If you want to read a great article about conference realignment

[businesslawyer]

read Stewart Mandel's piece on SI.com. No, it doesn't say what will happen to us. And no, I don't know how to post a link.

 

[sdhusky]

read Stewart Mandel's piece on SI.com. No, it doesn't say what will happen to us. And no, I don't know how to post a link.

I want rutgers to lose this thursday even though its probably better for us they win. The only good part about RU winning on Thursday is that SU won't be a co-champion.

The fact I feel that way is what is wrong with all the conference shuffling.

 

[CL82]

read Stewart Mandel's piece on SI.com. No, it doesn't say what will happen to us. And no, I don't know how to post a link.

Seriously? Just use the button that looks like a chain above copy the page address into it.

 

[jostar1]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...big-ten-expansion-maryland-rutgers/index.html

 

[businesslawyer]

Seriously? Just use the button that looks like a chain above copy the page address into it.

You'd be amazed at what I can't do.

 

[jostar1]

Seriously? Just use the button that looks like a chain above copy the page address into it.

I don't use that button. I just copy and paste it in the text area.

 

[Bezzz]

You'd be amazed at what I can't do.

C"mon, man. You're a Trinity grad! Too many frat parties?

Party time!

 

[Druken Friar]

Good article. I like Jim Boeheim's take on it.

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/artic...od?odyssey=mod|newswell|featuredtext|Sports|p

 

[upstater]

The article forgets that the B10 teams schedule 4 non-conference games each year, 3 of which are against ho-hum competition. They are moving up to 9 or 10 games soon. And if they ever go to superconferences, say bye-bye to scheduling the MAC. In other words, the B10 fans don't really have much to complain about. Maryland replaces that game against Ball St. or N. Illinois.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

I guess it is ok for Cuse to do what is good for them but everyone else can't do the same ?

 

[upstater]

Good article. I like Jim Boeheim's take on it.

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/1721455&usatref=sportsmod?odyssey=mod|newswell|featuredtext|Sports|p

Remember what Jim Calhoun said: "Not one dime back."

Boeheim gets paid too.

I don't see these coaches giving a ton of money back to the university in order to preserve rivalries. It's all about making more money. For the schools, the coaches, the media. Lots of boo-hooing going on. Even ESPN is on its soapbox. Laughable.

 

[upstater]

I guess it is ok for Cuse to do what is good for them but everyone else can't do the same ?

Precisely. A joke.

 

[ZooCougar]

Boeheim is not management, he's talent. There is a reason why he wasn't consulted when Syracuse made the jump.

 

[noeynox]

I guess it is ok for Cuse to do what is good for them but everyone else can't do the same ?

Yeah wasn't he making a lot noise saying the Big East had found their replacements and questioning why the Big East was keeping them hostage? Hypocrite.

 

[Fishy]

Here is my problem with all this...

We're supposed to feel sorry for a Northwestern student who might or might not be able to road trip to Columbus like the author did back in ye oldey times?

duck* him. Northwestern is a motherf***ing punch line.

What about the UConn kid who won't be road tripping anywhere I did because the motherf***ing conference has ceased to exist in any meaningful form?

None of this was ever a problem when the Big East was getting tag-teamed every other year. Now that the ACC has suffered a nibble, everyone should prostrate themselves in grief.

duck* them all.

 

[Druken Friar]

I guess it is ok for Cuse to do what is good for them but everyone else can't do the same ?

I think you missed the point. Individual schools aren't really driving the bus. It's the people who are in charge of the conferences that are deciding things. Few schools can choose which conference they want to be part of.

The Big Ten commissioner has decided this big move makes business sense, the article questions the validity of the additions from the perspective of the fan.

Boeheim is not a fan of conference realignment, he said as much in 2011. He said that ideally you would be in a 10 team conference based on geography. He's pointing out that commissioners can't figure out what they want. He's right.

Every President and AD is going to make the decisions that are best for their schools. There is no real allegiance to any conference by any school, it's become solely a business arrangement.

 

[Fishy]

Syracuse is a bit player - they weren't going to make any grand gestures by turning down an ACC invite.

No one would have cared, someone else would have taken the invitation and expansion would have continued at the same pace.

They're getting pushed along like everyone else. But Jimmy B can still shut his pie hole.

 

[Druken Friar]

I'd like to know where this is all going and how UConn is impacted. Just get it figured out and let's move forward.

I'm not a fan of 14 or 16 school conferences. 12 school conferences seem like the right size for football. Larger conferences work ok for basketball. But as a BB fan, I like it when you have a home game against every conference school each season.

 

[ZooCougar]

I like 10. I even liked it when we were 8. When everyone plays everyone it feels like a conference, not an association.

Fishy's posts are great.

How should UConn fit in? Hopefully in a stable ACC, because that will get us back closer to where we wanted to be when we started.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

read Stewart Mandel's piece on SI.com. No, it doesn't say what will happen to us. And no, I don't know how to post a link.

The addition of Maryland wasn't the end, it was the means. The end is Virginia and North Carolina. The B1G's standing rule is that a new addition must be located in a state that is home to an existing member or that borders a state that is home to an existing member. The path to Virginia and North Carolina went through Kentucky, West Virginia, or Maryland. Obviously the B1G thought UMd a better fit than any school in either of the other states. The fact that it brought access to the Balto/D.C. metroplex probably didn't hurt either.

 

[ZooCougar]

The addition of Maryland wasn't the end, it was the means. The end is Virginia and North Carolina. The B1G's standing rule is that a new addition must be located in a state that is home to an existing member or that borders a state that is home to an existing member. The path to Virginia and North Carolina went through Kentucky, West Virginia, or Maryland. Obviously the B1G thought UMd a better fit than any school in either of the other states. The fact that it brought access to the Balto/D.C. metroplex probably didn't hurt either.

I said the same thing last week, but Frank The Tank interjected and refuted the whole contiguous bylaw thing as a myth.

He is one of the most logical and rational guys out there so I believe him. I think if they wanted UVA and UNC then they would have just taken them.

Now that I think about it, I just can't see Jim Delaney being constrained by something that dogmatic.

 

[businesslawyer]

The addition of Maryland wasn't the end, it was the means. The end is Virginia and North Carolina. The B1G's standing rule is that a new addition must be located in a state that is home to an existing member or that borders a state that is home to an existing member. The path to Virginia and North Carolina went through Kentucky, West Virginia, or Maryland. Obviously the B1G thought UMd a better fit than any school in either of the other states. The fact that it brought access to the Balto/D.C. metroplex probably didn't hurt either.

But adding UVA and UNC doesn't help the football product either.

 

[IMind]

The silly part is when you get to a 16 team conference... you really are just two conferences with a rotating agreement about OOC games. Truthfully that's what's most appealing for getting out of the Big East as it stands now. If UConn is in the Big 10 or the ACC we'll be playing games on a regular basis that make far more sense regionally than Memphis, Louisville, and Cinnci.

 

[mavblues]

Delany is already on record as saying more conference games "are on the table". Given that, he doesn't have to stop at 14, or even 16. I think he sees 9 games in football, and 20 in basketball. That's a 20 team league with 2 - 10 team divisions (at least until the NCAA approves pod play, or the leagues break away from NCAA).

If he adds UVA, UNC, and even UConn and Syracuse to finish off the northeast, where does that leave Notre Dame? No way the remaining ACC schools keep access to the National Championship, especially if/when the Big 12 adds a few ACC schools like FSU, Clemson, and possibly Miami and one more.

There's also no way Notre Dame joins the Big 12. Notre Dame joins B1G and can either bring Navy or BC. They will choose BC, and play Navy OOC.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I said the same thing last week, but Frank The Tank interjected and refuted the whole contiguous bylaw thing as a myth.

He is one of the most logical and rational guys out there so I believe him. I think if they wanted UVA and UNC then they would have just taken them.

Now that I think about it, I just can't see Jim Delaney being constrained by something that dogmatic.

I don't disagree that the B1G could pluck from any region they wanted. However, they have an understanding of some sort that has kept the conference operating in a footprint of contiguous states despite increasing membership by 40% since they were the Big Ten. They could also probably kick members out to make room for more attractive members but I doubt they will. Expansion is a contentious topic and the less an expansion plan changes the existing order (provided that order seems to be working relatively well) the more likely it is to be approved.