Something else to be happy about

[The Lens]

Last night the restaurant we were at had two college basketball games on.

Duke-UNC and East Carolina-Tulane. 

We all aspire to be in the same conversation as Duke and North Carolina.  And every once in a while we have been.  But we were in an actual conference with East Carolina & Tulane. 

I looked up at that game and just said a little prayer of thanks for the way the past 20 years have worked out.  We may not have won all the games we should but the "arena" in which we play them has been fantastic. 

So thankful for where we are. 

[4everwarriors]

Dunleavy's livin' large, aina?

[Cheeks]

Last night the restaurant we were at had two college basketball games on.

Duke-UNC and East Carolina-Tulane. 

We all aspire to be in the same conversation as Duke and North Carolina.  And every once in a while we have been.  But we were in an actual conference with East Carolina & Tulane. 

I looked up at that game and just said a little prayer of thanks for the way the past 20 years have worked out.  We may not have won all the games we should but the "arena" in which we play them has been fantastic. 

So thankful for where we are.

A lot of people choking down having to thank Tom Crean and Larry Williams for where we are.  Delicious

[NCMUFan]

Big East took Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette from Conference USA.  Thank God for the Final Four, or Marquette would be still with East Carolina and Tulane.

[brewcity77]

Big East took Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette from Conference USA.  Thank God for the Final Four, or Marquette would be still with East Carolina and Tulane.

Thank God for DePaul. We were only there because they made sure we got into the Great Midwest, which got our foot in the door for CUSA. Though we repaid the favor by making sure they got into the Big East.

[JWags85]

East Carolina sucked. Mingles Coliseum was snakepit. Always played poorly there even though ECU sucked. That top 10 loss there was awful. Same with those Bobby Lutz coached Charlotte teams, though at least they were good borderline NCAA teams. So great having "tough" conference games are against NCAA/top 25 teams instead of worrying about losing road games to teams like South Florida or UAB

[nyg]

Dunleavy's livin' large, aina?

He got fired last year. 

[Stretchdeltsig]

Last night the restaurant we were at had two college basketball games on.

Duke-UNC and East Carolina-Tulane. 

We all aspire to be in the same conversation as Duke and North Carolina.  And every once in a while we have been.  But we were in an actual conference with East Carolina & Tulane. 

I looked up at that game and just said a little prayer of thanks for the way the past 20 years have worked out.  We may not have won all the games we should but the "arena" in which we play them has been fantastic. 

So thankful for where we are.

Not sure what you're smoking.

[MUMountin]

East Carolina sucked. Mingles Coliseum was snakepit. Always played poorly there even though ECU sucked. That top 10 loss there was awful. Same with those Bobby Lutz coached Charlotte teams, though at least they were good borderline NCAA teams. So great having "tough" conference games are against NCAA/top 25 teams instead of worrying about losing road games to teams like South Florida or UAB

My father-in-law teaches at UAB and is a season-ticket holder there.  We have had a number of conversations about those CUSA days--when UAB was at times competitive--and how divergent the paths have been since then.  Really has to be tough watching your old conference mates climb the ladder to the Big East, ACC, Big 12, and even the American while you get stuck playing UTSA and FIU. 

[Goatherder]

Thank God for DePaul. We were only there because they made sure we got into the Great Midwest, which got our foot in the door for CUSA. Though we repaid the favor by making sure they got into the Big East.

DePaul hardly got us into the Great Midwest.  There would not have been a Great Midwest if Marquette had not been a part of it. DePaul was actually contemplating joining the MCC.  There was no obvious place for them to go, and the hope was that the conference could develop into a good one - and it might have.  Two of the teams in it at the time are currently in the Big East, though Butler was terrible back then.  But the conference had them and Xavier and SLU and Dayton, all of which have had some success in recent years.  Detroit and Loyola had some potential.  The hope was to turn it into a Midwest version of the Big East, which was not that crazy.  Recall that the original Big East wanted Holy Cross and UConn and Seton Hall were not prominent when the conference formed. 

But there was a battle about the conference tournament going to Dayton all the time.  The relevant teams decided that the MCC was not going to step up to big time and Marquette and SLU split.  Cinci and Memphis were looking for a way out of the Metro and Louisville was supposed to be an original member but backed out.  So UAB got a spot.  Marquette hardly dragged DePaul along to the Big East either.  The Big East looked like it was going to fall apart after the ACC raided it.  The only way it was going to be held together was with an equal number of football and non-football schools, so Marquette and DePaul were both coming along.  USF was the one that got pulled along.  They were offered a spot as a football only member and were looking to put the rest of their teams in the Atlantic Sun.  The conference wanted a team in Florida for recruiting purposes and had lost Miami.  Then Boston College reneged on their promise to stick around and jump to the ACC so USF got a full membership, which accounts not only for their geographic distance from the rest of the conference but the fact that their basketball team sucked. 

[Herman Cain]

DePaul hardly got us into the Great Midwest.  There would not have been a Great Midwest if Marquette had not been a part of it. DePaul was actually contemplating joining the MCC.  There was no obvious place for them to go, and the hope was that the conference could develop into a good one - and it might have.  Two of the teams in it at the time are currently in the Big East, though Butler was terrible back then.  But the conference had them and Xavier and SLU and Dayton, all of which have had some success in recent years.  Detroit and Loyola had some potential.  The hope was to turn it into a Midwest version of the Big East, which was not that crazy.  Recall that the original Big East wanted Holy Cross and UConn and Seton Hall were not prominent when the conference formed. 

But there was a battle about the conference tournament going to Dayton all the time.  The relevant teams decided that the MCC was not going to step up to big time and Marquette and SLU split.  Cinci and Memphis were looking for a way out of the Metro and Louisville was supposed to be an original member but backed out.  So UAB got a spot.  Marquette hardly dragged DePaul along to the Big East either.  The Big East looked like it was going to fall apart after the ACC raided it.  The only way it was going to be held together was with an equal number of football and non-football schools, so Marquette and DePaul were both coming along.  USF was the one that got pulled along.  They were offered a spot as a football only member and were looking to put the rest of their teams in the Atlantic Sun.  The conference wanted a team in Florida for recruiting purposes and had lost Miami.  Then Boston College reneged on their promise to stick around and jump to the ACC so USF got a full membership, which accounts not only for their geographic distance from the rest of the conference but the fact that their basketball team sucked.

Back in the days when the bars closed at 2 am, there were a lot of deals made out of desperation at 1:55 am.  Was a little bit of that kind of mindset back in the conference evolutionary days as well.

[StillWarriors]

DePaul hardly got us into the Great Midwest.  There would not have been a Great Midwest if Marquette had not been a part of it. DePaul was actually contemplating joining the MCC.  There was no obvious place for them to go, and the hope was that the conference could develop into a good one - and it might have.  Two of the teams in it at the time are currently in the Big East, though Butler was terrible back then.  But the conference had them and Xavier and SLU and Dayton, all of which have had some success in recent years.  Detroit and Loyola had some potential.  The hope was to turn it into a Midwest version of the Big East, which was not that crazy.  Recall that the original Big East wanted Holy Cross and UConn and Seton Hall were not prominent when the conference formed. 

But there was a battle about the conference tournament going to Dayton all the time.  The relevant teams decided that the MCC was not going to step up to big time and Marquette and SLU split.  Cinci and Memphis were looking for a way out of the Metro and Louisville was supposed to be an original member but backed out.  So UAB got a spot.  Marquette hardly dragged DePaul along to the Big East either.  The Big East looked like it was going to fall apart after the ACC raided it.  The only way it was going to be held together was with an equal number of football and non-football schools, so Marquette and DePaul were both coming along.  USF was the one that got pulled along.  They were offered a spot as a football only member and were looking to put the rest of their teams in the Atlantic Sun.  The conference wanted a team in Florida for recruiting purposes and had lost Miami.  Then Boston College reneged on their promise to stick around and jump to the ACC so USF got a full membership, which accounts not only for their geographic distance from the rest of the conference but the fact that their basketball team sucked.

This brought back some great memories. The MCC tourney the first year was fantastic for a mid-level conference. Not sure if "mid-major" was used back then. Several players had long careers in the NBA, including Tony Smith, Negele Knight (Dayton), Anthony Bonner (St. Louis), Tyrone Hill, Brian Grant and Aaron Williams (Xavier). I attended in person, and Dayton's crowd was unreal. Kevin O'Neill was livid about the prospect of the tourney being there every year.

[The Sultan]

My father-in-law teaches at UAB and is a season-ticket holder there.  We have had a number of conversations about those CUSA days--when UAB was at times competitive--and how divergent the paths have been since then.  Really has to be tough watching your old conference mates climb the ladder to the Big East, ACC, Big 12, and even the American while you get stuck playing UTSA and FIU. 

That's what you get when you stick with football.

[The Sultan]

DePaul hardly got us into the Great Midwest.  There would not have been a Great Midwest if Marquette had not been a part of it. DePaul was actually contemplating joining the MCC.  There was no obvious place for them to go, and the hope was that the conference could develop into a good one - and it might have.  Two of the teams in it at the time are currently in the Big East, though Butler was terrible back then.  But the conference had them and Xavier and SLU and Dayton, all of which have had some success in recent years.  Detroit and Loyola had some potential.  The hope was to turn it into a Midwest version of the Big East, which was not that crazy.  Recall that the original Big East wanted Holy Cross and UConn and Seton Hall were not prominent when the conference formed. 

But there was a battle about the conference tournament going to Dayton all the time.  The relevant teams decided that the MCC was not going to step up to big time and Marquette and SLU split.  Cinci and Memphis were looking for a way out of the Metro and Louisville was supposed to be an original member but backed out.  So UAB got a spot.  Marquette hardly dragged DePaul along to the Big East either.  The Big East looked like it was going to fall apart after the ACC raided it.  The only way it was going to be held together was with an equal number of football and non-football schools, so Marquette and DePaul were both coming along.  USF was the one that got pulled along.  They were offered a spot as a football only member and were looking to put the rest of their teams in the Atlantic Sun.  The conference wanted a team in Florida for recruiting purposes and had lost Miami.  Then Boston College reneged on their promise to stick around and jump to the ACC so USF got a full membership, which accounts not only for their geographic distance from the rest of the conference but the fact that their basketball team sucked. 

Was there ever any talks about Marquette joining the Metro instead of the MCC?  The MCC seemed  like a big, giant turd when we joined. 

[Eye]

Called into Paul Rogers radio show in Louisville at some point in the early 90s and asked him about the Great Midwest and the Metro merging, and he said then it was already in the works, long before it became public.