I don't know if anyone saw this on a CUSA board but it seems to be getting some interest. The 16 teams would be, UTEP replacing TCU(what), then adding Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio, Northern Illinois and Temple. First I'm not sure all of those teams would be interested and then adding a mountain time zone UTEP instead of a Central or Eastern time zone team doesn't seem to make much sense. Also what happened to La Tech. I'm not sure I'm ready for another 16 team conference.

I saw some of this last week. What happened to Toledo? I got the impression that many thought they would make a nice fit. LaTech got voted out of the expanssion surviver poll in the 2nd or 3rd round.

Does anyone think that CUSA may add an Eastern division team so they can move Southern Miss. to the Western division. Without TCU in the Western division it would seem to make some sense at this time. All of the better known football schools are in the Eastern division now and I'm sure CUSA would rather have a Marshall vs Southern Miss, instead of Rice or even Tulsa, Championship game. They are much better known football schools nationally. I thought La Tech was a shoe in when TCU was leaving, even though, as mentioned the fans voted them out in the 2nd or 3rd round. I still think La Tech is the logical choice and they would get my vote, especially over some of the MAC schools mentioned, Bowling Green, Toledo, Miami(Ohio). La Tech would be a shoe in if they could get the Independence Bowl to have a CUSA school as one of their teams when their present contract runs out. The only other team besides La Tech I would have any interest in is Temple. If any school other than Temple is added to the East I will be very, very disappointed!!!!!! The MAC schools may have a good football team sometimes but virtually all of their games are played in adjoining states or in Ohio and they are truly looked at as a small regional, mainly Ohio, conference!!!!!!!!!! I know Tulsa plays as many games as close to home as possible, but they will and have played teams from coast to coast during the regular season.

It seems like adding a team in the east is the general preference, if you can believe little snippets of quotes from coaches and ADs.

I can't say I'm wild about adding a team from Ohio, because that just creates one more team out on an island with Marshall, ECU and UCF. Doesn't really do much for league stability in my mind, and makes us the Southern 11 and Northern 1 conference. Oh well, at least we'd only have one road trip out there every four years. (brrrrr...) Travel for the non-revenue sports concerns me.

But getting Southern Miss in our division would be fantastic for us, and would definitely help with balance between the two divisions. It would also keep USM and Tulane together.

I don't share your opinion about Temple, tho. That would be the absolute worst scenario possible in my mind. They wouldn't "deliver" the Philly market any more than TCU is going to "deliver" the Dallas market for the MWC. There is a small group of people up there who care, and the rest couldn't give a damn. They're more concerned with the Eagles, Sixers, Phillies, Flyers, etc. Plus, I just don't want a program that got booted out of the Big East. What kind of message does that send? "Hey, America... we just lost 5 schools to the Big East, but we dug through their trash and came up with a replacement." That is the only story line we would hear about that move.

I don't think any conference can survive at 16 teams. CUSA will die a quick death. Too many ways to split conference revenue. If that is the direction that CUSA begins to take, I think Tulsa should leap first this time. Form an alliance in the West and take as many as we can with us. I don't want to be left behind ever again. Before any lurkers start flaming, this is just an observation and I don't believe that it will ever happen.

Temple might not bring the entire Philly market but they are a true national basketball team, which brings television, which is the most important thing of all. Having lived in the Northeast, when it comes to serious college basketball, Temple is completely a Philly team and don't try to tell them otherwise!!! No MAC team brings any television on a national basis of any kind in any sport. I'm not crazy about a trip to Philly for our minor sports teams, but the press in the Northeast for our major sports teams is priceless. I would schedule at least two teams from the Northeast every year in our non conference basketball schedule just for the press it got Tulsa as a national team. It seemed like we were doing that for a few years but have stopped recently.

It's a moot point, fish... there is no way that Temple will join C-USA. They're not going to give up convenient travel and long-standing rivalries with A-10 schools to be the only northeastern team in a southern football conference.

You know, I never stopped to think about this before, but.... if Temple was such a hot commodity, why didn't they join the Big East for all sports? Either they didn't want to leave the A-10 or the Big East didn't want them - INCLUDING their nationally prominent basketball program.

Temple will be A-10 forever, and will probably score a MAC football-only invite or drop football altogether.

I agree, Temple most likely wouldn't leave the A-10 for CUSA. The only way I see any interest on their part is if they are going to get real serious about football. The Big Least didn't want Temple because of their football program, they would have taken their BB program in a heartbeat. You are right, if they want to stay in the A-10 for basketball, they might as well give up football. I could see them taking football more serious and joining CUSA just so when the football and basketball teams of the Big Least split up in a couple of years, they can join the Big Least in football and basketball. If their only reason for considering CUSA is so they can leave in a few years, I don't want them to begin with!!! Yea La Tech, time to put the big push on for CUSA membership Bulldogs!!!

As a Memphis fan, I hope an Eastern school (I like Temple for all-sports, if possible) is chosen. My reason is partly selfish - I want MEMPHIS to be in the West division. I also think Marshall, ECU and UCF need another C-USA school on their end of the conference.

University of North Texas officials will make their presentation to CUSA this week. This was in the paper today!!! I didn't know UNT was that high on the list. UNT would give me another game to see in person but I still think La Tech is better!! They also said this is the early stages of the decision making process for CUSA. I thought our new Commish said the announcement of who would take TCU's place would take 60 days or less from the time TCU left. That 60 day window is getting close. I think La Tech was the No 1 choice and then they started thinking about it some more----which isn't good news for La Tech!!! If Temple isn't interested, to give us another BB school, I'm in favor of adding a western division school-----------NO MAC SCHOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems to me like the league officials are doing this the right way. They're out gathering information and conducting site visits. There's no rush to get all this done... they still have a couple of months to make a decision. Better to take the time to study the matter and do it right.

The only site visits I know about for sure are Toledo, La Tech and UNT. I think there was some rumbling about Ohio U. I'd be shocked if they don't scout out Miami Ohio before this is all done.

I'm pretty happy with how they've done this.

I don't see any need to hurry either, they have until July I believe. After July there is a penalty for any team changing conferences from their own conferences. Dallas is CUSA's headquarters, so maybe UNT, makes sense to them. It would sure increase CUSA coverage in my local paper, which I wouldn't mind at all. Obviously, it would increase how well Tulsa was known in the Dallas area. I still like La Tech because in football they have said they will play anybody any time and they've done it for a number of years. They also have pulled several upsets along the way. UNT has done pretty good against CUSA opponents in the New Orleans Bowl but they don't play teams from coast to coast and haven't knocked off any big time teams. La Tech has a great deal more respect nationwide in football and UNT has had a terrible BB team for years, 250-300 ranking, far, far worse than La Tech. As far as athletics there is no contest in my opinion or in fan support. UNT is a fairly large state university and has 1000's and 1000's of alumni in the metroplex and still can't get anybody to drive 25 miles to go to their football games. For my benefit, UNT is an OK addition to CUSA, so I can see Tulsa play, but as far as athletics, there is no comparison, La Tech wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jfisher Wrote:I don't see any need to hurry either, they have until July I believe. After July there is a penalty for any team changing conferences from their own conferences. Dallas is CUSA's headquarters, so maybe UNT, makes sense to them. It would sure increase CUSA coverage in my local paper, which I wouldn't mind at all. Obviously, it would increase how well Tulsa was known in the Dallas area. I still like La Tech because in football they have said they will play anybody any time and they've done it for a number of years. They also have pulled several upsets along the way. UNT has done pretty good against CUSA opponents in the New Orleans Bowl but they don't play teams from coast to coast and haven't knocked off any big time teams. La Tech has a great deal more respect nationwide in football and UNT has had a terrible BB team for years, 250-300 ranking, far, far worse than La Tech. As far as athletics there is no contest in my opinion or in fan support. UNT is a fairly large state university and has 1000's and 1000's of alumni in the metroplex and still can't get anybody to drive 25 miles to go to their football games. For my benefit, UNT is an OK addition to CUSA, so I can see Tulsa play, but as far as athletics, there is no comparison, La Tech wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's about where I stand... with one big if.

IF... La Tech makes a commitment to increase their athletic budget from $9mil up to a more competitive $13-$15mil and makes improvements to its facilities, then it's a no-brainer between those two.

Put another way... if La Tech had been working on their facilities as much as UNT (or even LA-Lafeyette) over the past 3-4 years and had a comparable athletic budget, I don't think you'd hear as much howling from some corners of C-USA. They have some catching up to do in those areas.

About moving Southern Miss to the Western portion of the conference:

C-USA powers that be wouldn't agree to this because of the short-lived but powerful draw that UAB/USM have in football. This is one of the biggest rivalries in C-USA right now and drew the all-time record-setting crowd for a C-USA game last season in Birmingham.

If CUSA adds an Eastern division school, a present CUSA member has to move to the West!! I don't think CUSA wants Memphis and Tulsa in the same division for basketball, if there are divisions in basketball. Even though Tulsa had a terrible record this season, over the last 10-15-20 years Tulsa has by far the best Basketball record of the new CUSA members and Memphis is nationally known too!! Even though UAB did a fantastic job this year, I don't think they want Memphis and Tulsa in the same division. If there are no no divisions in basketball, I would whole heartedly welcome Memphis to the Western Division!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, fish!!! You really are excited about Memphis!!!! Being in the Western Division!!!! That idea rated twelve exclamation points!!!!!!!

From everything I've heard so far, there won't be divisions in basketball for the conference standings, but they'll have to use them for scheduling. That's how the Big XII does it, and I like it better than the SEC who uses divisions for the conference standings... as in... there aren't real conference standings and nobody wins the regular season title.

The problem with any split is the Tulane/USM/Memphis trifecta. No matter what happens, one of the three will end up in the opposite division from the other two, which breaks up pretty big rivalries in football. I hope that the league does some type of permanent cross-division opponent just for that reason.

If we add an eastern team, I imagine it'll be USM that gets bumped to the West. If we add a western team, we could theoretically move Memphis to the West and bump Tulane to the East to keep them with USM, but I don't know how popular a move that would be. Plus, that would stack the East with USM and Marshall football and stack the West with Memphis and Tulsa basketball.

No matter what, that will be a bit of a sticky wicket.

The only reason I wouldn't mind divisions in basketball, is it would leave 12 OOC games at least every year. we would play all division teams twice and Eastern division teams all once, which is good for building close rivalries. If we don't have divisions and play each team once and a certain number of teams twice, someone could yell they had a harder schedule, which may or may not matter other than tournament seeding. With divisions, whoever won the game between the two division winners would get the top seed. If we have a limited number of teams we play twice, I hope we get Memphis, UAB and SMU at least!! As I've said recently, I think SMU will be a national powerhouse in the next few years with their new coach and top Dallas area players!! I would like at least 12 OOC games, to play the Kansas, Arkansas, Gonzaga, etc type team for our RPI!!

jfisher Wrote:The only reason I wouldn't mind divisions in basketball, is it would leave 12 OOC games at least every year. we would play all division teams twice and Eastern division teams all once, which is good for building close rivalries. If we don't have divisions and play each team once and a certain number of teams twice, someone could yell they had a harder schedule, which may or may not matter other than tournament seeding. With divisions, whoever won the game between the two division winners would get the top seed. If we have a limited number of teams we play twice, I hope we get Memphis, UAB and SMU at least!! As I've said recently, I think SMU will be a national powerhouse in the next few years with their new coach and top Dallas area players!! I would like at least 12 OOC games, to play the Kansas, Arkansas, Gonzaga, etc type team for our RPI!!

That sounds like a good plan. With 12 teams, we'll have to do some kind of 2 games vs. some teams and one game vs. the others no matter what, and divisions are the easiest way to accomplish that.

But I still like the way the Big XII just ranks everybody 1 through 12 in the conference standings, regardless of divisions. Some teams will have harder schedules some years, but it all averages out over time...

If not for location UTEP would be the best choice. They have a fantastic fan base for both their football and basketball program since they're the only thing entertain wise in the city. And I still think they will get the invite. Plus they are competitive on the field and the court too.

Temple basketball would do wonders for CUSA basketball. I think their football program would be competitive in CUSA. If they play the eastern teams then they're not that far from Marshall and ECU. But I admit that would be a selfish pick for me. I would like to see them in CUSA.

UNT is not a favorite of mines. I like their football program but I think CUSA is strong enough football wise. We need a program that can bring something to the table more than football. I don't see UNT or La Tech for that matter being able to do that at the moment. UTEP and Temple can.

Toledo would be okay for me but again what do they bring outside of football?

Memphis, Tulsa and UAB will be the basketball focal points. BTW, UAB has a very strong and historic basketball tradition in its brief 25 years of existence.

Rice, SMU and UCF will have something to say about that. USM and Houston will improve by leaps and bounds in two years. Adding a UTEP or Temple would make the basketball side that much more better without hurting the football side.

But that is just my bias opinion.

I don't think it sounds too biased. It is pretty logical too me, outside of UTEP being completely in the middle of nowhere. It's not the end of the world but you can see it from there!! :D El Paso is a lot closer to Los Angeles than it is to Tulane!!!!! Texas is about 900 miles across. You are right about their attendance, it is pretty good, because there isn't anything else to do. I don't know about their BB program now that B Gillespie is gone but it is normally average at best before this past year. It's football team also has been average at best most years. Having been in the WAC with both UTEP and La Tech for a number of years, I can assure you, we have feared La Tech in both football and BB during those years a lot more than UTEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The number one reason I would prefer some other team than UTEP, is that UTEP would jump to the MWC in a heartbeat, if they were invited!!! I also would be quite happy with Temple, to get their Basketball, even though their football is terrible!!