MUScoop

MUScoop => Hangin' at the Al => Topic started by: esotericmindguy on December 14, 2012, 10:06:05 AM

Title: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: esotericmindguy on December 14, 2012, 10:06:05 AM
I was wondering what the recruits think of the decision to part with the Big East and whether that would effect their commitment. The link is below, JuJuan Johnson's Quote:

"I'm just finding out about it right now. The Big East was one of the reasons I went to Marquette, but not really why I'm going there. I like the players I'm coming in with and want to be on a good team. It doesn't really matter what conference we are in."

<http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/recruiting/blog/eye-on-college-basketball-recruiting/21401857/recruits-react-to-the-big-east-split-does-it-matter>
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: Dawson Rental on December 14, 2012, 10:09:10 AM
Quote from: esotericmindguy on December 14, 2012, 10:06:05 AM
I was wondering what the recruits think of the decision to part with the Big East and whether that would effect their commitment. The link is below, JuJuan Johnson's Quote:

"I'm just finding out about it right now. The Big East was one of the reasons I went to Marquette, but not really why I'm going there. I like the players I'm coming in with and want to be on a good team. It doesn't really matter what conference we are in."

<http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/recruiting/blog/eye-on-college-basketball-recruiting/21401857/recruits-react-to-the-big-east-split-does-it-matter>

With JuJuan on board, I think that we'll be fine with everyone else.  I bet he still will get (at least) the occasional call from 'bama.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 10:17:47 AM
I think he's saying three things that Marquette needs to be aware of:

1) This league needs to be tough. Players need to be playing in marquee games against high-profile teams. This is why teams like Xavier, Butler, and Gonzaga that have sustained success for the past 15+ years are so important. You can get nationally televised games by putting Marquette up against those sorts of teams. Will anyone in Seattle or San Diego or Dallas care if Marquette is playing Dayton or St. Louis? Probably not. But Xavier or Gonzaga? Different story.

2) The schools involved need to make a clear financial commitment to their programs. Winning a few games or making a NCAA tourney run or two is nice, but committing to your up and coming coach, upgrading practice and playing facilities, and making sure your boosters are on board with the forward direction of the program is more important.

3) Non-conference scheduling matters. In addition to playing Wisconsin every year, securing nationally televised series with schools like Louisville and Notre Dame should be a top priority. Also, I think Roy Williams idea of making sure all of his non-local recruits get one "homecoming" game is one we should endorse. Schedule a home-and-home with Memphis so Jajuan Johnson gets to play in front of his family and friends at least once. Look into a home-and-home with Virginia, Virginia Tech, VCU, or maybe a 2-for-1 with Norfolk State or Old Dominion so Davante and Jamal can showcase their skills to their friends and family. In this new conference, making sure our recruits know coming in that they will be playing not just in the best non-football basketball league but that they will get to play at least once close to home is important.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: jsglow on December 14, 2012, 10:25:57 AM
Point 3 seems to be a stretch Brew.  Should we schedule a home/home with Cal just because Juan is from there?

Kids want to be on TV and playing 'Big Monday'.  Xavier gets us that much better than Tulane does.  We all agree on that for sure.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: StillAWarrior on December 14, 2012, 10:31:29 AM
Someone just has to explain to the recruits the reality of the situation and that the "Big East" is just a name (and hopefully a name we'll get to retain).  When they say they were looking forward to playing in the Big East, what they mean is that they were looking forward to playing the Big East teams.  I can pretty much guarantee you that they're not talking about Tulane, Temple, USF, Houston, etc.

The only two teams that they might be talking about that probably (?) won't be involved are UConn and Cinci...and those teams were probably short-timers anyway.  No matter what the conference is called, they'll still be getting Georgetown, Villanova, St. Johns, Seton Hall, Providence and Depaul.  They knew when the signed on that they weren't going to have the others who already defected.  And it's likely that there will be a few new teams in the mix that are stronger than much of what is being left behind.  

So, unless they had a real burning desire to play against UConn or Cinci, it honestly should not be that big of a deal.  Especially if we can keep the conference tournament at MSG.

Edited to add:  we also need a decent TV contract -- that's a big deal too.  It might not be worth as much money, but I suspect the new conference will get plenty of of games on TV.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: chapman on December 14, 2012, 10:36:12 AM
The biggest part of it is just to be out there.  We brought our team to Charleston, Maui, and Gainsville this year and played our usual rivalry game with UW.  I don't know that you have to go to VCU to make one or two players happy, but make sure to keep up that kind of scheduling that gets exposure.  If you're relevant in November, December, and March all you really have to do is avoid falling off the radar in January and February; this conference takes care of that well.  Getting Notre Dame and Louisville in the non-con, make sure we are always in a preseason tournament, and try for one more event (Carrier Classic, Coaches vs. Cancer, etc.) and we're very relevant nationally so long as we're not NIT regulars come March.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 10:41:09 AM
Quote from: jsglow on December 14, 2012, 10:25:57 AM
Point 3 seems to be a stretch Brew.  Should we schedule a home/home with Cal just because Juan is from there?

Kids want to be on TV and playing 'Big Monday'.  Xavier gets us that much better than Tulane does.  We all agree on that for sure.

I think it makes a lot more sense to schedule a home-and-home with Cal than it does LSU or Vanderbilt. If we can build a quality schedule and make our recruits happy, why not kill two birds with one stone? Of course, just adding St. Mary's along with Gonzaga would solve that one.

Also, they don't all have to be high-majors. Marquette's name is going to sell out and bring attention to any mid-major to low-major school they play at. Especially if they are coming in with a local kid. Instead of paying teams for buy games, make 2-for-1 offers. Get the buy games for free in exchange for satisfying your recruits (by playing on their home turf) and getting a slight uptick in RPI by winning road games. Wouldn't it be better to give a 2-for-1 to San Francisco than to just bring UMBC to the Bradley Center again?
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: jsglow on December 14, 2012, 10:53:37 AM
Quote from: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 10:41:09 AM
Instead of paying teams for buy games, make 2-for-1 offers. Get the buy games for free in exchange for satisfying your recruits (by playing on their home turf) and getting a slight uptick in RPI by winning road games. Wouldn't it be better to give a 2-for-1 to San Francisco than to just bring UMBC to the Bradley Center again?

I'll be interested to any high major program you can point to that utilizes such a model.

Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 11:14:54 AM
Quote from: jsglow on December 14, 2012, 10:53:37 AM
I'll be interested to any high major program you can point to that utilizes such a model.

Are you familiar with the University of North Carolina? That's why I mentioned Roy Williams above. In recent years they've played true road games at Long Beach State (The Wear Brothers), Evansville (Tyler Zeller), and UC-Santa Barbara (Larry Drew), among many others. Most expect them to play a road game at UW-Milwaukee in the next 2-3 years for JP Tokoto.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: TheGym on December 14, 2012, 11:17:59 AM
Quote from: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 11:14:54 AM
Are you familiar with the University of North Carolina? That's why I mentioned Roy Williams above. In recent years they've played true road games at Long Beach State (The Wear Brothers), Evansville (Tyler Zeller), and UC-Santa Barbara (Larry Drew), among many others. Most expect them to play a road game at UW-Milwaukee in the next 2-3 years for JP Tokoto.

Why UWM?  They must be scared of us!!!!
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: jficke13 on December 14, 2012, 11:19:17 AM
Haha, we should welcome in UNC for that game. I'd love to have a shot at 'em on the Al McGuire Court.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 11:25:31 AM
Quote from: lawwarrior12 on December 14, 2012, 11:19:17 AM
Haha, we should welcome in UNC for that game. I'd love to have a shot at 'em on the Al McGuire Court.

I wish! More often than not UNC does this with cupcake games, I think to ensure the player gets a win in their homecoming. Of course, for us I think it would be prudent to not be quite as picky. This tactic would work well with home and homes (Virginia, Va Tech, VCU, Richmond all work for Davante and Jamal, New Mexico or NM State for Dawson) as well as tournaments (Anaheim for Juan, Great Alaska for Derrick...okay, that's a reach). But it would also work to get buy games. I imagine most sub-150 teams would welcome a 2-for-1 or even 3-for-1 with a program like ours.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: LloydMooresLegs on December 14, 2012, 11:35:07 AM
Quote from: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 11:14:54 AM
Are you familiar with the University of North Carolina? That's why I mentioned Roy Williams above. In recent years they've played true road games at Long Beach State (The Wear Brothers), Evansville (Tyler Zeller), and UC-Santa Barbara (Larry Drew), among many others. Most expect them to play a road game at UW-Milwaukee in the next 2-3 years for JP Tokoto.

IIRC, NC did this under Dean Smith too, and is one of the reasons that NC played MU in 1985 or 86 (Joe Wolf)
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: mileskishnish72 on December 14, 2012, 12:56:14 PM
Derrick played prep ball in CT, so maybe a UConn game would be good enough.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: 79Warrior on December 14, 2012, 01:02:46 PM
Quote from: brewcity77 on December 14, 2012, 11:14:54 AM
Are you familiar with the University of North Carolina? That's why I mentioned Roy Williams above. In recent years they've played true road games at Long Beach State (The Wear Brothers), Evansville (Tyler Zeller), and UC-Santa Barbara (Larry Drew), among many others. Most expect them to play a road game at UW-Milwaukee in the next 2-3 years for JP Tokoto.

MU has done that back in the day. We played in Florida for Oliver Lee.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: The Process on December 14, 2012, 01:50:07 PM
Quote from: mileskishnish72 on December 14, 2012, 12:56:14 PM
Derrick played prep ball in CT, so maybe a UConn game would be good enough.

Only if Buzz and Derrick can dance at midcourt after we win.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: Bocephys on December 14, 2012, 02:10:18 PM
Quote from: 79Warrior on December 14, 2012, 01:02:46 PM
MU has done that back in the day. We played in Florida for Oliver Lee.

I'm pretty sure we have a West Coast game planned for Juan next year as well.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: Groin_pull on December 14, 2012, 02:23:46 PM
Quote from: Bocephys on December 14, 2012, 02:10:18 PM
I'm pretty sure we have a West Coast game planned for Juan next year as well.

What have you heard? I would love a NorCal game next season.
Title: Re: Recruit and Conference Realignment
Post by: Bocephys on December 14, 2012, 02:34:12 PM
Quote from: Groin_pull on December 14, 2012, 02:23:46 PM
What have you heard? I would love a NorCal game next season.

Apparently I was just thinking of the Anaheim tournament.  I had remembered him tweeting something about playing close to home his junior year awhile back, but all I could find was this (http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=27426.msg313309;topicseen#msg313309 (http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=27426.msg313309;topicseen#msg313309)) when I searched for it.  For some reason I was thinking it was a home and home with a school out there.
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