The schools discussed today

[Murph]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...ve-commissioner-ok-expand-big-east-conference

A source with knowledge of the meeting told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that the Big East did not issue any invitations Sunday. The source said a number of schools were discussed, including Navy, Army, Air Force, Temple, Central Florida and a new name in SMU, which would be a natural rival with TCU if the Horned Frogs honor the commitment to join the conference in 2012-13. All of these schools except Army and Navy would join the Big East for all sports.

 

[TRest]

I can't believe would join for all sports, must be an oversight. Although I think they are in all sports for the MW, perhaps they are more competitive than Navy and Army?

 

[uconnbaseball]

Their basketball is definitely more competitive than Navy and Army.

 

[Adios]

"Connecticut still would rather be in the ACC than stay in the Big East if given the choice, a source said. But the Huskies' administration expect that the ACC is in no rush to expand beyond 14 after adding Pitt and Syracuse. The Huskies are prepared for this to drag on for quite some time."

We'll be out of the BE in a matter of time.

 

[ctchamps]

Surprised ECU and Houston weren't discussed. In the following article a list of parameters for football attendance is considered. First is winning, second is BCS and third is undergraduate population. I think it is important to bring in teams that have large student populations. This could weigh heavily on future contracts with the media.

http://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpr...contribute-to-attendance-in-college-football/

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Surprised ECU and Houston weren't discussed. In the following article a list of parameters for football attendance is considered. First is winning, second is BCS and third is undergraduate population. I think it is important to bring in teams that have large student populations. This could weigh heavily on future contracts with the media.

http://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpr...contribute-to-attendance-in-college-football/

I think you're spot on here (like usual I must say).

I've always been in the camp of the football+basketball hybrid, and I think it may be necessary to dilute the hoops product in order to add some schools to the mix.

I don't have an order but any of the usual suspects for full membership Temple, UCF, Houston, SMU, ECU would be ok. In addition I think you bring in Navy and/or Air Force as football onlies.

 

[rw005]

Does this mean that it's time to abandon the BE ship?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Does this mean that it's time to abandon the BE ship?

Yeah, it's probably about time we choose between the standing offers from the Big10, ACC and NFC East.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I can't believe would join for all sports, must be an oversight. Although I think they are in all sports for the MW, perhaps they are more competitive than Navy and Army?

Air Force basketball, while better than Army or Navy, is not remotely competitive by Big East standards and never will be. Furthermore, basketball is much less practical from a distance perspective than football, which is only played 8 times a year in conference and once a week. I agree that AFA for all sports is probably an oversight.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Surprised ECU and Houston weren't discussed. In the following article a list of parameters for football attendance is considered. First is winning, second is BCS and third is undergraduate population. I think it is important to bring in teams that have large student populations. This could weigh heavily on future contracts with the media.

http://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpr...contribute-to-attendance-in-college-football/

Really surprised by Houston not being mentioned. I wonder if that is an oversight. SMU does not make any sense if we are already adding TCU, but Houston does make sense, and it has tradition in basketball.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

SMU is an interesting idea but I still don't see why Houston is viewed as being off limits. There are no perfect candidates out there but Houston has potential to be at a minimum a solid addition in both football and men's hoops. At best, they can use BE membership to restore their hoops program to what it was from the mid 60's to mid 80's.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

SMU is an interesting idea but I still don't see why Houston is viewed as being off limits. There are no perfect candidates out there but Houston has potential to be at a minimum a solid addition in both football and men's hoops. At best, they can use BE membership to restore their hoops program to what it was from the mid 60's to mid 80's.

Agreed. You would at least think Houston is on the table. I've heard their facilities are pretty sub-par, but I don't have any more to that than just what I've read on-line.

SMU is interesting because they were a football power before and more importantly, a brand name. Having TCU/SMU seems redundant with the Dallas/Fort Worth market, but I did notice on a quick google search that SMU's endowment was around $1.4B. Now that number could be inaccurate, but it seems with a BCS platform, making a financial commitment to the program wouldn't be a problem.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

SMU does have an enormous endowment (their wealthy boosters weren't only interested in purcxhasing football players) and despite the redundancy, having both TCU & SMU would give us quite a good presence in DFW. I'm pretty sure that TCU also has a substantial endowment (there was a time, many decades ago when top students from wealthy families in Texas went to Rice, Baylor, SMU or TCU.

 

[progrocks]

University of Houston does not have the best facilities. There football stadium is under $40 and the amenities are very subpar. I remember hearing about some big renovation plan about two years ago but I have not heard of anything since. The basketball arena is also not up to snuff, but if it was important enough they could probably get the Toyota Center for bigger games, I guess.

SMU is the better school compared to TCU, and has the better history, but TCU had the right record at the right time so therefore they got the invite.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Agreed. You would at least think Houston is on the table. I've heard their facilities are pretty sub-par, but I don't have any more to that than just what I've read on-line.

SMU is interesting because they were a football power before and more importantly, a brand name. Having TCU/SMU seems redundant with the Dallas/Fort Worth market, but I did notice on a quick google search that SMU's endowment was around $1.4B. Now that number could be inaccurate, but it seems with a BCS platform, making a financial commitment to the program wouldn't be a problem.

It's not just about markets. SMU is a much better school than Houston. #62 in US News. Houston is in the "rank not published", essentially 200+ category. Plus SMU has better football history before the dealth penalty. We already have plenty of weak academic schools, and I suspect that the presidents are going for the overall more prestigious schools. SMU certainly is leaps and bounds ahead of Houston or ECU. Central Florida is bad, but no worse than SFU. The military academies provide prestigious company.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

University of Houston does not have the best facilities. There football stadium is under $40 and the amenities are very subpar. I remember hearing about some big renovation plan about two years ago but I have not heard of anything since. The basketball arena is also not up to snuff, but if it was important enough they could probably get the Toyota Center for bigger games, I guess.

SMU is the better school compared to TCU, and has the better history, but TCU had the right record at the right time so therefore they got the invite.

Really good thought about the Toyota Center. A set up like Villanova's would seem to make a lot of sense. Smaller games on-campus, then big games at the NBA arena.

 

[Danzz]

Really surprised by Houston not being mentioned. I wonder if that is an oversight. SMU does not make any sense if we are already adding TCU, but Houston does make sense, and it has tradition in basketball.

Basketball may not even reach the status of afterthought.

 

[rw005]

Another comment I have

SMU would do pretty well in the Big East for soccer, but I can't see anything else for them.

East Carolina and Houston are still on my wish list.

I do like the fact of Army and Navy for football, but the only problem is be prepared for some troubling years on their behalf.

Air Force? I honestly don't know that much about them, are they competitive in the MWC?

Central Florida, seems attractive for the Orlando market

I said this is another topic but if Temple did join the conference for all sports, basketball would be good, but football is very questionable

I do like TCU in the Big East , will do wonders for baseball and football (I just wish they still had their men's soccer program)

Just a small analysis on my part.

 

[RS9999X]

I would take the line 'among the teams discussed' at face value and not dwell over the Air Force all sports thing. Or that Houston or ECU wasn't mentioned by the unnamed source blurting out a list. Or that Nova wasn't talked about again in that quote.

We know the general plan: (2) service academies, 2 big state teams (UCF, SMU or Houston) or 2 regional (Temple or Promote Nova, ECU). If they go with 5 (ECU, UCF, SMU, Navy, Air Force) I'll be surprised because of the Philly Market.ix

Current Colley Matrix Ratings (included in BCS)

9. Boise St
13 Houston
16 West Virginia
25. South Florida
28. Rutgers
32. Notre Dame
37. SMU
48. Cincinnati
49. Syracuse
50. BYU
51. Air Force
52. Pittsburgh
55. Texas A&M
59. TCU
63. Temple
71. Missouri
80. Navy
81. Louisville
87. Army
88. UCF
89. Connecticut
94. East Carolina
122. Boston Coll

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Basketball may not even reach the status of afterthought.

Unless anyone cares about making money on the next TV deal, then maybe someone will pay attention.

 

[RS9999X]

SMU is a top 50 endowment with 1.5 Billion. TCU is not far behind. Everything is bigger in Texas. Except...

 

[ctchamps]

SMU undergraduates 7000 endowment 1.4 billion
TCU 9000 students endowment 1.2 billion
Houston 38,000 students 553 mil endowment
Syracuse 13, 500 students 894 mil endowment
Pitt 17,427 students 2 billion endowment
UConn 21,000 students 255 mil endowment

The five biggest schools regarding enrollment in the BE are USF with 36,358, Cinci with 31,523, Rutgers with 28,031, WV with 22,303, and UConn with 20,846. Pitt (17,427) would be number six. Syracuse ( 13,504) would be number 10.
No surprise PC (3,850) and Seton Hall (5,245) are bottom 2. ND has an endowment of 5.525 billion.

In the ACC the five biggest schools regarding enrollment are FSU with 40,838, Maryland with 37,641, NCS with 33,879, VT with 30,379, and UNC with 29,340. Wake with 7,079 and Duke with 14,248 are the bottom two. Duke has the biggest endowment with 4.823 billion.

 

[RS9999X]

Temple Stats of the Day:

Lincoln Park
21,705 attendance
$5 Tickets

>> The Owls have a product to sell now and there still wasn't much juice in the Linc. A paid crowd of 21,705, with no section completely full and many completely empty, proves . . . what? Only that it's still hard for the Owls to draw a big crowd without a big-name opponent, despite all of Temple's efforts, which included creative $5 ticket offers<<