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Big East Catholic Schools Ponder Leaving En Masse

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Lugnuts, Dec 12, 2012.

  1. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Not everyone currently there is going to stick around. Last I read, the Big East is down to three current members (UConn, Cincy, South Florida) who were not headed elsewhere.

    I don't think the Boise State/San Diego State part ever gets off the ground. The other wannabees were C-USA defections anyway.

    The only reason the Big East ever had ANY allure at all was because someone was dumb enough to award them an automatic BCS berth and schools started seeing it as a shortcut to a big payday. Well, take that away, and what do you have left? How is the Big East any better than the Mountain West or C-USA?

    I suspect the merged league will look something like: Marshall, East Carolina, Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida, Central Florida, Southern Mississippi, Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Rice, Tulane. They can name it anything they want.
     
  2. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    So CUSA is going to disband just to help the schools that bailed on it? Uh, no.
     
  3. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    They might take them all back and add a few more.
     
  4. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Well, CUSA is scheduled to become a 16-team league and there are eight former CUSA teams in the Big East right now. I guess I was wrong. It would only be a 24-team league....
     
  5. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    At the time the BCS was formed, the Big East certainly deserved an automatic bid. And, given its performance in BCS bowls since 1998, it probably still deserved it up until the most recent defections. The Big East is 7-7 all-time in BCS bowls.

    It's the ACC whose automatic qualification should have been yanked. It's 2-13 all-time, the worst of any AQ conference by far. Florida State and Va Tech are 1-5 in BCS bowls. And the Big East is 3-2 vs. the ACC in BCS bowls.

    On a national scale, ACC football underperforms. Badly.
     
  6. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    The only reason the Big East was allowed into the BCS was that Miami was a member at the time. Then they fled for the ACC and, well, here we are. As for San Diego State and Boise State, I'm sure the MWC would gladly welcome them back in all sports.
     
  7. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    If the "Catholic Seven" or whatever this group decides to call itself wants to retain an automatic bid, I think they have to stick together. Besides, every conference needs a worst team.
     
  8. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    And West Virginia has won as many BCS games as the entire ACC, Miami or no Miami. The Big East deserved its AQ spot. Now, it no longer does.
     
  9. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    If they form a new conference, they'll get an automatic bid within three years. Not that it matters. They'll get plenty of exposure and bids in the NCAA tournament, anyway.

    It is just really hard to operate a league when different schools sponsor different sports.
     
  10. Della9250

    Della9250 Well-Known Member

    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is saying that Xavier and Butler will be teams eight and nine with Creighton, Virginia Commonwealth, Dayton or St. Louis being the 10th team. They may go to 12 eventually.
     
  11. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    One of these things is not like the others...

    I know Butler's not Catholic either, but VCU is about as far from any religion as a school can get. UR can at least fool people into thinking it could be a religious school. I know this is all about hoops and not about religion at all, but it's jarring to see a whole bunch of small, mostly Catholic private schools with one giant public school in the mix.
     
  12. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    Why would they need to wait three years? There are certainly no credibility or strength issues--Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, Providence, St. John's and DePaul--historically, that's a POWERHOUSE basketball conference with a big pile of past final fours and several past national championships on its resume.

    If they add some additional current hoops powers like Xavier, Butler, VCU or Creighton, this conference could be seriously formidable. It would kick the shit out of the current SEC or Pac 12 in a basketball shootout.
     
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