFW Metroplex; plus S.A. and UTSA once they come back to earth and measure the lay of the land as to how it really is going to be year in & year out at an NCAA FBS competition level.

DAE BE SUCK? circle circle circlejerk

(01-05-2013 03:17 PM)Tallgrass Wrote:  BAD TIME TO BE BACK IN BIG EAST
By John Smallwood, Dec. 15, 2012, Philly.com

I kind of feel bad for Temple University, but I don't feel like it is getting screwed.

That Temple's long desired arrival into the Big East Conference is now turning into a doomsday nightmare is a self-inflicted wound that should have been anticipated.

The higher ups at Temple were so married to the idea of being part of "big time" college football that they jumped into a shot gun wedding with a reluctant suitor that had already dumped them once and this time looked down upon them even as they were walking down the aisle.

I mean, shouldn't Temple have been a little suspect about its stature with Big East football when the league invited Boise State, San Diego State, Central Florida, Houston, Southern Methodist, Navy, and Memphis before them?

But Temple was so eager to play football with the big dogs, it jumped in March when invited.

Now, Temple is finding out there is a big difference between "big time" and "BIG TIME" college football.

It's finding out that the grass isn't always greener on the football field--especially if you are a program north of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi.

The Big East is to the other BCS conferences what Temple football was to the Big East.

It's something you take as a last resort, but you'd just soon do without.

Cincinnati and Connecticut are licking their wounds and trying to figure out who they can get to absorb them in the next round of expansion.

The problem is that for all of its desires to be more, Temple is still a basketball centric school swimming in an ocean of football great white sharks. Now, without the protection of Big East basketball previously provided, it's likely going to be part of the chum once the final feeding frenzy begins.

The higher-ups at Temple should have had more foresight.

Temple had to have a sense that the Big East basketball schools would eventually make a move to protect themselves from being overrun by football.

Temple is in a Big East Conference that is now "Big" in football in name only and will be stripped of the thing that gave it birth and significance -- "BIG TIME" college basketball.

What an awful f**king article. Talk about hindsight.

What was Temple supposed to do, stay behind and play in a conference thatwhile a large number of its perceived peers joined together in a league? Temple is now in the same boat as UC, UConn, USF, UCF, Memphis, SMU and Houston (and now ECU and Tulane). As much as people respect the MAC for its quality at the low/mid-major level and its stability and longevity as a conference, the schools Temple has now aligned itself with are a much better fit for it than the MAC (and A-10).

(01-05-2013 07:02 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  As TU considers its options.
Tulsa is in a good enough position
2 B selective, 2 B prudent,
& not B in a hurry
2 years from now,
Tulsa will still B a desired product
by the upper minor conferences

TU could easily continue
in Conf USA for the next 2 years
& see how the landscape unfolds
there's no hurry 2 move today!

Since joining Conf USA
Tulsa's Athletic Dept has won
more Conference championships than any other school
Conf USA has been very good 4 Tulsa
I guarantee the Tulsa administrators know that
Plus, they won't give up playing games in Texas.
Easy travel, good 4 recruiting

Given the futre turmoil sure to come with B1G and SEC expansions, the best thing the NonAQ conferences could do at the present time is to just sit tight and wait for all this to happen. When the B1G and SEC are done, then the NonAQ conferences can expand and/or reconfigure. In the meantime, all this NonAQ team and conference movement is wasted energy.