MUScoop

Just trying to get a flavor of who the MU community would most like to see in a new conference IF were a forced to form a "basketball-only" conference.

I think Georgetown definitely needs to be on this list.

Quote from: spartan3186 on September 19, 2011, 09:38:08 PM
I think Georgetown definitely needs to be on this list.

Agreed, especially since Notre Dame is on it.

Quote from: spartan3186 on September 19, 2011, 09:38:08 PM
I think Georgetown definitely needs to be on this list.

Oops - thought I had them on - I'll add them.

None of them.

We're better than all of them.  Yuck!!!!!!!

C'mon, we can do better/

Georgetown needs to be on the list.  I want to re-vote.  What about Gonzaga?

I would want a 10 team league for a balanced schedule; if its gonna be basketball only, do it right.  MU, nova, seton hall, st. Johns, providence, depaul, ND and g'town.  Add butler and xavier.  Keep the big east name and conference tourney in MSG.  Id throw up if i had to watch UNC and duke play for an ACC title in MSG.

Quote from: LastWarrior on September 19, 2011, 09:44:24 PM
Georgetown needs to be on the list.  I want to re-vote.  What about Gonzaga?

If I knew how I'd let you revote. Sorry I inadvertently left Georgetown on the original list. It looks like Georgetown would be one of the top vote getters if it was on there originally.

I didn't put Gonzaga on the list because they are on the West Coast and have a pretty settled conference already that seems to work for them.

I am really getting sick reading this. The only way I can see this as the last ditch, worst option available. So many people on here are saying they PREFER to go to a 10 league basketball only conference, instead of staying with the football schools in a BCS conference.

I want a poll that asks anyone if they would have PREFERRED to be in the A10 last year instead of the BigEast.

It is because of football, and the fact that we are in a BCS (Football) conference that the BigEast is relevant. The reason we are not a mid-major, have a large following, wear Brand Jordan, have the new style jerseys, get talked about by ESPN, are preseason ranked, is because of football in the BigEast. The fact that the BigEast plays football gets it a seat at the table in the news, papers, ESPN, magazines, ext. Everyone knows it is a basketball league, but the fact that it is a football league too, makes contract negotiations ext important.

You tell me how any one in the A10 looks this year outside of Xavier, because I know I don't know. I know I can tell you how many of the BigTen teams look this year, simply because of the media hype around commits ext. So why would one want to join this league? If you replace the name A10 with BigEast does it change something? It doesn't unless it is a BigEast BCS conference.

So many people are saying screw joining the combination of the BigXII, and the BigEast because we will play second fiddle to football. Guess what everyone, WE ARE SECOND FIDDLE TO FOOTBALL! It sucks to hear, but we are! We just need to stay in a major conference so we can recruit, play, talk with the big boys. Hell, with the way applications at Marquette has increased since joining a major conference, I would have MU play for free in a new joined BEAST conference. I was just in Houston for work, and people know what Marquette was about, because of all of the publicity.

Marquette cannot afford to go to some "dream conference" of catholic schools. There already is one, and it is the A-10, and many Xavier fans want out. They are a mid-major conference, who play the bracket-buster games on ESPN once a year, and who overall are irrelevant until they get their conference tournament bid.

Quote from: Warrior1 on September 19, 2011, 10:07:46 PM
I am really getting sick reading this. The only way I can see this as the last ditch, worst option available. So many people on here are saying they PREFER to go to a 10 league basketball only conference, instead of staying with the football schools in a BCS conference.

Warrior1, I agree with almost everything you say. I also put up an earlier post where I said that I would prefer a merger of Big 12 and Big East schools as my preferred "new" conference. (Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU, Notre Dame, Louisville, West Virginia, South Florida, Cincinnati, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova and DePaul).

I just posted this poll to see who people could live with if we had to go to a "basketball only" conference.

The A-10 does not play in the Bracket Buster.

Quote from: Warrior1 on September 19, 2011, 10:07:46 PM
I am really getting sick reading this. The only way I can see this as the last ditch, worst option available. So many people on here are saying they PREFER to go to a 10 league basketball only conference, instead of staying with the football schools in a BCS conference.

I want a poll that asks anyone if they would have PREFERRED to be in the A10 last year instead of the BigEast.

It is because of football, and the fact that we are in a BCS (Football) conference that the BigEast is relevant. The reason we are not a mid-major, have a large following, wear Brand Jordan, have the new style jerseys, get talked about by ESPN, are preseason ranked, is because of football in the BigEast. The fact that the BigEast plays football gets it a seat at the table in the news, papers, ESPN, magazines, ext. Everyone knows it is a basketball league, but the fact that it is a football league too, makes contract negotiations ext important.

You tell me how any one in the A10 looks this year outside of Xavier, because I know I don't know. I know I can tell you how many of the BigTen teams look this year, simply because of the media hype around commits ext. So why would one want to join this league? If you replace the name A10 with BigEast does it change something? It doesn't unless it is a BigEast BCS conference.

So many people are saying screw joining the combination of the BigXII, and the BigEast because we will play second fiddle to football. Guess what everyone, WE ARE SECOND FIDDLE TO FOOTBALL! It sucks to hear, but we are! We just need to stay in a major conference so we can recruit, play, talk with the big boys. Hell, with the way applications at Marquette has increased since joining a major conference, I would have MU play for free in a new joined BEAST conference. I was just in Houston for work, and people know what Marquette was about, because of all of the publicity.

Marquette cannot afford to go to some "dream conference" of catholic schools. There already is one, and it is the A-10, and many Xavier fans want out. They are a mid-major conference, who play the bracket-buster games on ESPN once a year, and who overall are irrelevant until they get their conference tournament bid.

+1,00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Sick and tired of the "basketball" only talk. Screw that! if you can be in a conference with Kansas(they have football, but not worth mentioning), you do NOT hesitate. Hell, give them whatever they want. I want MU associated with the BEST possible basketball schools they can be associated with, regardless of whether or not they play football. I, for one, thinks gaining Kansas, and the cache they bring makes up for losing Pitt and Cuse all by themselves. Kansas at the BC?? Yes please!

Warrior1 I think you're wrong on many levels. Any national publicity that Marquette has gained through the Big East is because it is known as a great basketball conference. The football programs at most Big East schools are a joke and they do nothing to help the image of the Big East as a basketball conference. There are plenty of basketball only schools out there with national name recognition such as Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, Butler, Xavier, Gonzaga etc. There's no way that conference comprised of programs like that could be considered a mid major, it would be one of the better basketball conferences in the country. A conference like that would get multiple bids to the NCAA tournament. Many of those match ups would draw serious interest from basketball fans all around the country and I think a basketball only conference could do very well for itself negotiating a television contract. The best part obviously is we wouldn't be at the mercy of whatever is going on in college football.

Entertaining topic. One i've certainly talked about with my friends. Seems to me, like many others who others who voted that there are a solid 7-9 teams that would make for a competitive conference however finding those last 3-5 teams is a tall order.  Richmond? UMass? Dayton? St. Louis? none of them are that appealing. Granted I didn't take into consideration the market these teams play in.

Nice to see some love for Xavier and Dayton.

Why is everyone fixated on 12?  10 would be much better for bball.

I prefer 10 vs 12, east of the Mississippi and one team per state.

Looks like I'm in the majority on this. I don't want to go to a BKB-only league unless it's a last resort.

If that's the only option, go with 10 teams, MU, UND, SJU, Gtown, nova, Hall, PC, DU, Xavier, Butler, play a true home-and-home, double round-robin with the tourney at MSG. But let me re-iterate. A bloated league with Kansas, UL, UC, K State, maybe Missouri and Memphis, among others, comes the closest to replicating what the BE is now. The BE model for the last 6 years has been fantastic for MU. Why wouldn't we want something that replicates that for as long as possible? Have the last two days stunk? Absolutely. But if we can replicate that with some different schools and have probably what would be considered the second-best BKB conference in the country, even if it's only for another 5 or 6 years again, why wouldn't we do it?

I understand the draw of a 10-team conference, but if we want to play at the big boy table, it needs to be 12+. With a 2-division format, 12 will work fine for scheduling. Sure, maybe we'll only see St. John's, Georgetown, Villanova, etc every other year at the BC, but that's fine. Home-and-homes within division, play everyone in the other division every year.

We need a league where you can expect to put 6 teams in the tournament every year. We also need a league where you are a factor in a high number of major (top-50) television markets. With 10 teams, the odds of landing 6 bids annually is diminished. And while it sounds great to put Marquette, Notre Dame, Xavier, Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, Butler, Richmond, VCU, and Gonzaga into a league together because you've got 10 NCAA-level teams (2 Final Four teams from a year ago!) the simple truth is that roughly half of the teams are going to finish with losing conference records. What happens when Villanova (or even Marquette) goes 6-12 in conference? Sure, maybe that'll include 6 top-100 RPI wins, but that and a strong non-conference will still leave you dreaming of the NIT.

The simple truth is that there have to be some teams that aren't going to make the Dance. That's why I really think the formula for success is to mimic the football model. If you're going to play basketball at a BCS-level then play it the way the BCS teams do. 12 is the minimum, but if you really want a quality basketball conference, one that only looks up to maybe the ACC, then go for 14 or 16 teams. Try to get 8-10 bids a year. Don't be a good mid-major conference, be THE basketball-only superconference. Be the conference that they can't possibly leave out when it comes to a possible BCS-driven March tournament because you are getting more bids annually than any of the other BCS conferences save maybe the ACC.

Forget about scheduling. It'd be nice to have a pretty 18-game schedule, or even a 16-game schedule with 12 teams, but 12 has to be the minimum. 16 should be the number we're aiming for, because it's the number that (supposedly) all the BCS conferences will be trying to get to before all is said and done.

Here are my picks for a 16-team league, and why:

• Boston University: They've had some NCAA appearances and give us access to a top-10 media market.
  
• Butler: Great success of late, but also sustained, and the Indianapolis market (#25).
  
• Dayton: More so to ensure Xavier comes, they'd still be a fringe team.
  
• DePaul: Strictly for the Chicago market.
  
• Detroit: Can't lie, it's only for the #11 market.
  
• Duquesne: Mainly because I hate Pitt and want to get on some TVs in their market.
  
• Georgetown: Great history of success and the DC market.
  
• Marquette: You don't think I'd leave us behind? Also Big East history and the #35 market.
  
• Notre Dame: If they don't go for a BCS conference, the attention and heritage is a huge draw, and I love having them as a rival.
  
• Providence: Helps solidify us in New England and were influential in the creation of the Big East.
  
• Richmond: Good of late, I guess access to Virginia, I want either them or VCU.
  
• Seton Hall: Pretty much only because of their Big East heritage, if push came to shove leave them.
• St. John's: Good heritage, but really I want access to MSG and New York.
  
• St. Louis: Decent history, #21 market.
  
• Villanova: Great history, Big East lineage, Philly market.
  
• Xavier: Very good history, solid market.
  
  That league would have produced 9 NCAA bids last year. I think it's viable that it could regularly place 8-10 teams which would guarantee that we are the biggest player outside maybe one or two of the BCS leagues and many of the teams that didn't make it last year (DePaul, Providence, Dayton, Duquesne) aren't that far away. Teams I considered but left off included VCU (no need with Richmond), Creighton and Gonzaga (too ar west) and George Washington and St. Joe's (market duplication).
  
  I'd take this over some piddly 10-team league that would rarely get enough attention to place more than 4-5 teams and could be as easily forgotten as an A-10 would be if it ever comes to a BCS-driven basketball tournament.

I included UMass in my vote solely for the size of the alumni base.  225,000 alumni.

And this is why Kansas football is relevant:
(http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/11/2008/11/medium_20081105babymangino2.jpg)

Quote from: brewcity77 on September 20, 2011, 07:00:39 AM
Here are my picks for a 16-team league, and why:

• Boston University: They've had some NCAA appearances and give us access to a top-10 media market.
  
• Butler: Great success of late, but also sustained, and the Indianapolis market (#25).
  
• Dayton: More so to ensure Xavier comes, they'd still be a fringe team.
  
• DePaul: Strictly for the Chicago market.
  
• Detroit: Can't lie, it's only for the #11 market.
  
• Duquesne: Mainly because I hate Pitt and want to get on some TVs in their market.
  
• Georgetown: Great history of success and the DC market.
  
• Marquette: You don't think I'd leave us behind? Also Big East history and the #35 market.
  
• Notre Dame: If they don't go for a BCS conference, the attention and heritage is a huge draw, and I love having them as a rival.
  
• Providence: Helps solidify us in New England and were influential in the creation of the Big East.
  
• Richmond: Good of late, I guess access to Virginia, I want either them or VCU.
  
• Seton Hall: Pretty much only because of their Big East heritage, if push came to shove leave them.
• St. John's: Good heritage, but really I want access to MSG and New York.
  
• St. Louis: Decent history, #21 market.
  
• Villanova: Great history, Big East lineage, Philly market.
  
• Xavier: Very good history, solid market.
  
  That league would have produced 9 NCAA bids last year. I think it's viable that it could regularly place 8-10 teams which would guarantee that we are the biggest player outside maybe one or two of the BCS leagues and many of the teams that didn't make it last year (DePaul, Providence, Dayton, Duquesne) aren't that far away. Teams I considered but left off included VCU (no need with Richmond), Creighton and Gonzaga (too ar west) and George Washington and St. Joe's (market duplication).
  
  I'd take this over some piddly 10-team league that would rarely get enough attention to place more than 4-5 teams and could be as easily forgotten as an A-10 would be if it ever comes to a BCS-driven basketball tournament.

Can't see why St. Louis is there if Creighton is too far west. Id push for Creighton and Wichita St, their baseball programs would be good additions alone and their fans show up.

I kinda agree with your point that 12 is the minimum. 14+ seems too big unless we still have Notre Dame and somehow convince Memphis, UMass to join. Id also be very interested in Wichita St, UNLV (kinda like the western Memphis), BYU and Gonzaga if possible. Teams like Detroit & Duquesne do nothing for me. We need established programs with solid fanbases - if fans stop caring about this league, it will die. Richmond is okay, but Id also push for Charlotte then.

So, assuming Notre Dame is gone, UMass/Memphis don't want in a bball-only league (yet) and everything west of Kansas is too far (UNLV, Gonzaga, San Francisco?, Pepperdine?, BYU?, Air Force?), this is my best 16.

Also why can't Army, Navy be part of this?


Marquette
St. Louis
Wichita St
Creighton

Xavier
Butler
DePaul
Dayton (their fans are loyal and actually care, which will be important is this league)

St. John's
Villanova
Seton Hall
Providence

Georgetown
Richmond
Charlotte
Duquense (I guess? Kind of an FU to Pitt?)

Why do the media markets for BU, Detroit, and Duquesne matter?  Nobody cares/watches them nor do there fan bases really care.

Also, adding Duquesne to get back @ Pitt?  Really?  I am pretty sure they'd be laughing at us.  HAHA look at you, you have to play Duquesne while we play Duke.

Quote from: Warriors10 on September 20, 2011, 10:20:17 AM
Why do the media markets for BU, Detroit, and Duquesne matter?  Nobody cares/watches them nor do there fan bases really care.

Also, adding Duquesne to get back @ Pitt?  Really?  I am pretty sure they'd be laughing at us.  HAHA look at you, you have to play Duquesne while we play Duke.

Correction: "While we lose to Duke"

Quote from: Aughnanure on September 20, 2011, 10:23:40 AM
Correction: "While we lose to Duke"

Cost-benefit of playing Duke compared to Duquesne.  If you beat Duke its a good win, if you beat Duquesne who cares.  If you lose to Duke, not that bad, if you lose to Duquesne, bad loss.

Think of it this way.  If the roles were reversed and we went to the ACC and Pitt stayed and added UW-Milwaukee to "get back at us", would it really do anything?

I'd be pissed that they get to play the likes of UW-M while we play Duke/NC

It wasn't until brewcity's post that i realized VCU was left off the list.

Brewcity's analysis of the teams works for me, but I might Sub Umass for boston university.  Duquesne/Detroit/Dayton make me cringe

I'm going to choose to ignore anything Aughnanure says. Please stop fucking that Army/Navy chicken
Whitcha State and UNLV? J-fing-C

Quote from: brewcity77 on September 20, 2011, 07:00:39 AM
Here are my picks for a 16-team league, and why:

This league would start out OK and then begin a steady, unalterable decline until it reached the current A-10 status.

We need to be with BCS football schools if at all possible if we want to stay with the big boys and be relevant nationally.  

Quote from: Warriors10 on September 20, 2011, 10:28:32 AM
Cost-benefit of playing Duke compared to Duquesne.  If you beat Duke its a good win, if you beat Duquesne who cares.  If you lose to Duke, not that bad, if you lose to Duquesne, bad loss.

Think of it this way.  If the roles were reversed and we went to the ACC and Pitt stayed and added UW-Milwaukee to "get back at us", would it really do anything?

I'd be pissed that they get to play the likes of UW-M while we play Duke/NC

It's funny you think Im advocating for Duquesne. I just have no idea who to get at that point if we are going for a big bball-only conference and can't get ND, UMass, Memphis. That was the point. You can only go so large before it gets too diluted.

Quote from: Aughnanure on September 20, 2011, 10:51:02 AM
It's funny you think Im advocating for Duquesne. I just have no idea who to get at that point if we are going for a big bball-only conference and can't get ND, UMass, Memphis. That was the point. You can only go so large before it gets too diluted.

I don't.  I was using your quote to expand on my argument on how dumb the idea of "pay back" is.

Quote from: Ari Gold on September 20, 2011, 10:34:48 AM
It wasn't until brewcity's post that i realized VCU was left off the list.

Brewcity's analysis of the teams works for me, but I might Sub Umass for boston university.  Duquesne/Detroit/Dayton make me cringe

I'm going to choose to ignore anything Aughnanure says. Please stop fracking that Army/Navy chicken
Whitcha State and UNLV? J-fing-C

It's cute that you, and so many others on here, actually think we actually so many other options. We will have to have teams to play and per BrewCity's analysis, its important not to keep it so small that all we do is beat each other up and produce very little bids.

VCU is seriously a good option to you?

"etc." is the abbreviation for etcetera, not "ext."

Quote from: Ari Gold on September 20, 2011, 10:34:48 AM
Brewcity's analysis of the teams works for me, but I might Sub Umass for boston university.  Duquesne/Detroit/Dayton make me cringe

The reason I included Detroit and Duquesne was because they are in major media markets. They are also both pretty good recruiting hotbeds for basketball. In addition, Detroit has a large amount of Marquette alumni living in the area, along with a big number of students still attending the school from there. I know MU gets a huge turnout of alumni/fans when they play Georgetown in DC. It's a great event to go to the game and then head to Penn Quarter afterwards to share some beers with a ton of MU alumni/fans. The same can be replicated in Detroit. Heck, if I were on the alumni board in Detroit I'd promote an event there that combines the game at Calihan Hall with beers afterwards at The Dakota Inn or Tom's Tavern.

Quote from: dwaderoy2004 on September 19, 2011, 09:47:43 PM
I would want a 10 team league for a balanced schedule; if its gonna be basketball only, do it right.  MU, nova, seton hall, st. Johns, providence, depaul, ND and g'town.  Add butler and xavier.  Keep the big east name and conference tourney in MSG.  Id throw up if i had to watch UNC and duke play for an ACC title in MSG.

Were this OUR ONLY OPTION, I could get behind this idea.  Add Xavier, and either Butler or St. Joe's.

Quote from: Norm on September 20, 2011, 11:16:08 AM
The reason I included Detroit and Duquesne was because they are in major media markets. They are also both pretty good recruiting hotbeds for basketball. In addition, Detroit has a large amount of Marquette alumni living in the area, along with a big number of students still attending the school from there. I know MU gets a huge turnout of alumni/fans when they play Georgetown in DC. It's a great event to go to the game and then head to Penn Quarter afterwards to share some beers with a ton of MU alumni/fans. The same can be replicated in Detroit. Heck, if I were on the alumni board in Detroit I'd promote an event there that combines the game at Calihan Hall with beers afterwards at The Dakota Inn or Tom's Tavern.

I completely understand the reasoning. The Media Markets, the potential recruits the proximity to MU for travel willing fans, the Alumni base... but Detroit hasn't made ANY post season since 1998-99 and Duquesne hasnet made the NCAA tournament since 1977 (4 NIT's since 1979-80)

I'll retract dayton even though its a small market, they've been successful recently and could probably be competitive.  

Quote from: Aughnanure on September 20, 2011, 10:58:58 AM

VCU is seriously a good option to you?

4 NCAA and 3 conference championships ppearances since 2004. yeah I'll take them.

Quote from: Ari Gold on September 20, 2011, 11:44:44 AM
4 NCAA and 3 conference championships ppearances since 2004. yeah I'll take them.

Avg attendance - 6,069, though more than Richmond (5, 959) so i don't know what the pro-con vs adding which one of those are. Dayton, Wichita St. Creighton all have over 10,000.

I think the list of choices should indicate how screwed mu is unless we can somehow slide into a super conference.

Quote from: Norm on September 20, 2011, 11:16:08 AM
The reason I included Detroit and Duquesne was because they are in major media markets. They are also both pretty good recruiting hotbeds for basketball. In addition, Detroit has a large amount of Marquette alumni living in the area, along with a big number of students still attending the school from there. I know MU gets a huge turnout of alumni/fans when they play Georgetown in DC. It's a great event to go to the game and then head to Penn Quarter afterwards to share some beers with a ton of MU alumni/fans. The same can be replicated in Detroit. Heck, if I were on the alumni board in Detroit I'd promote an event there that combines the game at Calihan Hall with beers afterwards at The Dakota Inn or Tom's Tavern.

Major media markets, but nobody watches Detroit or Duquesne.  New York is a major market, but you see anybody watching Albany University or Manhattan University in those markets?

Recruiting hotbeds?  That might be so, but who cares?  2 reasons I don't care; 1) Buzz hasn't recruited in that area and 2) Does telling a recruit, "Hey we might be a mid-major, but you can come home and play against those Detroit Titans" really work?  Doubt it.

Alumni events.  You really want our conference affiliation to be based on the university's ability to get alumni events?  You'd rather have Marquette be a mid-major just so alumni could have a beer with each other after destroying Duquesne in basketball?  I don't

Quote from: Aughnanure on September 20, 2011, 12:26:00 PM
Avg attendance - 6,069, though more than Richmond (5, 959) so i don't know what the pro-con vs adding which one of those are. Dayton, Wichita St. Creighton all have over 10,000.

Their attendence might go up with better opponents. Expect MU's to go down.

It "might," but when its max capacity is 7,500 does it matter? Richmond's goes to 9,071.

Quote from: Warriors10 on September 20, 2011, 12:40:13 PM
Major media markets, but nobody watches Detroit or Duquesne.  New York is a major market, but you see anybody watching Albany University or Manhattan University in those markets?

Recruiting hotbeds?  That might be so, but who cares?  2 reasons I don't care; 1) Buzz hasn't recruited in that area and 2) Does telling a recruit, "Hey we might be a mid-major, but you can come home and play against those Detroit Titans" really work?  Doubt it.

Alumni events.  You really want our conference affiliation to be based on the university's ability to get alumni events?  You'd rather have Marquette be a mid-major just so alumni could have a beer with each other after destroying Duquesne in basketball?  I don't

Where did I say that our conference affiliation should be based solely on alumni events? I said that could be part of the consideration. Being able to play in an area where there is a lot of alumni is beneficial to the university. It helps with continuing relationships and with fundraising.

As for Detroit, UM and MSU are the big dogs, but the media, both TV and print, does cover the Titans. If we're in a conference with Detroit than the conference and its member schools will get some media attention that keeps them on the radar of recruits in the area.

But again, that's why I put up the poll to begin with, to see what people thought. And it looks like the majority of folks agree with you since there is very little support for joining a conference that includes Detroit. It's fine with me if we don't team up with Detroit, I was just trying to give some thoughts on arguments to be made if a new conference did include them in the mix.

I like the idea of a 14 school basketball superconference of basketball only schools.  East and West divisions where in division you play home and away and play home or away out of division.

East

St. John's
Detroit
Georgetown
Villanova
Providence
Seton Hall
Xavier



West

Marquette
BYU
Gonzaga
Notre Dame
DePaul
Butler
St. Louis

I don't buy into the regional argument that schools across the country won't work.  Deliver a great product no matter who is in the conference and deliver big audiences for television contracts.

Quote from: Aughnanure on September 20, 2011, 12:44:53 PM
It "might," but when its max capacity is 7,500 does it matter? Richmond's goes to 9,071.

Attendance numbers are nice and all, but it's a throwaway figure. Saying Creighton is a better bet than Detroit because of how many people go to the game is about as logical as saying Marquette is a bigger fish than St. John's. Omaha is no more the equal of Detroit than Milwaukee is of New York.

Forget about attendance. When it comes to TV contracts, does anyone care that Duke plays in a venue that seats less than 10K?

Quote from: Montana Warrior on September 20, 2011, 02:52:38 PM
I don't buy into the regional argument that schools across the country won't work.  Deliver a great product no matter who is in the conference and deliver big audiences for television contracts.

And create gigantic travel budgets for all sports, hemorrhaging money that the University doesn't have.

Quote from: brewcity77 on September 20, 2011, 03:30:16 PM
Attendance numbers are nice and all, but it's a throwaway figure. Saying Creighton is a better bet than Detroit because of how many people go to the game is about as logical as saying Marquette is a bigger fish than St. John's. Omaha is no more the equal of Detroit than Milwaukee is of New York.

Forget about attendance. When it comes to TV contracts, does anyone care that Duke plays in a venue that seats less than 10K?

Creighton is a popular draw in Omaha, and has a consistent history of bringing out its fans. That is huge if we are making a worst-case-scenario league. We can't have teams with hardly any fan support just because they are in a bigger market. If this league loses fan interest, it is done. We need teams with fanbases that will care and continue to care when they lose. That's why I think Creighton should not be ignored because it is in Omaha and why Dayton is a viable option as well, even if it overlaps the same market with Xavier.

Quote from: Skatastrophy on September 20, 2011, 03:51:31 PM
And create gigantic travel budgets for all sports, hemorrhaging money that the University doesn't have.

Not saying thats not a correct argument. But how much more will it be for Marquette? We already have to fly everywhere for all our sports, is Salt Lake City that much farther/expensive than Syracuse on a plane? An hour, hour and half?

We kind of are already in this realm, regardless of what league we choose-  it will be expensive. Gonzaga flies all the way down to Southern California all the time to play, would the midwest be that much worse?

I know the Big 12 schools talking about going to PAC have floated ideas that restricted the their Olympic sports' travel to their division/pod only except for maybe 1-2 times a year, plus championship.

Not saying its not a MAJOR concern, but to form a relevant and nationally recognized conference w/out the BCS football schools may require some sacrifice.