Hoops Weiss is pissed off that he'll be stuck watching SMU vs UCF and Houston vs Depaul in future BET's.
The BET is going to die a very quick death once these also-ran programs start coming to NYC. Hoops Weiss is good at what he does, but this view is just so completely short sighted that it's maddening. I am sick of hearing the SU/BC comparisons. SU is NOT BC. If anything, adding Pitt and SU to the ACC immediately makes BC somewhat relevant again. Syracuse is a national brand. BC was only a regional brand, even when they were in the BE. That comparison is so far off the mark.
Dick asks "what can the BE do to woo SU back?". Well, Dick, the question should be "What SHOULD THEY HAVE DONE to keep SU and Pitt confident in their futures in the BE?". Gee, maybe they should have put SU and Pitt in charge of the BE Football TV deal instead of ND, a team that does not even give a rat's ass about BE football success? Maybe they should have listened to people like Daryl Gross and signed the ESPN deal when it was offered? Hey, it paid more than the ACC deal and would have assured some stability. SU and Pitt would still be there. So would WVa.
The root of this problem is in Providence, and until that head office is purged and real honest-to-God leaders are hired take charge, the BE, in any form, is destined to fail long term.
Hoops may think the BE is fixed, but when Louisville bolts for the Big 12, UConn and ND go to the ACC, and Cincy goes wherever they go, there will only be a small, Catholic school basketball conference left behind. Good teams, yes, but with no financial pull and no fan bases to support a conference tournament in NYC.
Yes he raises very good points, but he needs to see the bigger picture AND the rearview mirror. He is asking questions that should have been answered two years ago. But Marinatto was too much of a know-nothing, do-nothing to provide answers. He needed to be proactive and instead pissed away opportunities to save his league.
Let's wait 5 years and see what the Big East West looks like versus the ACC and then revisit Dick's narrow view of the new landscape of college bball. SU may once again be seen as a trailblazer and ahead of the curve because they chose a destination where both football AND basketball have a chance to flourish and be successful (not to mention LAX, but I'll give Hoops a pass on missing that aspect).