Sounds like Wichita St to the AAC... Who gets an Invite?

[mvcfan]

We're a one bid league now. WSU leaving doesn't change that.

And while I agree with your assertion that the AAC and A10 aren't power leagues, there is no question the Big East is a power basketball league. They have 7 NCAA teams this year, the defending national champ and their own TV network which pays millions of dollars a year to each school.

.

UCONN, Temple, Memphis, and even Tulsa, and Houston will not be down for long. All of these teams have successful basketball histories and this league will be a 4-5 bid league most years. I doubt the Big East will get 7 bids next year.

[Svoboda]

We're a one bid league now. WSU leaving doesn't change that.

And while I agree with your assertion that the AAC and A10 aren't power leagues, there is no question the Big East is a power basketball league. They have 7 NCAA teams this year, the defending national champ and their own TV network which pays millions of dollars a year to each school.

.

UCONN, Temple, Memphis, and even Tulsa, and Houston will not be down for long. All of these teams have successful basketball histories and this league will be a 4-5 bid league most years. I doubt the Big East will get 7 bids next year.

Regardless of how the deck chairs are arranged, the point is the MVC will be a single bid league along with every other true mid-major conference. The S.S. MoVal will just continue to wade in the peripheral wake of the HM yachts.

[municup14]

Here's a dark horse team that might jump conferences.
DePaul.,they use to be a power house,they are in the
Chicgo market,and I'm sure there tired of getting there
Brains beat out in the Big East.Juxt a thought

[Svoboda]

Here's a dark horse team that might jump conferences.
DePaul.,they use to be a power house,they are in the
Chicgo market,and I'm sure there tired of getting there
Brains beat out in the Big East.Juxt a thought

You believe a school is willing to sacrifice all of the money in order to drop down a level for the possibility of becoming a winner?

[WSpringsBird]

We're a one bid league now. WSU leaving doesn't change that.

And while I agree with your assertion that the AAC and A10 aren't power leagues, there is no question the Big East is a power basketball league. They have 7 NCAA teams this year, the defending national champ and their own TV network which pays millions of dollars a year to each school.

.

UCONN, Temple, Memphis, and even Tulsa, and Houston will not be down for long. All of these teams have successful basketball histories and this league will be a 4-5 bid league most years. I doubt the Big East will get 7 bids next year.

The Big East has averaged six bids per year over the past four years. Based on the teams that are in the conference, that does not seem like a crazy assumption for what the average would be over the next few years.

[bigdawg]

Here's a dark horse team that might jump conferences.
DePaul.,they use to be a power house,they are in the
Chicgo market,and I'm sure there tired of getting there
Brains beat out in the Big East.Juxt a thought

Depaul certainly doesn't belong in a major conference. However, they somehow got the city of Chicago to build them a brand-new arena at McCormick Place that opens next year. Wouldn't be surprised if that helps turn their fortunes song.

[Wufan]

Currently there is the P5 plus the Big East. Conferences where if you go .500, you are on the bubble.

Then there is the AAC, MWC, and A-10. These conferences are perennial multi-bid (2+) leagues.

Then there is the WCC, MVC, and CAA. These conferences will occasionally have two bids.

Then there is everyone else.

The AAC is making a move to try and wedge in there with the P5/BE. UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, Memphis, and WSU are great programs with recent success that should headline the league most years. SMU, Houston, and Tulsa have historically been good programs. With a little luck, the American will start getting some brand recognition.

The MVC and CAA are very close to falling below the WCC. Something big has to happen, or it's an inevitability. Bradley is in the best shape to jump up and capture the national attention, but they've got a ways to go. UNI will stay relevant, but needs to earn bids several years in a row. ISUr needs to make a splash in the dance soon! The Illinois public schools and MSU budget cuts are going to be difficult to deal with. Someone needs to propose a bold direction forward. The MVC needs to pluck Belmont, Murray State, and then set up some sort of relegation league with the Horizon...basically maintain both conferences and conference tournaments, but swap the member schools around annually based on success in the previous season.

[mvcfan]

We're a one bid league now. WSU leaving doesn't change that.

And while I agree with your assertion that the AAC and A10 aren't power leagues, there is no question the Big East is a power basketball league. They have 7 NCAA teams this year, the defending national champ and their own TV network which pays millions of dollars a year to each school.

.

UCONN, Temple, Memphis, and even Tulsa, and Houston will not be down for long. All of these teams have successful basketball histories and this league will be a 4-5 bid league most years. I doubt the Big East will get 7 bids next year.

The Big East has averaged six bids per year over the past four years. Based on the teams that are in the conference, that does not seem like a crazy assumption for what the average would be over the next few years.

Maybe so, but this year Creighton was a very average team, come tourney time (probably didn't even deserve an invitation). After Watson, they did not deserve a 6 seed, and should have been seeded at the highest 10, probably more like a 11 or 12 and if Illinois State was not kept out of the tourney, they were better than Creighton (even though they stubbed their toe in the NIT with a bad BBIQ play) in my opinion. I didn't watch Marquette for an entire game, but they didn't look special to me either.

[Valleyball]

I haven't read this thread so, it may be re-hash. But I wish the program I root for (Bradley) had done their part to hold the Valley together. But years of being non-competitive hasn't helped. I don't blame WSU for going. I still think the Valley can do OK. It will probably only be a one bid league. But it was that this year anyway. Let the battle for first begin.

[TheAsianSensation]

AAC is going to be in conference tier purgatory. Even with Wichita, you can't put them in the same tier as the P5+BE. At the same time, you can't put them in the same tier as the A-10 and everyone below them.

The AAC will be a tier upon themselves. They need the terrible teams to be merely bad, the bad teams to be average, and the above-average teams to be NIT teams. If everyone takes a half-step forward, they'll make the power 6 a power 7.

But also don't forget SMU is a ticking time bomb. Larry Brown is out and Jankovich is in, which means that thing is heading south

New conference tiers:

Tier 1: ACC, B1G, Big 12, Pac-12, $EC, Big Priest
Tier 2: American
Tier 3: A-10, MWC (last 2 years results would argue MWC should be below this, but the decade of track record before makes me leave them here for now)
Tier 4: MVC, WCC (the funny thing is, WCC and MVC were more or less equal...but our members (Creighton, Wichita) were geographically positioned to be poached while Gonzaga and St Mary's aren't)
Tier 5: Colonial (they're kind of in between all the certain 1-bid conferences and the multi-bid. Just enough strength in this conference)
Tier 6: CUSA, MAC, MAAC, Horizon (conferences that have multiple teams with the resources to make a legitimate run at an at-large bid if everything falls right)
Tier 7: Summit, OVC, Ivy, SoCon, Fun Belt, Big West (conferences that are 1-bid in all but the most extreme of circumstances, but are capable of producing Sweet 16 teams with favorable tourney matchups)
Tier 8: the remaining 11 conferences
Tier SWAC: SWAC