Big East teams Syracuse and Pittsburgh in talks with ACC

[Bravesfan]

Either that, or the other option: There's going to be SOME basketball only schools who will try and join a split. Georgetown, Nova, St John's, Xavier, and a few leftovers from the Big East/A-10 will probably unite. And there's some major markets in there, such that the 4 superconferences invite them to come along for the split.

So, the MVC can expand to either convince the superconferences they deserve to be part of the split themselves, and if not, become the absolute pre-eminent conference in the "I-AA". A conference with the MVC schools itself won't have a chance. The MVC plus a few Big East castoffs and Butler? Now that's a fighting chance.

Got it. Thanks for the explanation TAS. That would be a nice conference either way.

And there are a few ways to go about this. A basketball only conference, while not participating in Division I-A (or FBS) could become a default fifth "superconference" with the top 64 or 32 or 48 teams (or whatever number they come up with) playing in a postseason tournament. So let's say the MVC picks up some decent leftovers and turns into a 12 to 16 team conference of their own. That would mean 80 teams at the most would comprise this new "super D-I" division. Obviously the powers that be would probably want all 80 teams to make the postseason, but even 32 would be a nice number in that a team would have to probably finish above .500 in the conference to make the tournament.

But again this is all wild speculation on my part. Who knows how this will all go down before everything is set.

[thefish7]

Got it. Thanks for the explanation TAS. That would be a nice conference either way.

And there are a few ways to go about this. A basketball only conference, while not participating in Division I-A (or FBS) could become a default fifth "superconference" with the top 64 or 32 or 48 teams (or whatever number they come up with) playing in a postseason tournament. So let's say the MVC picks up some decent leftovers and turns into a 12 to 16 team conference of their own. That would mean 80 teams at the most would comprise this new "super D-I" division. Obviously the powers that be would probably want all 80 teams to make the postseason, but even 32 would be a nice number in that a team would have to probably finish above .500 in the conference to make the tournament.

But again this is all wild speculation on my part. Who knows how this will all go down before everything is set.

If you start from the MVC, that could look like this:

East
Bradley
Butler
Dayton
DePaul
Illinois St
Indiana St
Marquette
Xavier

West
Creighton
Drake
Evansville
Missouri St
Northern Iowa
Saint Louis
Southern Illinois
Wichita St

Orrr, if you start with private major basketball only programs without an MVC foundation you might get:

East
George Washington
Georgetown
Providence
Richmond
Seton Hall
St. Joes
Saint John's
Villanova

West
Bradley
Butler
Creighton
Dayton
DePaul
Marquette
Saint Louis
Xavier

This is a better conference in almost any way, as far as I'm concerned. If you relaxed the private school requirement, I think Wichita St. replaces someone in here, and I don't think it'd be us. Probably fantasy this, but I'd be a fan. Plus with rumors this morning that Big East and Big XII merging, maybe it's more likely, because I don't think the basketball only schools get to come along for that. Another thing that could happen in something like this, is that Villanova has been flirting with a BCS football team for the last few years, and maybe all this would help them make their decision... I think that's less possible for Georgetown and not a serious issue for a school like Butler.

[TheAsianSensation]

This obviously can go in a few different ways, so I can't say anyone is wrong or right, but at the least I hope Elgin is on the phone and making his league welcome to some Big East castoffs. Proactiveness is good - just ask what it did for the ACC.

[thefish7]

This obviously can go in a few different ways, so I can't say anyone is wrong or right, but at the least I hope Elgin is on the phone and making his league welcome to some Big East castoffs. Proactiveness is good - just ask what it did for the ACC.

I hope Dr. Cross is being proactive as well.

[Indy_BB]

From yesterday.....

@blauds we think Beast basketball only schools are ready to bolt. We think Xavier, dayton, Butler and St.Joes should stay near the phone (mark blaudschun - Boston Globe)


@GoodmanCBS If I were Big East, I'd have Xavier and Butler atop my radar if I go the "hoops league" route. (Jeff Goodman - CBS)

@DanWolken Hoops cred...though I'd replace DePaul and SHU with Xavier and Butler (Dan Wolken - TheDaily.com (formerly Memphis Commercial Appeal)

there's a lot more like that.

----------------------------------------------------------

Most everything bouncing around with the national guys is that after the Big 12 sucks up the Big East football schools, they will ask Xavier and Butler (and their combined 29 NCAA wins this decade) to join then assess going bigger. I think they'd probably add two more.

[thefish7]

From yesterday.....

@blauds we think Beast basketball only schools are ready to bolt. We think Xavier, dayton, Butler and St.Joes should stay near the phone (mark blaudschun - Boston Globe)


@GoodmanCBS If I were Big East, I'd have Xavier and Butler atop my radar if I go the "hoops league" route. (Jeff Goodman - CBS)

@DanWolken Hoops cred...though I'd replace DePaul and SHU with Xavier and Butler (Dan Wolken - TheDaily.com (formerly Memphis Commercial Appeal)

there's a lot more like that.

----------------------------------------------------------

Most everything bouncing around with the national guys is that after the Big 12 sucks up the Big East football schools, they will ask Xavier and Butler (and their combined 29 NCAA wins this decade) to join then assess going bigger. I think they'd probably add two more.

Adding Xavier and Butler would take them to 9 schools, assuming all the football guys left, and Nova decided to stay FCS only and in the BEast. Adding Dayton in takes them to ten. I for one, hope they go to 16.

[Braves4Life]

Pompous windbag Boeheim already making enemies in the ACC before he ever plays a game.

http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-syracuse-coachs-greensboro-comments-cause-controversy-20110920,0,6351088.story

http://www.wxii12.com/sports/29242329/detail.html

"Where would you want to go to to a tournament for five days? Let's see: Greensboro, North Carolina, or New York City? Jeez. Let me think about that one and get back to you," Boeheim said.

[TheAsianSensation]

Pompous windbag Boeheim already making enemies in the ACC before he ever plays a game.

http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-syra...,6351088.story

Boeheim's practically said everything short of "this is a terrible idea" at this entire expansion hulabaloo.

[thefish7]

Boeheim's practically said everything short of "this is a terrible idea" at this entire expansion hulabaloo.

This is a thing I happen to agree with Boeheim on. I can't quite figure out why these 16-team conferences are good even for football...

[Braves4Life]

This is a thing I happen to agree with Boeheim on. I can't quite figure out why these 16-team conferences are good even for football...

Your right --

Boeheim said the move is about two things: football and money. He said he's skeptical that the move will actually result in more money for the conference or the schools, according to the report.

[thefish7]

Here's Andy Katz article that's not so far off conference I outlined above:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/6997169/news-notes-ever-changing-college-landscape

One thing he says that there makes no sense to me is Notre Dame not ending up in one of the football conferences, because for me that's kind of fait accompli.

[TheAsianSensation]

If you're following all this step-by-step, this is all getting really funny. Especially if you include the various "reports" out there:

-Oklahoma is now demanding, if they stay in the Big 12, the resignation of Beebe, among other concessions
-East Carolina applied to the Big East, and in the email they sent as part of the application, just happened to unnecessarily copy about 50 different people onto the email, just to help spread the word
-The Big East football members are meeting tonight to figure out what the heck to do. Reports are UConn is plain old skipping it, and Villanova is practically begging to be a part of it. Oh, and they didn't invite TCU either
-West Virginia apparently applied to BOTH the ACC and SEC and got rejected by both
-One wild rumor had the Big East talking to both Navy and Air Force about membership, and that those talks were the straw that broke Pitt's camel back
-The Texas state legislature apparently sent a letter to Texas begging them to stay put
-Someone leaked that Missouri and SEC reached an agreement but later was debunked by the SEC, and now they're mad at Missouri

[Bravesfan]

If you're following all this step-by-step, this is all getting really funny. Especially if you include the various "reports" out there:

-Oklahoma is now demanding, if they stay in the Big 12, the resignation of Beebe, among other concessions
-East Carolina applied to the Big East, and in the email they sent as part of the application, just happened to unnecessarily copy about 50 different people onto the email, just to help spread the word
-The Big East football members are meeting tonight to figure out what the heck to do. Reports are UConn is plain old skipping it, and Villanova is practically begging to be a part of it. Oh, and they didn't invite TCU either
-West Virginia apparently applied to BOTH the ACC and SEC and got rejected by both
-One wild rumor had the Big East talking to both Navy and Air Force about membership, and that those talks were the straw that broke Pitt's camel back
-The Texas state legislature apparently sent a letter to Texas begging them to stay put
-Someone leaked that Missouri and SEC reached an agreement but later was debunked by the SEC, and now they're mad at Missouri

I heard that last one about Missouri earlier today on the Score in Chicago. Yeah, that's a laugh, or maybe not.

But one thing I'm trying to figure out, espcially in trying to read into a lot of what Andy Katz has been saying today is how all this shuffling around will ultimately effect Division I basketball. If the Big East has intentions on becoming a strong, mostly private school and non FBS basketball conference, does this mean that all of Division I will remain intact (after some conference shuffling around of course) and the NCAA Tournament will keep the same format? My guess is yes, though of course five or six basketball "superconferences" will probably take up to 90% of the at-large bids, so that's probably another reason the Big East and most likely the MWC/Conference USA will be looking to expand. So either way, the Valley better try to raid some good teams or they will become a permanent one bid low-major type of conference if all the good mid-majors (i.e.: Butler, Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Xavier, Old Dominion, Oral Roberts, etc.) get raided by the top two or three non-BCS basketball only conferences. This aside, perhaps there won't be a split into two DI divisions after all.

[Da Coach]

ESPN's Andy Katz column about all the "realignment chaos"-

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/6997169/news-notes-realignment-chaos

[Da Coach]

Big 12 may survive

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/story/2011-09-22/big-12-dan-beebe/50487204/1