If you could make 1 change to the big east, what would it be

[Omahanian]

? . . . is an idiot.

Second, . . . a . . . circle jerk, . . .

Third, who gets rejected. . .

YAWN

[Omahanian]

YAWN

[Bill Marsh]

Back to the original topic of this thread . . .

The immediate question facing the Big East is whether to expand from 10 teams to 12. That's the only real world question onvolvimg change that's out there since contracts and by-laws don't provide for removing a member without cause, I.e. something which violates conference rules or bylaws.

Until football led conferences to expand to 12, 8 was the typical size of a conference and 10 was as big as anyone got. Since football isn't an issue, I would think that the conference would be well advised to stay at 10, play a double round robin schedule and build rivalries with the new members.

I think that the conference would be well served to capitalize on its position as the home of Catholic school basketball. To celebrate that, I would like to see them schedule a series of challenge matches against other top Catholic schools and other similar schools in December in the format of the old Big East - ACC challenge matches and market it in the same way. The goal would be to develop new traditions and to enhance the league's identity. Call them the Holy Wars.

This would be the matchups that would make sense to me this year if such a series of challenges were being scheduled this December:

Marquette - Gonzaga
Georgetown - Notre Dame
Villanova - Boston College
Creighton - LaSalle
Butler - Davidson or Baylor
St. John's - BYU
Providence - St. Louis
Xavier - St. Mary's
DePaul - Dayton
Seton Hall - Iona or St. Joe's

I may not have gotten the details and the matchups right, but hopefully you get the general idea. I think that such an approach could expand the schedule to schools who are natural rivals but who are not in a position to be added due to geography or other factors at this time.

Two factors could lead the Big East to expand beyond 10. The primary one is Fox. If they want 12 or even more, then the league will expand to whatever Fox wants. The other is finances. If the schools decide that expansion to 12 with divisional play would reduce travel costs, then they might well move in that direction.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Which of those threepints is wrong?

Anybody who recommends visitors for the big east tourney should stay in nj is an idiot.
There is no way a "big time" conference should rally around a 50-100 rated player as the savior of the conference. Why not just go to the Atlantic 10?
What is seton Hal's admission rate? Is seton hall not a school for Rutgers rejects?

FF2, I agree that Seton Hall needs to get itself together as does DePaul. However when they land a solid recruit, does that not show that Willard may be able to right the ship? He's clearly an upgrade from that maniac Bobby Gonzales. SHU is not going to get the top 10 type of player as they are right now. But if they can get some solid 50-150 type players that will stay 4 years they have a shot to move out of the basement. For now that's what we need to see as conference mates and what I think their own fan base realistically wants to see. They have had little optimism in North Jersey for several years; can't you give them this? It's no different than Prov of a few years ago. Give your tired act a rest for a while.

[Bill Marsh]

FF2, I agree that Seton Hall needs to get itself together as does DePaul. However when they land a solid recruit, does that not show that Willard may be able to right the ship? He's clearly an upgrade from that maniac Bobby Gonzales. SHU is not going to get the top 10 type of player as they are right now. But if they can get some solid 50-150 type players that will stay 4 years they have a shot to move out of the basement. For now that's what we need to see asconfence mates and what I think their own fan base realistically wants to see. They have had little optimism in North Jersey for several years; can't you give them this? It's no different than Prov of a few years ago. Give your tired act a rest for a while.

Ignore him. Why beg him to conced anything? Seton Hall fans don't need his validation to celebrate landing one of the top recruits in the country. He can't even get his facts right. Delgado isn't a top 50-150 recruit. He's a consensus top 60. Out of the 1000+ newcomers who join Division I programs each year, that puts him in the top 6%. On top of that, he's a big man, and they are hard to find. They also develop later, which means that this kid has a high up side since he's just begun to scratch the surface of his potential. If I'm not mistaken he's still relatively new to American basketball. He reminds me of Emeka Okafor, national player of the year who led UConn to a NC and wasn't even a top 100 recruit when they signed him. If recruiting this kid isn't something to celebrate, I don't know what is. Anyone who knows college basketball understands that.

[Bill Marsh]

Back to the original topic of this thread . . .

The immediate question facing the Big East is whether to expand from 10 teams to 12. That's the only real world question onvolvimg change that's out there since contracts and by-laws don't provide for removing a member without cause, I.e. something which violates conference rules or bylaws.

Until football led conferences to expand to 12, 8 was the typical size of a conference and 10 was as big as anyone got. Since football isn't an issue, I would think that the conference would be well advised to stay at 10, play a double round robin schedule and build rivalries with the new members.

I think that the conference would be well served to capitalize on its position as the home of Catholic school basketball. To celebrate that, I would like to see them schedule a series of challenge matches against other top Catholic schools and other similar schools in December in the format of the old Big East - ACC challenge matches and market it in the same way. The goal would be to develop new traditions and to enhance the league's identity. Call them the Holy Wars.

This would be the matchups that would make sense to me this year if such a series of challenges were being scheduled this December:

Marquette - Gonzaga
Georgetown - Notre Dame
Villanova - Boston College
Creighton - LaSalle
Butler - Davidson or Baylor
St. John's - BYU
Providence - St. Louis
Xavier - St. Mary's
DePaul - Dayton
Seton Hall - Iona or St. Joe's

I may not have gotten the details and the matchups right, but hopefully you get the general idea. I think that such an approach could expand the schedule to schools who are natural rivals but who are not in a position to be added due to geography or other factors at this time.

Two factors could lead the Big East to expand beyond 10. The primary one is Fox. If they want 12 or even more, then the league will expand to whatever Fox wants. The other is finances. If the schools decide that expansion to 12 with divisional play would reduce travel costs, then they might well move in that direction.

Bump.

[BillikensWin]

Back to the original topic of this thread . . .

The immediate question facing the Big East is whether to expand from 10 teams to 12. That's the only real world question onvolvimg change that's out there since contracts and by-laws don't provide for removing a member without cause, I.e. something which violates conference rules or bylaws.

Until football led conferences to expand to 12, 8 was the typical size of a conference and 10 was as big as anyone got. Since football isn't an issue, I would think that the conference would be well advised to stay at 10, play a double round robin schedule and build rivalries with the new members.

I think that the conference would be well served to capitalize on its position as the home of Catholic school basketball. To celebrate that, I would like to see them schedule a series of challenge matches against other top Catholic schools and other similar schools in December in the format of the old Big East - ACC challenge matches and market it in the same way. The goal would be to develop new traditions and to enhance the league's identity. Call them the Holy Wars.

This would be the matchups that would make sense to me this year if such a series of challenges were being scheduled this December:

Marquette - Gonzaga
Georgetown - Notre Dame
Villanova - Boston College
Creighton - LaSalle
Butler - Davidson or Baylor
St. John's - BYU
Providence - St. Louis
Xavier - St. Mary's
DePaul - Dayton
Seton Hall - Iona or St. Joe's

I may not have gotten the details and the matchups right, but hopefully you get the general idea. I think that such an approach could expand the schedule to schools who are natural rivals but who are not in a position to be added due to geography or other factors at this time.

Two factors could lead the Big East to expand beyond 10. The primary one is Fox. If they want 12 or even more, then the league will expand to whatever Fox wants. The other is finances. If the schools decide that expansion to 12 with divisional play would reduce travel costs, then they might well move in that direction.

I like what you're thinking. That said, I don't think some of your right side schools would do it.

Really cool idea though.

[JOPO]

Back to the original topic of this thread . . .

The immediate question facing the Big East is whether to expand from 10 teams to 12. That's the only real world question onvolvimg change that's out there since contracts and by-laws don't provide for removing a member without cause, I.e. something which violates conference rules or bylaws.

Until football led conferences to expand to 12, 8 was the typical size of a conference and 10 was as big as anyone got. Since football isn't an issue, I would think that the conference would be well advised to stay at 10, play a double round robin schedule and build rivalries with the new members.

I think that the conference would be well served to capitalize on its position as the home of Catholic school basketball. To celebrate that, I would like to see them schedule a series of challenge matches against other top Catholic schools and other similar schools in December in the format of the old Big East - ACC challenge matches and market it in the same way. The goal would be to develop new traditions and to enhance the league's identity. Call them the Holy Wars.

This would be the matchups that would make sense to me this year if such a series of challenges were being scheduled this December:

Marquette - Gonzaga
Georgetown - Notre Dame
Villanova - Boston College
Creighton - LaSalle
Butler - Davidson or Baylor
St. John's - BYU
Providence - St. Louis
Xavier - St. Mary's
DePaul - Dayton
Seton Hall - Iona or St. Joe's

I may not have gotten the details and the matchups right, but hopefully you get the general idea. I think that such an approach could expand the schedule to schools who are natural rivals but who are not in a position to be added due to geography or other factors at this time.

Two factors could lead the Big East to expand beyond 10. The primary one is Fox. If they want 12 or even more, then the league will expand to whatever Fox wants. The other is finances. If the schools decide that expansion to 12 with divisional play would reduce travel costs, then they might well move in that direction.

I like what you're thinking. That said, I don't think some of your right side schools would do it.

Really cool idea though.

For Seton Hall we have been complaining for awhile about our OOC schedule, it sucks. No offense to Bill Marsh but I would hope for better than Iona or St. Joe's. Maybe give them to St. John's and give the Pirates BYU. Iona doesn't excite me at all and St. Joe's really hasn't done much lately. Maybe Temple would be a good one.

[Jet915]

I'm not sure if promoting Catholic identity would be best for the conference. It might turn off other fans or recruits. Should just be about good basketball.

[Bluejay]

Back to the original topic of this thread . . .

The immediate question facing the Big East is whether to expand from 10 teams to 12. That's the only real world question onvolvimg change that's out there since contracts and by-laws don't provide for removing a member without cause, I.e. something which violates conference rules or bylaws.

Until football led conferences to expand to 12, 8 was the typical size of a conference and 10 was as big as anyone got. Since football isn't an issue, I would think that the conference would be well advised to stay at 10, play a double round robin schedule and build rivalries with the new members.

I think that the conference would be well served to capitalize on its position as the home of Catholic school basketball. To celebrate that, I would like to see them schedule a series of challenge matches against other top Catholic schools and other similar schools in December in the format of the old Big East - ACC challenge matches and market it in the same way. The goal would be to develop new traditions and to enhance the league's identity. Call them the Holy Wars.

This would be the matchups that would make sense to me this year if such a series of challenges were being scheduled this December:

Marquette - Gonzaga
Georgetown - Notre Dame
Villanova - Boston College
Creighton - LaSalle
Butler - Davidson or Baylor
St. John's - BYU
Providence - St. Louis
Xavier - St. Mary's
DePaul - Dayton
Seton Hall - Iona or St. Joe's

I may not have gotten the details and the matchups right, but hopefully you get the general idea. I think that such an approach could expand the schedule to schools who are natural rivals but who are not in a position to be added due to geography or other factors at this time.

Two factors could lead the Big East to expand beyond 10. The primary one is Fox. If they want 12 or even more, then the league will expand to whatever Fox wants. The other is finances. If the schools decide that expansion to 12 with divisional play would reduce travel costs, then they might well move in that direction.

I like the idea, but think it is impossible to carry out. The reason that conference challenges happen is because they are set up at the conference level. trying to work out arrangements with 10 different schools of different conferences seems either doomed to fail or could end up like a bracketbusters type of event which was roundly hated by the top schools that participated.

At this point I'm hoping we see Fox throw their weight around and get us a deal with one of the conference that they already have contracts with --- the PAc 12 or Big 12. Personally I think there is a lot of marketing opportunity to a deal with the PAc-12 ("East meets West", etc) that could spike interest levels nationwide.

I gotta say, if Bill's deal happens, I hope we can get a better opponent than Lasalle. I doubt that match-up would excite our fanbase at all.