All Entries Tagged With: "conference expansion"

How About A Basketball-Driven Realignment

None of the recent changes in proposed or actual college conference realignments have had anything to do with basketball. Not even one. In fact, Kansas, one of the leading basketball programs, came perilously close to being relegated to the scrap heap.

Hard to fathom in parts of the country where the following for basketball closely resembles the most fanatical of cults, with an intensity among its frenetic followers that rivals that of some hardened fundamental and radical groups.

Brendan Prunty, of the Star-Ledger in New Jersey, envisions a realignment that would merge the Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences into what he convincingly argues would be the best basketball conference in the nation while also being a respectable football league, as follows:

Big Atlantic Conference

NORTH — Boston College, UConn, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Temple, Villanova, Notre Dame, Georgetown, St. John’s and Maryland.

SOUTH — Wake Forest, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Louisville, Central Florida, South Florida, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Memphis.

Under this scenario, Villanova, Notre Dame, Georgetown and St. John’s would be basketball-only schools. Miami, Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech would have joined the SEC, and Syracuse, Rutgers and Pittsburgh would have gone to the Big Ten.

The Triangle Hoops Journal, a North Carolina-based blog, has endorsed the concept, noting:

The “Big Atlantic Conference” would be a respectable football conference and would provide sufficient opportunities for the member schools to compete at the highest level.  More importantly, it would remain true to the history and tradition of the basketball-centric ACC and Big East by creating perhaps the best college basketball conference imaginable …

State, Duke, UNC and Wake would get to play each other twice each regular season.  Traditional rivalries in each league would be respected and promoted …

Imagine a conference tournament arranged as follows:  The South division plays two rounds in Greensboro, the North in Madison Square Garden.  The four semi-finalists from each division would then play out the tournament in Greensboro or the Garden, alternating each season.

Gotta love the name, The Big Atlantic Conference. However, the South division of the tournament would have to be played in the new 22,000-seat state-of-the-art arena in Louisville. And Notre Dame would not be pressured into playing conference football, enjoying a great new home for its other sports.

This lineup is one that makes a lot of sense and would generate a highly profitable television network, assuring that basketball remains a major power player on the college athletic landscape.

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Central Florida Report ‘Premature’

Be skeptical.

Now we’re hearing that the Central Florida to the Big East report may have been premature. Quite a bit different from erroneous.

This according to a report from a UCF blog in the Orlando Sentinel, a publication that has been pretty credible on conference expansion issues

While technically not inaccurate — we all could win the lottery next week — the reports imply a UCF move to the Big East is a done deal. We’re not there yet.

As I reported extensively yesterday, UCF is in excellent shape for a potential move to the Big East. However, I have been told Big East officials haven’t committed to preemptive expansion yet to secure the conference’s future if it ends up getting raided by other leagues.

UCF may end up with a conditional invitation, meaning the Knights would be one of the top choices if and when the Big Ten or another league actually raids the Big East. It would mean no change in the short term for the Knights. The Big Ten could wait as much as 12 months to make its final decisions on expansion, potentially dipping into the Big East or another league that would refill its ranks from the Big East.

The situation remains fluid, and much could change in the next 24 hours.

The writer also notes that the conference call between Big East presidents and athletic directors was actually held Thursday [today]. Doubt there were any reporters there. Fans will have to wait for leaks from that meeting for any more clarity.

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A New York Post report described as “preposterous” the possible addition of two all-sports teams to a conference that already has 16 basketball teams. How is that any more ridiculous than a BCS football conference with only eight football teams?  Football is the future if there is one for the Big East.

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Big East Denies Expansion, Invites

The inertia apparently continues.

The Big East football schools won’t be getting any help with their schedules any time soon, if a recent report from Fan House is true.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto and other league officials said that an Orlando TV report claiming that Memphis and the University of Central Florida would be invited to join the Big East as soon as next week is inaccurate.

“Those reports are not true,” Marinatto said Thursday.

That’s unfortunate. The Big East needs to take some action soon to remedy the football situation.

The University of Central Florida would be an excellent addition to the conference, as would Memphis. So would East Carolina for that matter. One suspects the conference expansion inertia is due in large part to athletic and academic elitism,  designed to keep schools, teams and individuals in their respective places.

Regrettable.

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Conference Expansion Meltdown

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Notre Dame: Texas Of The Big East

Was everyone paying attention when Notre Dame forcefully confirmed over the weekend that one of its priorities is preserving the Big East Conference?

The league has reportedly scheduled a conference call later this week with the school presidents and athletic directors to discuss conference expansion and alignment issues.

More than likely, the conference call was scheduled before Monday’s news that the Big 12 Conference will be sticking around. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Missouri are not packing their bags.

The Big East, if it is indeed being proactive, has some serious matters to resolve. First and foremost should be whether to add at least one more football member. The issue is too important for the conference to ignore any longer. Too important for even the Irish to ignore.

Even though it doesn’t play football in the Big East, Notre Dame is the Big East equivalent of Texas to the Big 12. When Notre Dame speaks, conference members listen, believing them when they say the Big East Conference is a priority.

Irish administrators have said twenty hundred times that they want to remain independent in football. So if Notre Dame doesn’t intend to play Big East football, how will the school contribute to the long-term viability of the conference?

Presumably Notre Dame is actively involved in seeking answers, working with conference members in recent days, putting its brain trust to work while applying clout. Generating creative ideas and innovative solutions, furthering the Notre Dame agenda of protecting the league.

And conference members will be all ears.

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Credible Sources: Texas Leaving, Staying

Dueling sources? Decide who you want to believe.

The next 24 hours are going to be wild. The bidding may have just begun.

ESPN’s Joe Schad, who has been on top of conference expansion for a while, reports today that Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are leaving the Big 12 Conference for the Pacific Athletic Conference.

Meanwhile, Orangeboods.com, the leading University of Texas football fan board, is saying Texas is staying in the conference, along with its buddy universities.

Somebody is getting bad info. Probably intentionally.

Update: ESPN has pulled the Joe Schad video. Wonder why?

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Notre Dame May Be Forced To Reconsider

So much for the Southeastern Conference not being interested in expansion …

Kind of like Notre Dame would never join a conference.

The word circulating Saturday is that SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has been in College Station, Texas this weekend, meeting with officials at Texas A&M. Must have gone well. There are reports the Texas A&M regents may be making an announcement next week.

The University of Texas regents are set to meet Tuesday. Originally scheduled to discuss an invitation to join the PAC-10. Seeing as how Texas and Texas A&M appear to be joined at the hip,  a change on the agenda is likely, with SEC consideration coming first.

That would give the SEC 14 teams, and it could end there, but there are also a couple of reports that Oklahoma might prefer a similar geographic alliance over the one proposed by the PAC. Oklahoma State would obviously be receptive as well.

If so, that would wreak havoc with the PAC’s expansion plans, originally including Big 12 members Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

What would the PAC do then, extend invitations to Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State? Sounds far fetched but stranger things are happening. And how would the reported developments affect discussions between those schools and the Big East? And has Notre Dame been involved at any level in Big East deliberations?

One has a hunch that Notre Dame is feeling increased pressure. What if all these new super conferences are headed toward a playoff system?  Under the new conference alignments, what if the football powers chose to end the “special” status the Irish have enjoyed?

If there’s anything obvious about all the conference shuffling, it is that tradition doesn’t count for much these days.

Notre Dame may be forced to play a card soon.

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