Too far to say yes?

Or too good to say no?

Gonzaga has been to 15 straight NCAA Tournaments, including five trips to the Sweet 16.

The Zags were ranked No. 1 in the country entering this year's Big Dance.

And what about the media buzz sure to spread if it was announced before this season that Gonzaga and Saint Louis were coming aboard for Year 2?

Is one long plane trip every season (or likely every other season for the East Coast schools) reason enough not to issue an invitation?

I'd like to see what others here think.

I say yes, it's a bigger travel burden for Gonzaga than the other Big East teams. If they are willing to do it, I say invite SLU and Gonzaga and be done with it....

(06-12-2013 06:47 PM)Jet915 Wrote:  I say yes, it's a bigger travel burden for Gonzaga than the other Big East teams. If they are willing to do it, I say invite SLU and Gonzaga and be done with it....

I'll go for that. Well, I'd go for just about anybody if SLU is the other one.

(06-12-2013 05:40 PM)PeteTheChop Wrote:  Too far to say yes?

Or too good to say no?

Gonzaga has been to 15 straight NCAA Tournaments, including five trips to the Sweet 16.

The Zags were ranked No. 1 in the country entering this year's Big Dance.

And what about the media buzz sure to spread if it was announced before this season that Gonzaga and Saint Louis were coming aboard for Year 2?

Is one long plane trip every season (or likely every other season for the East Coast schools) reason enough not to issue an invitation?

I'd like to see what others here think.

I would say no. Especially since it is Spokane with no easy way to get to it. Given my position on travel pairs and cutting costs I am sure this opinion isn't a surprise.

It's hard to get to Spokane? Is there only one mountain pass that our boys have to trek through on horse and carriage? Is Spokane some remote village that people only talk about?

Anyways I vote yes. I've been to Spokane, its actually a nice place with friendly folks.

(06-12-2013 07:07 PM)ivet Wrote:  It's hard to get to Spokane? Is there only one mountain pass that our boys have to trek through on horse and carriage? Is Spokane some remote village that people only talk about?

Anyways I vote yes. I've been to Spokane, its actually a nice place with friendly folks.

Let's just say it is not a hub like Denver and connections are not easy.

If they were in Pittsburgh, Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Buffalo or Minneapolis they would already be in. Spokane is just too far for the league to consider.

Can they move to Minneapolis?

(06-12-2013 08:24 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  Can they move Minneapolis?

I wish they could.

The issue isn't basketball. Instead, the issue is having to deal with every other non-revenue sport in terms of scheduling, timing and expenses. If there was a way to have a true western pod, then I'd be all for Gonzaga, but otherwise, this is the one instance where geography and travel expenses are untenable. The problem is that there aren't that many great options for a western pod (and Creighton isn't "west"). BYU is obvious, but a school like St. Mary's carries the risk of being competitive now but not having the intact fan base to support them in the down times. So, I'd have to vote No in a 12-team league.

(06-12-2013 07:07 PM)ivet Wrote:  It's hard to get to Spokane? Is there only one mountain pass that our boys have to trek through on horse and carriage? Is Spokane some remote village that people only talk about?

Anyways I vote yes. I've been to Spokane, its actually a nice place with friendly folks.

The only "eastern" hubs with direct flights to Spokane are Minneapolis and Denver. Chicago has seasonal direct flights but only in the summer. Spokane has plentiful flights to any major MST or PST hub, but not to the east. So any Big East travel to Spokane has to go through Minneapolis, Denver, or possibly Salt Lake City - those are the mountain passes to get to Spokane from the east.

Partnering Gonzaga with Denver actually adds more value IMHO than any combo of St Louis with VCU/Richmond/Dayton IMHO. DU basketball is improving annually, DU is an academic fit for the Big East, DU operates its athletic program at a very high level, DU has good facilities, Denver has relatively large numbers of Big East grads, and Denver is a more important market demographically and in the media than St Louis.

Gonzaga is a national name. No doubt.

But ultimately they're just an interesting midmajor.

It was 14 years ago that they made a big splash by coming out of nowhere to advance to the Elite 8. They proved they were no flash in the pan by following that up with back-to-back Sweet 16s. But what have they done since then? In the last 11 years, they've exited in the first or second round almost every year with the exception of 2 Sweet 16's, the most recent of which was 4 years ago. Their #1 ranking brought them a lot of publicity this year, but it didn't bring any different results. Another 2nd round exit.

And it's not like they caught some bad breaks to lose some games they might have won. They've often lost to lower seeds like their decisive 12 point loss to BYU 2 years ago. Against Syracuse the year before, they were blown out by 22 points. In 2007-08, there were back-to-back first round exits.

To be honest, Gonzaga hasn't lived up to their reputation against national competition. It's been 11 years now and their tournament play has produced nothing special. Their biggest claim to fame at this point has been their success in getting to the tournament. But they've been getting there by dominating the WCAC, which is the West Coast version of the MAAC. They have an undergraduate unrollment of about 5,000, or about the same size as Marist. If Marist were dominating the MAAC, would the Big East be falling all over itself to bring them in? Maybe. But that would be partly because of location, which Gonzaga doesn't have.

Don't get me wrong. Mark Few runs a great program at Gonzaga. I have all the respect in the world for him and for what he does. But I think that the program itself is overrated because they fit the Cinderella role reliably every year and they give the media a story to play up. But when we get to the 2nd weekend of the tournament, they'er rarely there any more.

So, the ultimate question is: Would Gonzaga be as successful against a Big East schedule as they've been against a WCAC schedule. I think the answer is "No." (Yes, I know they've been scheduling nationally with some success, but that's not the same as facing that schedule in conference play.)

As attractivbe as they are, the negatives are just too many to overcome. Frankly their record can't overcome those negatives.

For some weird reason, nobody in the Big East has contacted me for my advice about this. /sarcasm

But if they did, I would have to tell them to pass on Gonzaga.

No.

I say pair them up with a name from the past like San Francisco or Loyola Marymount. Perhaps give them a temporary/conditional membership that can be revoked if they stay bad. The City is supposed to be building a new arena that will cause the Warriors to come back to the other side of the Bay for the first time in 50 years, so maybe the Dons can play a Big East schedule there.

I cant get over the distance. They are just to far away. Omaha is as far west as we should go IMO

Why do the Zags have to be a conference mate? As Frank and others have suggested before, why not just set up a basketball scheduling agreement for a bunch of OOC games between the conference and Gonzaga? Olympic sports are no longer a concern for either side. The schools could pick and choose who wants to participate. You get the benefits of exposure etc and you wouldn't settle for a partner for them.

(06-15-2013 08:43 AM)trephin Wrote:  Why do the Zags have to be a conference mate? As Frank and others have suggested before, why not just set up a basketball scheduling agreement for a bunch of OOC games between the conference and Gonzaga? Olympic sports are no longer a concern for either side. The schools could pick and choose who wants to participate. You get the benefits of exposure etc and you wouldn't settle for a partner for them.

Yup.

(06-15-2013 08:43 AM)trephin Wrote:  Why do the Zags have to be a conference mate? As Frank and others have suggested before, why not just set up a basketball scheduling agreement for a bunch of OOC games between the conference and Gonzaga? Olympic sports are no longer a concern for either side. The schools could pick and choose who wants to participate. You get the benefits of exposure etc and you wouldn't settle for a partner for them.

Well because the conference doesn't benefit from their success. If Gonzaga makes a final four that doesn't help us. We can play better OOC games closer to home.

(06-15-2013 08:32 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(06-15-2013 08:43 AM)trephin Wrote:  Why do the Zags have to be a conference mate? As Frank and others have suggested before, why not just set up a basketball scheduling agreement for a bunch of OOC games between the conference and Gonzaga? Olympic sports are no longer a concern for either side. The schools could pick and choose who wants to participate. You get the benefits of exposure etc and you wouldn't settle for a partner for them.

Well because the conference doesn't benefit from their success. If Gonzaga makes a final four that doesn't help us. We can play better OOC games closer to home.

I agree there are better options. I'm just putting an option out there for those wanting Gonzaga. The conference wouldn't benefit from NCAA credits but there would be other benefits. Each school would benefit from a quality opponent for tourney resumes which in turn helps all team resumes. There are probably other benefits as well.