ESPN: A-10 Open To Expanding To 21, Taking The BE BBall Schools

[ken8406]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8736716/atlantic-10-open-adding-big-east-basketball-schools-creating-21-team-conference-source

[DSEEagle]

They have very good basketball schools. Bringing in the likes of Georgetown, Marquette, Nova, St. Johns will only help their recruiting.

Xavier has been knocking on the door of a Final Four for a decade now and we know of Butler's success.

If it happened it could be a top 3 basketball conference every year.

[GGGG]

I think the basketball schools would rather pick off the top of the A10 and leave the St. Bonnies of the world behind.

[DSEEagle]

I think the basketball schools would rather pick off the top of the A10 and leave the St. Bonnies of the world behind.

Agreed. Although i'm biased being from New York and they did win the A-10 tournament last year. Always need a few bottom feeders 

[GGGG]

See, I didn't even know where St. Bonnies is.  I thought Pittsburgh, but I am mixing them up with Duquesne.

[brewcity77]

Don't like it. We could either try to salvage the Big East name while cherry-picking the best of what the A-10 has or simply create a new conference while doing the same. No need to share revenues with the likes of Fordham, St. Bonaventure, George Washington, Rhode Island, or any of the others that bring little basketball quality and no new markets.

There are 5 A-10 teams that I think we should have high interest in: Xavier, Butler, St. Louis, Dayton, and VCU. There are three other lower priority schools; if VCU doesn't want to come, Richmond would be a fine substitution, and I could see either UMass or Charlotte, despite their football aspirations. Both of those two would take a back seat to UConn, Cincy, Memphis, and Temple if they were interested in parking their football elsewhere.

[akmarq]

I'm no expert on these kind of re-alignment moves. Is there anything to stop the BE Catholic 7 from joining the A-10 and then working to expand/replace weak schools with better names (Creighton, etc)?

[Pakuni]

I think the basketball schools would rather pick off the top of the A10 and leave the St. Bonnies of the world behind.

Yep.
The A-10 is wisely being proactive by trying to offer this as an attractive alternative to the BE teams attempting to pick off some of the conference's better programs.
At the end of the day, if it comes without impossible hurdles, I think teams like Xavier, Butler, etc. would prefer to be part of smaller Big East than a 21-team Atlantic 10.

[🏀]

Divide their contract by 21 teams, no way.

[bradley center bat]

St. Bonnie was in the ncaa tourney last season.

Fordham and GW are holding the league down. Heck, so are the Bonnie.

[MileHigh]

21 teams is way to many...money revenue aside. I agree we should poach from them.  This is prolly a power play on their part now they are afraid of a bball only Big east.

[GGGG]

St. Bonnie was in the ncaa tourney last season.

Fordham and GW are holding the league down. Heck, so are the Bonnie.

It really doesn't matter that St. Bonnies was in the tournament last year.  And I forgot about George Washington.  Do you really think that Georgetown wants to be in the same league as George Washington?  Or Nova as LaSalle, etc.?  Or St. Johns as Fordham?  Providence as URI?

Way too much market overlap.

[Benny B]

It really doesn't matter that St. Bonnies was in the tournament last year.  And I forgot about George Washington.  Do you really think that Georgetown wants to be in the same league as George Washington?  Or Nova as LaSalle, etc.?  Or St. Johns as Fordham?  Providence as URI?

Way too much market overlap.

Meh... no need to worry about overlap when no one knows where these schools are.

[brewcity77]

Meh... no need to worry about overlap when no one knows where these schools are.

But that's exactly why we don't want to join an A-10 that includes them. What possible gain is there for any of us by having GW in the same market where we already have powerhouse Georgetown? Or La Salle where we have Villanova? It makes as much sense as a new Big East inviting UW-Milwaukee or UIC.

[TJ]

Meh... no need to worry about overlap when no one knows where these schools are.

Overlap is always a problem.  They would bring in no extra revenue and they would be getting shares of the conference money.  It's the reason MU will NEVER be invited to join the Big 10.  We offer them no revenue because they already maximize their WI revenue with UW, and then they would have to pay us a share.

I think that greed and money are driving way too many decisions in college sports today, but you can't deny their existence.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

21 teams is way to many...money revenue aside. I agree we should poach from them.  This is prolly a power play on their part now they are afraid of a bball only Big east.

3 divisions of 7 teams

[Abode4life]

But that's exactly why we don't want to join an A-10 that includes them. What possible gain is there for any of us by having GW in the same market where we already have powerhouse Georgetown? Or La Salle where we have Villanova? It makes as much sense as a new Big East inviting UW-Milwaukee or UIC.

I agree.  Also this is an article from the point of view of the A-10, which may or may not represent the views of the top bball schools in that league.  They are only doing this to be proactive as they probably also see the value in the top of the A-10 joining with the current bball only schools of the BEAST.  That would be a very good bball league with not as many bad teams.   That would be to the detriment of the A-10 however, so they don't want that to happen. 

[GGGG]

Cue UDPride in 3....2....1.....

[brewcity77]

Cue UDPride in 3....2....1.....

UDPride should just be hoping that their previous allegiances with Xavier are as strong as rumored. While I'd be a big fan of adding Butler, VCU, St. Louis, Xavier, and Dayton, I'd be a bigger fan of adding Butler, VCU, St. Louis, Xavier, and Creighton.

[bilsu]

The best I can see in this is it ends my worry that A-10 only takes 2 or 4 more teams and MU is left out. We always assume we can get Xavier, Dayton, etc. to join us, but if they are not willing to do so we do not have a lot of other options.

[jesmu84]

UDPride should just be hoping that their previous allegiances with Xavier are as strong as rumored. While I'd be a big fan of adding Butler, VCU, St. Louis, Xavier, and Dayton, I'd be a bigger fan of adding Butler, VCU, St. Louis, Xavier, and Creighton.

i'd be a little surprised if we pulled the top from the A10 as well as a lone team from another conference.  And what guarantee is there that Creighton stays on top? The MVC rotates the best talent every few years (Creighton, SIU, Wichita St, etc)

[brewcity77]

i'd be a little surprised if we pulled the top from the A10 as well as a lone team from another conference.  And what guarantee is there that Creighton stays on top? The MVC rotates the best talent every few years (Creighton, SIU, Wichita St, etc)

I like Creighton for more than just current quality. It gets us into another state and I like the idea of giving St. Louis a geographical pairing for road trips. It's another Jesuit school and makes more sense than Wichita State or SIU. Dayton is a virtual suburb of Cincy and I'm guessing with Xavier we might be able to get on their cable package without adding UD. That definitely wouldn't be the case for any of Nebraska without Creighton.

[jesmu84]

I like Creighton for more than just current quality. It gets us into another state and I like the idea of giving St. Louis a geographical pairing for road trips. It's another Jesuit school and makes more sense than Wichita State or SIU. Dayton is a virtual suburb of Cincy and I'm guessing with Xavier we might be able to get on their cable package without adding UD. That definitely wouldn't be the case for any of Nebraska without Creighton.

Fair points. I'm of the ilk that I don't want us relying too much on the jesuit/catholic league-vibe. I want to be part of a basketball conference. an affiliation of jesuit/catholic could certainly turn some people off/make for dicey situations.

[brewcity77]

Fair points. I'm of the ilk that I don't want us relying too much on the jesuit/catholic league-vibe. I want to be part of a basketball conference. an affiliation of jesuit/catholic could certainly turn some people off/make for dicey situations.

Also fair, but Dayton wouldn't fix that. They're also a Catholic school.

[honkytonk]

I'd prefer strong regional rivalries over viewership bologna. The old BE had strong rivalries and diluted them for money. Granted, had they chosen not to dilute the conference, we would never have been invited.