[Paint Touches] Comparing AAC and Big East attendance

[PaintTouches]

http://painttouches.com/2013/08/21/comparing-aac-and-big-east-attendance/

[MUMonster03]

This is not surprising at all. You have a conference that has only 3 schools that care about basketball. Memphis, Cincy, and UConn and then a bunch of schools who came hoping to get into a BCS qualifying conference for football and things imploded. It sucked that we couldn't stay with the 16 we had, but if we would have stayed the overall product would have been greatly diluted.

I look at the AAC and I see a lot of conference games that I wouldn't have wanted to go to.

[Spotcheck Billy]

This is not surprising at all. You have a conference that has only 3 schools that care about basketball. Memphis, Cincy, and UConn and then a bunch of schools who came hoping to get into a BCS qualifying conference for football and things imploded. It sucked that we couldn't stay with the 16 we had, but if we would have stayed the overall product would have been greatly diluted.

I look at the AAC and I see a lot of conference games that I wouldn't have wanted to go to.

Yup, folks can talk about the fewer quality draws we'll see at the BC but after Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville etc. left, the AAC draws might would have been even worse

[Aughnanure]

We got spoiled for 8 years.

[source?]

We definitely came out of this split better than the AAC. The only real loss is UConn in my opinion, and that ship sailed the minute they decided to upgrade their football. Xavier has been better than Cincinnati over the last decade or two. Both conferences will likely experience some dropoff in attendance, but we will definitely come out on top.

[Brewtown Andy]

Xavier has been better than Cincinnati over the last decade or two.

I'll give you the last decade, but Huggins didn't leave Cincinnati until 2005.

[Galway Eagle]

This is not surprising at all. You have a conference that has only 3 schools that care about basketball. Memphis, Cincy, and UConn and then a bunch of schools who came hoping to get into a BCS qualifying conference for football and things imploded. It sucked that we couldn't stay with the 16 we had, but if we would have stayed the overall product would have been greatly diluted.

I look at the AAC and I see a lot of conference games that I wouldn't have wanted to go to.

That awkward momen you forget about Temple who's a top 10 winningest program. 

[source?]

I'll give you the last decade, but Huggins didn't leave Cincinnati until 2005.

Starting with the 1993-94 season Cincinnati has 15 NCAA appearances, 3 sweet 16's and 1 elite 8. Xavier has 14 NCAA appearances, 5 sweet 16's and 2 elite 8's. That's 20 years to this season, I'd give the edge to Xavier. If you take it as 2 individual decades then yes, you are correct. Cincinnati, between 1993-94 and 2003-2004 had 11 NCAA appearances, 2 sweet 16's and an elite 8. Xavier had only 7 NCAA appearances in that period. It's all a matter of perspective, but I'd still rather have Xavier.

[The Equalizer]

http://painttouches.com/2013/08/21/comparing-aac-and-big-east-attendance/

It will be interesting to see how things change over the next five years.

I suspect that the AAC will close the gap, as the former BE teams lose traditional draws like Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pitt and UConn, while the former CUSA teams pick up UConn, Cincy, Temple & Memphis.  You might not like teams like ECU, Tulane or SMU--but you have to admit that they've improved their situation from where they were before. 

Similarly, I expect the power ratings to converge as well, for two reasons.  First, reflects the same shift in league lineups as above.  Second, because the NBE teams collectively won more than 50% (58% collectively last year, if I recall) of their league games.  This will be an impossiblity going forward, so there will be a decline in w/l percentage for league games to exactly 50% on average.