I know this is elitist, arrogant and hypocritical to say but......

[duanewade]

Is there any way we could get Providence and Seton Hall to leave the Big East?  Both of those programs really bring no value to the Big East and probably would be better off in the Atlantic 10 where they would still be no better than middle of the pack teams in that conference as well.  

Seton Hall is only in the conference because Rutgers originally said no to join the Big East during its formation many years ago.  I agree NJ is a big market to have but now that we have Rutgers Seton Hall is expendable unless PJ Carlissimo comes out of retirement and creates the same late 80's magic.  

Meanwhile Providence brings some patrons who live in the Rhode Island area but their program has been on a steady slide since Pete Gilliam left in the late 90's with no exciting foreseeable future either.  

St. John's and DePaul at least bring major markets with them and both just hired two pricey "B" list coaches so they at least have an upside.  

Marquette is in a small far west market of the Big East but we at least bring a state of the art basketball program that produces a lot of revenue and a very recent proud pipeline of players and teams and a sky's the limit future with our current coach and recruiting pipeline.  Thank God we made coaching mistakes we did in the early 90's and not now as we too could be a Providence/Seton Hall  type program.  Kudos to Cords and Cottingham for making three successful coaching hires in a row with O'Neal, Crean and Williams who were all the best feasible candidates available during each vacancy that have kept us on this steady path up from the lowly early 90's MCC days.  

I just think with all the expansion talk the Big East would be in a better place to attract Kansas, Central Florida, Boston College, Memphis, etc. with 6 excellent basketball only teams and then 10-12 football only teams and keeping it at 16 teams and possibly stretching it to 18 teams.  This would make for a formidable football conference while still continuing to bring the best college basketball to the country during the winter months.

[duanewade]

BTW I forgot about Mike Deane after O'Neil and before Crean.  I liked Deane personally as I met him one night at an alumni function and I found him to be very down to earth, straight, funny and overall very likeable.  He was a pretty good X & O coach but clearly didn't love spending time on the road recruiting and hence why the program had a miny slump toward the his tenure's end when the O'Neil recruits all graduated.  However Dean'e last class was underated with Henry, Harris, Diggs and Namaka (spelling ?) who could have been part of a Sweet 16 run if wasn't for the disaster game against Tulsa....of course Dwyane Wade with the three stooges would still be a pretty formidable team.  But once again kudos to Cords for making the move that he did by firing Deane as he expected more out of the coach and the program.   

[Dawson Rental]

I think that it is possible.  All it really would take to tempt them would be for an influential MU alum such as yourself to gather together with his school chums and raise... oh, 20 million or so a school, and I believe that both schools would have to at least consider the idea.

You were close on the spelling of Nnamaka's name, you just missed an "n" in there.  

Jeez, are we really worried about attracting Central Florida?

[brewcity77]

If Rutgers leaves to the Big Ten, we would need Seton Hall to keep the Jersey market, and The Big East may not even exist without Providence. Just be glad we're in this conference, my guess is to the powers that be in the Big East, Providence and Seton Hall make much more sense than a small Midwestern basketball-only school that has yet to deliver so much as one Sweet 16's worth of credibility to the conference.

[bilsu]

We will need them if football schools start leaving.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I think we need to be careful when talking about pushing schools out.  There are cycles to everything.  Imagine if we didn't rebuild things from 1999 to 2003...would we have even been accepted to the Big East?  Where would we be now if we hadn't?

It's too easy to look at the here and now, but some of the historical can't be overlooked.  Seton Hall made the NCAAs under Louis Orr and made the NCAAs 2 of the last 3 years he was there...then they fired him.  Providence, as one of the founding members, I'd say the same thing.  They might be down right now, but I don't think they should be asked to leave.  It's just my sappy, Socialist way.   

[bma725]

We will need them if football schools start leaving.

If the football schools start leaving, turn out the lights, the Big East is done.

[ChicosBailBonds]

If the football schools start leaving, turn out the lights, the Big East is done.

No question about it...well, at least done in it's current format.  You could see the basketball schools keep the Big East name, pilfer the A-10 top schools and create a very nice Big East basketball league, but definitely the Big East football brand will be gone.

[bma725]

No question about it...well, at least done in it's current format.  You could see the basketball schools keep the Big East name, pilfer the A-10 top schools and create a very nice Big East basketball league, but definitely the Big East football brand will be gone.

At that point, it's Big East in name only.  When this all shakes out, basketball only schools are going to be 2nd or 3rd class citizens at best.

[rocky_warrior]

At that point, it's Big East in name only.  When this all shakes out, basketball only schools are going to be 2nd or 3rd class citizens at best.

Wow, you guys may it sound like the end of the world.  "Buy gold and guns, the Big East will be gone!!!" 

[ChicosBailBonds]

Wow, you guys may it sound like the end of the world.  "Buy gold and guns, the Big East will be gone!!!" 

Not the end of the world, but it's not going to be good if it shakes out like it could.  No need to ignore the reality of it.  This is why I wanted the expansion to 96 (and we were told literally 2 days prior that it was all but a done deal by the networks involved).

We are not in a strong situation...not the end of the world....but we very easily could be in a spot where we go from an 8 bid league to a 3 or 4 bid league due to strength of schedule, etc.  With the expansion, it meant more bids for non BCS conferences.  If this shakes out like it could, we will not be in a BCS conference anymore which means it will be harder for us to get into the NCAAs.

[79Warrior]

that post from wade is a joke. We are in NO position to push anyone anywhere.

[duanewade]

At that point, it's Big East in name only.  When this all shakes out, basketball only schools are going to be 2nd or 3rd class citizens at best.

I agree with this statement that's why I'm coming up with crazy and unrealistic scenarios that give me an array of fantasy and hope as is if the football schools bail and we just become a "catholic conference" then all we'll have to talk about is the glory days of the 70's, 00's and the early 10's.  However I still expect Buzz & Co. to kick some butt the next two years with the team he has assembled before the potential official realignment that would take place no earlier than two years from now due to by-laws about notice and monetary penalty to break away.   

[SaintPaulWarrior]

Wow, you guys may it sound like the end of the world.  "Buy gold "  

I did when my Senator got elected President in 11/08...$730/ounce.

[bma725]

Wow, you guys may it sound like the end of the world.  "Buy gold and guns, the Big East will be gone!!!" 

Think of it like this.....realignment is going to screw over a school like Kansas, a school that three years ago was in a BCS bowl game and two years ago won the NCAA championship in basketball.  We're quite a ways down the ladder from them, so the fallout is going to be that much worse.

[chapman]

Reminds me of a post on the other board that suggests the football schools, MU, Nova, GTown, and Notre Dame or St. John's leave the Big East to attract four football schools to join a 16 member, 12 football team conference.  Sounds pretty outlandish, but I'll agree with the main point: without 12 football schools and still 18 or less members, the Big East's survival as a football conference and premier basketball conference is always going to be in jeopardy. 

The short-term thinking idea of replacing Notre Dame with a football school balances the schedule, but it still doesn't appease anyone.  And getting any desirable football schools to join as the 18th or 19th member is also a poor fix.  Even a large television contract doesn't maximize revenue because there's no championship game.  One football school balances the schedule, two or three are poor ploys for a better television deal and creating more and more of a "round robin" basketball schedule that fails to capatalize on made for television matchups that help the conference as a whole (yes, this is "about football", but it's also unwise to completely disregard and/or mismanage that area compromising 25-30% of revenue and leave money on the table).  So in a sense, yes, the surplus of non-football schools is what is ruining the Big East.  It can have some, but not 8 of them if it's to be one of the strongest conferences in the country.  And if someone had to decide which four basketball schools to keep there are one or two making nobody's list.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Think of it like this.....realignment is going to screw over a school like Kansas, a school that three years ago was in a BCS bowl game and two years ago won the NCAA championship in basketball.  We're quite a ways down the ladder from them, so the fallout is going to be that much worse.

I was just going to post the same thing.  Kansas is absolutely freaking out right now and they HAVE football and are one of the 5 greatest basketball programs of all time.  Yet, they could be without a BCS conference. 

The BCS gets you a seat at the table, it's really that simple due to how things are constructed.

The one hope is the Big 12 can stay together and the Big Ten only goes after Notre Dame, but I'd say that is looking less and less likely.  Not a good spot for Marquette to be in.

[GGGG]

Not the end of the world, but it's not going to be good if it shakes out like it could.  No need to ignore the reality of it.  This is why I wanted the expansion to 96 (and we were told literally 2 days prior that it was all but a done deal by the networks involved).

We are not in a strong situation...not the end of the world....but we very easily could be in a spot where we go from an 8 bid league to a 3 or 4 bid league due to strength of schedule, etc.  With the expansion, it meant more bids for non BCS conferences.  If this shakes out like it could, we will not be in a BCS conference anymore which means it will be harder for us to get into the NCAAs.

Not to mention the revenue disparities that will impact the competitive balance of every sport.

[duanewade]

Reminds me of a post on the other board that suggests the football schools, MU, Nova, GTown, and Notre Dame or St. John's leave the Big East to attract four football schools to join a 16 member, 12 football team conference.  Sounds pretty outlandish, but I'll agree with the main point: without 12 football schools and still 18 or less members, the Big East's survival as a football conference and premier basketball conference is always going to be in jeopardy. 

The short-term thinking idea of replacing Notre Dame with a football school balances the schedule, but it still doesn't appease anyone.  And getting any desirable football schools to join as the 18th or 19th member is also a poor fix.  Even a large television contract doesn't maximize revenue because there's no championship game.  One football school balances the schedule, two or three are poor ploys for a better television deal and creating more and more of a "round robin" basketball schedule that fails to capatalize on made for television matchups that help the conference as a whole (yes, this is "about football", but it's also unwise to completely disregard and/or mismanage that area compromising 25-30% of revenue and leave money on the table).  So in a sense, yes, the surplus of non-football schools is what is ruining the Big East.  It can have some, but not 8 of them if it's to be one of the strongest conferences in the country.  And if someone had to decide which four basketball schools to keep there are one or two making nobody's list.

This is a good post....Marquette has a lot to offer bball wise if we can stay in a BCS conference but we need to fight for our survival at this point and not be politically correct and be prepared to throw some teams under the bus to protect our own hide.  We did it to SLU when joining the Big East and we should be prepared for any remote scenario again that gives us a chance to stay relevant. 

[AZWarrior]

Wow, you guys may it sound like the end of the world.  "Buy gold and guns, the Big East will be gone!!!" 

Don't forget ammo.   

[Lennys Tap]

Don't forget ammo.   

And canned goods.

[HoopsMalone]

If the Big East and Big 12 collapse leaving only the other four conferences (where KU probably lands in the SEC), then couldn't there be a scenario where they take some basketball only schools?

Can't the Big Ten just take Marquette and DePaul?  Or the expanded ACC which could include UConn and the Cuse just take Nova, St. John's, and Georgetown?  Could the Pac-10 just take Gonzaga?  The SEC could take Xavier.

Besides DePaul, all of those teams usually make the tournament.  Many times at large.  The conferences could give these teams less of a say in matters and obviously not touch the football revenue.  Even cut the share in the Big Ten Network.  These schools are such easy cashflows, plus they bring the big conference product to urban areas.  I know there is talk of the big schools having their own tournament and just pocketing all of the money, but there is still some charm to Northern Iowa beating KU where not having games like that could hurt the overall revenue of the tournament. More people know about that, I would bet, than could name the Final Four participants this year.

I mean, Marquette is just a nice set up cash flow in men's hoops that we have to make financial sense to a conference somewhere.  We would not be asking for the football cash and we would have to be a positive cash flow for any conference.

[bilsu]

I would think Uconn and any other school that is facing probation should worry about being invited to join another conference. Why invite a school that could give your conference a black eye. Besides that Uconn was a non-entity before Calhoun and he will not be around much longer.

[goodgreatgrand]

I would think Uconn and any other school that is facing probation should worry about being invited to join another conference. Why invite a school that could give your conference a black eye. Besides that Uconn was a non-entity before Calhoun and he will not be around much longer.

Yeah, but the players Calhoun sent to the NBA should help make them at least legit after calhoun is gone. I heard Kevin Ollie, as soon as he signs his retirement papers, is interested in coaching. Same with Donyell Marshall. maybe they find an experienced head coach and make those two alums assistants/recruiters. Not a bad coaching bench right there. 

[GGGG]

If the Big East and Big 12 collapse leaving only the other four conferences (where KU probably lands in the SEC), then couldn't there be a scenario where they take some basketball only schools?

Can't the Big Ten just take Marquette and DePaul?  Or the expanded ACC which could include UConn and the Cuse just take Nova, St. John's, and Georgetown?  Could the Pac-10 just take Gonzaga?  The SEC could take Xavier.

Besides DePaul, all of those teams usually make the tournament.  Many times at large.  The conferences could give these teams less of a say in matters and obviously not touch the football revenue.  Even cut the share in the Big Ten Network.  These schools are such easy cashflows, plus they bring the big conference product to urban areas.  I know there is talk of the big schools having their own tournament and just pocketing all of the money, but there is still some charm to Northern Iowa beating KU where not having games like that could hurt the overall revenue of the tournament. More people know about that, I would bet, than could name the Final Four participants this year.

I mean, Marquette is just a nice set up cash flow in men's hoops that we have to make financial sense to a conference somewhere.  We would not be asking for the football cash and we would have to be a positive cash flow for any conference.

Keep dreaming.  MU would bring nothing to the BT that it doesn't already have.