All Entries Tagged With: "Memphis"

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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Oklahoma Scribe Likes Louisville For Big Twelve

Yeah, more conference expansion blather …

And wouldn’t it be fun lining up across from a Bobby Petrino team?

Guess which school the largest newspaper in the Oklahoma believes would be the best candidate for Big Twelve Conference expansion if that league were successful in getting Arkansas to return.

Barry Tramel,  writing for The Oklahoman, says it would be the University of Louisville, keeping in mind that conference commissioner Dan Beebe has said the conference will not expand beyond its current five-state configuration:

• “Comes from a decent-sized television market, No. 49 in the U.S., which is bigger than Memphis, New Orleans and Buffalo.

• “Has a solid athletic program; in the 2000s, Louisville has won the Orange Bowl in football and reached the men’s Final Four, the women’s basketball NCAA championship game and the College World Series.

• “Is an adequate geographic fit. Louisville is 508 miles from Kansas City, Mo. Boulder, Color is 622 miles from KC. Kentucky borders Missouri.

• “Might be interested. The Big East is more vulnerable than the Big 12. The Big East reportedly is contemplating Central Florida and Memphis, which is not the kind of football move that will ensure long-term viability.”

His other candidates, in order, were Brigham Young, New Mexico, Air Force, Memphis, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.

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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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One Football Czar’s Dream Conference

By Steve Springer

Summer is here, normally a dead period for the typical college sports fan.  A time to relax and refresh, quietly anticipate the coming football season.

Not this year, however. The next few days, heck, even the next few hours, could be some of the most  landscape-altering times in college sports history. Major changes could turn the college football world upside down.

What’s the Big Ten going to do? What does the PAC Ten have up its sleeve? Is Nebraska staying or going? What will happen to the Big East? Where will Louisville end up? Lots of questions. Few answers.

The average football fan feelx helpless, with no control over what happens. But not here at Card Game. There is hope. At least hypothetically, you are in charge of it all. You are in the driver’s seat. You get to design your ideal conference for the Cards. Charlie Strong’s future is in your hands. Tom Jurich is your play toy. You get to decide whose ankles Vic Anderson gets to break this season.

Your job is to pick and choose a conference that best suits U of L. There are a handful of rules, however:

• No politics in your way.

• Let’s keep it somewhat realistic, geographically speaking. No teams west of the Mississippi.

• This conference is for hoops and pigskin for balanced scheduling.

• As many teams as you like, from an eight-team league to a 16-team mega-conference.

• No Wildcats allowed, not deserving of a spot at our table.

Here’s mine:

Big Dream Conference

North Division

• Louisville
• West Virginia (good rivalry brewing here)
• Cincinnati (good rivalry, good hoops, growing football)
• Ohio State (good hoops/football)
• Pittsburgh (good hoops/football)
• Penn State (good football, basketball cupcake)
• Syracuse (good hoops/football might rise again)
• Virginia Tech (good football/basketball gimme)

South Division

• Florida (good hoops/football)
• Florida State (decent hoops/good football)
• Miami (good football/decent hoops)
• Tennessee (good hoops/football)
• North Carolina (good hoops/decent football)
• Memphis (good rivalry, decent hoops/football)
• Southern Miss (old rivalry, decent football/hoops gimme)

Just for fun, I would throw in Murray State, my alma mater, in the South Division. Decent hoops, patsy football. But best of all,  U of L, my favorite team, would be playing in my back yard.

Now it’s your turn!

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End Of Big East Inertia Is Near

The Big Ten Conference seems hellbent on creating chaos among college football conferences whether it’s good for the game or not. Not that the macho mentalities care anything about what happens to anyone else in this “Me First” generation of collegiate athletics.

The buzz is that the Big Ten has its eyes on Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers as expansion candidates, none of which mesh with the image of existing members. But it seems more fashionable and easier to go after Big East schools rather than challenge older, more stable conferences, television or not.

University of Louisville fans, reenergized with a new coach and an expanded stadium, keep waiting on Big East officials to come up with some ideas on the future. So far, however, conference officials have kept their visions to themselves.

Football must be first and foremost among the priorities for U of L in future conference considerations, whether be in the Big East or whatever is left over if a split occurs. It is football, after all, that is drives college athletics, forcing the realignments.

Definitely go after these programs:

East Carolina football stadium (Click to enlarge)

• East Carolina — Great football tradition in a beautiful stadium that seats 43,000 and is currently being expanded to 50,000.  ECU fans are fanatical about the football program, last season averaging close to 42,000 per game. Their fans travel well, too, and Louisville is within a reasonable driving distance.

• Central Florida — Lots of football talent to draw from in a football-crazy state. UCF averaged 38,078 per game last season in a 45,000-seat stadium. The stadium was designed to expand to 65,000 seats. The school is already thinking about adding 10,000 seats within the next decade. Membership in the Big East would hasten the expansion. A natural rivalry with South Florida.

• Memphis — A decades-old rivalry for U of L, and always will be. Memphis loves its university. All they need is a decent conference to begin investing in improvements in its football facilities. Memphis was competitive with Louisville, even during the Bobby Petrino years, and deserves an opportunity to join the BCS club.

The new alignment would still need at least one more school to remedy the conference football scheduling program, and that’s where it gets tough. Assuming geographical proximity and travel are not problematic, the choice would come from one these schools:

• TCU — Texas Christian is a solid football school, attracting 38,100 fans per game last season in a 46,000-seat stadium. They have exceeded 50,000 on a couple of occasions.

• Southern Mississippi — Another good football school and a good rivalry for the University of Louisville. Southern Miss averaged 30,100 per game last season. Put them in a BCS setting, and the program averages at least 10,000 to 15,000 per game.

None of these candidates fit the traditional power house profiles but they are respectable programs deserving of opportunities to improve their stature in the world of college football.

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