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So who really are the expansion (if it is to happen) candidates?

Looks like there are those on this board advocating Connecticut. Outstanding basketball program, national appeal; but the elephant in the living room (football). Others have espoused Gonzaga/BYU as a western pair.

I don't think the Big East goes back into the Dumpster Fire...so I think it's Gonzaga/BYU unless the football question can get resolved for UConn. If that's the case, welcome Memphis and UConn. I'm a SLU fan, and I think our chances for inclusion are now somewhere near zero, but there are rumblings of expansion. I think the Big East goes big and grabs the Western two. The A-10 school with the best "chance" is VCU because of how good they have been on the court, but I don't think they clear the "fit" hurdle if UConn is left out.

This is a great basketball setup, and it will be fun to watch all of your teams on this journey. Good luck to all your members; it's gonna be exciting.

I don't understand the BYU angle, everyone seems to forget that they have football. I know they aren't in the same conference for both sports but we could do that with a million better teams plus it's highly unlikely Gonzaga would leave behind St Mary's. I still see SLU getting an invite over time with it likely to be Dayton (yuck) at number 12 unless a Detroit, Loyola Chicago, Davidson or Belmont suddenly start really turning it up a notch.

Gonzaga would be perfect...if they were in Minneapolis, or Des Moines, or even Kansas City. I doubt Gonzaga wants to truck their socer/volleyball/tennis etc. out to the Midwest and East Coast all school year long. I don't know if it's really feasible. I've heard all the "they can keep their other sports in the WCC" arguments, I just don't know what the motivation would be for the WCC to do that. I think Gonzaga is somewhere around a 5% possibility, which is slightly above UConn's 2%. I have no idea where the BYU thing comes from. They don't need our tv contract, they have their own network. There's no real motivation on their part that I can see.

MUBoxer wrote:I don't understand the BYU angle, everyone seems to forget that they have football. I know they aren't in the same conference for both sports but we could do that with a million better teams plus it's highly unlikely Gonzaga would leave behind St Mary's. I still see SLU getting an invite over time with it likely to be Dayton (yuck) at number 12 unless a Detroit, Loyola Chicago, Davidson or Belmont suddenly start really turning it up a notch.

BYU isn't in any conference for football and that's the point. They appear to have settled on the Notre Dame model of football independence, which makes football a non-issue for participation in the Big East. There aren't a million better programs available. Frankly there aren't any.

I expect that Fox would choke at the thought of advancing more money for the likes of Dayton, Detroit, Loyola, Davidson, or Belmont. Those guys have mid major written all over them. This is the big time. St Louis is a borderline candidate right now. They have to demonstrate that they can sustain their current success for more than 2 years, which they never have.

Notice that all 3 of the programs which the Big East added a programs which have had sustained success over a 10-15 year period. Those are clearly the kinds of programs that they are looking for. There are precious few of them available that are not already committed to a power conference or that need to be in a conference that sponsors football.

marquette wrote:Gonzaga would be perfect...if they were in Minneapolis, or Des Moines, or even Kansas City. I doubt Gonzaga wants to truck their socer/volleyball/tennis etc. out to the Midwest and East Coast all school year long. I don't know if it's really feasible. I've heard all the "they can keep their other sports in the WCC" arguments, I just don't know what the motivation would be for the WCC to do that. I think Gonzaga is somewhere around a 5% possibility, which is slightly above UConn's 2%. I have no idea where the BYU thing comes from. They don't need our tv contract, they have their own network. There's no real motivation on their part that I can see.

"Perfect" is a no longer available. The schools that were the perfect candidates have already been added. Now it appears that the task is to find 2 more candidates that are not a perfect fit but that are the types of programs that the conference can continue to build around and that Fox can successfully market as part of a premier conference.

I'm sure that doesn't want to ship it,s Olympic sports to the East Coast. But I'm equally sure that by now they see the WCC as a league that is holding them back. They have outgrown that conference and it's time for them to move on. The Big East is the perfect vehicle for them. Scheduling choices for Olympic sports can emphasize contests in the Midwest. Divisional play in basketball can limit the number of trips to the East Coast. Travel partners can hit 2 games at a time with one road trip. Starting confence play during Christmas week can get a lot of their road trips in during intersession to minimize its impact on student athletes.

BYU does need the Big East exposure and contract. Playing against the WCC simply doesn't cut it. They come into the picture because they are the perfect ravel partner for Gonzaga, because their program is consistently successful, because their attendance is 16000 and because they have national name recognition and TV appeal.

Gonzaga - The WCC would love to keep Gonzaga's non-bball teams if Gonzaga threw in say, 1 million per year out of its newfound Big East TV money. Gonzaga is still up a bundle. I think the problem with Gonzaga bball to the big east is more a question of whether the big east presidents/ADs believe if adding Gonzaga is in keeping with the integrity of a collegiate athletic conference. It looks a bit desperate and arguably not for the benefit of our student athletes. Having said that, if we WERE to take them...

BYU - would be on the table. They would want to join because outside of Gonzaga, BYU, St. Mary's and arguably sometimes USD, the WCC is putrid. If Gonzaga leaves, they are looking at a bball conference that is even more of a major RPI sinkhole for their program.

also
UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Temple- Who cares if they have football? our conference isn't playing it. If they want to join with that proviso, our bball conference will be much the better for it. If they manage to get an invite to a better conference than the American - either the ACC or the Big 12, they'll leave but it looks unlikely now. No offense to Butler/Xavier/Creighton, but if we hadn't had the crud of SMU, East Carolina, Tulsa and Tulane coming into the old Big East, the Catholic 7 would never have broken off, even with all the defections. We LIKED UConn/Memphis/Cincy and Temple. Leaving them was a necessary evil to be rid of the newcomers, not a pursued end. If we got the 4 back we'd be in the conversation for 2nd best conference in the land after the ACC.

Bill Marsh wrote: St Louis is a birdlime program right now.

Is this a regional saying or autocorrect? If it is, what does it mean?

You do raise decent points with BYU and Gonzaga, and the presidents would be remiss if they didn't at least look into it. However, the logistics may wind up being too much in the end.

marquette wrote:

Bill Marsh wrote: St Louis is a birdlime program right now.

Is this a regional saying or autocorrect? If it is, what does it mean?

You do raise decent points with BYU and Gonzaga, and the presidents would be remiss if they didn't at least look into it. However, the logistics may wind up being too much in the end.

Sorry. It should have read " borderline". It's amazing what the iPad will substitute when fat fingers in a rush make a spelling error. I've corrected it in the original post. Appreciate you for pointing it out.

booyah wrote:Gonzaga - The WCC would love to keep Gonzaga's non-bball teams if Gonzaga threw in say, 1 million per year out of its newfound Big East TV money. Gonzaga is still up a bundle. I think the problem with Gonzaga bball to the big east is more a question of whether the big east presidents/ADs believe if adding Gonzaga is in keeping with the integrity of a collegiate athletic conference. It looks a bit desperate and arguably not for the benefit of our student athletes. Having said that, if we WERE to take them...

BYU - would be on the table. They would want to join because outside of Gonzaga, BYU, St. Mary's and arguably sometimes USD, the WCC is putrid. If Gonzaga leaves, they are looking at a bball conference that is even more of a major RPI sinkhole for their program.

also
UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Temple- Who cares if they have football? our conference isn't playing it. If they want to join with that proviso, our bball conference will be much the better for it. If they manage to get an invite to a better conference than the American - either the ACC or the Big 12, they'll leave but it looks unlikely now. No offense to Butler/Xavier/Creighton, but if we hadn't had the crud of SMU, East Carolina, Tulsa and Tulane coming into the old Big East, the Catholic 7 would never have broken off, even with all the defections. We LIKED UConn/Memphis/Cincy and Temple. Leaving them was a necessary evil to be rid of the newcomers, not a pursued end. If we got the 4 back we'd be in the conversation for 2nd best conference in the land after the ACC.

As good as St. Mary's has been on the court in recent years, their attendance even in a year like last when they were headed for the Big Dance was less than 3,000. And they're the best of what the WCC has to offer these days without Gonzaga and BYU. Gonzaga simply has a ceiling on how far their program can develop Ina league in which attendance is comparable to MAAC schools. They are stuck as being the best of the mid majors in that league. With attendance of 16,000, BYU is In a whole different universe from the rest of that conference. They would jump in a heat beat for the opportunity to Comte against programs more like themselves.

Of course the Big East would love to have schools like UConn and the rest. The problem is that those schools have absolutely no interest for 2 reasons:

1. They truly believe that their futures like in a P5 conference.
2. Lacking a bid from a P5 conference, they believe that the AAC will get a betterTV contract in the next round of negotiations. That's their back up plan.

UConn just jumped into the top 20 among public research universities in US News. They desperately want to be seen as a national university and are in the process of developing a billion dollar biogenesis research center. Part of their formula for becoming a premier national university is football and membership in a major athletic conference. That plan is not going away. Louisville has demonstrated that if a school persists, it can happen. It may take 20 years but it can happen. UConn has a lot ore going for it as a university than Louisville. They will persist; they will not allow short term set backs to deter them.

marquette wrote:

Bill Marsh wrote: St Louis is a birdlime program right now.

Is this a regional saying or autocorrect? If it is, what does it mean?

You do raise decent points with BYU and Gonzaga, and the presidents would be remiss if they didn't at least look into it. However, the logistics may wind up being too much in the end.

I understand the concern about logistics, but they become less of a concern in a larger conference with divisional play because there will be fewer trips back and forth to the East Coast with more games in the Midwest. Miami made it work in the old Big East and that was without a travel partner like BYU. Keep in mind that even in the WCC traditionally Every road trip for Gonzaga except for Portland was a trip of 900 - 1500 miles. So, it's not like they were bussing their teams an hour or two away.