UConn headed to the Big East

[rjsuperfly66]

RJ,
YOU said the BE was Hands Down better than the AAC. That is what started the comparison by 208
Forget the past. It's all about the present and the future

Ok but the past is part of the present and future. Teams and conferences can get hot and ride one or two years good years. What matters is if you can consistently year after year after year recruit and get results. You can’t prove that out after one season. The Big East has proven that ability. The AAC has not. The AAC could become that conference, but it takes more than one season to sell that bill of goods.

[ramster]

RJ,
YOU said the BE was Hands Down better than the AAC. That is what started the comparison by 208
Forget the past. It's all about the present and the future

Ok but the past is part of the present and future. Teams and conferences can get hot and ride one or two years good years. What matters is if you can consistently year after year after year recruit and get results. You can’t prove that out after one season. The Big East has proven that ability. The AAC has not. The AAC could become that conference, but it takes more than one season to sell that bill of goods.

Agree. But I'm surprised you would make the statement that the BE is "Hands Down" the better conference. Had you not made that statement this discussion would not be taking place.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Casual fan is only interested in the top half of either conference, plus any regional/alliance/animosity factors.
I can't help but say I do like the idea of UConn at MSG for the conference tournament.
Hurls couldn't have scripted it any better, I hope he crushes it.

[rjsuperfly66]

RJ,
YOU said the BE was Hands Down better than the AAC. That is what started the comparison by 208
Forget the past. It's all about the present and the future

Ok but the past is part of the present and future. Teams and conferences can get hot and ride one or two years good years. What matters is if you can consistently year after year after year recruit and get results. You can’t prove that out after one season. The Big East has proven that ability. The AAC has not. The AAC could become that conference, but it takes more than one season to sell that bill of goods.

Agree. But I'm surprised you would make the statement that the BE is "Hands Down" the better conference. Had you not made that statement this discussion would not be taking place.

That is fair, I definitely think it’s hands-down better, but I also acknowledge that can always change. Where I fall on it is that in the Big East, finishing in the top half of the conference is almost an automatic tournament bid. I think that is extremely important as every teams goal is making the tournament. The Big East has had one 10-8 not make the tournament (14) since the new Big East began. I think it sets a very definable goal that if you are in the Big East and finish 10-8, you are almost automatic to be in the tournament. Last year, the AAC had an 11-7 Memphis miss. In 2018, a 12-6 Tulsa missed, while a 12-6 Houston missed the two seasons prior. 2015 saw a 14-4 Tulsa miss as well as a 13-5 Temple. I think it puts a lot of pressure on your teams that they basically have to come in with a strong OOC otherwise they are in trouble. That’s not to say the AAC has not had some great teams or have some up-and -coming programs, but those programs need to see some sort of consistent results.

[ramster]

Ok but the past is part of the present and future. Teams and conferences can get hot and ride one or two years good years. What matters is if you can consistently year after year after year recruit and get results. You can’t prove that out after one season. The Big East has proven that ability. The AAC has not. The AAC could become that conference, but it takes more than one season to sell that bill of goods.

Agree. But I'm surprised you would make the statement that the BE is "Hands Down" the better conference. Had you not made that statement this discussion would not be taking place.

That is fair, I definitely think it’s hands-down better, but I also acknowledge that can always change. Where I fall on it is that in the Big East, finishing in the top half of the conference is almost an automatic tournament bid. I think that is extremely important as every teams goal is making the tournament. The Big East has had one 10-8 not make the tournament (14) since the new Big East began. I think it sets a very definable goal that if you are in the Big East and finish 10-8, you are almost automatic to be in the tournament. Last year, the AAC had an 11-7 Memphis miss. In 2018, a 12-6 Tulsa missed, while a 12-6 Houston missed the two seasons prior. 2015 saw a 14-4 Tulsa miss as well as a 13-5 Temple. I think it puts a lot of pressure on your teams that they basically have to come in with a strong OOC otherwise they are in trouble. That’s not to say the AAC has not had some great teams or have some up-and -coming programs, but those programs need to see some sort of consistent results.

Makes sense, getting to the Tournament is important, but also how you represent the conference once there
Last year:
Villanova 6 beat St Mary’s 11
Purdue 3 beat Villanova 6
Murray State 12 beat Marquette 5 - upset loss for BE
Wofford 7 beat Seton Hall 10
Arizona State 11 beat St Johns 11

Houston 3 beat Georgia State 14
Houston 3 beat Ohio State 11
Kentucky 2 beat Houston 3
UCF 8 beat VCU 9
Duke 1 beat UCF 8
Iowa 10 beat Cincinnati 7 - upset loss for AAC
Belmont 11 beat Temple 11

Big East: 1 win, 4 losses
AAC: 3 wins, 4 losses

[rjsuperfly66]

Agree. But I'm surprised you would make the statement that the BE is "Hands Down" the better conference. Had you not made that statement this discussion would not be taking place.

That is fair, I definitely think it’s hands-down better, but I also acknowledge that can always change. Where I fall on it is that in the Big East, finishing in the top half of the conference is almost an automatic tournament bid. I think that is extremely important as every teams goal is making the tournament. The Big East has had one 10-8 not make the tournament (14) since the new Big East began. I think it sets a very definable goal that if you are in the Big East and finish 10-8, you are almost automatic to be in the tournament. Last year, the AAC had an 11-7 Memphis miss. In 2018, a 12-6 Tulsa missed, while a 12-6 Houston missed the two seasons prior. 2015 saw a 14-4 Tulsa miss as well as a 13-5 Temple. I think it puts a lot of pressure on your teams that they basically have to come in with a strong OOC otherwise they are in trouble. That’s not to say the AAC has not had some great teams or have some up-and -coming programs, but those programs need to see some sort of consistent results.

Makes sense, getting to the Tournament is important, but also how you represent the conference once there
Last year:
Villanova 6 beat St Mary’s 11
Purdue 3 beat Villanova 6
Murray State 12 beat Marquette 5 - upset loss for BE
Wofford 7 beat Seton Hall 10
Arizona State 11 beat St Johns 11

Houston 3 beat Georgia State 14
Houston 3 beat Ohio State 11
Kentucky 2 beat Houston 3
UCF 8 beat VCU 9
Duke 1 beat UCF 8
Iowa 10 beat Cincinnati 7 - upset loss for AAC
Belmont 11 beat Temple 11

Big East: 1 win, 4 losses
AAC: 3 wins, 4 losses

Sure but again you are taking one historic year and making it seem like that’s the baseline. In the last 5 years, the AAC has won 8 tournament games. They’ve put only one team into the Sweet 16.

Here's another example for you -- From 2010 to 2012, the A10 won 8 tournament games in 3 tournaments, a solid number. In 2013-2014, the A10 increased it's number of tournament teams and won 11 games in two years, a great number. People assumed that was the new level of performance, that this was the expectation they could assume. From 15-19 (5 years), the conference has won 7 NCAA games, 2 which were play-in.

And even then, I would disagree on that point. You can’t win in the tournament if you don’t play in the tournament. So while all fans should want better results for national bragging rights, getting there (and the frequency you get there) is also important.

Point being, if the AAC gets 5 teams per year in the tournament instead of 3, it’s more chances at more wins and more chances at 2nd weekend.

It’s the reason why geography aside, I don’t think anyone would want to play in the WCC when they could play in the Big East, AAC, or A10. The WCC has some nice tournament stats because of Gonzaga, but the entirety of the conference struggles to make the tournament.

But don’t be fooled, I’m not going to sit here and defend the Big East tournament performance of the last 5 years. National Championships aside, they need to be much better as a whole. But the conference has at least gotten the cracks, it’s now a matter of converting on those chances. PC is tops among them of teams who have had chances but whose overall tournament resume has sucked.

[steviep123]

The A10 from 2010-2012 was a different league. Temple, Xavier, Charlotte and Butler (2012 only) are no longer in the A10. That’s 3 perennial strong teams missing. That said VCU & Davidson joined in 2012 & 2014. George Mason in 2013. If memory serves the A10 had 5 bids in 2013 and 6 in 2014 followed by 3,3,3,3,&2

So what we thought could have been a trend was mixed by a combo of losing teams and not keeping up.

[bigappleram]

RJ you love to use % of conference that makes the tourney as the barometer which to the college bball junkie is a very valid and legit data point. But perception and reality are not always aligned. To the regular Joe college hoops fan that drives the national perception they could care less what percentage of the league make the tourney. They care about players and programs. They care about who makes it to the Elite 8 and Final 4. Who puts high profile players into the pros. I could argue that programs like Cincinnati, Memphis, Uconn (when they were in AAC) and even Houston have more national brand cache than most BE teams not named Nova. This is the biggest issue for the BE and why they are securing UConn. For all the success the league has had in building a competitive league top to bottom, with great parity and really only 1 dog program, the perception is that the league has fallen way off from where they were. No one cares about Butler, Seton Hall, Xavier, Creighton, PC, Depaul outside their local regions. Gtown has national cache but has been dormant, St John's similar situation. Nova is Nova and exempt from this assessment. Net net I don't think the brand value of the BE programs is that much greater than those of the AAC even though the on court results would paint a different picture. If they were the league wouldn't have thrown their mission statement and intended unifying principles out the door to roll out the carpet for Uconn. And these conversations did not start this year, the league office has known there was a perception issue for quite some time, have hired PR pros and marketing agencies to help fix it, and have now invited Uconn back to address it.

[rjsuperfly66]

RJ you love to use % of conference that makes the tourney as the barometer which to the college bball junkie is a very valid and legit data point. But perception and reality are not always aligned. To the regular Joe college hoops fan that drives the national perception they could care less what percentage of the league make the tourney. They care about players and programs. They care about who makes it to the Elite 8 and Final 4. Who puts high profile players into the pros. I could argue that programs like Cincinnati, Memphis, Uconn (when they were in AAC) and even Houston have more national brand cache than most BE teams not named Nova. This is the biggest issue for the BE and why they are securing UConn. For all the success the league has had in building a competitive league top to bottom, with great parity and really only 1 dog program, the perception is that the league has fallen way off from where they were. No one cares about Butler, Seton Hall, Xavier, Creighton, PC, Depaul outside their local regions. Gtown has national cache but has been dormant, St John's similar situation. Nova is Nova and exempt from this assessment. Net net I don't think the brand value of the BE programs is that much greater than those of the AAC even though the on court results would paint a different picture. If they were the league wouldn't have thrown their mission statement and intended unifying principles out the door to roll out the carpet for Uconn. And these conversations did not start this year, the league office has known there was a perception issue for quite some time, have hired PR pros and marketing agencies to help fix it, and have now invited Uconn back to address it.

I agree with everything you said but the one thing I would say is that programs and conferences should not be making decisions based on the “sexy” names in that conference. While Memphis has a ton of cache now because of Penny and his recruiting classes, Memphis hasn’t made the tournament since 2014 and Penny has never made the tournament. His recruiting classes are definitely sexy, but he is unproven on the court. That’s why if I’m assessing the conference as a real basketball fan and not a casual person looking at brand recognition, I think they Big East is far more proven at this point. Programs need to make moves for them on a variety of factors, but a big one is which conference gives me the best chances of making it to the tournament. Right now I still think it’s slam dunk Big East. Would it surprise me if Memphis was a Sweet 16 team in 2 years? No. But they need to do it first. What if Hardaways Memphis teams end up like Missouri with Porter Jr?

[theblueram]

https://thespun.com/big-east/villanova/ ... tournament

[ramster]

https://thespun.com/big-east/villanova/ ... tournament

RJ,
Another article on the Big East status.................
Shows how quickly the Big East has fallen off. 5th Ranked Conference when they have almost always been 1 or 2.
Villanova was the highest BE Seed at #6 and should not have been that high based on their performance

Purdue just beat Villanova like a drum, 87-61. The defending national champions never really challenged much at any point.
With the Villanova loss, the Big East’s tournament as a whole is over. A loss sets the conference’s record in at 1-4 for the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Villanova, the No. 6 seed in the South Region, squeaked by No. 11 Saint Mary’s in the first round, 61-57. That is the sole win.

Since the New Big East was formed these are the NCAA Tournament Results
You refer often to the past and how important it is for a Conference to get multiple teams in to improve the Conference's chances of winning in the NCAA, but the stats say otherwise

Villanova has dominated - (16-4) while the rest of the NBE is 16-26
Xavier and Butler joined from the Atlantic 10 and have been the only other 2 NBE Teams to produce with (7-5) and (5-4) respectively

So take the Top 3 teams and NBE is (28-13)
The bottom 7 NBE Teams are (4-17)

So it appears the depth and overall top to bottom strength that NBE Administrators, AD's and HC's tout year after year does not show up in NCAA Tournament Performance
You say the more teams the better but this would show you really only need Villanova in the Tournament, followed by Xavier and Butler. The other 7 teams can stay home.

Villanova (16-4)
Xavier (7-5)
Butler (5-4)
Georgetown (1-1)
Creighton (1-3)
Seton Hall (1-4)
Providence (1-5)
Marquette (0-2)
St Johns (0-2)
Depaul (0-0)
Overall (32-30)

[RF1]

UConn Big East Money Items

• $3.5M Entry fee (typically deducted from future earnings)

• $4M TV Annual Payout (could possibly be negotiated upward to $6M with addition of UConn-Huskies may not be eligible for full payment for x number of years)

• $30M Exit fee if team were to leave BE within first six years - will eventually drop to $15M and then $10M in later years

[rjsuperfly66]

https://thespun.com/big-east/villanova/ ... tournament

RJ,
Another article on the Big East status.................
Shows how quickly the Big East has fallen off. 5th Ranked Conference when they have almost always been 1 or 2.
Villanova was the highest BE Seed at #6 and should not have been that high based on their performance

Purdue just beat Villanova like a drum, 87-61. The defending national champions never really challenged much at any point.
With the Villanova loss, the Big East’s tournament as a whole is over. A loss sets the conference’s record in at 1-4 for the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Villanova, the No. 6 seed in the South Region, squeaked by No. 11 Saint Mary’s in the first round, 61-57. That is the sole win.

Since the New Big East was formed these are the NCAA Tournament Results
You refer often to the past and how important it is for a Conference to get multiple teams in to improve the Conference's chances of winning in the NCAA, but the stats say otherwise

Villanova has dominated - (16-4) while the rest of the NBE is 16-26
Xavier and Butler joined from the Atlantic 10 and have been the only other 2 NBE Teams to produce with (7-5) and (5-4) respectively

So take the Top 3 teams and NBE is (28-13)
The bottom 7 NBE Teams are (4-17)

So it appears the depth and overall top to bottom strength that NBE Administrators, AD's and HC's tout year after year does not show up in NCAA Tournament Performance
You say the more teams the better but this would show you really only need Villanova in the Tournament, followed by Xavier and Butler. The other 7 teams can stay home.

Villanova (16-4)
Xavier (7-5)
Butler (5-4)
Georgetown (1-1)
Creighton (1-3)
Seton Hall (1-4)
Providence (1-5)
Marquette (0-2)
St Johns (0-2)
Depaul (0-0)
Overall (32-30)

In terms of regular season conference ratings that you illustrated, the Big East has had ONE "bad" season. Yes, they were ranked 5th last season. The prior 4 seasons they were ranked 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, and 2nd. So could it be entirely possible that the Big East struggled in a perceived "reloading" season and that next year they are much better? I don't know how you can say "The Big East has fallen off" after ONE season. I just think that is incredibly short-sighted (I'm not comparing this version of the Big East to the original Big East -- of course there was significant drop off there. I'm assuming for purpose of this argument we are talking about the modern Big East). If the Big East finishes 5th or 6th in the next two seasons, I think that is a different argument. It would be like taking a conference that regularly finishes 8th, sees them finish 3rd, and starts trumpeting that Conference X is great because it is a Top 3 conference. Isn't it possible Conference X just had a great year, when in reality it is not consistent with their baseline performance?

Also, I don't understand your tournament argument. Yes, I would rather get more teams in tournament, who wouldn't? I like my team being in a conference who typically is strong in the OOC and teams that finish 10-8 are basically guaranteed to make the tournament. I much prefer that then being in a conference where a team needs to go 15-3 or 14-4 or 13-5 and have to win games in the conference tournament to solidify a tournament birth. I would rather my conference get 10 bids over 2, even if each conference won the same amount of games. Why? Because you can't win if you don't play. PC's tournament record sucks. It blows. But if they never make the tournament, they never have a chance of winning a tournament game, and they never have a chance of making the second weekend.

It's as simple as this -- Would you rather make the tournament and lose a game, or would you rather be playing in the NIT or sitting at home after your conference tournament? Please understand, this is not a defense of the conferences tournament performance, but rather their ability to get to the tournament.

[rambone 78]

Of course RJ. Would I rather see URI in the BE instead of the A10?

You betcha, a million times over.

[ramster]

RJ you love to use % of conference that makes the tourney as the barometer which to the college bball junkie is a very valid and legit data point. But perception and reality are not always aligned. To the regular Joe college hoops fan that drives the national perception they could care less what percentage of the league make the tourney. They care about players and programs. They care about who makes it to the Elite 8 and Final 4. Who puts high profile players into the pros. I could argue that programs like Cincinnati, Memphis, Uconn (when they were in AAC) and even Houston have more national brand cache than most BE teams not named Nova. This is the biggest issue for the BE and why they are securing UConn. For all the success the league has had in building a competitive league top to bottom, with great parity and really only 1 dog program, the perception is that the league has fallen way off from where they were. No one cares about Butler, Seton Hall, Xavier, Creighton, PC, Depaul outside their local regions. Gtown has national cache but has been dormant, St John's similar situation. Nova is Nova and exempt from this assessment. Net net I don't think the brand value of the BE programs is that much greater than those of the AAC even though the on court results would paint a different picture. If they were the league wouldn't have thrown their mission statement and intended unifying principles out the door to roll out the carpet for Uconn. And these conversations did not start this year, the league office has known there was a perception issue for quite some time, have hired PR pros and marketing agencies to help fix it, and have now invited Uconn back to address it.

I agree with everything you said but the one thing I would say is that programs and conferences should not be making decisions based on the “sexy” names in that conference. While Memphis has a ton of cache now because of Penny and his recruiting classes, Memphis hasn’t made the tournament since 2014 and Penny has never made the tournament. His recruiting classes are definitely sexy, but he is unproven on the court. That’s why if I’m assessing the conference as a real basketball fan and not a casual person looking at brand recognition, I think they Big East is far more proven at this point. Programs need to make moves for them on a variety of factors, but a big one is which conference gives me the best chances of making it to the tournament. Right now I still think it’s slam dunk Big East. Would it surprise me if Memphis was a Sweet 16 team in 2 years? No. But they need to do it first. What if Hardaways Memphis teams end up like Missouri with Porter Jr?

Bottom line the argument here is you saying the NBE is a Slam Dunk better than the AAC. I think NBE is better but not by the landslide you think and say it is.

Memphis has made giant strides lately. Of course Hardaway does not have a track record for NCAA. Neither did Mullins or Ewing - 2 guys who NBE gambled on with mediocre results
Hardaway did very impressive Coaching and team building in Nike EYBL. He is winning recruiting battles against Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Tennessee, Louisville. He has the #1 Recruiting Class for 2019. Proven in NCAA Tournament? No, we all know that. But things are looking very good in Memphis.
Memphis did not miss the NCAA tournament by much. Houston, UCF, Cincinnati and Temple went from AAC. So add Memphis to The Group and it looks quite good

Getting teams into the NCAA is one thing, winning is another. The data show Villanova with 16 of the NBE total wins since NBE formation in 2014. The bottom 7 teams might get in but have only 4 wins combined since 2014. Some say it’s Villanova and the rest - not good if Villanova falters s they did last season getting only a 6-seed and getting upset and beaten convincingly by Murray State.

Should people be concerned about dropping from #2 to #5? It’s up to the person. If I’m a NBE fan (which I’m not) id be looking over my shoulder at the AAC, I’d be concerned about Villanova, also my 2nd best team losing the Houser Brothers, the dropping of the rating even if it’s just one year
On the plus side I’d be happy about UCONN, but still think Val Ackerman took too long to go to 11 teams
I don’t like the 20 games.
NBE teams don’t typically play road games in OCC. I think they should. Murray State plays road OOC games they have to. I think that makes them tougher at Tourney time. Gonzaga plays tough OOC road games.
P5’s teams don’t like the road for OOC. Too bad the NCAA does not incentivize OOC Road games. 20 game P5 and NBE rediuces OOC games and makes College Basketball less exciting.
As more and more Top 30 players go straight to NBA (age limit inevitable change coming) or go overseas to play more than 35 games to prepare for NBA we will see the College game interest diminish further.

A10 is now ranked #13. Should I not be concerned because it’s only 1 season as per your logic? Maybe I shouldn’t concerned but I am. I’m concerned that the A10 is attracting fewer 3 and 4 star players. I’m concerned that good A19 players are transferring out like Bynum, Players from Fordham, Duquesne, etc. I’m glad the NCAA is making transferring tougher, but maybe not tough enough.

Bottom line, I think AAC and NBE are close in level. Time will tell as always.

[ace]

I have no interest in arguing if the AAC or BE is better (although I have a clear opinion on that), but the BE is a million times better for UConn. It only takes looking at ticket sales, donations, and general excitement from fans and alumni in just the last week to show that. The AAC has good teams, but the focus is not the northeast, and that, in part, hurt UConn in the ways mentioned.

[rjsuperfly66]

RJ you love to use % of conference that makes the tourney as the barometer which to the college bball junkie is a very valid and legit data point. But perception and reality are not always aligned. To the regular Joe college hoops fan that drives the national perception they could care less what percentage of the league make the tourney. They care about players and programs. They care about who makes it to the Elite 8 and Final 4. Who puts high profile players into the pros. I could argue that programs like Cincinnati, Memphis, Uconn (when they were in AAC) and even Houston have more national brand cache than most BE teams not named Nova. This is the biggest issue for the BE and why they are securing UConn. For all the success the league has had in building a competitive league top to bottom, with great parity and really only 1 dog program, the perception is that the league has fallen way off from where they were. No one cares about Butler, Seton Hall, Xavier, Creighton, PC, Depaul outside their local regions. Gtown has national cache but has been dormant, St John's similar situation. Nova is Nova and exempt from this assessment. Net net I don't think the brand value of the BE programs is that much greater than those of the AAC even though the on court results would paint a different picture. If they were the league wouldn't have thrown their mission statement and intended unifying principles out the door to roll out the carpet for Uconn. And these conversations did not start this year, the league office has known there was a perception issue for quite some time, have hired PR pros and marketing agencies to help fix it, and have now invited Uconn back to address it.

I agree with everything you said but the one thing I would say is that programs and conferences should not be making decisions based on the “sexy” names in that conference. While Memphis has a ton of cache now because of Penny and his recruiting classes, Memphis hasn’t made the tournament since 2014 and Penny has never made the tournament. His recruiting classes are definitely sexy, but he is unproven on the court. That’s why if I’m assessing the conference as a real basketball fan and not a casual person looking at brand recognition, I think they Big East is far more proven at this point. Programs need to make moves for them on a variety of factors, but a big one is which conference gives me the best chances of making it to the tournament. Right now I still think it’s slam dunk Big East. Would it surprise me if Memphis was a Sweet 16 team in 2 years? No. But they need to do it first. What if Hardaways Memphis teams end up like Missouri with Porter Jr?

Bottom line the argument here is you saying the NBE is a Slam Dunk better than the AAC. I think NBE is better but not by the landslide you think and say it is.

Memphis has made giant strides lately. Of course Hardaway does not have a track record for NCAA. Neither did Mullins or Ewing - 2 guys who NBE gambled on with mediocre results
Hardaway did very impressive Coaching and team building in Nike EYBL. He is winning recruiting battles against Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Tennessee, Louisville. He has the #1 Recruiting Class for 2019. Proven in NCAA Tournament? No, we all know that. But things are looking very good in Memphis.
Memphis did not miss the NCAA tournament by much. Houston, UCF, Cincinnati and Temple went from AAC. So add Memphis to The Group and it looks quite good

Getting teams into the NCAA is one thing, winning is another. The data show Villanova with 16 of the NBE total wins since NBE formation in 2014. The bottom 7 teams might get in but have only 4 wins combined since 2014. Some say it’s Villanova and the rest - not good if Villanova falters s they did last season getting only a 6-seed and getting upset and beaten convincingly by Murray State.

Should people be concerned about dropping from #2 to #5? It’s up to the person. If I’m a NBE fan (which I’m not) id be looking over my shoulder at the AAC, I’d be concerned about Villanova, also my 2nd best team losing the Houser Brothers, the dropping of the rating even if it’s just one year
On the plus side I’d be happy about UCONN, but still think Val Ackerman took too long to go to 11 teams
I don’t like the 20 games.
NBE teams don’t typically play road games in OCC. I think they should. Murray State plays road OOC games they have to. I think that makes them tougher at Tourney time. Gonzaga plays tough OOC road games.
P5’s teams don’t like the road for OOC. Too bad the NCAA does not incentivize OOC Road games. 20 game P5 and NBE rediuces OOC games and makes College Basketball less exciting.
As more and more Top 30 players go straight to NBA (age limit inevitable change coming) or go overseas to play more than 35 games to prepare for NBA we will see the College game interest diminish further.

A10 is now ranked #13. Should I not be concerned because it’s only 1 season as per your logic? Maybe I shouldn’t concerned but I am. I’m concerned that the A10 is attracting fewer 3 and 4 star players. I’m concerned that good A19 players are transferring out like Bynum, Players from Fordham, Duquesne, etc. I’m glad the NCAA is making transferring tougher, but maybe not tough enough.

Bottom line, I think AAC and NBE are close in level. Time will tell as always.

Here is the reality Ramster -- I know this doesn't mean much, but if you look at projections, many of them have 5-6 Big East teams in the Top 30. That doesn't mean anything until they get on the court and play games, but it tells me that exactly what I already felt, that many teams last year had younger teams and by retaining that talent, they should be able to get to a higher level this season, both through regular season results, tournament bids, and tournament results, if they play to their expectations.

That is a little different than the situation in the A10 you described. The Big East is still recruiting many Top 100 players, and the Big East is still typically retaining top talent (Hauser's aside, and even then that is a situation revolving around clashing personalities among star players than bailing to play in a better conference). If the Big East started landing minimal Top 100 talent, and then saw a ton of talented transfers, I would feel the same way you do. I'm not seeing that though so hard to be concerned.

The Big East needs to win more tournament games, that is a fact, not an opinion. Your stats about Villanova are totally accurate. Your facts about the conference are totally accurate. But this is the story you are leaving out -- You can't factor future postseason success based on past postseason results. If you did, Kentucky, Duke, UNC, and UCLA would be in the Final Four every season. For all we know, the Big East puts 4 teams in the Sweet 16 and 2 teams in the Final Four. Is that likely? Probably not. But when you get more teams in the tournament, you get more cracks and making exciting things happen. You can't put 4 teams in the Sweet 16 if you put 3 teams in the tournament. That's why I care about bid number. If you put 7 teams in the tournament, maybe 4 teams get hot and do something impressive. It's not a guarantee that it happens, but there is always a chance it could.

I think you would find that if you polled 100 real college basketball fans (but not fans of any Big East/AAC team) living in the true Big East footprint (let's say New England through the Mid-Atlantic), I think you would find that 80-85% of them would rather be in the Big East than the AAC, and I bet many of those would not even have to think twice about it. That's all you need to know. Purely speculative, but just an assumption on my part.

[RF1]

Bill Reynolds FWIW Column today had another example of the BS that spews from Jim Calhoun's mouth:

LINE OF THE WEEK comes from the former UConn great basketball coach Jim Calhoun, on the Huskies coming back to the Big East: “Our marketing guys are good, but you can’t make up rivalries. There’s no better fight than your neighborhood fight.’’

Seems he didn't talk like that when he first took over the Huskies program and single handedly killed its longest and most intense historical local rivalry with URI. Rhody, despite having rarely played UConn since that POS first came to Storrs, is still to this day far and away UConn's most played (by some 30 games) hoops opponent. Calhoun's words above were just more lies. Similar to him telling NCAA investigators that he knew nothing of all the transgressions that had happened under his tenure. Fine upstanding man that he was let his assistants take the fall. Nothing but crap flows from the mouth of Calhoun.

[rambone 78]

Well UConn officially withdrew from the AAC with a 4 paragraph letter.....however they held out hope they could stay in the AAC for football....and the AAC basically told them get lost lol.

The severance fee to leave is 10 mil....but UConn wants to leave earlier than the normal 27 month notice....so they will have to pay possibly upwards of 15 mil to do so...plus 3.5 to the BE to join them.

Could be a 20 mil nut to switch conferences AND leave football hung out to dry.....what do they do, print money up there?

[RF1]

Well UConn officially withdrew from the AAC with a 4 paragraph letter.....however they held out hope they could stay in the AAC for football....and the AAC basically told them get lost lol.

The severance fee to leave is 10 mil....but UConn wants to leave earlier than the normal 27 month notice....so they will have to pay possibly upwards of 15 mil to do so...plus 3.5 to the BE to join them.

Could be a 20 mil nut to switch conferences AND leave football hung out to dry.....what do they do, print money up there?

Apparently money is never a concern in Storrs. The school that runs a $40M athletics department deficit is buying a third house for its president. Apparently the existing house in Storrs is not good enough so another one is being bought there for the new incoming president. The president also has a residence in nearby Hartford to stay at when doing school business in the capital. Add this to the money it paid to axe their football coach last year and the money it could end up having to pay Kevin Ollie if his suit is successful.

Check out these articles:

UConn’s sham explanation for third presidential palace
https://www.theday.com/columnists/20190 ... ial-palace

Colin McEnroe: ‘UConn athletic teams are on welfare.’
https://www.middletownpress.com/opinion ... 062025.php

[rjsuperfly66]

and the money it could end up having to pay Kevin Ollie if his suit is successful.

I think the school is feeling pretty good about the Ollie money -- That's the reason Ollie was so pissed when the NCAA probation status came out last week. He felt like the NCAA did him a disservice with their decision, that they didn't follow proper protocol, blah blah blah. It's the situation that simply will not die. But I'm guessing the fact the NCAA came out with their decision, all UCONN has to turn and say is "We had just cause, look at the punishment we received from the NCAA." The fact that the NCAA also hit Ollie with a three year show-cause order also has to be a major blow to Ollie's sails.

[ramster]

Does not sound good for last years (1-11) UCONN football team - Conference Meeting in Newport RI today

https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-fo ... story.html

[RF1]

UConn has agreed to pay the AAC some $17M to leave the conference. The contract exit fee would have been just $10M if UConn had departed 27 months after notice. Since they wanted out earlier, a mutually agreed upon amount had to be reached.

UConn will have to also pay the Big East $3.5M to join thus bringing the total conference switch cost up to $20.5M.

[RF1]

UConn is Leaning Hard Into Not Caring About Football
http://forgotten5.com/2019/07/28/uconn- ... -football/

Pressure is on Benedict to provide UConn football the tools to succeed
https://www.theday.com/article/20190727 ... /190729534

[rambone 78]

UConn beats the mighty Wagner in football 24-21.....

Probably the only win they get again this year.

We would beat them if we played them now.

[RF1]

19,648 on hand to see see UConn squeak by FCS member Wagner on a Thursday night.

[NYGFan_Section208]

19,648 on hand to see see UConn squeak by FCS member Wagner on a Thursday night.

Hasn't that been pretty close to a "season" for some years at Rhody?