This can't be true?!

[Brochacho]

If the goal is to create an eastern division, I'll just pray they're looking to go to 14 and want to add UConn, ECU, UCF, Memphis.

 

[Yawkey Way]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.
Umass football is in its infancy in attempting to move up the college pecking order, and it needs a local rival in football. BC won't ( or can't) fill that role. But Umass could. As a Massachusetts , born and raised, sports fan, I'd like to see these 2 N.E. Public schools in the same football league and playing each other each fall. Its better than watching BC- Wake Forest anyway. So this COULD be good news for those that would like to see a New England College Football rivalry perhaps take form now.. An annual Umass- Uconn football game is WAY better and potentially far more attractive in the future moving forward than an annual Uconn- SMU, or Uconn- Tulane football game, imo.

 

[CL82]

Nooooooooo!

 

[B1GOSU]

Who would the AAC backfill with? UMass? Marshall? Georgia Southern?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.
Umass football is in its infancy in attempting to move up the college pecking order, and it needs a local rival in football. BC won't ( or can't) fill that role. But Umass could. As a Massachusetts , born and raised, sports fan, I'd like to see these 2 N.E. Public schools in the same football league and playing each other each fall. Its better than watching BC- Wake Forest anyway. So this COULD be good news for those that would like to see a New England College Football rivalry perhaps take form now.. An annual Umass- Uconn football game is WAY better and potentially far more attractive in the future moving forward than an annual Uconn- SMU, or Uconn- Tulane football game, imo.

Fingers crossed!

 

[FartMan69]

I hate life

 

[Sea Goat]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.
Umass football is in its infancy in attempting to move up the college pecking order, and it needs a local rival in football. BC won't ( or can't) fill that role. But Umass could. As a Massachusetts , born and raised, sports fan, I'd like to see these 2 N.E. Public schools in the same football league and playing each other each fall. Its better than watching BC- Wake Forest anyway. So this COULD be good news for those that would like to see a New England College Football rivalry perhaps take form now.. An annual Umass- Uconn football game is WAY better and potentially far more attractive in the future moving forward than an annual Uconn- SMU, or Uconn- Tulane football game, imo.

You are a special POS - disappear now.

 

[CTMike]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.
Umass football is in its infancy in attempting to move up the college pecking order, and it needs a local rival in football. BC won't ( or can't) fill that role. But Umass could. As a Massachusetts , born and raised, sports fan, I'd like to see these 2 N.E. Public schools in the same football league and playing each other each fall. Its better than watching BC- Wake Forest anyway. So this COULD be good news for those that would like to see a New England College Football rivalry perhaps take form now.. An annual Umass- Uconn football game is WAY better and potentially far more attractive in the future moving forward than an annual Uconn- SMU, or Uconn- Tulane football game, imo.

Get out of my face with this steaming pile of silver lined bullsht.

 

[BUHusky]

I wouldn't put too much stock in this story. It's the Friday before the playoff selection and the Big 12 has a lot anxiety about having co-champions because of their lack of a championship game. This Memphis radio guy is just being opportunistic with the Big 12's anxiety and trying to make something stick in hopes of more clicks/listeners on an otherwise slow sports day. HFD does it all the time, except he doesn't have a radio show.

That said, if at any point Brett McMurphy starts tweeting about it...then we should all collectively freak out. Until then...

 

[noeynox]

If this sheet happens I'm buying a fugging Subaru, finding where whaler lives and driving 20 fugging mph every where I go!

 

[Vowelguy]

While it could be true, I have to think this is coming from the notion that keeps swirling around that the B12 HAS to have a championship game.
Yes, it would suck for them if both TCU & Baylor get left out.
But it also IS possible that both TCU & Baylor get in (Fla St & Oh St losses would do it). Then would anyone be saying the B12 MUST have a championship game?

 

[ZooCougar]

If this happens then this whole AAC thing has to be reexamined. The biggest revenue earners left in the AAC and MWC need to have a chat about a new a football conference. But getting into the Big East for everything else is no given.

 

[Kolumbo]

It is an interesting rumor - it would surprise me, but not completely shock me. It's at least in the plausible category (unlike those old rumors of the Big 12 going after Florida State). The threshold question for me is whether the Big 12 wants to expand at all in the first place.

To be sure, football still does matter here. You have to look at the whole football-related picture just like Rutgers. Rutgers certainly doesn't have a great on-the-field football history. However, the state of New Jersey was the largest non-Sun Belt/Southern football recruiting base (which, along with TV markets, is what commissioners like Jim Delany is really referring to when they talk about "demographics") that wasn't already in the Big Ten. #2 on that list was the state of Maryland. Those certainly weren't the ONLY factors involved (as the TV markets were the number one consideration for the B1G), but they were big ones that university presidents and ADs have actually been very open about. So, it was still a football-driven expansion for the Big Ten even if marquee football programs weren't necessarily added.

In the same vein, the Memphis area is also one of the strongest per capita football recruiting regions in the country. In fact, both Memphis and Cincinnati would instantly be the two best football recruiting areas in the Big 12 outside of the state of Texas.

At the same time, Memphis has shown to be at least football *competent* this year. Any school with a great hoops fan base (which includes UConn, Memphis, UNLV, New Mexico, San Diego State, etc.) combined with competent football becomes more intriguing in conference realignment. The football program just can't be down in the dumps horrific or else even the greatest basketball in the world can't compensate for that. Too many schools that I've listed above have the great hoops fan base, but not the competent football.

Are you implying that Memphis Football is competent and UCONN Football is not? If so, then you must believe one or two years defines a program.

 

[Kolumbo]

BS. The Big 12 should invite UAB just to shove it up the tide's arse.

 

[Fishy]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.

Go --- away.

 

[UCFBfan]

Just when I was starting to like the fact that we didn't have to ride the coaching roller coaster this pops up. Seriously, why do we bother anymore......if this happens I'd advocate we follow UAB and shut it down. Make sure we have a solid landing for all other teams (BE bj if needed to get back in) and then close up shop.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

How does this benefit us? All it does is force the AAC to add 2 more schools to get back to 12.

I agree with PJ that it's unlikely the B12 would go past 12 & if they did it is doubtful UConn is on the list.

Get ready for Aresco to announce Umass & ODU joining the AAC

If this shi! comes to pass, UNC Charlotte could be a target, too.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I will probably pick up voodoo and spend my days needling at Swofford and every BC alumni/administrator I can individually identify.

Please add a Blumenthal and a Hathaway doll to your collection as they also share the blame on this.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.
Umass football is in its infancy in attempting to move up the college pecking order, and it needs a local rival in football. BC won't ( or can't) fill that role. But Umass could. As a Massachusetts , born and raised, sports fan, I'd like to see these 2 N.E. Public schools in the same football league and playing each other each fall. Its better than watching BC- Wake Forest anyway. So this COULD be good news for those that would like to see a New England College Football rivalry perhaps take form now.. An annual Umass- Uconn football game is WAY better and potentially far more attractive in the future moving forward than an annual Uconn- SMU, or Uconn- Tulane football game, imo.

Not going to happen in at least the next 10 years. UMass would need to put some major money into its athletic facilities, especially football, and staff. McGuirk is too small for FBS football at 17K and the Gillette experiment has been a mess. Plus, gut is that UConn fans would out-number UMass fans, assuming the pricing is reasonable, which would be a PR nightmare for UMass. Such money would also have to come from private donors, which UMass has not had major success with ($275 million endowment), as the current $3.1 million state-funded UMass renovation project that was just launched sounds big; but its spread across all UMass campuses and Amherst is only getting $1 Billion of it. Not to mention Beacon Hill will likely have to pony up major money should Boston get the 2024 summer Olympics to build a 5,000 residence student village that is going to be built at UMass – Boston, not UMass-Amherst.

 

[Deleted]

Why are people saying that FedEx is backing the Memphis move? If that's the case do we have any backers to help get us out of this godforsaken conference? Or is Burton it? From what I understand JC's son is president of converse (sub of Nike). Why can't we have nice things!

In addition, and if true, could this move open up a new series of realignment? Thoughts?

 

[CL82]

Actually I hope the entire league gets invites elsewhere and pays their exit fees and leave exactly one day before UConn gets a B1G invite. That would almost make all the CR angst over the past few years worthwhile.

 

[UCFBfan]

If this gains more traction and end of March Madness is expected announcement date, it gives Warden and Susan plenty of time to show they can be competent. Whether it's getting us in some P5 or leapfrog Memphis like Louisville did to us 2 years ago, the clock will be ticking. Any stay the course comments are failures in my book.

Will wait to see if this gains any more legs before truly worrying anymore.

 

[DefCONNOne]

It is an interesting rumor - it would surprise me, but not completely shock me. It's at least in the plausible category (unlike those old rumors of the Big 12 going after Florida State). The threshold question for me is whether the Big 12 wants to expand at all in the first place.

To be sure, football still does matter here. You have to look at the whole football-related picture just like Rutgers. Rutgers certainly doesn't have a great on-the-field football history. However, the state of New Jersey was the largest non-Sun Belt/Southern football recruiting base (which, along with TV markets, is what commissioners like Jim Delany is really referring to when they talk about "demographics") that wasn't already in the Big Ten. #2 on that list was the state of Maryland. Those certainly weren't the ONLY factors involved (as the TV markets were the number one consideration for the B1G), but they were big ones that university presidents and ADs have actually been very open about. So, it was still a football-driven expansion for the Big Ten even if marquee football programs weren't necessarily added.

In the same vein, the Memphis area is also one of the strongest per capita football recruiting regions in the country. In fact, both Memphis and Cincinnati would instantly be the two best football recruiting areas in the Big 12 outside of the state of Texas.

At the same time, Memphis has shown to be at least football *competent* this year. Any school with a great hoops fan base (which includes UConn, Memphis, UNLV, New Mexico, San Diego State, etc.) combined with competent football becomes more intriguing in conference realignment. The football program just can't be down in the dumps horrific or else even the greatest basketball in the world can't compensate for that. Too many schools that I've listed above have the great hoops fan base, but not the competent football.

2011 called and told you to shut up!!!

 

[DefCONNOne]

If true, and Memphis and Cincinnati are off to the B12, this could open up a spot in the AAC for Umass.

If Umass is added, it becomes an annual AAC game, and it would be good for both schools as well as good for New England College football too.
Umass football is in its infancy in attempting to move up the college pecking order, and it needs a local rival in football. BC won't ( or can't) fill that role. But Umass could. As a Massachusetts , born and raised, sports fan, I'd like to see these 2 N.E. Public schools in the same football league and playing each other each fall. Its better than watching BC- Wake Forest anyway. So this COULD be good news for those that would like to see a New England College Football rivalry perhaps take form now.. An annual Umass- Uconn football game is WAY better and potentially far more attractive in the future moving forward than an annual Uconn- SMU, or Uconn- Tulane football game, imo.

How big is that jug of gasoline you're holding?

 

[junglehusky]

If this gains more traction and end of March Madness is expected announcement date, it gives Warden and Susan plenty of time to show they can be competent. Whether it's getting us in some P5 or leapfrog Memphis like Louisville did to us 2 years ago, the clock will be ticking. Any stay the course comments are failures in my book.

Will wait to see if this gains any more legs before truly worrying anymore.

Don't hold your breath, because you won't get anything other than "stay the course" / "monitoring the situation" type comments - the chances UConn will could receive a BXII invite are close to zero. And that would still be true even if we cloned twenty Tom Jurich's and had them all running the UConn AD, board of trustees, president's office and got them elected as CT's governor and lieutenant governor. Our only hope to get in that conference would be a big expansion going for the East Coast with Temple/Cincy/ECU, which I would put at 0.01%.

(...so you're saying there's a chance.)

...