Would Marquette Leave the BE ?

[larrym]

The news of the last Big East split came out during a coaching search.  I believe it was Skip Prosser interviewing at Pitt after Howland left.  After he came back, someone in the Wake administration told Prosser to not even consider it because the Big East was going be blown apart soon, and wouldn't even exist in 2 years.  That got picked up by a reporter in New York, and things moved quickly after that.

Huh?    So we had to "settle" for a non-elite coach (to borrow your term from your other posts) because a conference realignment might be in the works? And you seem to be implying that all the elite coaches somehow knew about this realignment and that's why they didn't consider us?  

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Ok ,my thought may be a bit "out there" . However, there is still a remote possibility that this may be true

Alien, since you seem to love conspiracy theories, what are your thoughts on the JFK assassination?  The Moon landing?  The New World Order?

[PE8983]

Dayton hosted the A10 Tournament all the time until it was moved to Atlantic City.  Now they complain about that as well.  They actually think they are the greatest fans - getting approx 12K attendance for their games.  Losing to UD this year in Chicago, where their fans outnumbered MU's, was the one major disppointment of the year.  Not that they didn't have a good team...

[Norm]

If Marquette were to join a new conference, I'd prefer to align more with most of the non-football Big East teams and a smaller number from the Midwest. I would also go for the biggest media markets as possible. Here's how I would draft it (with city and media market #):

DePaul (Chicago #3)
Detroit Mercy (Detroit #10)
Georgetown (Washington, DC #7)
Marquette (Milwaukee #29)
Notre Dame (South Bend #108)
Providence (Providence #43)
Seton Hall (West Orange/New York #1)
St. John's (New York #1)
Villanova (Philadelphia #5)
Xavier (Cincinnati #38)

A 10 member league would allow true round robin play. You can keep the tournament in New York City, or alternate between Chicago and New York, or even rotate among all the cities.

If they wanted to go to 12 teams, I would consider St. Louis (St. Louis #20) and Duquesne (Pittsburgh #26), and possibly Dayton (Dayton #46).

[Flyer Foe]

Dayton hosted the A10 Tournament all the time until it was moved to Atlantic City.

Actually, Dayton has hosted the Atlantic Tournament one time during the 15 years we have been in the A10.

That was in March 2003 and the Flyers won it.  But that season, The Flyers had an RPI Ranking of # 16 (best in the Atlantic 10), and would likely have been favored to win it regardless of where it was played.

Most of the Atlantic 10 Tournaments have been held at the Paelestra in Philadelphia, but some of the games attracted only 1500 people - less than 10 % of the Paelestra's capacity - so that is why it was moved to Dayton for one year and it sold out (13,500).

[Badgerhater]

Number of times a year MU was on national TV before BIG EAST......no more than 2...cincy and L'ville

Number of times MU is on national TV after joining BIG EAST......way more than 2.

If you want a fanbase or interest base larger than your alumni base, then you need to be on national TV.  The BE is the best way for MU to be on national TV.

[Niv Berkowitz]

This is a terrible idea. No no no no and .....no. we are insane to leave the BEast.

[tower912]

Not voluntarily.  If the league splits over football, all bets are off.   

[AlienWarrior]

Alien, since you seem to love conspiracy theories, what are your thoughts on the JFK assassination?  The Moon landing?  The New World Order?
[/quote You forgot 911,the bankster bailout,the MLK assassination etc.  You do know that the New World Order has been mentioned in numerous articles in Newsweek, Time, the NY Times, Beck and Dobbs on tv

[MR.HAYWARD]

The news of the last Big East split came out during a coaching search.  I believe it was Skip Prosser interviewing at Pitt after Howland left.  After he came back, someone in the Wake administration told Prosser to not even consider it because the Big East was going be blown apart soon, and wouldn't even exist in 2 years.  That got picked up by a reporter in New York, and things moved quickly after that.

you mean to tell me that a wake official in fear of losing their coach told skip prosser that the Big East would be gone in two years.  Oh My!! he must of had some real insight and how great of a guy to let him know that so he would not make such a terrible move.  those administartors down at Wake really look out for people. 

and since then hindsight has shown how right that guy was. 

[Robyrd5]

A new conference would be a huge step backwards for Marquette. I really like where we are. The exposure and level of competition in the BEast has done wonders for the program and its fans. I hope it doesn't come to this anytime soon.

[THEGYMBAR]

Only way we live the BE is if we are thrown out. Too much money generated and equal exposure for incoming students. Hand's down the cheapest advertising the school can do to recruit students.

[PE8983]

"Actually, Dayton has hosted the Atlantic Tournament one time during the 15 years we have been in the A10."

No - the A10 Tournament was at UD twice (consecutive years 2003 and 2004).

[larrym]

Just relaying what was in the Kevin McNamara book about the Big East.  (Good read, by the way.)  Very interesting that the coaches knew nothing about it, and no public rumors were swirling 80 days before Virginia Tech became the first to bolt for the ACC, followed a few days later by Miami.  But obviously it had been discussed in back rooms somewhere, and things were already in motion long before anything was leaked as a result of the Pittsburgh men's basketball coach search.

Not at all saying that's happening now.  Just that things being discussed behind closed doors are easier to keep under wraps than we sometimes think. 


EDIT
He was absolutely correct about what was happening.  He was wrong about what would eventually become of the Big East.  Although if not for Syracuse and Pitt who fought hard on behalf of the basketball only schools to keep them included in any plans, he maybe would have been right about that too.

you mean to tell me that a wake official in fear of losing their coach told skip prosser that the Big East would be gone in two years.  Oh My!! he must of had some real insight and how great of a guy to let him know that so he would not make such a terrible move.  those administartors down at Wake really look out for people. 

and since then hindsight has shown how right that guy was. 

[HoopsMalone]

playing in the New York market and guaranteed games at the Garden every year is what Marquette has to offer over the Big Ten and Big 12 when recruiting.  Getting into those east coast markets consistently allows scouts to have an easy chance to swing by.  Would not want to see that go away.

[herboturbo]

Wasn't there some sort of bad blood between MU and Dayton that caused us to cancel the home/home contract we had.  I would assume that would preclude us from wanting to be in the same conference as them.  Or was that something that left town with the coach that did the same??

[CAINMUTINY]

Why would we give up the best thing to happen to our institution since AL came?

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

Ok ,my thought may be a bit "out there" . However, there is still a remote possibility that this may be true

There's also a remote possibility that I will crap pure ice cream one day after I teach a troupe of monkeys to perform Othello.

[Hards Alumni]

we would probably never leave, but we may eventually be asked to leave.

[larrym]

we would probably never leave, but we may eventually be asked to leave.

Right.  The only way we leave is if we're forced out.  Or maybe more likely, we remain behind with the other basketball schools, and are left looking for other teams such as Dayton to fill out the new, basketball only Big East.

As long as the football schools keep the BCS status, and the basketball only schools are good (Nova, GTown, Marq, PC at this point), everybody is happy.  If either of those changes, things could happen.

[muwarrior69]

If Marquette were to join a new conference, I'd prefer to align more with most of the non-football Big East teams and a smaller number from the Midwest. I would also go for the biggest media markets as possible. Here's how I would draft it (with city and media market #):

DePaul (Chicago #3)
Detroit Mercy (Detroit #10)
Georgetown (Washington, DC #7)
Marquette (Milwaukee #29)
Notre Dame (South Bend #108)
Providence (Providence #43)
Seton Hall (West Orange/New York #1)
St. John's (New York #1)
Villanova (Philadelphia #5)
Xavier (Cincinnati #38)

A 10 member league would allow true round robin play. You can keep the tournament in New York City, or alternate between Chicago and New York, or even rotate among all the cities.

If they wanted to go to 12 teams, I would consider St. Louis (St. Louis #20) and Duquesne (Pittsburgh #26), and possibly Dayton (Dayton #46).

Not going to happen. The majority of the remaining charter schools in the Big East are non-football schools. So they would keep the the Big East name and conference status. The football schools would have to form a new conference threatening their BCS status. But if a conference were to form like the one you quoted above, we could call it the American Catholic Conference (ACC).

[reinko]

we would probably never leave, but we may eventually be asked to leave.

Anyone know what that process would be like?  Has Marquette signed some kind of a contract to be a member of the BE for so long, and then it will be up for review?

[Ari Gold]

Yeah, no. Never.

If the football schools split from the BE, I can see this happening-

MU
Gtown
Nova
ND
DePaul
St John's
Providence
Hall
Xavier
Dayton

That I could live with.

When people mention a football split and put Gtown and Nova in the 'non-football' side I always want to say yeah but... both of those schools have FCS football teams that COULD be brought up to FBS level. Nova only lost two games last year and one of those was to West Virgina. I don't know if either team has capital or land to make the jump but UConn was able to do it and they are now a top 25 team. so to stay with the Big East they may see it as tempting to stay with the other schools.

[Ari Gold]

Alien, since you seem to love conspiracy theories, what are your thoughts on the JFK assassination?  The Moon landing?  The New World Order?

John McAdams was the 2nd shooter on the grass knol. He is a CIA plant at Marquette University trying to brainwash students into believing that Oswald was a a single shooter.

[reinko]

John McAdams was the 2nd shooter on the grass knol. He is a CIA plant at Maruette University trying to brainwash students into believing that Oswald was a a single shooter.

I'm watching you Ari.