Catholic Basketball League

[Wufan]

A couple of funny quotes from the article:

"If you don't include football stadiums, Creighton has the best athletic facilities in college sports."

Doesn't Creighton RENT the C-Link? Even if you consider it part of their facilities, I don't see CU as THE BEST.

"Creighton has a unique place in the Valley. The Jays' combination of academics, facilities, alumni financial resources and big city make them formidable, if they're hiring the right coaches. The Jays play in the biggest arena in the Valley. In their way, they are the Duke or Notre Dame of the Valley. There's no one quite like them."

The whole quote was given for context, but I like that he makes the statement that the Jays play in the biggest arena, and that somehow makes them comparable to Duke (Cameron Indoor holds less than 10000), and he states that Creighton is the "Notre Dame of the Valley" - That would be the same Notre Dame that is known for football…the same Notre Dame that is independent in football. I think he could have chosen a couple of schools that were a better match.

[BCPanther]

The question should be asked in reverse. Not if Creighton wants to join that league, but rather if that league will have them.

I am just not sold that teams on the far east coast want to commit all of their non revenue sports to having to come all the way to Omaha on a regular basis. Do the probable increases in gross revenues account for enough to balance out the increase in expenses.

I think we have 10 schools right now that are realizing that the grass may not be greener somewhere else...

[musiccitybulldog]

What would a change of conference have on attendance? I could understand if a team joined the ACC/B1G where crowds would be excited. But would the Omaha crowds have the same fervor and intensity to beat up on Depaul, St. Johns over Wichita, UNI, Drake, Mo State..Evansville?
Would some of the "local" interest be lost?

[Khan4Cats]

I think Creighton fans will show up to see them play DePaul and St. John's at the same rate they show up for Drake, Evansville, etc. They will show up to see them play Marquette, Xavier, Dayton, Saint Louis, etc. as well-----As long as they are winning. If they become the Fordham of a new league that features Xavier, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova at the top, will they continue to draw? Will they still be the "Notre Dame or Duke" of their conference?

[Turner]

Well look what we have here.

The seven Big East Catholic, non-FBS schools met with Big East commissioner Mike Aresco on Sunday to express their concerns for the direction of the conference, multiple Big East sources confirmed to ESPN.com on Monday.

Sources said the New York meeting was the first among the seven schools (Marquette, DePaul, St. John's, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall and Villanova) and ultimately could lead to them splitting from the Big East's football members.

[unipanther99]

7 is the minimum for a conference, right? So they could start on their own and not have to pick anyone up right away.

The main hurdle would be the lack of an auto-bid for the NCAA. The MWC played without one for a while before they expanded the tournament to 65. I wonder if the recent expansion would ease the restriction and allow the NCAA to grant a bid earlier than usual for a new conference.

[DoubleJayAlum]

The main hurdle would be the lack of an auto-bid for the NCAA. The MWC played without one for a while before they expanded the tournament to 65.

Is that how it went down? I thought the NCAA created an exception to the 5 year rule and gave a spot to the MWC right away after the WAC blew up. To be honest, I can't remember the timetable....

[rally]

7 is the minimum for a conference, right? So they could start on their own and not have to pick anyone up right away.

The main hurdle would be the lack of an auto-bid for the NCAA. The MWC played without one for a while before they expanded the tournament to 65. I wonder if the recent expansion would ease the restriction and allow the NCAA to grant a bid earlier than usual for a new conference.

Auto-bid is not an issue. The Catholic schools won't split off to form a new league. The course of action would be for them to dissolve the league so that they could keep the conference name and assets. Basically they would just be kicking the football schools out.

[TheAsianSensation]

From what I've seen, the basketball schools have enough votes to abolish the Big East from sponsoring football, but when July 1 hits and new invites show up, they won't.

Time is a factor here.

[LMS]

From what I've seen, the basketball schools have enough votes to abolish the Big East from sponsoring football, but when July 1 hits and new invites show up, they won't.

Time is a factor here.

Temple's AD just said they have a full vote which would mean the non-football schools don't have the power needed.