Big East considering up to 8 candidates to replace BSU/SDSU

[Dawg06]

Hmmm. Having looked it up, Gladchuk's comments are more supportive than I remember. You might be right. Army is going to be a tough sell, though. They've been in this conference before, plus or minus a team, and they were already scheduled to leave *before* the realignment spit hit the fan.

Why is 10 teams ideal for basketball scheduling? If 10 is ideal, I might be worried if I were ECU.

With 10 basketball schools, each school can play all 9 conference opponents home and away for a total of 18 conference basketball games each year. It makes it the fairest way to schedule and helps to promote rivalries.

With an even number like 10, splitting the teams into 5 travel pairs makes scheduling and road trips much easier while minimizing travel expenses. It's like killing two birds with one stone on every road trip.

If you end up with an odd number of basketball schools like the Mountain West, there will always be one team idle each night of conference play. That makes scheduling awkward. With 11 basketball schools, I think 20 conference games would be too many.

A conference of only 8 members is too small. Conferences with 11, 12, and 14 basketball teams aren't gonna get to play everybody home and away each year.

[hookdown]

You might be right. Army is going to be a tough sell, though.

True, but if the conference includes Navy, I think the chances improve by 1000% (whatever that might be).

[GrassyNoleHitman]

Why is 10 teams ideal for basketball scheduling? If 10 is ideal, I might be worried if I were ECU.

Scheduling is easy. Play every team twice for an 18 game conference schedule. Truly a balanced schedule because everyone gets everyone for a home and home.

I personally think 9 teams is the perfect size for an all sport conference. Play 8 football games and 16 basketball games each year for a nice balanced fair schedule.

[Dawg06]

More smoke about Tulsa and some TV talk: http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=4881

East Carolina and Tulane will replace Louisville and Rutgers in 2014 and the Big East is focusing on getting Tulsa as its 11 team. Navy is expected to join the Big East in 2015. When the Catholic 7, Notre Dame, Rutgers and Louisville depart, Tulane and East Carolina and another team (presumably Tulsa) will join the conference as full members.

[StrayDawg]

The Big East is considering adding a 12th school.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...hool-keep-name

[parialex]

Looks like just one. Southern Miss needs someone to act. The bit about the TV contract negotiations is the more surprising news. Didn't know they were able to make progress on that yet.

[DawgFaninHous]

The Big East is considering adding a 12th school.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...hool-keep-name

Wouldn't UMass fit their criteria better than Tulsa???? They noted that most are large research schools and that certainly doesn't fit Tulsa (or SMU for that matter). Also UMass would be a better add for bball and should make UConn experience a little less wunderlust!!!!

[Dawg06]

USA Today: Big East likes Tulsa as No. 12 but wants TV deal first

The Big East is likely to add a 12^th member, with Tulsa emerging as a strong favorite, but a final decision won't be made until the league is closer to finalizing a television contract, a person familiar with the league's plans told USA TODAY Sports. "Tulsa is the best draft pick left on the board," the person said.

...the Big East closes in on a TV deal in the next few weeks. ...Aresco said the Big East could end up selling its media rights to multiple networks.

The Big East will likely keep the seven non-football, Catholic schools in the fold for one more season in basketball before they separate and form their own league.

School president Steadman Upham made it clear to the Tulsa World in December the school would prefer to get out of C-USA and re-join SMU and Tulane – smaller private schools with similar academic prestige – in the Big East. With Houston, SMU, Memphis, Central Florida, Tulane and East Carolina migrating to the Big East over the next two years, C-USA has backfilled with eight public schools, four of which are moving from the Sun Belt. "I also want to be in a conference that we can be proud of academically," Upham told the newspaper. "Losing two of the private shools in Conference USA is damaging to me, in the way I think about the conference. Whether that forces us to take an action, I can't speculate. For one thing, it's not our call. We have to have an invitation."

[HogDawg]

So, what's so valuable about Tulsa? It's a very small (8K?) private school in an okay --but not great-- urban, almost midwestern, market. Nothing special at all. Academically, Tulsa's okay, but it's not like academics is the first thing that comes to mind when the Univ of Tulsa is mentioned. And unlike SMU & even Tulane, the city of Tulsa is NOT Dallas or New Orleans.

It wasn't so long ago that Tulsa had crowds of 10K attending their WAC football games at Skelly Stadium. When LA Tech beat Tulsa to win the WAC title in 2001, there were almost as many LA Tech fans in attendance as Tulsa fans. Why would the Big East salivate over Tulsa?

[Soonerdawg]

We shouldbe focusing our efforts Westward. Should became should have been talking to the MWC all along.

No west. No no no no no no no no no no!

[Bigdog13]

No west. No no no no no no no no no no!

Maybe. Depends on how many more teams we lose. If it comes down to MWC or Sunbelt part 2 I choose the MWC.

[Bigdog13]

I'm ok as long as ASU/ULL/ULM aren't in. We start inviting any of those schools and we should be in the MWC.

ECU is gone. Tulsa will be gone shortly. Right now it looks like USM is staying. Hopefully it stays that way.

[Dawgpix]

So, what's so valuable about Tulsa? It's a very small (8K?) private school in an okay --but not great-- urban, almost midwestern, market. Nothing special at all. Academically, Tulsa's okay, but it's not like academics is the first thing that comes to mind when the Univ of Tulsa is mentioned. And unlike SMU & even Tulane, the city of Tulsa is NOT Dallas or New Orleans.

It wasn't so long ago that Tulsa had crowds of 10K attending their WAC football games at Skelly Stadium. When LA Tech beat Tulsa to win the WAC title in 2001, there were almost as many LA Tech fans in attendance as Tulsa fans. Why would the Big East salivate over Tulsa?

Universities with endowments must carry weight. THAT is all they have over your above-mentioned items.

[brtransplant]

I'm ok as long as ASU/ULL/ULM aren't in. We start inviting any of those schools and we should be in the MWC.

ECU is gone. Tulsa will be gone shortly. Right now it looks like USM is staying. Hopefully it stays that way.

The MWC wants nothing to do with us. In case you didn't notice, we were left to rot in the WAC by the schools that now make up much of the MWC. CUSA without Tulsa, and even if we lost USM, will still be better than what the WAC had become. I'm with you about ULM and ULL. I could stomach ASU if I had to.

[PawDawg]

Just because Arkie St. is down wind doesn't mean they don't stink just as bad as LaMon and LaLaff.