Catholic Basketball League

[ihsi]

While it seems unlikely right now there's some talk about the possibility. If the Big East falters and loses Uconn or Louisville, who knows?

from Providence Journal:

This is where the prayer reference begins. For the last half dozen years, the leaders at the Big East's Catholic schools have prayed that their programs can keep playing with the Big Boys after all this realignment money grab ends. It's not going to happen. The praying has to stop. Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame are gone. Rutgers is next (no one cares about the Scarlet Knights, really) but UConn and/or Louisville are mortal blows.

The short-sightedness of not forming an all-Catholic, basketball-centered league is baffling to many leaders in college sports. Ex-Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has pushed the idea for a few years now. Providence, Villanova and Georgetown are going to wake up one day and see `rivals' named Memphis, Cincinnati, Temple and maybe even UMass. No thanks.

We know that TV revenues will be lower in a basketball-centric league but with big seed money left behind in exit fees and NCAA Tournament units that the Catholics have a legal right to, it is far past the time to stop praying and choose a path towards independence.

[ihsi]

from CBS:

There are seven Catholic schools in the Big East -- Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, St. John's, Seton Hall, Providence and Villanova -- that aren't members of the conference in football. Five others -- SMU, Central Florida, Houston, Temple and Memphis -- are scheduled to join the Big East in all sports for the 2013-2014 season.

Notre Dame announced in September that it will join the ACC in all sports but football.

“Somewhere along the line, all those catholic schools may just get tired of all this nonsense and say ‘Listen, we've had enough of you football schools -- we're just going to break up and form our own great basketball league,'” Pitino added. “That's the danger of it all.”

[CBB_Fan]

The problem with an Catholic Basketball League has always been Notre Dame. Because they are the most influential Catholic school, they are a necessity for such a league to form, and they've never wanted to join a league.

Personally, I think an all-Catholic team could work if Notre Dame could be persuaded, and that Creighton would get a place in that conference. Wichita State would absolutely HATE for a Catholic league to form and take Creighton though, because that would leave the school stuck in a pretty bad conference without a lot of room to maneuver into the A-10 or another decent basketball conference.

If Wichita State and Creighton leave, that would be devastating for the MVC. Even if they brought in Tulsa and St. Louis to replace them, the conference would lose its two richest schools and currently the most competitive (no offense to Bradley, SIU, UNI, etc. meant).

[ihsi]

The problem with an Catholic Basketball League has always been Notre Dame. Because they are the most influential Catholic school, they are a necessity for such a league to form, and they've never wanted to join a league.

They're not in any of the discussions presently and that hasn't stopped the discussion.

[unipanther99]

The thing I wonder about Notre Dame's recent move to the ACC is if there was an escape clause if conference membership changed before a certain date.

[havoc]

The thing I wonder about Notre Dame's recent move to the ACC is if there was an escape clause if conference membership changed before a certain date.

Fot Notre Dame, the move to the ACC was 99% based in football and 1% based in olympic sports. They get a solid deal now by having access to the ACC's non-BCS bowl games and have a place to park their football program should down the road it be required for entrance into a tournament. No doubt a requirement of the deals is their olympic sports programs competing in the ACC. They would forfeit all of this with a move to a new conference. It is simply not happening. Maryland leaving the ACC no way diminishes what Notre Dame is trying to accomplish in the ACC since their football program is sub-par. I would argue it actually helps things a little.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I think the role of Notre Dame is overrated. Sure, it would be great to have them, but they are not necessary. Frankly, I don't see any of the Catholic schools with football (ND, Boston College, etc.) participating anyway.

I don't see this happening unless the Big East dissolves. The fact of the matter is that football (that's FBS football Casey) generates a lot more money than basketball. As a result, I suspect the Big East will just keep adding filler football programs to keep itself afloat as long as possible. The basketball only schools - Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Providence, and anyone else that I'm missing all know that they will make more being aligned with football schools than they will make without them.

[havoc]

Frankly, I don't see any of the Catholic schools with football (ND, Boston College, etc.) participating anyway.

There is no ect. ND and BC are the only two Catholic schools in the FBS.

[ihsi]

My worry is that the 7 Big East teams would add St Joes, Xavier, and Dayton and be happy with 10. If they went to 12 and brought in SLU and Creighton, that would be a dream come true for Jays fans.

[TheAsianSensation]

Let's rationally look at the contenders for such a league, as a fake commish who has complete authority to pluck whatever teams make sense:

Tier 1: locks, because of ability + geography, or just geography in the case of DePaul:
Georgetown
DePaul
Marquette
Villanova
St John's
Xavier

Tier 2: virtual locks, but in right situation, could get left behind
Seton Hall (likely a lock because of tradition, but they do duplicate a market)
Dayton (see SHU explanation)
St Louis (slight geographical outlier)

Tier 3: tossups
Providence (in real danger, but tradition probably saves them)
Butler (remember, we've seen the peak from them. you have to trust the average season for them will hold up against the rest of the league)
St Joseph's (duplicates a market, which is a biggie)

Tier 4: odds are against, but definitely much larger than 0:
VCU (outlier on the southern side of the conference)
George Mason
George Washington (both Georges share a market, so it could be an either/or situation)
Creighton
Wichita St (2 geographical outliers that I think would be in the same group. Even though Creighton is a more desirable program overall, adding them alone leaves an outlier problem, which is why you two are grouped together, IMO)

Tier 5: very unlikely
Drake
Bradley
Drexel
Hofstra
Northeastern
Siena
Iona
LaSalle
Duquesne
St Bonaventure (could be rising now that scandal is in full rearview mirror now)
really small chance: Murray St, Evansville, Charleston, Davidson
Most of these schools are mixtures of marginal programs, good markets that are already covered by schools above, markets that aren't signifcant enough, geographical outliers, consistency issues, or multiple of these

Tier 6: holy batman on a stick what are they doing tier
Gonzaga
St Mary's
Denver
Seattle
some combination of Pepperdine, San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, Oral Roberts, Arkansas-Little Rock, Santa Clara - A national conference spanning coast to coast would start involving the western teams



A 16 team Catholic conference would almost have to take CU and WSU because you start to run out of new markets and programs otherwise. But in a 12 teamer? It's right on the edge. Ironically, I think both CU and WSU have to root for St Louis to be a part of the league, because they need as many western bridges in the conference as possible to make it work.