Siena, UDM, no Creighton, wtf?

[TinyTimsLittleBrother]

Yup, one school subject to Freedom of Information Act requests makes the league office also subject to such requests.

That's not really true.

However it would make any written correspondence on the conference between that member and the other members and/or the league office potentially public.

But it really isn't that big of a deal.

[keefe]

But you missed my point completely. I'm not arguing for Detroit to be included in the league, I was just trying to show that there could be advantages overall if they were selected, mainly by getting the Marquette name more prominent among Michigan high schoolers. Even if Detroit is not the most loved team in the state, having Marquette come to the state once a year, playing in the Detroit market, having their games on TV throughout the season, can help with recruiting.

This makes no sense whatsoever.

[Pakuni]

But it won't just be Detroit Mercy fans tuning in - it will be the Marquette, Xavier, DePaul, St. Louis, Georgetown and other team alums and fans watching their teams play. There are a lot of MU alumni in the Detroit area. It'll also be all the bars in the Detroit metro area having the games on, whether it's UDM or other teams in the league.

It will be hard to get the best players from the area, but a lot of great talent in Detroit and Michigan goes to play out of state. Just a few of these players over the past 25 years include:

Roy Marble (Flint Beecher) - Iowa
Derrick Coleman (Detroit Northern) - Syracuse
Doug Smith (Detroit MacKenzie) - Missouri
Marc Macon (Saginaw Bunea Vista ) - Temple
BJ Armstrong (Birmingham Brother Rice) - Iowa
Negele Knight (St. Martin DePorres) - Dayton
Willie Burton (St. Martin DePorres) - Minnesota
Voshon Leonard (Detroit Southwestern) - Minnesota
Arthur Johnson (Detroit Pershing) - Missouri
Ricky Paulding (Detroit Renaissance) - Missouri
Anthony Roberson (Saginaw) - Florida
Shane Battier (Detroit Country Day) - Duke
Brandon Jenkins (Detroit Southeastern) - Louisville
Al Horford (Grand Ledge) - Florida
Joe Crawford (Detroit Renaissance) - Kentucky
Tory Jackson (Saginaw Buena Vista) - Notre Dame
Chris Douglas-Roberts (Detroit Cass Tech) - Memphis
Malik Hairston (Detroit Renaissance) - Oregon
Donovan Kirk (Detroit Country Day) - DePaul
Amir Williams (Detroit Country Day) - Ohio State

Doesn't this list largely disprove your point?
Most of the schools on this list have no regular presence in the Detroit market, much less a conference mate there, and yet have successfully recruited top players there.

Also, MU, GTown, etc. alums in Detroit are going to watch their team's games whether they're playing Detroit or Creighton or Richmond.

Bringing Detroit into this conference would be an abomination.

[Norm]

This makes no sense whatsoever.

What's so hard to understand? You don't think Marquette could have an easier time recruiting Michigan if they were actually in a league that included a team from Michigan?

[Norm]

Doesn't this list largely disprove your point?
Most of the schools on this list have no regular presence in the Detroit market, much less a conference mate there, and yet have successfully recruited top players there.

Also, MU, GTown, etc. alums in Detroit are going to watch their team's games whether they're playing Detroit or Creighton or Richmond.

Bringing Detroit into this conference would be an abomination.

Almost all of those players went to a Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, or Big East school - conferences that have always had a good presence on TV. Norm Stewart had a pipeline of Detroit kids going to Missouri and Quinn Snyder continued it. Marquette has only recently had the same amount of TV coverage by joining the Big East. Hopefully Marquette gets great TV coverage in the new conference too.

My point with the list is that there are good players to be had from Michigan that don't go to the in-state schools. TV presence helps get them, but a league member in the state could also help too.

[keefe]

What's so hard to understand? You don't think Marquette could have an easier time recruiting Michigan if they were actually in a league that included a team from Michigan?

No. I do not. In fact, adding Detroit Mercy degrades our brand equity in Detroit among kids there. Adding UofM or MSU would be different.

Amazing how many kids Buzz gets from Texas and Tidewater without a conference footprint. Just think what would happen if we added Prairie View and ODU!

[keefe]

Almost all of those players went to a Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, or Big East school - conferences that have always had a good presence on TV. Norm Stewart had a pipeline of Detroit kids going to Missouri and Quinn Snyder continued it. Marquette has only recently had the same amount of TV coverage by joining the Big East. Hopefully Marquette gets great TV coverage in the new conference too.

My point with the list is that there are good players to be had from Michigan that don't go to the in-state schools. TV presence helps get them, but a league member in the state could also help too.

This I agree with. Detroit has a lot of talent and Stewart mined it effectively despite not playing any Michigan teams. Buzz has a national footprint for recruiting that is proving to be rather effective. Adding teams like Detroit cheapens our brand and would hurt recruiting. All of our games are on TV as it is. We don't need Detroit to robust TV coverage.

[Norm]

No. I do not. In fact, adding Detroit Mercy degrades our brand equity in Detroit among kids there. Adding UofM or MSU would be different.

Amazing how many kids Buzz gets from Texas and Tidewater without a conference footprint. Just think what would happen if we added Prairie View and ODU!

What? Are you kidding me? When was the last time you were even in Detroit, let alone Michigan? Nobody would think less of Marquette because Detroit is in their league. Do you think the people of Detroit think Butler sucks and is "degraded" because they played in the same league and made annual treks to Calihan Hall? Lots of people in the Detroit metro area root for U of D, as they are considered an underdog and people like that.

By the way, if you say that about Detroit, then you have to say that Marquette's brand equity is degraded by DePaul and St. John's, both of whom have lower winning percentages than Detroit does in the past 10 years. And Providence is barely better than Detroit.

And I'm not even arguing for Detroit to be in the league - I'm only saying that there could be some benefits if they were added. My top 5 to join the league are Xavier, Butler and Creighton, followed by St. Louis and VCU. If Gonzaga is willing to join, bump out VCU.

[dgies9156]

What? Nobody would think less of Marquette because Detroit is in their league.

I have my doubts we'll be adding Detroit. But let's think about this:

We lose games against Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, West Virginia (with the Huggie Bear), Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers and UConn

We add Creighton, St. Louis, Detroit, Xavier, Dayton, Butler and Richmond.

Ummm, I'm sorry but I have tickets to Notre Dame and Syracuse next week and I am really fired up for both. I've been to Marquette games against every single one of these replacement teams except Butler and I can't ever envision feeling the same way about any of these teams that I do about ND, Syracuse and Pitt, all of which I have seen this year.

Look, the Big East break-up is inevitable and I know we have to do what we have to do. But for heaven's sake, our brand will be diluted. We won't draw as many people to a Detroit game (unless we have a Dickey V nostalgia night and Dickey V coaches Detroit) as we would to any of the lost games, sans Rutgers. We just won't. Syracuse is sold out Monday night and the Notre Dame game  also is sold out. Those are "must see" games.

[Norm]

dgies9156,

I was saying that few people in the Detroit metropolitan area would think any less of Marquette than they did prior if Detroit Mercy were added to the league. For sure UDM would not be a big draw initially at the Bradley Center - which is why I'm not arguing for them to be in the league. A 10-team league with Xavier, Butler and Creighton would be the best possible scenario if Gonzaga can't join because of travel logistics for non-basketball sports. By having a 10 team league you have home-and-home with each team and have more out of conference games available which you could then schedule the likes of Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse and other former Big East partners. If the league has to go to 12 teams due to TV pressure, then add St. Louis and VCU.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Don't pass bad info. Monday's game versus Syracuse has about 1,000 tickets or so left. MU is giving some seats up for $10.

[dgies9156]

dgies9156,

I was saying that few people in the Detroit metropolitan area would think any less of Marquette than they did prior if Detroit Mercy were added to the league.

Unless we successfully recruit Detroit, do we care what folks in the Detroit metro region think of us?

[The Equalizer]

Unless we successfully recruit Detroit, do we care what folks in the Detroit metro region think of us?

Zoom in to Nebraka.  Then Zoom into Michigan.  There's your answer.

"Marquette marks another banner year of freshman applications and admission letters have been received by the Class of 2017. See how many students from your area have been accepted to Marquette. The deadline for students to make their decision is May 1."

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