Were the Catholic 7 being foolish?

[muwarrior69]

The Big East will become a major basketball conference, it may just take a little bit of time. I don't see it becoming a national title contender every season, but it definitely has the potential to have numerous teams ranked in the Top 25 and competitive in the tourney. Just look at the teams...



Marquette: Despite people's fears will hire a coach and will continue the legacy we have grown accustomed to. Will be a Top 25 team again...

Georgetown: Had a down year, will always be a prominent name in college basketball

Villanova: Was ranked high all year, will continue to grow

Xavier: Down year like Marquette, but has a great recruiting class coming in and will likely be able to repeat success from the past few years

St. Johns: Program is on the rise, look for them to maintain consistency and become a familiar name in the Top 25 again

Butler: Program is in transition since Stevens left. I think they will reload and at least be competitive in conference

Providence: Had a good season, even if this is as good as they get they are certainly a more competitive program than the bottom of the SEC and maybe even Big 10 (Purdue, Penn State, Northwestern, Indiana this year)

Creighton: Had a GREAT season, will need to reload and will certainly drop off for the foreseeable future, but their fan base, commitment to basketball and being in the Big East will help them reload

DePaul: Well.... Maybe they will surprise us?

Seton Hall: Step up from DePaul, but doesn't have the upside of the other schools in the conference.



I think we eventually look to add SLU and Dayton (I know some people on here will go crazy...) but the conference has the potential to be strong top to almost bottom. Could pump out some decent tourney teams and have a very good conference RPI.

I believe they have the highest ranked recruiting class, for the Big East, coming in next year. I expect them to be very competitive and just may be the surprise team next season.

[Jet915]

Even with a disappointing end to the 2014 season, the Big East future is bright!  4 bids out of 10 teams with no participation from Marquette and Georgetown is pretty respectable.

ESPN '14 Top 100 by conference
ACC 18
Big East 14 (with only 10 schools)
Big Ten 14
SEC 14
Pac12 13
Mtn West 6
Big 12 6
AAC 5
WCC 4
A-10 3
C-USA 1

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

More money, top of the basketball only food chain, every game on national TV, every team is in the top 150? Yes please!

The new BEast was a home run for us. Is it the old BEast? No, but nothing every will be. We are in the best situation we can possibly be....you know....minus the whole no coach/ad thing

[bilsu]

It amazes me people want to write off the league decision after one year. 

It sounds like Buzz did and he would know more than us.

[Eldon]

What do you think?
Butler was a bust, Creighton is one and done and who knows what happens with Xavier. Drop those three and add Uconn, Cincy, SMU and Memphis and  the league looks a lot better to me. We would still have to put up with football and the other teams in AAC, whoever they are, but I think we would be better off going forward. Without expansion the New Big East, now that we are past the first season hype, is going to fall into oblivion.

Butler, Creighton, and X devote a lot of resources to basketball and they have shown that they are committed to their respective programs.  Plus, they are like-minded institutions.  I am not happy that the old BE fell apart, but I am happy that we made the best of it.

Even if you are correct about hooking up with the best of the AAC it will never happen.  Apparently even those schools with god-awful football still make a profit on it.  Profit that they will not want to share with us.

[ChicosBailBonds]

It sounds like Buzz did and he would know more than us.

Buzz is a coward.

He bailed on New Orleans when things got tough.

He bailed on MU for a job in which if he makes one NCAA tournament in the next five years he is a hero.

He is a coward

[mikekinsellaMVP]

It sounds like Buzz did and he would know more than us.

Sure he does.  He knew the writing was on the wall, and blasting the conference was a way to save face.  For as much as we've been bashing him, I actually appreciate that this was the approach he took.  At a minimum, we knew there was friction between him and the old administration, and there's been credible speculation that this year was no better.  He could go out blasting university leadership, the president and AD vacancies, or the criticism of the fans and media this year.  I'm sure something like that would have made our coaching search a whole lot more fun.  Instead, he blames it on a weak conference, something that a well-coached Marquette team, a rebounding Georgetown team, and sustained success from the likes of Creighton, Nova, Providence, St. John's, and Xavier would put to rest.

[bradley center bat]

All were chosen because of football.  Their basketball programs were an afterthought in the decision.

Yes, I know that! None the less the C-7 would be with those schools.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Sure he does.  He knew the writing was on the wall, and blasting the conference was a way to save face.  For as much as we've been bashing him, I actually appreciate that this was the approach he took.  At a minimum, we knew there was friction between him and the old administration, and there's been credible speculation that this year was no better.  He could go out blasting university leadership, the president and AD vacancies, or the criticism of the fans and media this year.  I'm sure something like that would have made our coaching search a whole lot more fun.  Instead, he blames it on a weak conference, something that a well-coached Marquette team, a rebounding Georgetown team, and sustained success from the likes of Creighton, Nova, Providence, St. John's, and Xavier would put to rest.

That would be fine except that he is directly responsible for that AD vacancy so it rings hollow.

[thekahoona]

It amazes me people want to write off the league decision after one year.  ONE DATA POINT DOES NOT MAKE A TREND.  If we're a four-bid league for three straight years, you can call that a pattern.  People here were lambasting Dayton last spring as we were looking to invite other schools -- has your opinion changed based on one run to the Elite Eight?

Should we have stuck with the AAC?  Been faithful to UConn, who would jump to the ACC or B1G the second they get the chance?  Faithful to Cincy, whose consistently decent football program is more compelling than the Huskies' program?  Has Mark Few been ripping his hair out because WCC competition is atrocious outside of BYU and St. Mary's?  We land Howland or another "impact hire" and it's a moot point -- eight straight years of success has made this a place where people want to coach and want to play.  Brent's comments about the league are silly way to publicly justify his departure.

This. Give it time people.

[willie warrior]

Buzz is a coward.

He bailed on New Orleans when things got tough.

He bailed on MU for a job in which if he makes one NCAA tournament in the next five years he is a hero.

He is a coward

Not only that, he criticizes the league as being weak, a league in which he finished at the equator and had his ass handed to regularly. Where are the Buzz loving slurpers now when they were so insulting at any criticism of their boy.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Not only that, he criticizes the league as being weak, a league in which he finished at the equator and had his ass handed to regularly. Where are the Buzz loving slurpers now when they were so insulting at any criticism of their boy.

Playing golf in San Diego

[willie warrior]

Playing golf in San Diego

While they are there, maybe they can reel in Steve Fischer. He must be about 75 by now, but has a resume.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

The worst thing to do is give up on the BE after only one season. As has been pointed out numerous times on this board, the BE is second to the ACC in top 100 recruits for 2014 and has six schools in the top 40 class rankings. Sounds like some people are starting to believe Brett's BS about the conference, the same one he could only go .500 in. The BE's long term goal needs to be to thoughtfully expand by adding the best hoops only schools to become the undisputed top hoops conference on the country. Any mixing with football schools will only create chaos.

This x 1000

Next steps for Beast:
1) Add SLU
2) Add Gonzaga (Yes, they are out west, but boosting their TV revenue from $400k to $4m will certainly cover travel)
3) Add VCU
4) Add Dayton

Long-term you're giving more money to schools who will focus it into basketball first, and over time will be a solid, and stable destination conference.

I'm not worried in the least, as long as the BEast keeps its focus.

[Pete4KSU]

This x 1000

Next steps for Beast:
1) Add SLU
2) Add Gonzaga (Yes, they are out west, but boosting their TV revenue from $400k to $4m will certainly cover travel)
3) Add VCU
4) Add Dayton

Long-term you're giving more money to schools who will focus it into basketball first, and over time will be a solid, and stable destination conference.

I'm not worried in the least, as long as the BEast keeps its focus.

You realize that every school you add reduces your revenue, right?  You Jesuits and your hand-outs, smh.

[GoldenWarrior11]

You realize that every school you add reduces your revenue, right?  You Jesuits and your hand-outs, smh.

You realize that it has been documented that Fox would increase the schools payouts, in the event of a possible Big East expansion, right?  You fans from other second-fiddle schools and your nonsense, smh.

 

[Pete4KSU]

You realize that it has been documented that Fox would increase the schools payouts, in the event of a possible Big East expansion, right?  You fans from other second-fiddle schools and your nonsense, smh.

 

It's very, very hard to believe that it would be proportional.  You would almost certainly lose money if you added more schools.  I mean, we have more money in our seat cushions that what your TV deal brings in, but whatever.     

Seriously, we have freaking millions coming in, merely because we have a football team and were lucky enough to be historically associated with the likes of Oklahoma.  Do we deserve it?  Nope.  But it's super fun to have millions and millions more dollars coming in than basketball-only schools and non-big-time football conference schools.  Heck, we just completed a $100M+ expansion on our football stadium, and do you know what we are doing now?  We are adding another $50M expansion to the football stadium.  The hilarious part is that not one extra seat is being added....it's just more awesome crap that we wanted.   Oh, and we threw together a brand new $18M basketball training facility last year because we are forced to participate in basketball, so we might as well have nice crap.  http://populous.com/project/kansas-state-basketball-training-facility/

Conference Armageddon is not new to us, bro. 

[MtAiryGoldenEagle]

It's very, very hard to believe that it would be proportional.  You would almost certainly lose money if you added more schools.  I mean, we have more money in our seat cushions that what your TV deal brings in, but whatever.     

Seriously, we have freaking millions coming in, merely because we have a football team and were lucky enough to be historically associated with the likes of Oklahoma.  Do we deserve it?  Nope.  But it's super fun to have millions and millions more dollars coming in than basketball-only schools and non-big-time football conference schools.  Heck, we just completed a $100M+ expansion on our football stadium, and do you know what we are doing now?  We are adding another $50M expansion to the football stadium.  The hilarious part is that not one extra seat is being added....it's just more awesome crap that we wanted.   Oh, and we threw together a brand new $18M basketball training facility last year because we are forced to participate in basketball, so we might as well have nice crap.  http://populous.com/project/kansas-state-basketball-training-facility/

Conference Armageddon is not new to us, bro. 

"Fox Sports One, the months-old challenger to ESPN, is making a 12-year, $500 million bet on the new Big East, a collection of ten schools that play Division I college basketball, but not college football, at the highest level.

The stakes may get even higher, too: Fox Sports will be laying out another $100 million in the likely event that the Big East expands to 12 teams."

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2013/12/8537550/fox-sports-one-bets-new-big-east

[Pete4KSU]

"Fox Sports One, the months-old challenger to ESPN, is making a 12-year, $500 million bet on the new Big East, a collection of ten schools that play Division I college basketball, but not college football, at the highest level.

The stakes may get even higher, too: Fox Sports will be laying out another $100 million in the likely event that the Big East expands to 12 teams."

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2013/12/8537550/fox-sports-one-bets-new-big-east

Meh

500/10 = 50
600/12 = 50

Even Steven, with more competition.  Congrats on making conference championships more difficult to attain and improving of the standing of a couple of competing institutions who you used to be "better than." 

50 is 1.5 years worth of revenue for a Big 12 school.  The Big 10 and SEC will make that in a year.  It's remarkable how far behind the Catholics are going to be.  Imagine what it will be like in a decade?  Yikes. 

[Pakuni]

Meh

500/10 = 50
600/12 = 50

Even Steven, with more competition.  Congrats on making conference championships more difficult to attain and improving of the standing of a couple of competing institutions who you used to be "better than." 

50 is 1.5 years worth of revenue for a Big 12 school.  The Big 10 and SEC will make that in a year.  It's remarkable how far behind the Catholics are going to be.  Imagine what it will be like in a decade?  Yikes. 

Do they teach math at KSU?
$50 million a year without having to shell out the massive costs of running a football program is pretty good, you know?

But yeah, clearly contraction and smaller conferences is the wave of the future in college athletics.

[Pete4KSU]

Look, just because you are poors doesn't have to make you all mad at me because we have tons of cash and don't really deserve it.

Football, when you are decent at it, easily pays for itself on merely gate receipts and luxury boxes (we have TONS of those by the way).

That HUGE TV deal that we have is just extra.  Straight cash, homie.

Here is some video I shot of our athletic director last week.

[Tugg Speedman]

What is your point? 

Seriously

[mattyv1908]

Do they teach math at KSU?
$50 million a year without having to shell out the massive costs of running a football program is pretty good, you know?

But yeah, clearly contraction and smaller conferences is the wave of the future in college athletics.

Are you sure your numbers are correct?  $500 million over 10 years is $50 million.  Divide that by 10 schools and that is $5 million/year.

[Pakuni]

Are you sure your numbers are correct?  $500 million over 10 years is $50 million.  Divide that by 10 schools and that is $5 million/year.

Right.

[The Sultan of Silly]

What do you think?
Butler was a bust, Creighton is one and done and who knows what happens with Xavier. Drop those three and add Uconn, Cincy, SMU and Memphis and  the league looks a lot better to me. We would still have to put up with football and the other teams in AAC, whoever they are, but I think we would be better off going forward. Without expansion the New Big East, now that we are past the first season hype, is going to fall into oblivion.

Yes they were being foolish.  An all catholic league has only a hope and a "prayer" in being an elite conference.