A proactive BE could move fast to a 10 team FB and 18 team BB conf.

[HouWarrior]

A proactive BE could move fast  to a 10 team FB and 18 team BB conf.

The current 8 team FB and 16 team BB exposes BE to great loss—and to continue, it has to bolster FB, in any case, incl. after likely B ten defections (to preserve BCS status), and the BB teams would love to keep status as best in USA. Its unwieldy, but try this on:

Assuming B 10 (after taking Neb/Mizz) now looks east to grab 3 teams, incl. ND/Rutgers and either Pitt or Syracuse...This sets up a 16 team Big Ten w/a breakdown thusly:
Big ten west: Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa,  Wisconsin Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana
Big Ten East is: Purdue, Michigan, MSU, OSU, Penn State,  Notre Dame (look at ND schedule—they get their big time regular games and can keep USC as an annual non conf rivalry), and Rutgers (NY TV, and games in the meadowlands), w/either Pitt, or Syracuse.

Losing 2 FB and 3 BB schools...a proactive BE could jump for the B12 orphans and assemble a 10 team FB conf. (retaining BCS status) and 18 team (gulp) BB conf. (w/excellent quality)

Football

BE West
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor
Iowa State
Louisville

BE East
Cincinnati
(Syracuse/ or Pitt)
West Va.
UConn
USF

Football will have 7-8 game conf schedule, playing the other 4 in your division , every year, and 3-4 of the five in opposite div., rotating....w/ an east/west BE champ game, guaranteeing BCS Bowl spot .


Basketball

BE West
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor
Iowa State
Louisville
Depaul
Marquette
Butler
Cincinnati



BE East
(Syracuse/ or Pitt)
West Va.
UConn
Villanova
Georgetown
Seton Hall
Providence
St John's
USF

With an 18 game BB schedule , this permits/ demands mostly games w/i  the region, or a league wide round robin, with only one home and home.

Neither is ideal, but this produces a sustained BE (in both sports) and keeps BE strong, deep in BB (ten ofthese 18 were in the NCAA BB tourney, last year) .

Let the critiques commence-lol

[NotAnAlum]

I realize that conference name is becoming meaningless (after all the Big 10 are now 12) but I've been to both K-State and Baylor and there is nothing remotely "East" about either of these schools.  Might be time to drag out the old C-USA name.  In a way the BE West you propose kind of seems like old C-USA or even The Great Midwest.

[sarcastro]

Also, you can't have a football championship game with 10 teams.  That's the Big 10's current problem.

[HoopsMalone]

I like the idea of being proactive.  The Pac-10 was proactive, and may have poached teams that the SEC could have poached.  The Big East is in a fight for its survival.  The ACC looks like the favorite to be the fourth conference standing, but that does not have to be the case.

[GGGG]

I like the idea of being proactive.  The Pac-10 was proactive, and may have poached teams that the SEC could have poached.  The Big East is in a fight for its survival.  The ACC looks like the favorite to be the fourth conference standing, but that does not have to be the case.

The problem is that the BE cannot offer the money that other conferences can.  It's easy to be proactive when you're tossing money around.

[bilsu]

There are going to be teams left out in the cold after the Pac 10 and Big 10 are done, therefore you will not need big money to attract some of these teams. Does a team like Kansas join a conference with Kentucky or North Carolina.? I see the three winningest basketball programs trying to stay in different leagues. The Big East should try to get to 20 teams with 12 playing football. That allows for a playoff game. The basketball season with be a 19 game conference schedule with every team playing once. Otherwise go to 19 teams and drop one baskeball only school.

[MerrittsMustache]

I don't know how feasible it would be, but I kind of like houwarrior's conference alignment. However, like others have said, getting to 12 football programs is a key for having a conference championship game (aka a money-grab). I'd replace Butler with Memphis, drop DePaul (the BE dropped Temple football for failing to be competitive), and try to bring in someone else from ConfUSA (UAB, UCF, ECU). Instead of dropping DePaul, another option would be for Villanova to elevate their football team to D1 - something they have supposedly be considering.

I realize that Villanova and any ConfUSA schools wouldn't exactly be football powers, but it could potentially keep the conference in tact and make it an even stronger basketball presence.

[HoopsMalone]

I think the Big East was betting on getting into the Chicago market with DePaul and they will see if DePaul will really invest long term on coaches and facilities. 

If we go to the A10/Big East bball only merger, DePaul and St. John's are really going to need to step up if we are going to have good leagues. 

[john_cocktoasten]

All of this happens right when MU started to get it going. Buzz has to be nervous about the future as do the recruits... I guess it's back to the days of the great midwest conference

[T-Bone]

I think the Big East was betting on getting into the Chicago market with DePaul and they will see if DePaul will really invest long term on coaches and facilities. 

I agree.  I'd bet JLP has heard from the Big East to get the ball rolling.  Unfortunately DePaul needed to get the ball rolling as soon as they got in the BE.  

It is difficult for small, private institutions get a foothold in professional sports markets.  The BE has two of the top three markets in their wheelhouse, and they haven't been able to get either fully engaged (with the exception of the BE tournament).  

One other tangential, but relevant point:  The BE began football in '91.  For as low-end as we appear in relationship to the BCS as a whole, we've become a hell of a lot more competitive over last 5-6 years (following the departures of Miami, VA Tech, and then BC [not that this made us stronger football-wise, but what could have hurt much worse]).  2006 - 5-0 in bowl games, 2007 through 2010 - 3 teams in the final BCS top 25.  

[GOO]

Interesting that the Pac 10 says that they do not want to have a championship game.  They want two divisions with the winner of each division getting a BCS bowl.  In theory, I guess the division winners of the Pac 10 could play for the NCAA championship if they are ranked 1 and 2.
Bottom line: Pac 10 says they don't want a championship game. 

[chapman]

If the Big East is going to expand, let's just go up to 12 football and 20 overall, and if we're not ready to try to force anyone out then worry about the size later.  Invite Kansas, K-State, Iowa State, and either UCF or Memphis.  Give the football schools that championship game, solidify the BCS status, and work on the television.  Right now the Big East can barely keep BCS status with the current football lineup.  Move quickly to take three teams from what was a BCS conference.   

We'll have to get replacements if anyone leaves.  It goes further and further down the list, with UCF/Memphis, then Temple, Marshall, etc.  But at least the conference loses its BCS status with a fight if it loses it, not by having four football schools left and losing it by default.  Assuming nobody leaves, it'll could look like this:
Football:
West:
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis/UCF
East:
Syracuse
UConn
West Virginia
Rutgers
Pitt
USF

UCF would be a geographical outlier in the west, but more important to keep the group in the East happy and the rivalries going.  Definitely do not break up Cuse/UConn/WVU/Rutgers/Pitt.  The 8 game schedule consists of playing all in the same division and half of the other one.  Then there's a championship game.  This looks like a pretty decent BCS conference to me, with BCS being the keyword. 

Basketball:
20 teams would stink if they can't remove some for the time being.  A completely random schedule would also raise questions (I can already see Boeheim whining).  Make four five-team "divisions", each with three football schools and two basketball-only schools.  You play the four teams within division twice, and 10 games against the remaining 15 teams once.  Winner of each division gets a top four seed in the 16 team Big East tournament.  Last place isn't invited.
Division A:
Marquette
DePaul
Iowa State
Cincinnati
Louisville

Division B:
Providence
Syracuse
Uconn
Georgetown 
USF

Division C:
Villanova
Seton Hall
Pitt
West Virginia
Rutgers

Division D:
Notre Dame
St. John's
Kansas
Kansas State
Memphis/UCF

[john_cocktoasten]

It doesn't make sence to have a 16 team league when you only play 10 games a year.

[MerrittsMustache]

Interesting that the Pac 10 says that they do not want to have a championship game.  They want two divisions with the winner of each division getting a BCS bowl.  In theory, I guess the division winners of the Pac 10 could play for the NCAA championship if they are ranked 1 and 2.
Bottom line: Pac 10 says they don't want a championship game. 

Very interesting proposal from the Pac-10 but if the BCS rejects the idea, they'd almost definitely have a championship game. They simply can't bring in that many teams and leave that much money on the table.

[chapman]

It doesn't make sence to have a 16 team league when you only play 10 games a year.

Tell that to the Pac 10 and Big Ten for starters.  It makes sense if you want more money.  And football schools typically only play 8 conference games a year.

[chapman]

Very interesting proposal from the Pac-10 but if the BCS rejects the idea, they'd almost definitely have a championship game. They simply can't bring in that many teams and leave that much money on the table.

If they want two "automatic" BCS bids, they seem to be assuming there are still more than four automatic bids of the 10 BCS slots (Pac 10, Big Ten, ACC, SEC).  No way that 16-team Pac 10 would ever not get an at-large bid.  If the cap of two BCS bids per conference is removed, they'd be pushing for a third.  Either they envision a scenario of four 16-team conferences securing 8 automatic bids of the 10 available (possibly removing the two team cap to get a third for some), or they feel as if the Mountain West could take the Big 12's bid and the Big East retains theirs, meaning they want to "steal" one of the four at-large bids as a guarantee...though still hard to imagine the mid-majors/Big Ten/ACC/SEC/Big East combined taking four bids and the 16 team Pac 10 getting one.

[HouWarrior]

With the only confirmation being Nebraska, there may be another orphan avail. in Missouri (assuming it doesnt get a big ten position)....and if Big ten conservatism (as rumored) is true maybe they dont poach pitt/syracuse, and leave both of them alone. The result is 2 more football/bb schools and ability to get to 12 fb teams w/ a champ game (Thanks for reminder of 12 team requirement sarcastro). Drop Butler and BB is at 19.....get Villanova to go to top div football, once again, and you'd get BB to a manageable 18.

Underlying all of this is message to BE to get off their duff, and act a little like Pac 10... have a meeting...empower their commish and  Taglibue to talk asap w/likely orphans of B12 (most of whom have great BB teams) and invite the orphan group, en masse, to consider BE, before each of them start, on their own to look elsewhere

[Dawson Rental]

A proactive BE could move fast  to a 10 team FB and 18 team BB conf.

The current 8 team FB and 16 team BB exposes BE to great loss—and to continue, it has to bolster FB, in any case, incl. after likely B ten defections (to preserve BCS status), and the BB teams would love to keep status as best in USA. Its unwieldy, but try this on:

Assuming B 10 (after taking Neb/Mizz) now looks east to grab 3 teams, incl. ND/Rutgers and either Pitt or Syracuse...This sets up a 16 team Big Ten w/a breakdown thusly:
Big ten west: Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa,  Wisconsin Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana
Big Ten East is: Purdue, Michigan, MSU, OSU, Penn State,  Notre Dame (look at ND schedule—they get their big time regular games and can keep USC as an annual non conf rivalry), and Rutgers (NY TV, and games in the meadowlands), w/either Pitt, or Syracuse.

Losing 2 FB and 3 BB schools...a proactive BE could jump for the B12 orphans and assemble a 10 team FB conf. (retaining BCS status) and 18 team (gulp) BB conf. (w/excellent quality)

Football

BE West
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor
Iowa State
Louisville

BE East
Cincinnati
(Syracuse/ or Pitt)
West Va.
UConn
USF

Football will have 7-8 game conf schedule, playing the other 4 in your division , every year, and 3-4 of the five in opposite div., rotating....w/ an east/west BE champ game, guaranteeing BCS Bowl spot .


Basketball

BE West
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor
Iowa State
Louisville
Depaul
Marquette
Butler
Cincinnati



BE East
(Syracuse/ or Pitt)
West Va.
UConn
Villanova
Georgetown
Seton Hall
Providence
St John's
USF

With an 18 game BB schedule , this permits/ demands mostly games w/i  the region, or a league wide round robin, with only one home and home.

Neither is ideal, but this produces a sustained BE (in both sports) and keeps BE strong, deep in BB (ten ofthese 18 were in the NCAA BB tourney, last year) .

Let the critiques commence-lol

Hopefully, we keep both Syracuse and Pitt and can give Baylor a big raspberry.  Scott Drew's previous experience as head coach at Valpo would then come in handy in dealing with Baylor's new status.

U of Texas' secret joy in all of this is being able to stick it to Baylor after the negative recruiting Drew did against them.

[bamamarquettefan]

Pac 10 has always been the veto on a football title game, I can't believe the other conferences will give them two bids for teams that have won an 8-team division.  I mean, wouldn't the SEC have fought for that with Florida winning the SEC East and Bama winning the SEC West?

[GOO]

I have no idea as I don't follow the number of BCS bids, etc.  But that is what the Pac 10 wants to do.  USC and Texas in different divisions will probably get something done to get two for the Pac 10.

If not, does the BCS deal fall apart and we go back to teams being picked for bowls or the old Rose Bowl format... or a new playoff system?