I know some of the people on the board have reservations about your academic peers in CUSA, but that is an area that can be improved.
A CUSA academic consortium should be seriously considered for the future. There would be many advantages, not the least of which would be favorable publicity.

My take away from the above....

How'd CUSA miss Georgia and South Carolina?

Coastal Carolina would be a good baseball add.

(06-16-2015 11:19 AM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  My take away from the above....

How'd CUSA miss Georgia and South Carolina?

I agree. I think moving to 16 with Georgia State and Texas State would be a preemptive move to solidify the conference structure.
Since we are promoting programs, like Charlotte, UTSA, ODU (not to mention replenishing UAB), now is as good a time as any to BUILD two more programs (that bring good markets, a basketball gem, and good institutions).
The advantage is that it would constrict our footprint even further, alleviate travel, and allow us leeway to creatively construct our playoff brackets, so Rice doesn't have to leave your mini-SWC until we bring our champions together.
That's the way I see this going. An academic consortium would just further help meld the conference superstructure.
Frankly, once our startup programs are firing on all cylinders, Rice will be better positioned than at anytime since the SWC.

What is an "Academic Consortium?" And who else in CUSA is even in the same "area code" as RICE academically? Formerly, Tulane, Tulsa and SMU might have qualified, but I don't even know enough about the academics of the existing CUSA members [except for LATECH, and ONE TEAR UH, lol].

RICE should form an "Academic Consortuim" with the Ivies, MIT, DUKE, Vandy, Stanford, Cal, Cal Tech, etc. Wait, we already are in one!!