Conference Realignment: What Next?

[kayako]

So, you would agree that holds true for St. Joe's as well? A national title and coaching stability out of them, then we entertain accepting St. Joe's into the Big East?

Yes. If Saint Joe's can improve their facilities and average 13K per game, on top of high level on-court success, I'd have no beef with it. If Nova was so worried about competitive advantage, the Big 5 would've been dead.

[Cheech]

Money ...TV controls sports. With the virus the game has significantly changed. The BE will go to 12 quicker than expected because of the new reality. Dayton financially is stronger than most BE schools and fits the model. On the court as I told you last summer Grant has taken Dayton to the next level. Coach of year, player of year and hosted College Game Day. UD current President has a personal relationship with Nova Pres and that relationship will go a long way. So in last 7 years , 5 NCAA appearances , a Elite 8 and last year a Number 1 seed. The bottom feeders of the BE are no where close to Dayton’s Performance and more importantly in attendance and TV ratings. There should be a clamor to add UD . The National attention...the rivalry not only with X but the games with Butler /DePaul/Marquette all drivable would be epic . When UD heads East our fans who travel only second to Kentucky fans would fill the Arenas in NY/NJ/DC. Dayton would be a huge positive and the BE would take UD with Grant to the Nova level of recruiting and performance.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Money ...TV controls sports. With the virus the game has significantly changed. The BE will go to 12 quicker than expected because of the new reality. Dayton financially is stronger than most BE schools and fits the model. On the court as I told you last summer Grant has taken Dayton to the next level. Coach of year, player of year and hosted College Game Day. UD current President has a personal relationship with Nova Pres and that relationship will go a long way. So in last 7 years , 5 NCAA appearances , a Elite 8 and last year a Number 1 seed. The bottom feeders of the BE are no where close to Dayton’s Performance and more importantly in attendance and TV ratings. There should be a clamor to add UD . The National attention...the rivalry not only with X but the games with Butler /DePaul/Marquette all drivable would be epic . When UD heads East our fans who travel only second to Kentucky fans would fill the Arenas in NY/NJ/DC. Dayton would be a huge positive and the BE would take UD with Grant to the Nova level of recruiting and performance.

1 E8 in 30 years but ready to not only be admitted into the BE but win multiple NC’s. Ok then.

[Hall2012]

Money ...TV controls sports. With the virus the game has significantly changed. The BE will go to 12 quicker than expected because of the new reality. Dayton financially is stronger than most BE schools and fits the model. On the court as I told you last summer Grant has taken Dayton to the next level. Coach of year, player of year and hosted College Game Day. UD current President has a personal relationship with Nova Pres and that relationship will go a long way. So in last 7 years , 5 NCAA appearances , a Elite 8 and last year a Number 1 seed. The bottom feeders of the BE are no where close to Dayton’s Performance and more importantly in attendance and TV ratings. There should be a clamor to add UD . The National attention...the rivalry not only with X but the games with Butler /DePaul/Marquette all drivable would be epic . When UD heads East our fans who travel only second to Kentucky fans would fill the Arenas in NY/NJ/DC. Dayton would be a huge positive and the BE would take UD with Grant to the Nova level of recruiting and performance.

A 1 seed, really? When did they release the bracket? Look, you guys had a nice year but let's be real - the A10 was so weak last year that at least half the Big East would've run the table in it. Funny thing is - the last 1 seed to come out of the A10 has already been mentioned in this thread - it was St. Joe's in 2004 and how have things gone for them since? That was pretty much their peak, showing that even if you did get a 1-seed this year, it's no indicator of future success.

As far as Dayton fans traveling...why do we care? We have no trouble filling our arenas.

[GoldenWarrior11]

UD's been decent lately and if the Big East had to expand for some reason they probably would make the short list of candidates, but it's not like they're some can't miss candidate that we'd expand just for the sake of adding. Plus it's not like they're going anywhere. They have no chance of ending up in a more desirable conference than the Big East (unless they upgrade football), so we have plenty of time to be patient and see how the college basketball landscape shapes out and they'll still be available.

Very true about any of the candidates going anywhere. What UConn's return to the Big East absolutely and undeniably established is that the Big East is on a higher pecking order than the AAC (this was widely assumed and talked about, but the BE poaching UConn affirms it). Even if a UD/SLU/VCU etc. moved to the AAC, the BE - with its basketball-first exposure and reputation (not to mention like-minded institutional status) would be able to take them away from the AAC. Side note: this is also my personal belief as to why the AAC has not added another non-football member; losing UConn to the Big East (regardless of what others might say) was a significant blow to their P6 campaign. They cannot afford, long-term, to take another member that could inevitably do the same.

As far as Dayton fans traveling...why do we care? We have no trouble filling our arenas.

It's not a make-or-break quality, however - consider this: one of the main attractions for Creighton was its ability to fill up its arena on a consistent basis (without a BE schedule/affiliation) and their ability to travel in packs to road games (which was especially valuable for the new BET, which was only going to have 10 teams). If one of the long-term goals is to add sessions to the BET, it needs to add programs that have strong fan support (regardless of present level of play) and an ability to travel to games (UD, specifically, was one of the largest fan bases for the A10 tournament in Brooklyn).

Again, neither post is intended to demand the BE expand with UD at present. However, long-term, it is undeniable that a program like UD would be able to add value to the BE (if projections hold true).

[X Hoops 19]

Money ...TV controls sports. With the virus the game has significantly changed. The BE will go to 12 quicker than expected because of the new reality. Dayton financially is stronger than most BE schools and fits the model. On the court as I told you last summer Grant has taken Dayton to the next level. Coach of year, player of year and hosted College Game Day. UD current President has a personal relationship with Nova Pres and that relationship will go a long way. So in last 7 years , 5 NCAA appearances , a Elite 8 and last year a Number 1 seed. The bottom feeders of the BE are no where close to Dayton’s Performance and more importantly in attendance and TV ratings. There should be a clamor to add UD . The National attention...the rivalry not only with X but the games with Butler /DePaul/Marquette all drivable would be epic . When UD heads East our fans who travel only second to Kentucky fans would fill the Arenas in NY/NJ/DC. Dayton would be a huge positive and the BE would take UD with Grant to the Nova level of recruiting and performance.

A 1 seed, really? When did they release the bracket? Look, you guys had a nice year but let's be real - the A10 was so weak last year that at least half the Big East would've run the table in it. Funny thing is - the last 1 seed to come out of the A10 has already been mentioned in this thread - it was St. Joe's in 2004 and how have things gone for them since? That was pretty much their peak, showing that even if you did get a 1-seed this year, it's no indicator of future success.

As far as Dayton fans traveling...why do we care? We have no trouble filling our arenas.

This is exactly right.
Cheech arguing that “there should be a clamor to add UD” amongst Big East members is the type of delusional bluster that you regularly see from Dayton fans.
Figured I’d point out that UD, in their program’s most successful regular season in history, had fewer wins over would-be NCAA Tournament teams than even DePaul did, this past season. St. Mary’s on a neutral court and *maybe* Richmond. That’s it. That’s the list.
Won’t deny that it was a really good year, but I don’t know how, at this point, anyone could claim that Anthony Grant has taken them to the next level. His last 2 recruiting classes weren’t even ranked in the top 100, and highly rated 2021 recruits apparently aren’t lining up to commit to the Flyers, even after the season they just had.

[Hall2012]

UD's been decent lately and if the Big East had to expand for some reason they probably would make the short list of candidates, but it's not like they're some can't miss candidate that we'd expand just for the sake of adding. Plus it's not like they're going anywhere. They have no chance of ending up in a more desirable conference than the Big East (unless they upgrade football), so we have plenty of time to be patient and see how the college basketball landscape shapes out and they'll still be available.

Very true about any of the candidates going anywhere. What UConn's return to the Big East absolutely and undeniably established is that the Big East is on a higher pecking order than the AAC (this was widely assumed and talked about, but the BE poaching UConn affirms it). Even if a UD/SLU/VCU etc. moved to the AAC, the BE - with its basketball-first exposure and reputation (not to mention like-minded institutional status) would be able to take them away from the AAC. Side note: this is also my personal belief as to why the AAC has not added another non-football member; losing UConn to the Big East (regardless of what others might say) was a significant blow to their P6 campaign. They cannot afford, long-term, to take another member that could inevitably do the same.

As far as Dayton fans traveling...why do we care? We have no trouble filling our arenas.

It's not a make-or-break quality, however - consider this: one of the main attractions for Creighton was its ability to fill up its arena on a consistent basis (without a BE schedule/affiliation) and their ability to travel in packs to road games (which was especially valuable for the new BET, which was only going to have 10 teams). If one of the long-term goals is to add sessions to the BET, it needs to add programs that have strong fan support (regardless of present level of play) and an ability to travel to games (UD, specifically, was one of the largest fan bases for the A10 tournament in Brooklyn).

Again, neither post is intended to demand the BE expand with UD at present. However, long-term, it is undeniable that a program like UD would be able to add value to the BE (if projections hold true).

I agree that if the Big East had to expand, Dayton would be solid candidate. However I don't think they add enough value that it's worth expanding just for the sake of adding them - especially because, as mentioned - there's little to no chance they will ever end up in a position to decline a Big East invite. We have all the leverage. We can afford to take our time, see if any better options pop up, and make sure we get a very league-friendly deal if we ever do decide to make the move for them.

[ArmyVet]

Dayton may or may not be invited to join the Big East some day. I don't know. None of us do.

All I can say is that as a school-unaffiliated fan of the league, there are a lot of teams that I would rather see in the Big East before Dayton. Last year Dayton had a historically good team and I was really never interested in watching them play. They just don't move the needle as far as I am concerned.

[Husky_U]

#12

[Cheech]

Look, before we use the word delusional , the poster who said we fill our arenas fits the word. St. John’s had to move most games back to that high school gym, imagine NYC and they can’t afford or fill the Garden and of course there is DePaul...Seton Hall simply fair weather fans...check those 3 Vs UD and it’s an unfair fight and they don’t travel at all. Georgetown doesn’t even have a gym and play in an empty pro arena. So let’s stop that nonsense. Performance ...UD has been better than thieve 4 for the pst 10 years. Again it’s go( t to happen so embrace it. I don’t come to agitate , I grew up near St Johns and as a kid used to go the Garden to watch them. Why not UD is the question.