The problem with the BE...

[All4SU]

Someone asked me this morning, "So how many teams are still in the Big East?" I had to sit there and think about it. Despite the fact that I follow Syracuse and the BE passionately, I struggled to quickly answer the question. I can name all of the teams in the SEC, the Pac12, The Big10, the ACC. But my own conference has been a jumbled mess for so long, that every team in it has lost some of their identity along the way.

 

[Cuseman78]

Exactly. It was an unwieldy mess. And though I will miss the Gtown and Nova ball games, it certainly doesn't trump the fact that we were on the road to an even bigger mess, with conference mates potentially in Fort Worth, Waco, and Manhattan, KS. I could not be more thrilled to be aligned with ACC schools. I feel like, for the first time, we are going to be a part of a real, stable conference.

 

[javadoc]

The problem with the BE is that it was a basketball conference founded relatively late in the game. While it is not 100% certain that it would have survived with Penn State, every member that voted against including Penn State and going the all-sports route back then can look in the mirror and see a big part of the problem.

I really hope that WV comes with us. The old eastern independents deserve to be in the same place. Those that matter, anyway.

 

[OrangePA]

I hope WVU comes to the ACC as well.

 

[zeekay]

WVU was already told no by ACC according to a lot of sources. ACC would not accept a school ranked #164 in the nation. It's one of the few conferences that actually takes academics into account (it's #1 BCS conference by average ranking of its schools).

WVU is full-on lobbying to get into SEC right now. Already submitted the paperwork/application on sunday.

 

[RobCWhatUp]

WVU was already told no by ACC according to a lot of sources. ACC would not accept a school ranked #164 in the nation. It's one of the few conferences that actually takes academics into account (it's #1 BCS conference by average ranking of its schools).

WVU is full-on lobbying to get into SEC right now. Already submitted the paperwork/application on sunday.

Along with the school rank. I don't think ACC sees WVU as a new market. Pitt, Maryland, UVA, and Va Tech have that area pretty much set. WVU needs to get to the SEC ASAP before they are S.O.L.

 

[All4SU]

While it is not 100% certain that it would have survived with Penn State, every member that voted against including Penn State and going the all-sports route back then can look in the mirror and see a big part of the problem.quote]

Very good point.

 

[Orangello]

WVU was already told no by ACC according to a lot of sources. ACC would not accept a school ranked #164 in the nation. It's one of the few conferences that actually takes academics into account (it's #1 BCS conference by average ranking of its schools).

WVU is full-on lobbying to get into SEC right now. Already submitted the paperwork/application on sunday.

If true than that leaves UConn and the Girls as the likely 15 and 16. Dear God in heaven Rutgirls is like that smelly toilet paper you can't get off of your shoe. We can't get away from them.

 

[Shermthegeneral]

I don't love Rutgers either but I'm from upstate NY and now live in Jersey and going to a Rutgers/SU game is something I look forward to going to whenever the schedule allows. In addition, considering it is the state university of NJ, it would be nice to have my children go there if they don't want to go to SU of course

 

[Cusefan95]

The problem with the BE is that it was a basketball conference founded relatively late in the game. While it is not 100% certain that it would have survived with Penn State, every member that voted against including Penn State and going the all-sports route back then can look in the mirror and see a big part of the problem.

IDK, I know Penn State would have bolted for the Big 10 anyway. Maybe not in 1994...but certainly by now they would be in the Big 10.

Plus they wanted to split hoops revenue but keep all their football revenue, so Penn State put a poison pill into their application to the Big East from the start.

While not adding Penn State way back when was part of the problem, the bigger problem was that aligning with basketball-onlies was always going to be a problem once football was clearly king. This break-up was probably always inevitable, the only thing that would have changed were the details on the divorce papers...

 

[OrangeXtreme]

The people who voted against PSU back in 1982 are the same people who think adding Villanova as a FB team would solve all the BE's problems.

Basketball minds trying to run a football conference.

 

[bubba1917]

The problem with the BE is that it was a basketball conference founded relatively late in the game. While it is not 100% certain that it would have survived with Penn State, every member that voted against including Penn State and going the all-sports route back then can look in the mirror and see a big part of the problem.

I really hope that WV comes with us. The old eastern independents deserve to be in the same place. Those that matter, anyway.

Revision much. PSU was not ready to enter a full partnership.

 

[Scooch]

From the moment that Georgia and Oklahoma won that Supreme Court case that reverted control of TV monies from the NCAA (the old CFA) to the conferences was when the Big East was basically doomed. That was when football got on track to be the massively disproportionate revenue generator that it is today.

IMHO, the only real shot the Big East had was to have been VERY proactive when SU, Pitt and BC gave them an ultimatum back in the late 80s to form a football league (I *think* that came after PSU announced they were joining the B10, but could be wrong). There was a moment when it was possible (not sure how probable, but possible) for the Big East to have created a football league that would have included some of the usual suspects (SU, BC, Pitt, Miami, Rutgers, Temple, WVU, VaTech) along with major indies of the time (Florida State, Louisville). Basically, the BE football league just didn't quite go far enough, and then the haphazard way the BE added "full" members didn't help (Miami at first, then RU/VT/WVU later with a long probationary period, and the naive ND deal).

Most importantly, the league needed a strong leader who would have told the hoops schools to shut the hell up, and be lucky you're along for this ride. Instead we kow-towed to them constantly by offering half-measures to the football schools, and the rest is history.