And the "fickle finger of fate award" goes to --- Memphis fans.
I would love to see the AAC go to the following line-up! For us, we would be set for many years to come! And they would have a top bball league with good travel partners (would a 15 game schedule work?) and be very strong in football!
East - UConn, UMass, ECU, Marshall, Temple, Navy, WKU, & NIU
West - SMU, Tulsa, UH, Tulane, UCF, USF, So Miss, & La Tech
That would be a nice conference. Personally, I would drop either one of the Florida schools or NIU. Not going to happen, but just personal preference. That would leave a very strong football and basketball conference, plus have very good name recognition teams.
In fact, I would drop most of the directional schools (even the ones with decent programs). My ideal conference - outside of getting in an AQ conference - would be:
UConn, UMass, Marshall, Temple Navy, WKU, SMU, Tulsa, UH, Tulane, So. Miss, La. Tech, and add ODU (or leave them out and keep it at 12).