Article: A10 should look at adding Wichita St

[Mikovio]

Those are interesting figures. I would agree it makes a compelling case. What I would be concerned about is the fact that those budgets only reflect the these programs' revenue in the recent past. And what I mean by that is some of these schools, like Temple, USF and UCF, are going to watch their TV revenue take a huge plunge, because the new AAC TV contract gives $1MM out per member which is a small fraction of their old (Big East) contract, and the $$$ they've been raking in via TV units in the old Big East will take a severe hit too. That is probably going to reflect a substantial shrinkage of their basketball budgets in the near term. Memphis and SMU have a substantial donor base as I understand it; SMU is in the midst of an experiment with Larry Brown that may end when he retires and/or the football program rises again and Memphis may be tempted to shift resources to football now that they're in a football-centric conference. That probably goes for most if not all of the other members, especially the ones who have left what was arguably the leading basketball conference in the old "Big East." And while I agree that there's a correlation between spending and winning basketball, the MVC programs benefit from more fertile basketball recruiting grounds which offsets that deficit. Indiana and Illinois are to basketball what Texas and Florida are to football. But even then, it's a strong case.

[TheAsianSensation]

Remember, Jankovic is the coach-in-waiting at SMU. That'll be a marginal situation in 2-3 years.

[Play Angry]

Remember, Jankovic is the coach-in-waiting at SMU. That'll be a marginal situation in 2-3 years.

Really interested to see how SMU handles that transition. I don't totally believe they'll honor their promise to let Jank inherit the job.

Insecure fan base + uber deep pockets + new arena + capacity crowds = makes ya wonder if they'll reneg and go for a name hire when Larry gets tired.

[rlh04d]

WSU is not leaving the valley anytime soon - there is just vocal minority.

I don't know if I've seen any WSU fan but you argue for staying in the MVC if we had an option.

Your majority is very, very quiet, then.

[rlh04d]

Your numbers check out, but let me play devil's advocate. With the AAC, Louisville and Rutgers are out the door next year and Cincinnati and UConn are desperate for a way out and may join the Big XII soon.

Saying they "may join the Big12 soon" isn't really based on anything more than MoSt "may join the Sunbelt soon" and UNI/IlSU "may join the MAC soon."

As far as I can tell, UConn is only going to be an option for the ACC, and only then if something changes for the conference soon ... like Texas wanting to join, or Notre Dame being willing to bring their football in. And neither of those seem likely at all to me. Cinci looks like a natural Big 12 member, but the Big 12 hasn't shown any interest in a championship game. On the contrary, the Big 12 football powers (Texas/OU) seem to be absolutely opposed to a championship game providing an extra hurdle to making the playoff.

I think the more important thing about the AAC is that they're higher up the conference pecking order. The MVC is higher than a lot of conferences ... it's what lets us poach teams from, say, the Horizon. The AAC has bigger conferences they can poach from -- including the MVC and A10. If AAC teams leave, the AAC is still higher in the pecking order than most conferences.

I do think any interest in joining the AAC needs to be balanced against the possibility that UConn/Cinci leave in the future. But the AAC has options to replace them.

[Snaggletooth]

WSU is not leaving the valley anytime soon - there is just vocal minority.

I don't know if I've seen any WSU fan but you argue for staying in the MVC if we had an option.

Your majority is very, very quiet, then.

I'm not arguing for staying - if there were good options, but there isn't. If we could go to the B12, that would be great. But going to the A10? We complain about having to go to STL for the conference tournament. But Brooklyn? It would suck for baseball. Probably suck in lot of different ways.

Ultimately I'm a realist on conference realignment. If WSU really wanted to do something big - form a new conference of like minded teams in the region. It would take someone with vision - which we don't have. So, the alternative is you make the best of your circumstances and try to influence the MVC conference in ways to make it stronger. Continue to build the athletic department so it is solid and growing and dominate your situation.

[rlh04d]

WSU is not leaving the valley anytime soon - there is just vocal minority.

I don't know if I've seen any WSU fan but you argue for staying in the MVC if we had an option.

Your majority is very, very quiet, then.

I'm not arguing for staying - if there were good options, but there isn't. If we could go to the B12, that would be great. But going to the A10? We complain about having to go to STL for the conference tournament. But Brooklyn? It would suck for baseball. Probably suck in lot of different ways.

Ultimately I'm a realist on conference realignment. If WSU really wanted to do something big - form a new conference of like minded teams in the region. It would take someone with vision - which we don't have. So, the alternative is you make the best of your circumstances and try to influence the MVC conference in ways to make it stronger. Continue to build the athletic department so it is solid and growing and dominate your situation.

I agree with that. I don't think the A10 is a great option unless it brings with it a significant increase in ESPN's TV contract.

I've hoped for creating a new conference like that in the past, although I'm pretty sure that has zero chance of ever happening.

And yes, I'm all for making the best of our circumstances. But I think there is a gap between making the best of the MVC and joining the Big 12 that leaves room for other options. In the meantime, all WSU can do is continue to build a major program and look at all options.

[CBB_Fan]

I'm not arguing for staying - if there were good options, but there isn't. If we could go to the B12, that would be great. But going to the A10? We complain about having to go to STL for the conference tournament. But Brooklyn? It would suck for baseball. Probably suck in lot of different ways.

Ultimately I'm a realist on conference realignment. If WSU really wanted to do something big - form a new conference of like minded teams in the region. It would take someone with vision - which we don't have. So, the alternative is you make the best of your circumstances and try to influence the MVC conference in ways to make it stronger. Continue to build the athletic department so it is solid and growing and dominate your situation.

I really wish we could simply form a basketball mega-conference out of the Big East, A10, AAC, MWC, and WCC. Something like:

"South": Wichita State, Creighton, Saint Louis, Tulsa
West: UNLV, SDSU, New Mexico, Gonzaga
Midwest: Cincinnati, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul
East: UConn, Memphis, VCU, Temple

Play pod members 2X for 6 games, everyone else once for 12. To me, this would foster strong rivalries, and would be the best basketball conference in the country. I think this conference could routinely get 8, 9 or even 10+ teams in the tournament, and the TV deal would be huge with all of the potential (non-overlapping) markets.

But it can't possibly happen. Too many obstacles, including legal sanctions, NCAA red tape, and the enormous amount of cohesion necessary to pull the disparate parts together.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I'm not arguing for staying - if there were good options, but there isn't. If we could go to the B12, that would be great. But going to the A10? We complain about having to go to STL for the conference tournament. But Brooklyn? It would suck for baseball. Probably suck in lot of different ways.

Ultimately I'm a realist on conference realignment. If WSU really wanted to do something big - form a new conference of like minded teams in the region. It would take someone with vision - which we don't have. So, the alternative is you make the best of your circumstances and try to influence the MVC conference in ways to make it stronger. Continue to build the athletic department so it is solid and growing and dominate your situation.

I really wish we could simply form a basketball mega-conference out of the Big East, A10, AAC, MWC, and WCC. Something like:

"South": Wichita State, Creighton, Saint Louis, Tulsa
West: UNLV, SDSU, New Mexico, Gonzaga
Midwest: Cincinnati, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul
East: UConn, Memphis, VCU, Temple

Play pod members 2X for 6 games, everyone else once for 12. To me, this would foster strong rivalries, and would be the best basketball conference in the country. I think this conference could routinely get 8, 9 or even 10+ teams in the tournament, and the TV deal would be huge with all of the potential (non-overlapping) markets.

But it can't possibly happen. Too many obstacles, including legal sanctions, NCAA red tape, and the enormous amount of cohesion necessary to pull the disparate parts together.

Snag,

I love your post and ideas. Unfortunately I do not have enough years left to see it through to fruition.

You hit the nail on the head about the difficulties.

But man, it sure would be marketable....big time.

[shocktheheart]

I'm not arguing for staying - if there were good options, but there isn't. If we could go to the B12, that would be great. But going to the A10? We complain about having to go to STL for the conference tournament. But Brooklyn? It would suck for baseball. Probably suck in lot of different ways.

Ultimately I'm a realist on conference realignment. If WSU really wanted to do something big - form a new conference of like minded teams in the region. It would take someone with vision - which we don't have. So, the alternative is you make the best of your circumstances and try to influence the MVC conference in ways to make it stronger. Continue to build the athletic department so it is solid and growing and dominate your situation.

I really wish we could simply form a basketball mega-conference out of the Big East, A10, AAC, MWC, and WCC. Something like:

"South": Wichita State, Creighton, Saint Louis, Tulsa
West: UNLV, SDSU, New Mexico, Gonzaga
Midwest: Cincinnati, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul
East: UConn, Memphis, VCU, Temple

Play pod members 2X for 6 games, everyone else once for 12. To me, this would foster strong rivalries, and would be the best basketball conference in the country. I think this conference could routinely get 8, 9 or even 10+ teams in the tournament, and the TV deal would be huge with all of the potential (non-overlapping) markets.

But it can't possibly happen. Too many obstacles, including legal sanctions, NCAA red tape, and the enormous amount of cohesion necessary to pull the disparate parts together.

How do you get 12 games for a sixteen team league?