Conference Realignment - impact on MVC?

by **MVCfans** » December 13th, 2012, 6:34 am

Figured I would start a new thread this morning as there has been a lot of talk about realignment with the Big East and the possible trickle down to the A-10 and maybe even the Valley. There are rumors and reports by CBS, ESPN and others that news will break in the next 24-48 hours on the Big East. Will be an interesting couple of days.

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by **MVCfans** » December 13th, 2012, 8:02 am

As has been speculated, I've heard that the Big East will be dissolving. If the Big East 7 split and raid the A-10 for Xavier, St. Joes, and Butler this presents a tremendous opportunity for the Valley to step in and add Dayton and SLU.

by **pafan** » December 13th, 2012, 8:05 am

MVCfans wrote:As has been speculated, I've heard that the Big East will be dissolving. If the Big East 7 split and raid the A-10 for Xavier, St. Joes, and Butler this presents a tremendous opportunity for the Valley to step in and add Dayton and SLU.

Yes, but if you swap St. Bonaventure for Butler in that list, the opportunity doesn't look as good

by **MVCfans** » December 13th, 2012, 8:07 am

pafan wrote:
MVCfans wrote:As has been speculated, I've heard that the Big East will be dissolving. If the Big East 7 split and raid the A-10 for Xavier, St. Joes, and Butler this presents a tremendous opportunity for the Valley to step in and add Dayton and SLU.

Yes, but if you swap St. Bonaventure for Butler in that list, the opportunity doesn't look as good

I don't think St. Bonaventure is on the Big East's radar.

by **CBB_Fan** » December 13th, 2012, 8:15 am

Best case for Valley:

Catholic 7 allow some other Big East programs that have football into the league (UConn, Cincinnati, maybe Temple/Memphis). They then pick up 1-3 teams from the A-10, leaving Saint Louis and Dayton for the Valley.

Bad case for the Valley:

The Catholic 7 wish to become a private, Catholic basketball conference. They extend an invite to Creighton, along with Dayton, Saint Louis, Xavier, and maybe Butler. This triggered a delayed effect in the Valley, causing UNI and Illinois State to strongly look at moving to the MAC or C-USA (or whatever other FBS football conference they wish to try and get in).

The rest of the would either evaporate or try and survive by adding teams like Tulsa, ORU, or SDSU (South Dakota, not San Diego).

Worst case for the Valley:

The Catholic go to a two division conference with a western division picked from various midmajor schools going all the way to the West coast. This conference would focus on basketball, and probably would extend invites to both Wichita State and Creighton, along with Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Saint Louis, and Butler/Dayton.

The immediate impact on the Valley would be the financial loss of the two richest teams, along with a weakening of the conference's major sport. As with the prior example, UNI and Illinois State try to flee on the backs of their football teams, leaving the rest of the Valley in a bad state.

by **MVCfans** » December 13th, 2012, 8:21 am

Brendan Prunty ‏@BrendanPrunty
Spoke to 2 sources who confirm ESPN report on Big East break-up from hoops schools. Still many hurdles to clear, but close to happening.

The big question is who do they invite to join them?

by **MVCfans** » December 13th, 2012, 8:34 am

Here we go:

Sources said those basketball-centric schools will look to link up with teams from the Atlantic 10 - such as Butler Dayton, St. Louis and Xavier. Whether that comes in the form of a super conference with 21 teams - the seven Big East schools and the 14 A-10 schools, is unclear.

A source said the Big East was leaning towards a second option - adding schools. It wants to return to its days as a 10-12 school conference with a homogenous membership headlined by elite basketball programs in urban markets.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/ ... wF80US3G6H

by **Khan4Cats** » December 13th, 2012, 9:18 am

My prediction:

The 7 Catholic schools decide to break and form their own Catholic League, pulling Xavier and Saint Louis from the Atlantic 10 for thier markets and then pulling off the huge shocker (well, maybe not) in getting Notre Dame to back away from the ACC to become the cornerstone of the new league. Notre Dame is able to keep its football independent along with its football TV deal which NBC Sports uses to build an entire TV contract for the new league.

by **havoc** » December 13th, 2012, 9:45 am

Khan4Cats wrote:My prediction:

The 7 Catholic schools decide to break and form their own Catholic League, pulling Xavier and Saint Louis from the Atlantic 10 for thier markets and then pulling off the huge shocker (well, maybe not) in getting Notre Dame to back away from the ACC to become the cornerstone of the new league. Notre Dame is able to keep its football independent along with its football TV deal which NBC Sports uses to build an entire TV contract for the new league.

Not going to happen. Notre Dame got everything they wanted in moving to the ACC. They get to be among what they consider peer institutions academically, they get to place their basketball program in what at this moment seems to be the best in the country, they get the benefit of the ACC non-BCS bowl package, and if sometime down the road conference membership is required for some sort of football playoff, it won't be a huge change to simply join the ACC as a full member. Their situation in the ACC is MUCH better than what it would be with the remains of the Big East.

by **getreal4** » December 13th, 2012, 10:06 am

Could be a great opportunity for Jays and Shox to join the new elite bb league. Can't blame them if its offered. i would expect both schools are lobbying hard.