Build your own 12-team BBall Conference

[Ari Gold]

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

[CTWarrior]

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.  

[Aughnanure]

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.

[Warriors10]

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.

[Aughnanure]

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?

[Les Nessman]

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

[Norm]

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.

[lab_warrior]

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.

[Ari Gold]

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.  

VCU is seriously a good option to you?

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

[Aughnanure]

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.

[Guy Fieri's Dad]

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

[Warriors10]

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

[bilsu]

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.

[Aughnanure]

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

[Norm]

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.

[Montana Warrior]

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.

[brewcity77]

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?

[Skatastrophy]

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.

[Aughnanure]

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.

[Aughnanure]

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.