http://www.vuhoops.com/2013/1/7/3846034/where-is-the-catholic-7-in-the-start-up-process
Note: read their comments after the article
Yikes, too long winded for taste.
They are still bummed out they are not FBS football. Lotta dissapointment lately 'round novaville.
Quote from: MtAiryGoldenEagle on January 08, 2013, 12:16:31 PM
http://www.vuhoops.com/2013/1/7/3846034/where-is-the-catholic-7-in-the-start-up-process
Note: read their comments after the article
What do you have a problem with, exactly?
Imagine yourself as a Nova fan that wants the administration to get behind fball and play with the big boys. Of course they are disappointed. Their AD and President had a small window to move up in fball and they put together a lousy plan that the BE fball members didnt support. Then, to add insult to injury, they got leap-frogged by Temple. Certainly Temple is in a much better spot going forward then they were in before. Plus, you could make a very solid argument that both basketball programs cant co-exist at a high level. My money is on Temple in that regard. Nova offers the C7 exposure to Philly, but I have a bad feeling their bball program will take a step back. Philly sports fans are hard to please and Nova benefited (like everyone else) from playing the fball schools in bball. Now, I think Philly fans will have a solid alternative in Temple...a relatively large public school with a much bigger fanbase.
I find their opinions consistent, if differently stated, with what many have said here recently and in the distant past. They are debating football, whether or not they need it to be an elite athletic program, and are more skeptical than this board about the long term viability of a basketball only conference. Why the criticism?
The only criticism is the "we might be perceived as second-tier" bullsh*t. If you perform well, it really doesn't matter what people think of you. Those labels are dumb.
Living in Philadelphia, I must be infected with the irrational dislike of all things Villanova the majority of people (those who graduated from one of the other Philadelphia D-1 schools) have for the VU team and their perceived haughty fans. I blame my father-in-law, who graduated from Saint Joseph's University.
Regarding Temple football, unless you graduated from or currently attend Temple, Philadelphians aren't generally interested in college football. The city is a college basketball town.
Historically, Philadelphia does support 2 con-current successful programs. Interestingly, since Jay wright started bringing in higher rated recruits (several McDonald's All Americans), he hasn't been as successful as he was a few years ago.
Yes, I'll admit it is un-fair to pick on VU fans who are still skeptical a successful basketball conference is possible without football.
Philadelphia fans aren't really that hard to please; they just expect the worst and hope their wrong.
Quote from: MtAiryGoldenEagle on January 08, 2013, 01:39:37 PM
Philadelphia fans aren't really that hard to please; they just expect the worst and hope their wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWvza6en5Rg
It's amazing that fans of a program with literally no relevant football tradition or history are tying their identity so closely to it.
To move up or stay at the top of anything requires foresight. I believe that foresight into the future of college football indicates that its at its peak now; a peak that includes most teams losing money. As the revenues increase, the costs will increase more. All the money coming into college football will make paying players an inevitability. Some places, they catch monkeys by hollowing out a coconut with a hole just big enough for a monkey's hand. Then they put something monkey's like inside. When the monkeys grab what they want, their fist makes getting their hand out of the coconut impossible. Since they won't let go of the treat, they get captured.
FBS football is a monkey trap for today's athletic departments. Any athletic department with ambition that can scrounge the money together is adding it or moving up their FCS program. The reality is schools should be looking seriously at going the other direction. The problem is they just can't let go of that perceived goodie. Fortunately for Villanova, I don't think that their administration will fall into that trap. If they were going to, staying in a Big East that's fighting to survive was probably their best shot at moving up to FBS.
I honestly think having a relevant bball team and no FBS football is better right now than having a relevant bball team and an irrelevant football team right now. See, Cincy, UCONN, and if you go back to when people thought the Big 12 was about to collapse, Kansas.
No football team at all gives you the freedom to pursue something like the C7. Having a terrible football team means you have to find that terrible team a home, likely with other terrible teams.
Quote from: lawwarrior12 on January 08, 2013, 03:18:05 PM
No football team at all gives you the freedom to pursue something like the C7. Having a terrible football team means you have to find that terrible team a home, likely with other terrible teams.
Duke has a terrible fball team. Do you think they are interested in leaving what will soon be the best bball conference in the country? How about Wake? Or BC? Or even Indiana?
I think Kansas likes the B12 just fine.
Your comment only has merit when applied to UConn and Cincy. Otherwise, I dont think any school from the Big 5 conferences is remotely interested in the C7.
Quote from: lawwarrior12 on January 08, 2013, 03:18:05 PM
I honestly think having a relevant bball team and no FBS football is better right now than having a relevant bball team and an irrelevant football team right now. See, Cincy, UCONN, and if you go back to when people thought the Big 12 was about to collapse, Kansas.
No football team at all gives you the freedom to pursue something like the C7. Having a terrible football team means you have to find that terrible team a home, likely with other terrible teams.
Or with some terrible teams, a couple of good ones, and a team that thinks its better than everyone else and so is working on ways to keep the majority of cable TV and other revenue for itself.
They were a consistant top 25 team in basketball, but that is history. They were bad last year and may even be worse this year. There 2013 recruiting class consists of a four star 6-5 power forward and a 3 star 6-4 small forward.
Quote from: honkytonk on January 08, 2013, 03:25:13 PM
Duke has a terrible fball team. Do you think they are interested in leaving what will soon be the best bball conference in the country? How about Wake? Or BC? Or even Indiana?
I think Kansas likes the B12 just fine.
Your comment only has merit when applied to UConn and Cincy. Otherwise, I dont think any school from the Big 5 conferences is remotely interested in the C7.
The point, I believe, is that it probably would apply to us if we had tried to establish a football team again.
Quote from: bilsu on January 08, 2013, 04:01:57 PM
They were a consistant top 25 team in basketball, but that is history. They were bad last year and may even be worse this year. There 2013 recruiting class consists of a four star 6-5 power forward and a 3 star 6-4 small forward.
I'm not ready to write them off just yet. Going with less regarded recruits may actually help them. Their Final Four and recent success certainly helped recruiting, but all those stars didn't translate into a more cohesive team. I think Jay Wright, like Buzz, thrives on getting the 3 and 4 star recruits to play like 5 stars, and definitely has been at his best with 4-year players. I am optimistic they can turn it around in the next couple years by getting back to being a team and less a collection of Mickey D talent.
Quote from: honkytonk on January 08, 2013, 03:25:13 PM
Duke has a terrible fball team. Do you think they are interested in leaving what will soon be the best bball conference in the country? How about Wake? Or BC? Or even Indiana?
I think Kansas likes the B12 just fine.
Your comment only has merit when applied to UConn and Cincy. Otherwise, I dont think any school from the Big 5 conferences is remotely interested in the C7.
Kansas likes the Big 12 just fine. However, when Texas to the SEC was rumored everyone was angling for a new spot to go, and Kansas was on the outside looking in on many of those scenarios. Duke likes the ACC, because they're in the ACC. If it was Duke, Cincy, and UCONN, Duke's football team would be a liability.
With a football team you have to find a home for that football team in the event of catastrophic restructuring. If Nova had a football team, then they would not be with us trying to start a bball only conference, they would be scrambling to get into whatever football league would take them, which would likely be with teams that are terrible for bball and mediocre or bad for football. On the balance, I'd say having no football team, and landing in a good if not great conference for your marquee sport is better than having a football team and landing in a bad conference for both your marquee sports.
Quote from: Aughnanure on January 08, 2013, 01:57:27 PM
It's amazing that fans of a program with literally no relevant football tradition or history are tying their identity so closely to it.
They've had a few guys in the NFL, like HOF Howie Long, Brian Westbrook, Brian Finneran, etc.
Quote from: lawwarrior12 on January 08, 2013, 03:18:05 PM
I honestly think having a relevant bball team and no FBS football is better right now than having a relevant bball team and an irrelevant football team right now. See, Cincy, UCONN, and if you go back to when people thought the Big 12 was about to collapse, Kansas.
No football team at all gives you the freedom to pursue something like the C7. Having a terrible football team means you have to find that terrible team a home, likely with other terrible teams.
In another few years, there could be a tier of football only division and the basketball only schools play a level down. In that situation, if it were to happen, it would be better to be Memphis, UConn, Cincinnati, etc.