OT- End of the Big East? Topic

From the New York Post:

The Big East Conference, the only to send three teams to a Final Four, will announce Thursday that its non-FBS programs are splitting from their brethren, sources told The Post.

The presidents of the seven schools that don’t play big time football - DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova - are holding a teleconference with Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco Thursday and expected to issue a statement this afternoon saying that are parting ways..

Sources said those basketball-centric schools will look to link up with teams from the Atlantic 10 - such as Butler Dayton, St. Louis and Xavier. Whether that comes in the form of a super conference with 21 teams - the seven Big East schools and the 14 A-10 schools, is unclear.

A source said the Big East was leaning towards a second option - adding schools. It wants to return to its days as a 10-12 school conference with a homogenous membership headlined by elite basketball programs in urban markets.

What is certain is that programs such as Temple, which is set to join the Big East in basketball next season, Cincinnati, Connecticut and South Florida, are in terrible limbo.

12/13/2012 9:35 AM
Dear Cincinnati, welcome to the Big 12.
12/13/2012 10:49 AM
From Barry Tramel's blog, concerning the Big 12 adding 2 more schools:

Cincinnati  is not where it needs to be from a football resources standpoint, but the Bearcats are competitive. And if given increased financial clout, Cincinnati might be able to grow into waht the Big 12 wants. UC is a terrific academic institution, which is important to some, and plays big-time basketball.

BYU, I’m sure you know all about. Geographically, it’s a tough sell, since the Big 12 moved East. Norman is five miles closer to Provo, Utah, than Norman is to Morgantown, W.Va. and Stillwater is 32 miles closer to Morgantown than Stillwater is to Provo. In other words, it’s a long way from Morgantown to Provo. Plus, BYU has independence issues; even when the Brighams aren’t an independent, they don’t have a good reputation for playing nice with others in their conference

12/13/2012 11:33 AM
a possibility for the BigEast is to dissolve the current conference which they supposedly have the 7 of 10 votes needed to do so.

Then form a new conference (possibly called the BigEast) with 7 founding members.  They'd need to legally resolve what is done with the exit fees, if any exist for the teams that already announced they're leaving. 
It also sounds like they'd retain the auto-bid to the NCAA since all those teams have been together for 5+ years.

In a sense it worked for GM.   They shed the unwanted parts and started a new GM.

Finally what to do with the NCAA tourney units.  Where some real basketball cash is.  The current BigEast is expected to bring in over $30 million based on the tourney units accumulated over the past 6 years.   
Would the 7 schools retain only their units?   About $9 million next year.
What about the units left behind by ND, West Virginia, Ptt, Syracuse, and Louisville?  I would think UConn and Cincinnati have a right to their own if the league is dissolved, but I can't envision a scenario where the units are allowed to follow the other teams to the ACC. 
 
Then the talk of expanding to 10 or 12 comes into play.
12/13/2012 4:05 PM

The 7 schools should join up with Xavier, Butler, St. Louis. Creighton and Dayton to form a new basketball conference. It'd be a great group. They could also add VCU but I think that's a public school and they may prefer a private-school conference.  THey could even have pity on Cincinnati and UConn and invite them, too. It'd be a short merger, however, because both of those schools would leave in a second for a football league.

12/13/2012 4:31 PM

being that they're all upstanding Catholic institutions, perhaps they'll embrace the holiday spirit, their hearts will grow three sizes, and they'll find a bowl at the table for Cincinnati and UConn. 
But with the ruckus last month from UConn trying to shove Louisville aside in an attempt to kneel before the ACC, I think it would only be invited with a long list of conditions. 
 

12/13/2012 4:53 PM
Exerpted from the New York Daily News

The University of Connecticut wanted to be one of the first teams out the door when the ACC realignment talks began again in 2010. Now it appears the Huskies could be left behind altogether when the seven Catholic Big East schools — Villanova, St. John’s, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, Providence and Seton Hall — leave to form their own Catholic league.
 

Unless the ACC throws the Huskies a lifeline, the school in Storrs that has won three national championships in men’s basketball and built a dynasty in women’s hoops could be a step away from Conference USA.

 It’s hard to feel sympathy for Herbst or the Huskies, who thought they were better than the company they kept and showed little empathy for the Big East.

UConn built its brand by leveraging the competitive tradition of the Big East’s founding members — St. John’s, Georgetown and Providence. It benefitted from the fact that the league was one of ESPN’s first great assets

UConn didn’t respect the camaraderie and affiliation with the non-football schools, so it is only appropriate that the Huskies, who gained warmth under the big blanket of the Big East, have been left out in the cold in this game of musical chairs.

Connecticut has openly lobbied for membership in the ACC twice.

During the 2011 round of expansion last fall,. UConn lost out, in part, because of its contentious relationship with Boston College. The Eagles didn’t want to share the New England market with a university that convinced the state attorney general to sue it for leaving for the ACC in 2005. This fall, after Maryland left to create another vacancy, the ACC chose Louisville over UConn, primarily to appease Florida State and Clemson, two football schools that were dissatisfied with the fact that the ACC had not produced a better caliber of play.

UConn thought it was beyond the Big East, but the harsh reality is the Huskies are not as attractive as they would believe. Although UConn is continuing to evolve academically, its national appeal is based on its basketball program, which would not have been possible without the Big East.

For basketball historians, UConn’s situation is reminiscent of when Fordham left the MAAC, where its men’s basketball team was winning 20-plus games a year, for the non-scholarship Patriot League in 1992, and when Boston College left the Big East, where it had won championships, in 2005 for the ACC.

Both schools quickly faded into irrelevance, both regionally and nationally.
12/14/2012 6:52 AM
with Calhoun retired now is probably a good time for UConn to become the new UMass. Cya Huskies.
12/14/2012 8:26 AM
btw ESPN reporting now that the Catholic 7 cannot disband the league as that requires approval from at least 2 FBS and 2 non FBS schools, and the 3 FBS schools remaining (UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida -  Temple doesn't have a say in dissolution) don't want the conference dissolved (wonder why?) so that seems to mean that the 7 will have to leave and even though a 2003 provision in the bylaws allows them to go without paying exit fees if they go as a group they have to wait the 27 months or negotiate a buyout. Presumably that means the remaining FBS teams will retain the Big East name (for what its worth) and continue to cram whatever the hell mid-major will have them into their goofy lineup...
12/14/2012 8:31 AM
Now with UConn off on its own, you think the Big 10 is wishing they hadn't been so quick to scoop up Rutgers?  Neither has anything to offer in the form of football anyway, but UConn would definitely bring more star power overall.
12/14/2012 9:05 AM
I think it is pretty screwed up that the Allen ACC has become so dominate that it has ended up destroying the Big East.

Oh wait, this is an OT thread?  Who says that the sim doesn't mirror real life?

12/14/2012 3:10 PM
Posted by udm_mike on 12/14/2012 9:05:00 AM (view original):
Now with UConn off on its own, you think the Big 10 is wishing they hadn't been so quick to scoop up Rutgers?  Neither has anything to offer in the form of football anyway, but UConn would definitely bring more star power overall.
ahem, you know Rutgers football is good right?  We've been to a bowl like 7 years in a row.
12/14/2012 3:25 PM

Rutgers has won 5 straight bowl games, tied for the longest current streak.  Their  successes are recent. They've only been to 7 bowl games in 140 years.

12/14/2012 3:57 PM
So how long do they have to be good before they are good?

What I am saying is that Rutgers "has something to offer in the form of football".   I suspect they'll be better 500 most years in the big 10.
12/14/2012 5:05 PM
It's official, the seven Catholic schools are leaving the Big East in June, 2015.  The two year wait follows conference rules. 

Now, if only Xavier doesn't try to stay in the A-10.
12/15/2012 3:15 PM
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