Catholic Basketball League

[DoubleJayAlum]

Hey, who wants an A-21?

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... nce-source

Just great, outflanked yet again by the A10. First Butler, now this.

I suspect this conference isn't ever going to do anything to better itself. We've already lost the MVC-MWC challenge. Hell, we have schools take two day bus trips from Indiana to Denver, instead of flying, to save few bucks.

What a joke.

[shoxrox]

Hey, who wants an A-21?

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... nce-source

What a mess. Does the A-10 think they're a BCS league now?

All of this conference stuff is just sad and pathetic. I hope these super conferences beat each other up to the point that everyone becomes unhappy again and they all topple over themselves. I know for one thing. It's gotten to the point where I don't even watch college football on tv anymore.

[MoValley John]

Hey, who wants an A-21?

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... nce-source

This would be a monster basketball league, I just don't think it'd work. Too many schools, scheduling nightmare, plus, having more than 16 schools will simply dilute TV money.

Great idea, though.

[TheAsianSensation]

Hey, who wants an A-21?

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... nce-source

Just great, outflanked yet again by the A10. First Butler, now this.

I suspect this conference isn't ever going to do anything to better itself. We've already lost the MVC-MWC challenge. Hell, we have schools take two day bus trips from Indiana to Denver, instead of flying, to save few bucks.

What a joke.

The A-10 made it public first, but I sincerely hope Elgin is kicking the tires on this. You have to get on the horn with the BEast 7 and tell them a 16 or 18 team MVC is better than a 21 team A-10. Heck, a 21-team MVC would be better because there's dead weight in the A-10, and the MVC can get them a better TV contract if they pull Xavier, Dayton, and St Louis with them.

My MVC plan: Tell the Catholic 7 to invite St Louis, Xavier, and Dayton to join them in the MVC-20. It's ugly, but it IS the power play move.

I hope Elgin doesn't think that just asking Marquette and DePaul to stab the rest in the back will work. Because it won't.

[TheAsianSensation]

Hey, who wants an A-21?

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... nce-source

What a mess. Does the A-10 think they're a BCS league now?

All of this conference stuff is just sad and pathetic. I hope these super conferences beat each other up to the point that everyone becomes unhappy again and they all topple over themselves. I know for one thing. It's gotten to the point where I don't even watch college football on tv anymore.

No, the A-10 is doing this completely for survival.

If they don't, the Catholic League poaches Xavier and St Louis at a minimum, and in worst case scenario, Butler, Richmond, and Dayton too.

Then the CL is king in the east, MVC in the midwest, WCC in the west, and just like that, the A-10 is the 4th best non-football conference. Disaster.

[MoValley John]

Elgin has no play, nor does he have any power in any of this. In reality, the Valley is powerless. If I were Elgin, I'd be doing everything in my power to muck up any possibility of Creighton getting an invite should a Catholic league become a reality.

[pafan]

I suspect this conference isn't ever going to do anything to better itself. We've already lost the MVC-MWC challenge. Hell, we have schools take two day bus trips from Indiana to Denver, instead of flying, to save few bucks.

The two day bus trip was an unfounded rumor. UE flew to Colorado State.

[Jet915]

Elgin has no play, nor does he have any power in any of this. In reality, the Valley is powerless. If I were Elgin, I'd be doing everything in my power to muck up any possibility of Creighton getting an invite should a Catholic league become a reality.

The bus has passed for Elgin and the MVC. Butler and SLU were our best chances, once they said no or left for the A-10, that was it.

[GoShockers89]

There is no chance the A-10 permanently expands to 21 teams. Nada. Zip. Zero.

What they would do is add the 7 Big East schools to temporarily expand to a crazy-high number. Then, immediately or after a year or two, they would use those 7 new members' votes to expel the current weak members of the league (this requires a 2/3 vote). Currently the poor sisters wing of the A-10 has enough votes to block such a move; they will not have the requisite votes to block it after expansion.

This means you will see a much leaner, meaner 14 or 16 team A-10 post-expansion if they swish this and it works out like they hope. There will be no place for Fordham, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, etc. in this new landscape. The fact that most of the crap schools being expelled are catholic will be deemed irrelevant because, as we know, this is all about the benjamins.

[CBB_Fan]

Supposedly, the Catholic members of the Big East have a provision that allows them to leave without a 2/3 vote, and keep the Big East brand.

If that happens, I think they may decide to expand to 12 teams. The 5 most logical choices are Xavier, Butler, Dayton, Creighton and Saint Louis. This immediately solidifies the conference in basketball and probably puts it at about #5-6 in terms of conference power rankings (below ACC, B1G, SEC, and Big 12 probably).

If they can get that to happen, they may decide to to try and keep schools with football in the Big East, such as Temple, Memphis, Cincinnati, and UConn. This is want the Catholic schools want to happen, because those schools bring in money and are pretty solid adds to the conference. The problem is that those schools would have to find another home for their football programs, and be continuously looking to leave the conference to join as a full member somewhere else.

The other alternative that isn't being discussed much yet is trying to continue strengthening an all basketball team with a slightly wider geographical footprint. Some possibilities include Wichita State and VCU (which would be a possibility if UConn and Cincinnati decide to leave but Temple and Memphis stay), and maybe Duquesne and Richmond as well.

The latter possibility is the one that concerns the MVC, and especially Wichita State. Wichita State does not want to be left in the MVC when (probably not if) Creighton leaves, and the athletic department should make it a priority to get into this all-basketball conference. Dividing the conference into Western and Eastern divisions, you'd get:

WEST:
Butler
Dayton
Xavier
DePaul
Marquette
Creighton
Wichita State
Saint Louis

EAST:
St. John's
Georgetown
Providence
Villanova
Seton Hall
Richmond
Duquesne
VCU

This is a pretty solid basketball only conference. It probably would be pretty stable because no one is going to try and poach a non-football school from it, and roughly the same amount of money that the old Big East did (though travel expenses will be higher).

If the Catholic members of the Big East do decide to split (regardless of whether or not they have the Big East brand name), Creighton is gone. Wichita State will be hedging its bets that Cincinnati and UConn will want to bolt and leave a spot open for them.

A MVC without Wichita or Creighton may look to expand by adding Tulsa, ORU, or members of the football conference. Losing Creighton will hurt, and losing both will definitely be a devastating blow, but the conference can still be a top 10 league if SDSU and Tulsa become decent teams and UNI and Illinois State stay at the level they are at this year.