bprichard

That's not exactly what any basketball program aspires to.

DukesDan

Now if only Fordham had somewhere to go the BE7 might actually come on. 19 teams isn't so bad and once Umass leaves its 18.

__________________
Duquesne Dukes: 2012 A10 tournament qualifier!!

2012-2013 Locks of the Day TBA
2011-2012 Locks of the Day NIT participant 29-26-0...... .527
2010-2011 Locks of the Day Regular Season Champion 31-20-4 ..... .600

#15 Cooper #11 Green #10 Nixon #12 Ricketts #24 Somerset

Deleo77

G'town is already separating itself from the other 6 in how this goes down. Also there has been talk of the ACC looking at adding Georgetown as a non-football member like they did with ND. The ACC wants to get some exposure back in the DC market since Maryland left. So don't be surprised if G'town isn't on board with this new conference. I don't think the new conference will be Catholic only. My guess is it will be 6 from the BE plus probably 10 from the A10, plus Creighton and Gonzaga. UMass will join up with Temple and the other football schools. G'town will be playing Duke and UNC as conference rivals. If G'town can get out of this they will. I think the ACC will lean towards doing it.

West: Dayton, Depaul, Marquette, Creighton, X, Butler, SLU, Duquesne, Gonzaga
East: St. John's, Providence, URI, Seton Hall, GW, Richmond, VCU, St. Joe's, Villanova

DukesDan

Deleo I hope your third post on here is my favorite post of all time. Sounds too good to be true though.

__________________
Duquesne Dukes: 2012 A10 tournament qualifier!!

2012-2013 Locks of the Day TBA
2011-2012 Locks of the Day NIT participant 29-26-0...... .527
2010-2011 Locks of the Day Regular Season Champion 31-20-4 ..... .600

#15 Cooper #11 Green #10 Nixon #12 Ricketts #24 Somerset

bprichard

I'll be deep in my grave before Villanova consents to be in a league with St. Joe's.

ace93

Can't blame you for looking for whatever scenario leaves you in a place ydone ould be the most fortunate to be in. Perhaps you guys should go find a new conference. You have not made an NCAA tournament since 1977 for crying out loud.

jpschmack

This made no sense to bring up while working off the assumption that SLU, Xavier and Butler (and maybe Dayton) would be gone. But if Saint Louis stays and Xavier/Butler leave; there IS one school who could work perfectly here:

Belmont.

Nashville, TN
NCAA bids in 5 of the last 7 years.
56-11 in MBB the last two seasons
Eight straight 19+ win seasons
(Division I opponents only, record on Selection Sunday)

bprichard

Belmont would certainly be an interesting choice. I think they like their big fish small pond thing they have going, but still something fun to think about.

jpschmack

I wouldn't put much stock in these kinds of things. I checked the Cincy TV websites, they have either the AP stories, or a remixed, condensed, edited version of the USA Today report.

It's highly likely that the local media outlets are just diseminating the national news services and the MJS report, simply trimming the info down for their audiences.

The Indianapolis tweet relayed the Milwaukee report, targeted Butler and Xavier, and omited Dayton, Creighton and VCU.

In Cincy, they mention Xavier, Dayton and Butler, omitting SLU and VCU.

In Dayton, they talk about with Xavier, Butler "and a few others."

In Omaha, the headline is "Creighton mum on plans to join Big East defectors" (as if they're the top target and not Xavier) before it has the MSJ paragraph on everyone else (verbatim!)

In Richmond, the Times Dispatch has... nothing!

In Philly, they actually get around to mentioning Xavier, Dayton, Butler, Creighton and St. Louis in paragraph 17 (of 19), long after they have mocked Tulane (4), St. Bona, Duquesne and Fordham (10).

jpschmack

They moved from the Atlantic Sun to the OVC this season.

“If you look at the last seven or eight years, to be fair, the Atlantic Sun has held its own when you compare RPIs and other things,” Belmont men’s basketball coach Rick Byrd said. “It’s not like we’re moving into the SEC or the Atlantic 10 ... [but] it’s a very good league.”

Sounds like someone dreams of playing in the A-10!

bprichard

Good find! I will re-evaluate my position and side with you. The one serious problem here is that adding Belmont does nothing for the A10's publicity. Despite the quality of the team they put on the court, they lack name recognition.

What about Murray State?

Muddy Waters

More of the same:


Big East Basketball: Back to the Future (Washington Post - December 14, 2012)

According to multiple reports, those seven — Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Providence, Villanova, DePaul and Marquette — have informed the league that they’re taking their basketballs and going home. Or, more accurately, leaving home.

Those schools let Commissioner Mike Aresco know their intentions to leave during a conference call on Thursday during which Aresco tried to convince them to reconsider.

. . . All of that led to Thursday’s decision to bolt. The only question now is what form their leaving will take.

There are a number of options — all of them tied to money. If the seven leave en masse they will not, by rule, have to pay an exit fee. On the flip side, they won’t share in the roughly $50 million owed by the five schools that have previously departed. They could vote to dissolve the league. It takes a two-thirds vote, and only South Florida, Connecticut and Cincinnati also have votes on dissolution (Temple is a voting member but not on dissolution). So the votes would be there if needed. Of course it would be difficult then to try to demand exit fees from a league that no longer exists.

More important, long-term, is where the seven schools go next. They could join the Atlantic 10 and create the ludicrous specter of a 21-team conference. Imagine the slogan for the A-10 tournament: “The most exciting three weeks of championship week!”

Or, more logically, and more likely, they could cherry-pick several schools that are similar in profile: Dayton, Xavier, Butler, Saint Joseph’s and even Creighton have been mentioned. Those five plus the old-Big East seven would be a formidable basketball league. Even three of those five would make for a conference that will be very attractive to a TV network. There will be no Tulane-Houston games in that package.

Related post on BE7 conference expansion.


Taking into consideration the Washington Post article and other articles in my post linked above, it now appears that three scenarios are emerging as front-runners:

(1) a 10-school conference with Xavier, Dayton, and Butler (one non-Catholic member).

(2) a 10-school conference with Xavier, Dayton, and Saint Louis (no non-Catholic members).

(3) a 12-school conference with Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis, Creighton, and Gonzaga (no non-Catholic members).

Muddy’s Observations:

• The Washington Post article above is the first published article I have seen that mentioned St. Joseph's, but there is no mention of Saint Louis, who should have a much better chance of being invited by the BE7 than St. Joseph's. I suspect that this may be an error by the article's writer.

• It does not appear that the BE7 has any interest in adding VCU or Richmond to a 6-team East Division of a 12-school conference.

• It does appear that Georgetown is not willingly on board with the other BE7 schools and may wish to join Notre Dame in the ACC for basketball.

• Whether or not Georgetown can convince the ACC to invite them for basketball is unknown at this point.

• If Georgetown does join the ACC for basketball, the BE7 becomes the BE6, who may then decide to invite 4 or 6 more schools:

(4) a 10-school conference with Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis, and Butler (one non-Catholic member).

(5) a 10-school conference with Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis, and Creighton (no non-Catholic members).

(6) a 12-school conference with Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis, Butler, Creighton, and Gonzaga (one non-Catholic member).

• Hopefully, there will be some more factual information about all of this published today (as opposed to more published rumors), but I suspect that the BE7 may not show their hand until next week.

• The Presidents of the BE7 schools have a lot of phone calls to make, a lot of financial projections to review, and a whole lot to consider (including the opinions of wealthy and influential benefactors) before there is any official announcement, and that will take days or weeks – not hours.

• I would not expect the Presidents of the BE7 schools to rush such an important decision and I don’t think they will.

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REF

Cinti Enquirer reporting that X and Butler to join the BE7.

res

One can only hope that the host board for the new league allows Snipe complete freedom to post what he wishes. Otherwise, we shall never hear from him again. Alas.

Bona84

I really crave another post reporting on which schools might be invited to join the all-holy BE7. Or, maybe another link to an article reporting on the same.

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Bona84