Basketball Only Schools

[Clam Crowder]

When is someone going to take the lead and just present this option? Adding awful teams like Tulane and ECU does nothing for us. We need to get out, and we need to focus on having good programs in the same boat as us come with us. Big East basketball only schools, Catholic basketball schools, we need to do this before we get left behind.

[Bocephys]

I'm sure it's been presented ad nauseam both by and to people much smarter than anyone on this board.  Let's not pretend that our AD isn't aware of and actively trying to fix the current situation of uncertainty that surrounds the Big East.  If we can have 20 different message board posts on it, I assure you it's been discussed at the highest levels.

[Aughnanure]

When ACC kills the BEAST with Ville, Cincy and UConn.

[Big Papi]

Do you honestly believe our admin is in the fetal position in the corner of some dark room muttering No MAS???

I think all options have been and are being discussed.  And at this point in time, they have determined Tulane and East Carolina are our best option.  My guess is the admin has way more information than any of us do as far as what other universities are wanting to do at this point in time.  If there is no interest in a Catholic basketball league by Georgetown, St. Johns, Providence, Xavier, etc. do you still want to be in a basketball only league???  If you do then hello Horizon League.  I am sure they would take us and we would have a whole hell of a lot of stability BUT that is probably not our best option at the moment.

We are not in the driver's seat and it looks like some more dominoes need to fall before Georgetown, St. Johns and some other "Catholic basketball schools" will feel the need to form a basketball only league.

[Clam Crowder]

I don't know what hope anyone could be clinging to at the point. It's over, the Big East doesn't stand a chance of coming out of this with a good group of basketball schools

[ErickJD08]

Do you honestly believe our admin is in the fetal position in the corner of some dark room muttering No MAS???

I think all options have been and are being discussed.  And at this point in time, they have determined Tulane and East Carolina are our best option.  My guess is the admin has way more information than any of us do as far as what other universities are wanting to do at this point in time.  If there is no interest in a Catholic basketball league by Georgetown, St. Johns, Providence, Xavier, etc. do you still want to be in a basketball only league???  If you do then hello Horizon League.  I am sure they would take us and we would have a whole hell of a lot of stability BUT that is probably not our best option at the moment.

We are not in the driver's seat and it looks like some more dominoes need to fall before Georgetown, St. Johns and some other "Catholic basketball schools" will feel the need to form a basketball only league.

I believe there is always an argument to say that the pros have a handle on this.  But from my experience in the business world, there are alot of 'Yes' men in the business world and I think you need a true leader to really rally the schools together.  There is really a great amount of instability for basketball only schools and staying in the Big East (where most of the successful basketball only schools reside) does them really no good.  Sitting idle while schools get picked off or letting the conference just turn into crap does no good for us (the basketball only schools).  The Big East is making football decisions to try and keep football in the conference while we sit back and watch.  

There is definitely the mindset of "Let's sit back and see where the pieces fall, and then figure this out."  This strategy would be beneficial a couple of lucky schools and detrimental for most of the others.  I believe if the schools can rally together while they still have very solid respectible, high-revenue programs, they can develop a strong conference that can carry power in basketball decisions.  

Ultimately, everything comes down to money.  And schools like us, Georgetown, Nova, etc have alot of power money RELATIVE TO BASKETBALL (I know its nothing to football).  Just my thought.  I am in the boat that we need some leaders to step up and make some bold moves.

[Aughnanure]

I believe there is always an argument to say that the pros have a handle on this.  But from my experience in the business world, there are alot of 'Yes' men in the business world and I think you need a true leader to really rally the schools together.  There is really a great amount of instability for basketball only schools and staying in the Big East (where most of the successful basketball only schools reside) does them really no good.  Sitting idle while schools get picked off or letting the conference just turn into crap does no good for us (the basketball only schools).  The Big East is making football decisions to try and keep football in the conference while we sit back and watch.  

There is definitely the mindset of "Let's sit back and see where the pieces fall, and then figure this out."  This strategy would be beneficial a couple of lucky schools and detrimental for most of the others.  I believe if the schools can rally together while they still have very solid respectible, high-revenue programs, they can develop a strong conference that can carry power in basketball decisions.  

Ultimately, everything comes down to money.  And schools like us, Georgetown, Nova, etc have alot of power money RELATIVE TO BASKETBALL (I know its nothing to football).  Just my thought.  I am in the boat that we need some leaders to step up and make some bold moves.

Seems most media members, like Gottlieb, Bilas, etc, want us to create a national basketball conference. We just need ESPN, or Fox, or NBC to want it as well. I don't buy that such a conference would be forgotten, or treated like a mid-major - I think there's a oddity that would make such a basketball-focused conference a unique spectacle in the college game that it could pull it's financial weight.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I believe there is always an argument to say that the pros have a handle on this.  But from my experience in the business world, there are alot of 'Yes' men in the business world and I think you need a true leader to really rally the schools together.  There is really a great amount of instability for basketball only schools and staying in the Big East (where most of the successful basketball only schools reside) does them really no good.  Sitting idle while schools get picked off or letting the conference just turn into crap does no good for us (the basketball only schools).  The Big East is making football decisions to try and keep football in the conference while we sit back and watch.  

There is definitely the mindset of "Let's sit back and see where the pieces fall, and then figure this out."  This strategy would be beneficial a couple of lucky schools and detrimental for most of the others.  I believe if the schools can rally together while they still have very solid respectible, high-revenue programs, they can develop a strong conference that can carry power in basketball decisions.  

Ultimately, everything comes down to money.  And schools like us, Georgetown, Nova, etc have alot of power money RELATIVE TO BASKETBALL (I know its nothing to football).  Just my thought.  I am in the boat that we need some leaders to step up and make some bold moves.

In business, it's always best to hope for the best but plan for the worst.

I have to assume that the attractive athletic programs are already talking to one another about how/where they are going to go.

Now, will those plans/relationships hold up? I don't know.

[Tugg Speedman]

One of the big stumbling blocks is the name of the basketball only conference.

Sure the Catholic basketball schools could leave.  But if they do not take the Big East name, that new conference (The National Catholic Conference?) would be greatly diminished in the casual viewers eyes.  And yes, practically everyone is a casual viewer.

[ErickJD08]

Seems most media members, like Gottlieb, Bilas, etc, want us to create a national basketball conference. We just need ESPN, or Fox, or NBC to want it as well. I don't buy that such a conference would be forgotten, or treated like a mid-major - I think there's a oddity that would make such a basketball-focused conference a unique spectacle in the college game that it could pull it's financial weight.

Totally agree.  I think if we pool our revenues and fanbases up, someone is going to want a piece of it.  I, too, think it would be a cool conference to watch.

[Aughnanure]

One of the big stumbling blocks is the name of the basketball only conference.

Sure the Catholic basketball schools could leave.  But if they do not take the Big East name, that new conference (The National Catholic Conference?) would be greatly diminished in the casual viewers eyes.  And yes, practically everyone is a casual viewer.

At this point, I don't care. I just want to be in a conference that makes sense. if naming it NBC gets NBC to pay us $1-2 million a year, I'm down.

How good is that Big East name now, are we running it through the mud too much? I do agree though, I would prefer to keep the name and the tourney at MSG.

[Dawson Rental]

When is someone going to take the lead and just present this option? Adding awful teams like Tulane and ECU does nothing for us. We need to get out, and we need to focus on having good programs in the same boat as us come with us. Big East basketball only schools, Catholic basketball schools, we need to do this before we get left behind.

Probably not until people stop starting new threads on essentially this same topic.

[GGGG]

Seems most media members, like Gottlieb, Bilas, etc, want us to create a national basketball conference. We just need ESPN, or Fox, or NBC to want it as well. I don't buy that such a conference would be forgotten, or treated like a mid-major - I think there's a oddity that would make such a basketball-focused conference a unique spectacle in the college game that it could pull it's financial weight.

Correct.  And don't think that this option hasn't been explored.  They need to figure out how to make the divorce happen with tourney credits and buyouts...and then figure out if it is worth the price vis a vis a new television contract. 

I don't interpret the lack of aggressive action with a lack of exploring all options.  It just might be that none of the options are very good....yet.

[Tugg Speedman]

At this point, I don't care. I just want to be in a conference that makes sense. if naming it NBC gets NBC to pay us $1-2 million a year, I'm down.

How good is that Big East name now, are we running it through the mud too much? I do agree though, I would prefer to keep the name and the tourney at MSG.

Conference names matters.  Otherwise the B10 should rename itself the B13 (or whatever the number is this week).  It doesn't change its name because it has value.

The BE name has value, a lot.

[MU82]

Oh good, another thread to address this topic for the gazillionth time!

[79Warrior]

I don't know what hope anyone could be clinging to at the point. It's over, the Big East doesn't stand a chance of coming out of this with a good group of basketball schools

Lots of money at stake with the fees paid by departing schools.

[honkytonk]

With massively escalating tv deals, we will always be behind the football schools. For athletic departments that wont emphasize football and choose basketball instead (like UConn, Duke, UNC, Cuse) we will be WAY behind. They have their alums like Dick Strong, too. In fact, they prob have several. Otherwise, their endowments wouldnt be more than double MU's.

[Litehouse]

Assuming UofL, Cincy and UConn leave, we should split it into the two eventual divisions:

North - Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. Johns, Seton Hall
South - Memphis, Temple, UCF, USF, SMU, Houston, Tulane

We could set it up contractually so everyone keeps their NCAA units within their divisions going forward.   We could all stay together for a few more years to ride out one more TV contract and collect the money from the exit fees and left-over NCAA units, like a divorced couple staying together for the kids.  Maybe start to bring in other schools like Xavier or Dayton to set things up for the future.

[downtown85]

This may sound crazy or off-the-wall but what about attempting something like the Premier League (Soccer) in the Britain by having an elite Basketball conference of like 20 teams (or two sub- conferences of 12 teams each) The key would be to have the two worst teams of the relegated (kicked out) each year. Two highly-ranked winning teams from all the other conferences would be selected at the end of the season to replace to two relegated teams.  Each school can stay in whatever conference they like for other sports but if they performed extremely well in basketball, they could be picked to be admitted to the basketball super conference.  Once the relegated teams get kicked out, they would go back to their regular conference.  

I think this would make the regular season really exciting both because there would be so much more to play for than just the NCAA tournament. (I would want to keep the tournament as well of course).  

Some of the teams I could see participating in the conference to start with would be:

Gonzaga
Georgetown
MU
VCU
Xavier
UNLV
Cincy
Memphis
Temple
Villanova
Butler
Creighton
Wichita St.
San Diego St.
St Johns
Louisville
St Marys
New Mexico
BYU

[honkytonk]

Assuming UofL, Cincy and UConn leave, we should split it into the two eventual divisions:

North - Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. Johns, Seton Hall
South - Memphis, Temple, UCF, USF, SMU, Houston, Tulane

We could set it up contractually so everyone keeps their NCAA units within their divisions going forward.   We could all stay together for a few more years to ride out one more TV contract and collect the money from the exit fees and left-over NCAA units, like a divorced couple staying together for the kids.  Maybe start to bring in other schools like Xavier or Dayton to set things up for the future.

7 football schools? LOL.

[Tums Festival]

The prevailing opinion on the Georgetown fan forum is the ACC in vulnerable to more defections to the Big Ten and SEC and that the Big East BB schools are in a good place for the moment. What options do we really have? The Big East is still one of the 6 major conferences basketball-wise and to do anything rash until more dust settles could be the worst of all evils.

http://hoyatalk2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=24720

[john31]

What about a new B-ball only conference, you could call it the Big East/West and include teams from the West Coast(Gonzaga, Wichita St.,Creighton, etc..). Twenty or so teams total, maybe switch the divisions around every couple of years to keep things interesting. Have an excellent Conference Tournament that could alternate between NYC and LA.

[LloydMooresLegs]

This may sound crazy or off-the-wall but what about attempting something like the Premier League (Soccer) in the Britain by having an elite Basketball conference of like 20 teams (or two sub- conferences of 12 teams each) The key would be to have the two worst teams of the relegated (kicked out) each year. Two highly-ranked winning teams from all the other conferences would be selected at the end of the season to replace to two relegated teams.  Each school can stay in whatever conference they like for other sports but if they performed extremely well in basketball, they could be picked to be admitted to the basketball super conference.  Once the relegated teams get kicked out, they would go back to their regular conference.  

I think this would make the regular season really exciting both because there would be so much more to play for than just the NCAA tournament. (I would want to keep the tournament as well of course).  

Some of the teams I could see participating in the conference to start with would be:

Gonzaga
Georgetown
MU
VCU
Xavier
UNLV
Cincy
Memphis
Temple
Villanova
Butler
Creighton
Wichita St.
San Diego St.
St Johns
Louisville
St Marys
New Mexico
BYU

I LOVE THE CREATIVITY

[Litehouse]

7 football schools? LOL.

They have ECU to join them as football only to make 8. We're only talking basketball here. What's your problem?

[JTBMU7]

I think the hoops schools from the big east should approach the A10 about membership. They have a tourney in Brooklyn, multiple NCAA tournament programs, and could easily expand. Right now they have 16, add MU, GTown, St Johns, PC, Dpaul, SHU and Nova, then look for one more (SLU?) and have a true hoops conf. Scheduleng would be nuts but everyone will have 20 teams at some point. I think that could fetch some decent cash just on inventory of games alone. Not to memtion none of those schools have a viable football program that could threaten to leave anytime soon. Wishful thinking but this would be the best case IMHO at this point.