Conference Choice?

[Hnoz]

What conference would you like to see the Muskies in?

[sonofamuskie]

As much as the A-10 has been a wonderful place for Xavier to live and grow, that is the problem. Not all of our conference foes have put an emphasis on growing and now it is time to grow again. This move is not about Xavier putting butts in the seats at Cintas, it is about bring in the best possible recruit so Xavier can win it all. That is the goal. Period. Playing Georgetown, Marquette, and Villanova easily trumps Fordham, LaSalle, and St. Bonaventure. It is a move of perceived power and prestige along with a larger and more lucrative tv deal. As I have said earlier, the league wants school with good and potentially good fan bases, so here is my take:
the seven:
Georgetown (washington)
Marquette (milwaukee)
Villanova (philadelphia)
St.John's (new york)
Seton Hall (new jersey)
Depaul (chicago)
Providence (rhode island, connecticut)
the next three:
Xavier (cincinnati)
Butler (indianapolis)
St.Louis (st.louis)
the possible next two or four:
Creighton (omaha, nebraska)
Duquesne (pittsburgh)
VCU (richmond, virginia)
Dayton (dayton)

The new league will have the Big East name plus an estimated 1.5 million per team tv payout.

[Jesseandrippers]

What conference would you like to see the Muskies in?

If someone votes A-10, they should be banned.

[xu39]

Ban me then.

I want to stay in the A10. Make the BE7 join the A10 or tell them to take a hike.

I want either a 16 team A10 or a 21 or 22 team A10. I don't trust Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette not to bolt as soon as they get a better offer(like joining the ACC for basketball only).

The BE7 needs schools to join with them, a 7 or 8 team league won't work, unless you play the other teams in the league around 3 times/season, and I doubt anybody wants to play the same teams 3 times/season.

I want the A10 schools to maintain control of this situation by maintaining the majority.

The BE7 needs the A10, the A10 doesn't need the BE7.

[Shadow]

I would wait and see what they have to offer before making a judgement.

[bleedXblue]

Ban me then.

I want to stay in the A10. Make the BE7 join the A10 or tell them to take a hike.

I want either a 16 team A10 or a 21 or 22 team A10. I don't trust Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette not to bolt as soon as they get a better offer(like joining the ACC for basketball only).

The BE7 needs schools to join with them, a 7 or 8 team league won't work, unless you play the other teams in the league around 3 times/season, and I doubt anybody wants to play the same teams 3 times/season.

I want the A10 schools to maintain control of this situation by maintaining the majority.

The BE7 needs the A10, the A10 doesn't need the BE7.

Wow is all I can say to this.The new Big East will instantly become a better conference with or without Xavier and they will have suitors throwing themselves at them. The "A-10" is already a fringe "Major" conference and after the defections of a Butler, UD , St Louis etc it will be cast even further into the mid major abyss. Xavier's been building towards this oppty for the last 10-15 years and you want to play hard ball ? No freaking way we pass on this. It is full steam ahead for Xavier if they get the invite.

[Jesseandrippers]

Ban me then.

I want to stay in the A10. Make the BE7 join the A10 or tell them to take a hike.

I want either a 16 team A10 or a 21 or 22 team A10. I don't trust Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette not to bolt as soon as they get a better offer(like joining the ACC for basketball only).

The BE7 needs schools to join with them, a 7 or 8 team league won't work, unless you play the other teams in the league around 3 times/season, and I doubt anybody wants to play the same teams 3 times/season.

I want the A10 schools to maintain control of this situation
by maintaining the majority.

The BE7 needs the A10, the A10 doesn't need the BE7.

BE7 will just move to the next target if X plays hardball. We will be stuck in a terrible A10 watching SLU, Butler and Dayton bolt for greener pastures. Im all for playing it safe but nit doing anything will kill us.

BE7 will never join the a10 if they balked at Tulane...we have too much slop. They DONT need or want the bulk of the A10.

[Alpalpa]

I've been going to X games since Steve Thomas was a freshman, and Schmidt Fieldhouse was the building that housed the armory. I was there when the football program crumbled in the face of replacing a condemned stadium, and Bill Daily was a visionary for dedicating Xavier's athletic expansion upon a basketball base. From that point forward for X, it's been about creating a brand ...so they helped found the MCC to guarantee an annual shot at the NCAA tourney. Then came a step up to the Atlantic 10. Building Cintas was all part of the grand plan to advance that brand. Now they are on the cusp of the next logical step, and going with any but the pro-forma makes no sense. If offered, take the leap. Improve the brand. Make X a perennial choice for 5 star recruits. Keep moving forward. "Xavier for Aye!"

[muskienick]

I've been going to X games since Steve Thomas was a freshman, and Schmidt Fieldhouse was the building that housed the armory. I was there when the football program crumbled in the face of replacing a condemned stadium, and Bill Daily was a visionary for dedicating Xavier's athletic expansion upon a basketball base. From that point forward for X, it's been about creating a brand ...so they helped found the MCC to guarantee an annual shot at the NCAA tourney. Then came a step up to the Atlantic 10. Building Cintas was all part of the grand plan to advance that brand. Now they are on the cusp of the next logical step, and going with any but the pro-forma makes no sense. If offered, take the leap. Improve the brand. Make X a perennial choice for 5 star recruits. Keep moving forward. "Xavier for Aye!"

Actually Schmidt and the Armory stood side by side and one was not in the other.

[xu39]

As long as the A10 schools stick together, then yes, I definitely want to play hard ball. If this is an every man for himself type situation, then no, I don't want to play hard ball.

Do a 16 or 22 team league or no deal.

I would hope that since X has been in the A10 since 1995, that there would be some solidarity/trust among the A10 membership.

The prize here is getting to play against Georgetown, Villianova, and Marquette on a regular basis. The other 4, DePaul, Providence, Seton Hall, and St. John's, are comparable to Dayton, GW, Richmond, and SLU. I don't see the other 4 bringing anything that the A10 doesn't already posess. DePaul would bring the Chicago market, so there is that.

If you look at the rpi rankings and NCAA/NIT appearances over the last 10-15 years, the bottom 4 of the BE7 are very comparable to the middle of the A10. And also over the last 10-15 years, Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette are very comparable to Xavier, Butler, and VCU.

The BE7 VERY clearly IMO, do not genuinely care about the interests of the A10. How many times in the last 20 years have any of those schools offered a home and home to X? I could be wrong, but I can't even remember any of the BE7 offering a home and home to X even once in the last 20 years.

And there is also the issue of having to negotiate a tv deal, secure a site for the A10 tournament, potentially not having an auto-bid for the new conference's tournament, etc.

The BE7, IMO, CLEARLY look down upon the A10 schools. This is totally a relationship of necessity for them. The BE7 can't do anything if some of the A10 schools don't agree to go along with them. Who else, besides the A10 schools, can the BE7 poach? George Mason and who else? Creighton is awfully far away.

I think this quote from Marquette's AD pretty clearly reflects how the BE7 feel about the A10:

“When you think about the A-10, I don’t even really view the remnants of the Big East in the same light as I do the A-10,” he said.

“There’s no Georgetown in the A-10. Georgetown has won a national championship. There’s no Marquette in the A-10. They’ve not won a national championship in their history. They have a couple of good schools and they have some nice quality across the board, but I certainly, and I know I’m being sort of a homer here, but I certainly think the Big East basketball schools present a profile that is superior to what the depth of the A-10 is.”


Why would you want to partner up with schools that clearly think you are inferior to them? I can easily see Georgetown, Villanova, or Marquette bolting as soon as they can. And then you are left with having to try to replace them. I don't see this potential future conference as being as stable as the A10.