Split is official

[forgetful]

I think we will see ESPN (divorce remorse) drop the power conference lingo (mid-major) and adopt BCS leagues and non-BCS leagues.

[Eldon]

#1: No.  ESPN can always sub-license games, just like CBS did with Pitt @ MU this year.

#2: Yes, "power conference," "major," "Big 6," or whatever you want to call it.  It has a major TV contract, it has national exposure, and in its inaugural season, it's going to have at least 5 teams (MU, GU, Nova, Butler, Creighton), maybe 6 (PC or X), that made the tournament in 2013, and possibly 7 or more (SLU?, VCU?) if they go to twelve right away.  How many "mid-major" conferences have ever had 6 bids?

C-USA did in 2004, yet they/we were still considered mid-major (though I think that label just started to catch on around that time)

"Power 6" will always refer to football, which I don't foresee changing.  This is unfortunate because the implication is that if youre not a "Power" (major) conference, you must be a weak (non-major) conference.

[LloydMooresLegs]

It simply will come down to this:  does the New Big East consistently get 5 or more teams in the NCAAs?  If so, doesn't matter what it's labeled, the confence will be top 4 and will be a "power" conference. 

With X, Butler, MU, GTown and Nova, there will be a solid base of teams that are capable of doing that year in and year out.  Throw in SLU and Creighton, and 5 plus invites should be expected.

[keefe]

I imagine that Marquette will send an email out this afternoon with more details.

I hear the Marquette AD is good at sending out emails

[The Equalizer]

Would be interesting to see this analysis done of all the conferences (as of their 2014 formations, or whatever).

I was curious as well:

Big 10:  53 Final Fours/264 NCAAs   (47/234 w/o Maryland)
ACC:  57 Final Fours/342 NCAAs  (BE teams account for 15 FFs, 128 NCAAs)
SEC:  31 Final Fours, 250 NCAAs  (6 league teams have never made a Final Four)
Big 12:  36 Final Fours, 235 NCAAs (WVU accounts for 2 FFs/25 NCAAs)
Pac 10:  40 Final Fours, 221 NCAAs

"America 12": 21 Final Fours, 152 NCAAs

Atlantic 10: 9 Final Fours, 90 NCAAs.  (Excluding  Butler, Xavier, Temple, SLU, Dayton)

This sort of comparision reinforces the belief that the new Big East is going to be duking it out with the America 12 as the best conference outside the Big 5.  

[keefe]

I was curious as well:

Big 10:  53 Final Fours/264 NCAAs   (47/234 w/o Maryland)
ACC:  57 Final Fours/342 NCAAs  (BE teams account for 15 FFs, 128 NCAAs)
SEC:  31 Final Fours, 250 NCAAs  (6 league teams have never made a Final Four)
Big 12:  36 Final Fours, 235 NCAAs (WVU accounts for 2 FFs/25 NCAAs)
Pac 10:  40 Final Fours, 221 NCAAs

"America 12": 21 Final Fours, 152 NCAAs

Atlantic 10: 9 Final Fours, 90 NCAAs.  (Excluding  Butler, Xavier, Temple, SLU, Dayton)

This sort of comparision reinforces the belief that the new Big East is going to be duking it out with the America 12 as the best conference outside the Big 5.  

To make it apples to apples it should be weighted by number of teams.

[Eldon]

I was curious as well:

Big 10:  53 Final Fours/264 NCAAs   (47/234 w/o Maryland)
ACC:  57 Final Fours/342 NCAAs  (BE teams account for 15 FFs, 128 NCAAs)
SEC:  31 Final Fours, 250 NCAAs  (6 league teams have never made a Final Four)
Big 12:  36 Final Fours, 235 NCAAs (WVU accounts for 2 FFs/25 NCAAs)
Pac 10:  40 Final Fours, 221 NCAAs

"America 12": 21 Final Fours, 152 NCAAs

Atlantic 10: 9 Final Fours, 90 NCAAs.  (Excluding  Butler, Xavier, Temple, SLU, Dayton)

This sort of comparision reinforces the belief that the new Big East is going to be duking it out with the America 12 as the best conference outside the Big 5.  

Does this include appearances that were vacated?

[Litehouse]

The other conferences will also have more teams, so it skews the overall total numbers.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

I was curious as well:

Big 10:  53 Final Fours/264 NCAAs   (47/234 w/o Maryland)
ACC:  57 Final Fours/342 NCAAs  (BE teams account for 15 FFs, 128 NCAAs)
SEC:  31 Final Fours, 250 NCAAs  (6 league teams have never made a Final Four)
Big 12:  36 Final Fours, 235 NCAAs (WVU accounts for 2 FFs/25 NCAAs)
Pac 10:  40 Final Fours, 221 NCAAs

"America 12": 21 Final Fours, 152 NCAAs

Atlantic 10: 9 Final Fours, 90 NCAAs.  (Excluding  Butler, Xavier, Temple, SLU, Dayton)

This sort of comparision reinforces the belief that the new Big East is going to be duking it out with the America 12 as the best conference outside the Big 5.  

If you divide the # of NCAAs by the number of teams, what do the numbers look like? That would get us closer to an apples to apples comparison

[The Equalizer]

If you divide the # of NCAAs by the number of teams, what do the numbers look like? That would get us closer to an apples to apples comparison

To be a true apples to apples, this should start with 1975--the year the NCAA started allowing more than one team per conference.  Those who want the history can research the 1974 ACC championship that got NC State into the tourney, left #4 ranked Maryland out of the tourney, and caused the NCAA to change how they invited teams.   

Nonetheless, looking on a per-team basis doesn't change things a whole lot:

Big 10: 3.71 FFs/team,  18.9 NCAAs/team (including Rutgers & Maryland)
SEC:  2.21 FFs/team, 17.8 NCAAs/team (including Missouri, Texas A&M)
B12:  3.6 FFs/team, 23.5 NCAAs/team
ACC:  3.8 FFs/team, 23 NCAAs/team (including Pitt, UL, ND and SU)
P10: 3.33 FFs/team, 18.4 NCAAs/team 

"America 12": 2.1 FFs/team, 15.2 NCAAs/team (10 teams: ECU, Houston, UConn, Temple, Memphis, Cincy, SMU, USF, UCF, Tulane)

New Big East  1.8 FFs/team, 18.1 NCAAs/team  (including C7, X, Butler, Dayton, Creighton and SLU--would be slightly worse if I used Richmond instead of Creighton or Dayton).

A10: .7 FFs/team , 9 NCAAs/team  (would be slightly better if I included Dayton)