MU Rivalries

[AlumKCof93]

nm

[CTWarrior]

If you read this board, I think Wisconsin is the biggest rival due to the attention the game gets.  All of your options are good ones, but the games I look forward to the most are with Louisville, because they always seem to be great games.  So I'm going with Louisville.

[mu_hilltopper]

blue hairs complaining that DePaul isn't a choice in 3...2...1...

[DegenerateDish]

I can't believe UW-M isn't on there!

[Tribby]

Here's a fun hypothetical: Say the NCAA were to dissolve all conferences and start from scratch. All the schools are thrown into a hat to pick the new conferences, but MU is allowed one school to "pair up" with. With what school would you absolutely want MU to share a conference?

[AlumKCof93]

You mean, aside from Florida Gulf Coast?

[MU gimp ONE]

i would probably want a pairing with Memphis... because knowing calipari, he won't be in a conference with any other good teams.  so then it's a 50/50 chance at a conference title every year for us. 

[MUCrisco]

i would probably want a pairing with Memphis... because knowing calipari, he won't be in a conference with any other good teams.  so then it's a 50/50 chance at a conference title every year for us. 

So, you would have wanted us to stay in CUSA rather than join the Big East?

[IAmMarquette]

Given the recent history of the series, gotta go with UofL.

Don't get me wrong. I hate UW. I hate ND. But after witnessing three consecutive UofL buzzer beaters at home, no MU victory brings me more joy than one over the Cards.

[AlumKCof93]

When I created the poll, I didn't list DePaul as that program has been down for so long that I don't think they could be considered our current biggest rival.  But if there is one team I would definitely to be in a conference in, I would definitely want DePaul and Notre Dame.  OK, so that's two teams but I can't pick b/w the two.

[Tribby]

When I created the poll, I didn't list DePaul as that program has been down for so long that I don't think they could be considered our current biggest rival.  But if there is one team I would definitely to be in a conference in, I would definitely want DePaul and Notre Dame.  OK, so that's two teams but I can't pick b/w the two.

I agree with you, though since I posited the hypothetical, I'll choose ... and I'll choose DePaul. They're down, but they will be back, someday. It may take another decade, but it'll happen. And it's important to keep a link between MU and the giant Chicago alumni base. ND likes to think they're part of the Chicago market, but they're not really.

[skianth16]

When I created the poll, I didn't list DePaul as that program has been down for so long that I don't think they could be considered our current biggest rival.  But if there is one team I would definitely to be in a conference in, I would definitely want DePaul and Notre Dame.  OK, so that's two teams but I can't pick b/w the two.

I agree with you, but they did beat us last year

[RawdogDX]

When I created the poll, I didn't list DePaul as that program has been down for so long that I don't think they could be considered our current biggest rival.  But if there is one team I would definitely to be in a conference in, I would definitely want DePaul and Notre Dame.  OK, so that's two teams but I can't pick b/w the two.

I agree with you, though since I posited the hypothetical, I'll choose ... and I'll choose DePaul. They're down, but they will be back, someday. It may take another decade, but it'll happen. And it's important to keep a link between MU and the giant Chicago alumni base. ND likes to think they're part of the Chicago market, but they're not really.

I'm sorry are you trying to say that there is more interest in Depaul than ND in Chicago?  Please.  You'd have a hard time finding a person who didn't go to depaul who knows where they play. even out of the people who went there half of them don't know.

[Tribby]

When I created the poll, I didn't list DePaul as that program has been down for so long that I don't think they could be considered our current biggest rival.  But if there is one team I would definitely to be in a conference in, I would definitely want DePaul and Notre Dame.  OK, so that's two teams but I can't pick b/w the two.

I agree with you, though since I posited the hypothetical, I'll choose ... and I'll choose DePaul. They're down, but they will be back, someday. It may take another decade, but it'll happen. And it's important to keep a link between MU and the giant Chicago alumni base. ND likes to think they're part of the Chicago market, but they're not really.

I'm sorry are you trying to say that there is more interest in Depaul than ND in Chicago?  Please.  You'd have a hard time finding a person who didn't go to depaul who knows where they play. even out of the people who went there half of them don't know.

Unless MU starts playing football again (please don't hijack this thread, football supporters!) we're only talking about ND vs. DPU in hoops terms. Having lived most of my life in Chicagoland, I'm comfortable saying the interest in DePaul hoops is at the very least comparable to interest in ND hoops. The fact that DePaul plays in Chicago (sorta) tips the scales in that regard. But if local interest is truly the deciding factor, then there's more Illini fans in Chicago than ND hoops and DPU fans put together ...

[DoubleMU0609]

ND likes to think they're part of the Chicago market, but they're not really.

I have to disagree with you here.  Whenever am 720 previews the nights upcoming b-ball games ND is always listed.  They get as much attention as DePaul gets. 

On a side note, a guest on 720's sports show threw in a plug for MU saying how we were #3 in the contry based on some ranking (prospectus?).

[bilsu]

UCLA- I have been waiting 35 years to play them.

[Avenue Commons]

blue hairs complaining that DePaul isn't a choice in 3...2...1...

There is no way in the world that Pitt is a bigger rival than DePaul. You simply can not ignore the long standing rivalry and intertwined history of DePaul and Marquette. You can't have ND on that list and leave out DePaul. It is very difficult to argue, from a historical perspective, that DePaul isn't Marquette's "biggest" rival in terms of the history.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

There is no chance that ND basketball is as big in Chicago as DePaul basketball. It's just ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

DePaul has been down now for many years, but I agree with the poster above who stated that, while they may not be our fiercest rival right now (I voted for Louisville), they are our oldest rival and the rival that we should always be associated with and should always place twice a year. ND falls into this category for me, but I'm not sure ND feels the same way.

[Ahoya06]

To weigh in on the Chicago question, if one were to use media coverage as a barometer, the Sun-Times usually has the story on the ND hoops games in their "around the league" summaries, lumped in with other BE, BT, and top 25 teams. Granted, they're the top one usually, with the headline, but still just a short summary. DePaul, along with Loyola and UIC, get full stories, with boxscores.

So if that was a way to gauge things, I'd say Illinois is king here, followed by the locals (DePaul, UIC, Loyola, and Northwestern), then ND. Chicago State gets less coverage than the high schools.

I don't read the Cubune daily, but I haven't seen much by way of Notre Dame coverage there either.

[mwbauer7]

I can't believe UW-M isn't on there!

Don't worry, it is still listed on the MU wikipedia page, and everytime someone removes it, a UWM fan shows up 3 minutes later to replace it.

[DegenerateDish]

This thread got me thinking, and while this is hypothetical and would obviously never happen for so many reasons, I think this conference gathering would be kind of cool. It's based simply on geography and numbers (all 4 D-1 Wisconsin schools, all Chicago area D-1 schools sans Chicago St., and the Northeastern Indiana schools equals ten). I don't think I forgot anyone outside of Chicago st. in this group. This is just a hypothetical "say the NCAA blew up all conferences and lumped everyone near each other into a conference" scenario.

Marquette
Wisconsin
UW-M
UW-GB
DePaul
Northwestern
UIC
Loyola
Valpo
Notre Dame

[bma725]

DePaul has been down now for many years, but I agree with the poster above who stated that, while they may not be our fiercest rival right now (I voted for Louisville), they are our oldest rival and the rival that we should always be associated with and should always place twice a year. ND falls into this category for me, but I'm not sure ND feels the same way.

DePaul may be the longest standing rival, but have they ever been the biggest rival?  They always seem to be overshadowed by some other team in each particular era.  Whether it is Louisville now, or Cincinatti in the 1990s, or Wisconsin or ND or whomever.  DePaul always seems to be 3rd or 4th at best on everyone's list, and for the MU fans that didn't grow up in Chicago its even further down.

[🏀]

This thread got me thinking, and while this is hypothetical and would obviously never happen for so many reasons, I think this conference gathering would be kind of cool. It's based simply on geography and numbers (all 4 D-1 Wisconsin schools, all Chicago area D-1 schools sans Chicago St., and the Northeastern Indiana schools equals ten). I don't think I forgot anyone outside of Chicago st. in this group. This is just a hypothetical "say the NCAA blew up all conferences and lumped everyone near each other into a conference" scenario.

Marquette
Wisconsin
UW-M
UW-GB
DePaul
Northwestern
UIC
Loyola
Valpo
Notre Dame

I'd join that conference. Not too mention the $$$ saved not needing a private Midwest Airlines flight everywhere.

[Chili]

This thread got me thinking, and while this is hypothetical and would obviously never happen for so many reasons, I think this conference gathering would be kind of cool. It's based simply on geography and numbers (all 4 D-1 Wisconsin schools, all Chicago area D-1 schools sans Chicago St., and the Northeastern Indiana schools equals ten). I don't think I forgot anyone outside of Chicago st. in this group. This is just a hypothetical "say the NCAA blew up all conferences and lumped everyone near each other into a conference" scenario.

Marquette
Wisconsin
UW-M
UW-GB
DePaul
Northwestern
UIC
Loyola
Valpo
Notre Dame

I'd join that conference. Not too mention the $$$ saved not needing a private Midwest Airlines flight everywhere.

tell me you just finished hitting a bong? that conference sucks!

[MUCrisco]

This thread got me thinking, and while this is hypothetical and would obviously never happen for so many reasons, I think this conference gathering would be kind of cool. It's based simply on geography and numbers (all 4 D-1 Wisconsin schools, all Chicago area D-1 schools sans Chicago St., and the Northeastern Indiana schools equals ten). I don't think I forgot anyone outside of Chicago st. in this group. This is just a hypothetical "say the NCAA blew up all conferences and lumped everyone near each other into a conference" scenario.

Marquette
Wisconsin
UW-M
UW-GB
DePaul
Northwestern
UIC
Loyola
Valpo
Notre Dame

I guess you're expecting Wisconsin to play Northwestern in football 8 times?

[DegenerateDish]

This is obviously not football related. Wisconsin can play St. Mary's School For The Blind 8 times for all I care.

[spiral97]

This is obviously not football related. Wisconsin can play St. Mary's School For The Blind 8 times for all I care.

won't happen.. UW is adamant about playing more winnable games than not.

[MUCrisco]

This is obviously not football related. Wisconsin can play St. Mary's School For The Blind 8 times for all I care.

Well no offense, but for basketball, that conference is terrible.  We might as well go back to the MCC.

[WashDCWarrior]

I agree, that would be a terrible idea.  When we were in C-USA (or Great Midwest), we would play maybe 3 conference games that garnered national attention.  Now we'll play 8-10.  I hope we never revert to a small midwest-only conference.

Also, Marquette alumns are spread around the entire country.  Not just in the Milwaukee / Chicago / NW Indiana areas.  The Big East has allowed many alumns to start attending road games consistently for the first time.  I've been able to go to games at Pitt, Nova, WVU, and Georgetown since the conference switch.  The switch has reinvigorated a lot of our fan base.

[DegenerateDish]

Yikes, apparently my hypothetical idea is getting all turned around.

I'm not advocating it by any stretch of the imagination, I think people are taking it too seriously. It was purely a regional grouping of colleges, based on geographical rivalries for fun. Nothing else to it.

[AlumKCof93]

If we could have a more regional conference, I'd like it to look something like this,

MU,
DePaul
ND
Dayton

These 4 schools played each other 2x every year when I was growing up while all were independents.  I think it would be great if Dayton were still in our conference - never understood why there weren't in Conference USA.

St. Louis (catholic school similar to us)
Cincinnati
Louisville
Xavier

With these 8, I think you would have a regional conference with mostly good schools and a lot with great tradition.  It would seem necessary to add 2 or more additional schools, but I can't think of whom else to invite.

In writing this, of course I'm happy with the Big East.  I'm just responding to the earlier post.

[Tribby]

If we could have a more regional conference, I'd like it to look something like this,

MU,
DePaul
ND
Dayton

These 4 schools played each other 2x every year when I was growing up while all were independents.  I think it would be great if Dayton were still in our conference - never understood why there weren't in Conference USA.

St. Louis (catholic school similar to us)
Cincinnati
Louisville
Xavier

With these 8, I think you would have a regional conference with mostly good schools and a lot with great tradition.  It would seem necessary to add 2 or more additional schools, but I can't think of whom else to invite.

In writing this, of course I'm happy with the Big East.  I'm just responding to the earlier post.

Not that they're anti-Catholic, but I'm not sure why Cincy and Louisville would be excited about sharing a conference with 6 Catholic schools and no other public schools. Would make about as much sense as Northwestern being the only private school in the B11 ...

[AlumKCof93]

I think the draw would be that this would be a very good basketball conference.  I think the bigger question would be why would they join a basketball conference when football is such a bigger revenue sport and they're football teams are on the rise. But that would be for them to decide, I think this would work for MU if there is another conference shake-up.

[MUCrisco]

If we are talking about realistic options here, that conference would not work for Louisville or Cinci.  Let's be honest here guys.  Football is what matters.  That's why BC, Va Tech, and Miami bolted for the ACC.  That's why I think its important for the football teams in the Big East to do well, so they won't want to split.  Louisville and Cinci would not accept getting out of a BCS conference.

My ideal conference is the Big East.  If possible, I would have added Memphis and dropped a school like Seton Hall or Providence.  I would have had an upper tier and a lower tier for basketball with teams playing each other twice.  I would add the English Premier league rules so that if you find yourself in the bottom 2 or 3 for a year, then you are moved down and if your are in the top 2 or 3 for the bottom tier, you are moved up. 

[The Man in Gold]

This has all been said before....but if the Big east ever does break up or the NCAA nukes all the current conferences, I would like to see the private Big East schools join up.  A conference of the following would be pretty fun, and football concerns would be limited to independent Notre Dame...

Marquette (MKE)
Depaul (Chicago)
Georgetown (DC)
St. Johns (NYC)
Seton Hall (NJ)
Providence
Notre Dame (Indiana)
Villanova (Philly)

And maybe 2 of these 3, for a full 18 game round-robin season:
Dayton
Xavier (Cincy)
St. Louis

I still greatly prefer the Big East, but I could live with a conference like this.  The quality is still pretty high and it keeps together most of our rivalries.  Also it is more than just a Midwest conference.  With most games in arguably key markets.