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The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
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rabidTU2 Offline
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Post: #1
The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
OK, I'm going to post this here instead of the Big Board. I think if I did it there, it would create an uproar and have a poster battle instead of legitimately looking at how to strengthen the AAC. And the attack would be directed at anyone who suggests adding another western team.

I stated a few months back that the AAC should approach Wichita State and suggest they give this league a good look and it might be in their best interests to join at some future point. I still think this would be the match made in heaven for them, the AAC and the western part of the league.

Wichita St is a basketball power with a great tradition that would enhance the conference. They are a metropolitan school like most of the other league members - they are in the largest city IN Kansas - they FIT the geographic footprint - they have a nationally prominent baseball team - they are and will be well funded with donors like the milti- billionaire Koch brothers backing them - they are geogrphically isolated from most of the schools in their league and its getting worse as programs like Creighton have left for greener pastures. Oh, and they don't play football anymore which makes them an all sport replacement for Navy football. Wichita St would enhance the RPI of the league - they have the facilities - they have the audience - they are probably looking for a way out of a league of rural schools and into a league of metro schools (Philly, Cincy, Orlando, Tampa, NO, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Tulsa). Its a no brainer for them AND us. It also balances the league in MBB. East would be UCONN, Temple, ECU, Cincy, USF, UCF. West would be WSU, TU, Tulane, SMU, Houston, Memphis. There'd be a natural geographic break between the east and west.

Will it happen? The barrier I think to it is that some of the eastern schools want to keep it an eastern dominant conference and will resist any attempt to expand west. But the argument for my model is that it strengthens the conference and broadens the appeal to the country. Right now we have a great TV contract and this could/should help keep it that way. A 12 team conference in all sports should be the goal.
(This post was last modified: 02-03-2015 05:28 PM by rabidTU2.)
02-03-2015 11:36 AM
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invisiblehand Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
(02-03-2015 11:36 AM)rabidTU2 Wrote:  OK, I'm going to post this here instead of the Big Board. I think if I did it there, it would create an uproar and have a poster battle instead of legitimately looking at how to strengthen the AAC. And the attack would be directed at anyone who suggests adding another western team.

I stated a few months back that the AAC should approach Wichita State and suggest they give this league a good look and it might be in their best interests to join at some future point. I still think this would be the match made in heaven for them, the AAC and the western part of the league.

Wichita St is a basketball power with a great tradition that would enhance the conference. They are a metropolitan school like most of the other league members - they are in the largest city IN Kansas - they FIT the geographic footprint - they have a nationally prominent baseball team - they are and will be well funded with donors like the milti- billionaire Koch brothers backing them - they are geogrphically isolated from most of the schools in their league and its getting worse as programs like Creighton have left for greener pastures. Oh, and they don't play football anymore which makes them an all sport replacement for Navy football. Wichita St would enhance the RPI of the league - they have the facilities - they have the audience - they are probably looking for a way out of a league of rural schools and into a league of metro schools (Philly, Cincy, Orlando, Tampa, NO, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Tulsa). Its a no brainer for them AND us. It also balances the league in MBB. East would be UCONN, Temple, ECU, Cincy, USF, UCF. West would be WSU, TU, Tulane, SMU, Houston, Memphis. There'd be a natural geographic break between the east and west.

Will it happen? The barrier I think to it is that some of the eastern schools want to keep it an eastern dominant conference and will resist any attempt to expand west. But the argument for my model is that it strengthens the conference and broadens the appeal to the country. Right now we have a great TV contract and this could/should help keep it that way. A 12 team conference in all sports should be the goal.

I would wait it out and see how they fair after Van Vleet and Ron Baker move on.
02-04-2015 11:20 PM
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JesseTU Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
What does WSU gain by abandoning the valley for the American? They lost Creighton, but Northern Iowa has been solid for a decade (what, #10 now?). Bradley, Drake, Missouri State and even Southern Illinois can make noise. I think the American is a step up, but they dance when they're good as it is now - plus super simple travel.

Not too mention WSU has no interest in reviving the football program.

What the American needs is for UCONN to get back. Memphis to find someone who cannutilose their talent. Houston to live up to its potential. Cinci to gonone level higher. Temple to keep winning. Tulsa to keep improving. SMU to hold serve (not get the death penalty in Bball).

Hell, if Tulane wins a game every now and them and those teams in Florida learn to play basketball... It would be a very solid basketball conference. Dare I say as good as the new Big East.
02-22-2015 09:02 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
My original thought was that WSU has already made some inquiries about leaving the Valley - the report was that they contacted the MWC. That was an article about a year ago i read. WSU hasn't left the Valley, the Valley has more or less left them. One of their main rivals Creighton is gone to the BE. I just get the idea that the AAC is a better fit for them.

WSU would be an all sport replacement for Navy football. Navy is assigned to the western division of the AAC, so to balance the league, a western team needs to be found to replace navy in the other sports. WSU is a basketball power right now and a program that wouldn't hurt the strength of the league. They have excellent facilities. They are well funded. They are a city school and really have a captive audience in central Kansas.

But when you look at the Valley, it needs WSU more than WSU needs it. Also, they would obviously make a lot more revenue in the AAC than the Valley. And besides, who in Wichita would rather go to a game in Carbondale or Normal or Terra Haute instead of a game in Dallas, New Orleans or Memphis.

But I think the knock on WSU would be that the eastern dominated conference wouldn't want another western school. And the powers that do the deciding are in the east. So it probably won't occur. But IMO it would be a strength building move to solidify the league and give the conference more to crow about come tourney time.

BTW, yes of course WSU doesn't play FB and thats a good thing in this instant. IMO
(This post was last modified: 02-23-2015 11:14 AM by rabidTU2.)
02-23-2015 10:49 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
02-23-2015 11:04 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
02-23-2015 11:07 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
There's also another slightly unrealistic reason for me to push this kind of thing. Ready . . . it may make no sense to any of you, but I'm always looking for the extra edge. It expands the TU footprint into Kansas. Geographically, TU is only 60 miles from the Kansas state line and our friendly neighbor to the north, Coffeyville and other medium sized communities. They have very good JUCO football, but no real big time FB beyond that. Also, WSU doesn't have football anymore and a lot of those fans have been restless. They would love FB back, but WSU has resisted it and probably won't ever start it again. Thats OK, we'd love to have your fans come the short drive to Tulsa and watch your neighbor play your basktball conference rivals in football.

I may be a little vague, but if TU had a footptint in South Kansas , advertise the fact that TU is WSU's "football home" we might attract fans from Wichita or at least more of them from South Kansas. We'd also have a bigger presence with those very good JUCO teams up thataway. The largest city in Kansas is Wichita, not Kansas City. KU and KSU are far enough away that they don't have the same visibility. Most Wichita St fans aren't KU/KSU fans, so there's nowhere for them to go except to the TV set come FB season.

IMO we have to be more cordial and more accomodating to the casual fans in the area. For instance ORU doesn't have FB either. Do we need more ORU students at our FB games, sure we do. We need more fans period. How about an ORU Day at a Texas St game. How about a Wichita or Kansas Day at a Tulane game. Thats kinda what I'm throwing out there. TU has hired a marketing director. Well, here's an idea. But it might be goosed if WSU was in our conference and "adopted" their TU brother in FB.

Sorry about the long thread.
(This post was last modified: 02-24-2015 11:51 AM by rabidTU2.)
02-24-2015 11:47 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
Just noticed that the AAC has signed an exclusive TV contract with CBSSN for baseball programming. This is another reason to invite WSU into the AAC. WSU has a very, very strong baseball program. I see the conference approaching them soon - just a prediction on my part. I think eventually if AAC baseball improves even further, there will be a movement to restore baseball at TU or invite ORU to be our replacement team in the AAC for that sport. I think all those scenarios are good for TU. IMO
04-25-2015 11:32 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
Just noticed that UCONN won another National Championship - in womens Field Hockey. I know some won't agree with this, but that is a sport that "if forced to add another", would/should be considered since it wouldn't require a huge facility investment - we already have the outdoor athletic fields - the large practice field south of the Case Tennis Complex would be perfect.

Womens FH allows 12 scholarships to equalize "gender" for Title IX. If TU were to ever add/restart our once great baseball program (as mentioned over the years and on this thread), we would probably have to add a sport with the same schollies (11.7 schollies). BTW UCONN was ranked #2 most of the year and Temple (#11) was also a ranked team in that sport. Our nearset neighbor who plays D-I WFH is Missouri St (who is aligned with the MAC in that sport), but a schedule could be put together similar to MSU's.

I think we need to show the AAC that we are serious about being a solid, competitive member of the conference. Sometimes these minor sports show the UCONN's of the world that we are as serious as they. IMO
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2015 09:48 PM by rabidTU2.)
05-17-2015 09:38 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
http://www.foxsports.com/kansas-city/sto...pen-030614


A bit late, but I think this shows the mindset as far as WSU is concerned if the right conference came calling. Well, its something to think about in this long, long, long off season before FB starts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is another problem the MVC has - trying to keep WSU's nearest rival in the conference.


http://www.northern-iowan.org/news/view....State-Shoc

If they (MSU) leave the MVC, with Creighton already gone, WSU will have lost their two main nearby league "brothers". At that point, WSU will almost surely be ready to move. Springfield (MSU) is WSU's nearest conference mate. Wichita St will be completely isolated from the rest of the MVC and may not have a choice but move to a better and more travel friendly conference with a better TV package and better destinations. IMO
(This post was last modified: 06-02-2015 09:50 AM by rabidTU2.)
05-25-2015 07:08 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
http://fansided.com/2014/o8/22/report-su...er-school/

This is from 9 months ago, but it shows MSU is looking to move on and out of the MVC. I think there'll be more news at some point and the MVC will change.
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2015 06:45 PM by rabidTU2.)
05-26-2015 08:44 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
[quote='rabidTU2' pid='12081246' dateline='1432598912']
http://www.foxsports.com/kansas-city/sto...pen-030614


A bit late, but I think this shows the mindset as far as WSU is concerned if the right conference came calling. Well, its something to think about in this long, long, long off season before FB starts.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(From previous post)

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IMO WSU would not consider the Big East because the BE really doesn't have a western presence in the same way the AAC does and the idea that WSU would follow Creighton is not correct either IMO. The BE is not a balanced league, its an eastern league with a midwest component of Butler, DePaul and Creighton.

Villanova, St johns, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, Xavier, Marquette and DePaul have nothing in common with a school in central Kansas. Only Creighton has a geographic tie to the Shockers. So I can't see the Big East happening unless the MVC completely implodes and the AAC decides to stay as is. Of those schools mentioned above (except for Creighton), DePaul is closest at over 700 miles. No, I think if the AAC made a welcomed invite, WSU would jump on board pretty quick. The money is better than the MVC. The TV is better. The rivalries would be better. The interest. The atmosphere. On and on.

And as far as the MWC is concerned, it is much worse travelwise. San Jose, Fresno, San Diego, Reno, Boise, Vegas, Logan are all well over 1,000 mile trips to make for their spring sports teams. And we need to remember what happened in 1970. Thats the year that the WSU FB team was involved in the devastating plane crash. Where were they going? Logan, Utah to play Utah St.
(This post was last modified: 06-03-2015 10:52 PM by rabidTU2.)
06-03-2015 09:01 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
One last thing about expansion is this. Not too long ago, some of our fans were willing to expand what would become the AAC all the way to Boise, Idaho (as well as San Diego) in order to attract a good CFB team they thought might help the league. But Boise is over 1,300 miles away and would have stretched the conference from the Atlantic to the Pacific geographically. When cooler heads prevailed, it was thrown out. But for our needs right now, WSU is by far the best choice and would most probably elevate the league to a hgher status quickly. WSU perfectly fits our needs and desires. IMO
06-04-2015 10:20 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
The Intrust Bank Arena is also the "alternate" basketball venue for WSU. It is a downtown all purpose arena that seats 15,000 and could be used for WSU basketball if the ticket sales merited it for select games. So perhaps a game between two top ranked teams like a contest between SMU or UCONN or Cincinnati and the Shockers could be held there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrust_Bank_Arena
(This post was last modified: 06-04-2015 07:55 PM by rabidTU2.)
06-04-2015 05:16 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
This is from "Shockernet" a board for WSU talk and shows a lot of similarity to the discussions we had before going to the AAC. One thing you may notice is that there are a few die hards that want to stay in the MVC and others don't think they fit into the AAC. I assume that is because of their long association with the MVC and the fear that leads to any move into a better neighborhood - simlar to a lot of our fans before the move to the AAC. But the majority of folks on the site think their best move is to the AAC.

The thread is a very long one and went the better part of a year - yes thats right, more than a year. I'm starting on page 90 of the thread and there are about a dozen pages beyond that. Its pretty funny in spots and a bit profane in others.

But the consesus on that thread was that WSU will jump at the chance to go to the AAC if invited. The second (distant) alternative seemed to be the MWC.

http://shockernet.net/forum/showthread.p...ome/page90
(This post was last modified: 06-26-2015 09:48 PM by rabidTU2.)
06-26-2015 11:11 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
Other than UCONN. Memphis, Cincinnati and possibly Temple, WSU would have the best program (recent) "history" in the conference. The next tier of schools would be TU, Houston and SMU


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_St...basketball

So the AAC would have a bundle of very good MBB schools. The only schools without a good program history would be Tulane, UCF, USF and ECU. The respectability of AAC MBB would be as good as any conference in the nation.
(This post was last modified: 07-09-2015 09:34 PM by rabidTU2.)
07-03-2015 12:56 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
07-04-2015 07:14 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
(This post was last modified: 07-15-2015 09:47 PM by rabidTU2.)
07-15-2015 09:42 PM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
Wichita St also has a pretty good Womens BB team that has gone to the NCAA tournament the last three years. Their best non-conference regular season victories during that time have been against Ohio St, Kansas St (twice) and Clemson.

2012-13 record = 26-10. 2013-14 record = 28-7. 2014-15 record = 29-5.

And speaking of womens sports, the WSU Volleyball team has been to the NCAA tournament 8 of the last 9 years and is consistently in the top 10 in NCAA Womens Volleyball attendance.

As stated in another thread, WSU has a very good baseball team/program and would become (perhaps) the best "program" with the best facilities in the conference as well as the only program to win a national championship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_Sta...s_baseball

Also, WSU baseball has an indoor practice facility for baseball - named "Bombardier-Learjet PF". *Also Wichita is known as the "Air Capital of the World" due to their history and major employment in the aircraft industry. So I assume they'd have no trouble flying to games against UCONN, Temple, Cincy etc. in league play - if that ever comes about.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eck_Stadium


http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/buildingto...r_sysid=61
(This post was last modified: 07-20-2015 10:21 PM by rabidTU2.)
07-18-2015 11:55 AM
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rabidTU2 Offline
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RE: The AAC Needs Another Basketball Team!
Staying on baseball, which is a major factor if the AAC were to ever invite the Shockers - WSU was top 20 in attendance in the nation ahead of every program in the AAC in spite of the fact the Shockers had a mediocre season this year.

Also, WSU would have ranked 4th in the Big 12 in baseball attendance behind Texas, TCU and Texas Tech.

NCAA Attendance Rankings 2015
#19 WSU (3,086)
#30 ECU (2,243)
#34 Tulane (2,048)
#39 Houston (1,686)
#50 UCF (1,337)
(This post was last modified: 07-20-2015 10:22 PM by rabidTU2.)
07-18-2015 03:36 PM
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