National Conference Realignments

[valporun]

apparently byu won't play on sundays, which is a problem for a lot of sports in the bcs conferences. which is something that i hadn't thought of. louisville and cincinnati are interesting prospects for the big 12, since apparently they're trying to get out of the big east.

This is also why whenever BYU makes the NCAA Tournament, whether the men or the women, they have to be placed in Thursday-Saturday brackets. The NCAA never seems to make a big to do about it, they just plan for them to play on Thursday-Saturday.

[vuweathernerd]

apparently byu won't play on sundays, which is a problem for a lot of sports in the bcs conferences. which is something that i hadn't thought of. louisville and cincinnati are interesting prospects for the big 12, since apparently they're trying to get out of the big east.

This is also why whenever BYU makes the NCAA Tournament, whether the men or the women, they have to be placed in Thursday-Saturday brackets. The NCAA never seems to make a big to do about it, they just plan for them to play on Thursday-Saturday.

i never realized the ncaa made that concession for them. from what i've heard, the big 12 would prefer not to have to deal with it if they don't have to, which was why they opted to go for tcu first. if they opt for further expansion, they may not be able to avoid it though.

[valporun]

Playing on Sundays is the only thing holding BYU back from some big time weekend exposure on ESPN, that's for sure. Their religious convictions will continue to hold regardless of what conference(s) vettes/vies for their membership.

The Big-12 extending an invite to TCU is possibly Texas finally saying that they have to put a long time angst behind them for fear of losing the auto-bid for the BCS. The Big East, as it will be, will only have 6 schools, and they need 7 to continue to have the BCS auto bid. They'll have to really scrap around for a football school, but what really hurts the Big East is their basketball tournament will not have the same aura and tradition that has made one of the more exciting major conference tournaments to tune into in March. The Big East always had one or two surprise teams that would step up and make the big upset or noise of maybe bumping out the big name or making a name for themselves in the bubble picture.

This is what most of this conference realignment is doing to fanbases. They are being ripped apart by the greed that schools are seeking by trying to go to conferences where they might be competitive again, and rebuild fanbases at the expense of the student-athlete, who has become the most volatile pawn in all of this mess. This is the reason Valpo went to a bus league like the Horizon League, to benefit our student-athletes in the classroom, not our overall athletic budget and image through ESPN.

[valpotx]

It isn't Texas putting it behind them, it is more Baylor and Texas Tech.  UT will always have the best recruits in Texas in just about every sport, and that will never change regardless of TCU and how they perform due to UT's massive athletics budget.  Baylor and TTU live off of the same recruits as TCU, but TCU is just able to better make those players fit into their system.  With that, Baylor and TTU hoped to never invite either a TCU, SMU, Houston, or Rice into their biggest recruiting bonus versus the other schools, higher level of competition in conference.  With these changes in alignment, they had to make a move that they hoped never would be  

[setshot]

SMU and TCU had some great teams in the late40's and early 50's. Doak Walker and Kyle Roat starred for the mustangs in the late 40's and Jim Swink for the horn frogs in the early 50's. Nice to see TCU back in the fold and hopefully SMU will be there also.

[sliman]

Some may recall that the late Dr. Jim Wacker, a 1959 Valpo graduate, was the TCU coach for nine years, turning the program from an also ran into a team that got a Bluebonnet Bowl Invitation.  He later coached at Minnesota.

[valpotx]

Yes, I noticed that on TCU's wikipedia page as well.  Good connection!

[wh]

ND's Brey wants to add Memphis, Temple and Houston:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2011-10-08/mike-brey-to-jim-boeheim-notre-dame-never-wavered-on-big-east

[valpopal]

ND's Brey wants to add Memphis, Temple and Houston:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2011-10-08/mike-brey-to-jim-boeheim-notre-dame-never-wavered-on-big-east

I bet Brey doesn't want the in-state competition Butler would present.

[wh]

http://blogs.indystar.com/butler/2011/10/11/big-east-probably-not/

I just came across this David Woods article from a few days ago.  He's saying what knowledgeable sports writers and reasonable fans have been saying all along - Butler isn't going anywhere.  He makes two especially strong points:

- Anyone who spent time worrying or wondering whether Butler would leave the Horizon League has unnecessarily wasted brain space.
- He hasn't seen any reliable source report the Big East is pining for basketball schools such as Butler, Xavier, VCU or Richmond.

Let me add another - Butler would be completely out of their league in nearly every sport other than men's basketball. 

[vu72]

http://blogs.indystar.com/butler/2011/10/11/big-east-probably-not/

I just came across this David Woods article from a few days ago.  He's saying what knowledgeable sports writers and reasonable fans have been saying all along - Butler isn't going anywhere.  He makes two especially strong points:

- Anyone who spent time worrying or wondering whether Butler would leave the Horizon League has unnecessarily wasted brain space.
- He hasn't seen any reliable source report the Big East is pining for basketball schools such as Butler, Xavier, VCU or Richmond.

Let me add another - Butler would be completely out of their league in nearly every sport other than men's basketball. 

I had the same thought.  If Butler thought their basketball success would trend over to other sports, the current record isn't showing it.  For fall sports, Butler's record last year was VERY impressive, winning Men's soccer, women's soccer and the Volleyball tourney after finishing seond.  However, this year they are 7th in men's soccer, 5th in women's soccer and fifth in volleyball.

Valpo at the same time is 1st in men's soccer, 3rd in women's soccer and 3rd in volleyball.  Milwaukee is really taking off after their basketball win, now being 1st in women's soccer and volleyball and 5th in men's soccer, all better than Butler.

As for football I just checked and found that over the 17 years we've both (Butler and us) been in the PFL, they have won a total of 7 games more than we have.  Don't think they'll be upgrading football to join the Big East.

It is the nature of mid-major sports to be up and down.  any notion of "dominating" across the board and thus looking to move up, conference wise, is just not going to happen.

[valpotx]

I just don't see any circumstance where Butler would be added to the Big East either.  They have enough basketball schools and still want a slice of that football money pie.  Any all sports school will always get preference over Butler, which is why they are considering such schools as UCF, ECU, Houston, SMU, etc.

[valporun]

I just don't see any circumstance where Butler would be added to the Big East either.  They have enough basketball schools and still want a slice of that football money pie.  Any all sports school will always get preference over Butler, which is why they are considering such schools as UCF, ECU, Houston, SMU, etc.

Apparently the Big 12 just picked up West Virginia. I'm not sure why that happened. They fit the aspects of the Big East very well. A football school, with a bigger name basketball coach, that would have been competitive in the Big East for both with no problems. I guess conference insecurity would be a good reason to leave, but yet the money has changed the game too much for it's own good.

[valpotx]

Yes, Missouri is leaving and WVU will be in.  This is an upgrade in just about every sport for the conference, as Missouri hasn't competed well in sports for many years (they will get blown out in the SEC for several years).  The A&M for TCU trade is basically a split in all sports, though A&M has a small leg up in some of the smaller ones. 

All in all, the Big 12 trading Missouri/A&M for WVU/TCU is an upgrade in sports, though WVU brings down the academic side unfortunately. 

[valpospartan]

Valpo to the Big East.....laughable.

[valpotx]

Who said that was even a remote possibility? Maybe I missed it.

[valpo84]

Notre Dame should seriously consider moving to the Horizon!!

Football has dramatically declined, but their name guarantees them that they can remain independent, and although very good other programs, the Horizon could work on moving up by adding ND.

ND Football -- the next University of Chicago.

[valpotx]

Missouri formally in the SEC now.  I found this comment very amusing from Missouri.

"In joining the SEC, MU partners with universities distinguished for their academic programs and their emphasis on student success."

I know that you want to build up excitement in your fan base and alumni, but "distinguished academic programs" and "student success" in the SEC?  Vanderbilt yes, Texas A&M kind of.....then??     That is not to take credit away from non-athletes at these schools, but scandals galore is what I believe they should have said.   

[valpo84]

The key term above is "distinguished."

Loved this shot from Bama/LSU game. Knew it would be an instant classic. Remember Bama fan, it is just football and you are there for the "education."

http://kegsneggsblog.com/2011/11/05/a-message-to-a-crying-alabama-fan/

[vuweathernerd]

i died a little inside when my tigers made it official. they are now the third team in the sec with a tiger mascot, and the first in the sec east (at least until the divisions are realigned, and they join lsu and auburn in the west). it'll be interesting to see when they can actually join the conference, since their exit will be delayed by the wvu-big east suit/countersuit issues.

[78crusader]

This conference realignment stuff is just a bunch of silliness masquerading as "important" decisions made by grown men whose declarations of "doing the right thing for the student athletes" ring hollow and who, deep down, know better than to do what they are doing.  Paul

[wh]

BYU turns down the Big East:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7271078/byu-ends-negotiations-not-join-big-east-according-report

[vuweathernerd]

BYU turns down the Big East:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7271078/byu-ends-negotiations-not-join-big-east-according-report

apparently somebody's refusing to become geographically challenged... it was rough enough with tcu joining the big east, ou/ok state/texas/texas tech looking at the pac 12, and then a&m and mizzou going to the sec. but these rocky mountain area schools going to the big east? ridiculous!  they need to just change the name of the conference already.

[valpopal]

Hot new rumor is that Maryland and Rutgers are in negotiations to join the Big 10, which would bring the Big 10 to 14 teams:

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=8644587&wjb

[StlVUFan]

Hot new rumor is that Maryland and Rutgers are in negotiations to join the Big 10, which would bring the Big 10 to 14 teams:

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=8644587&wjb

If memory serves, those were also rumored last time (when they decided to add Nebraska).