Super-Conferences?!

[YardBirds13]

Cuse, Uconn, Pitt, the rest is WVU, Rutgers, and South Florida. West Virginia's academics are absolutely terrible but bring in a good football team and an okay basketball program.

OK program?

WVU instantly becomes one of the top programs in the ACC if they come in here.

[mweb]

Cuse, Uconn, Pitt, the rest is WVU, Rutgers, and South Florida. West Virginia's academics are absolutely terrible but bring in a good football team and an okay basketball program.

So we agree other than I guess you would take Rutgers over South Florida. That would be fine with me as well, either way.

[PaulBako]

OK program?

WVU instantly becomes one of the top programs in the ACC if they come in here.

Which sport? Football is their main sport in Morgantown.

I said good in football, they are mostly solid in basketball as long as they don't have mr. cheater Bob Huggins.

If the ACC had expansion the top basketball programs would me:

UNC

Dook

MD/Cuse (toss up)

Pitt

Uconn (I think they will fall off a cliff once Calhoun leaves)

Gtech

WVU/WFU

Football:

Fla. State

WVU/Clem

VT

GT

Miami

[PrivateO]

So the 4 superconferences would be: ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10...

According to the article, conferences like the Mountain West and Big East would just be absorbed.

But what I don't get (and what someone earlier mentioned) is what to do with basketball-only programs (i.e. Georgetown).

And how would other mid-major conferences be affected (i.e. A-10)?

[BaltimoreTerp]

So the 4 superconferences would be: ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10...

According to the article, conferences like the Mountain West and Big East would just be absorbed.

But what I don't get (and what someone earlier mentioned) is what to do with basketball-only programs (i.e. Georgetown).

And how would other mid-major conferences be affected (i.e. A-10)?

Well, I don't think too much else would change on the basketball side. This is in the basketball forum but really it's all based on football. Anything that doesn't have to do with football (or schools moving basketball programs due to football) wouldn't change.

[Pedro Cerrano]

If the ACC expands they absolutely need to try to get a slice of the NYC market. So Rutgers would make the most sense seeing as how they have basketball and football whereas Seton Hall and St. Johnnies do not have both.

[paulcoates]

Look, I went to WVU, and I realize that the minimum academic requirements are not what they are at other programs, like say, Duke. But, by and large, you are absolutely kidding yourself if the majority of these programs don't look the other way when it comes to letting athletes in the door.

Secondly, minimum requirements are minimum. Not everyone who goes to school there has a 2.5 high school GPA. My cousin had over a 4.0 in high school and is now a double engineering major there, and currentlly holding down a 3.5 GPA while also involved with Air Force ROTC.

Also, WVU ranks 8th in the country in Rhodes Scholars. I certainly wasn't even remotely close to one of them, but educations are what you make of it.

I couldn't find one for 2009, but here is a list of graduation rates as far as football in 2008. WVU is at 63%, and UVA is at 66%. Not a big difference.

http://www.fanblogs.com/ncaa/007839.php

[paulcoates]

Which sport? Football is their main sport in Morgantown.

I said good in football, they are mostly solid in basketball as long as they don't have mr. cheater Bob Huggins.

If the ACC had expansion the top basketball programs would me:

UNC

Dook

MD/Cuse (toss up)

Pitt

Uconn (I think they will fall off a cliff once Calhoun leaves)

Gtech

WVU/WFU

Football:

Fla. State

WVU/Clem

VT

GT

Miami

Are you really putting Wake on the same level as WVU as far as basketball? Disagree there. WVU is on a major upswing

I will admit that I don't know much about Huggins past other than a DUI and a fight with the incoming Cincy president, but I am not familiar with any "cheating".

And as far as WVU being primarily a football school, I won't argue with that, but given their football downfall under Stewart (at least on field play - their record has maintained around 9 wins per year, down from the Pat White - Steve Slaton era of 11 wins per year), I wouldn't think it will be too long before football is overtaken in popularity by basketball. Huggins wins (Final 4), has a track record of putting guys in the NBA, and Stewart doesn't have much of a track record. This tide could be changing in Morgantown as to which sport garners the most interest and popularity.

[Birds of B'more]

I've been posting about this in the college football forum, since ultimately this is really about football. Anyway, the more I think about it the more I think we aren't going to see the Super 4...at least not in the foreseeable future. I think the Pac-10 will actually be the first to expand, before the Big 10. They will add 2 teams, probably Colorado and Utah. The Big 10 will probably add 3 teams to go to 14....I'm guessing Rutgers, Syracuse and Missouri. They will ask Notre Dame, and ND will stubbornly hold on to its independence for football. Both the Big East and Big 12 will recuperate from the losses and will keep their automatic entry into the Big East.

Of course, that didn't stop me from coming up with my own Superconference expansion scenario. So here's how I see it. I don't think the Pac-10 goes all the way to 16 teams...the geography and population of the western states just doesn't make it feasible. That allows the Big 12 to survive, barely. Whether or not they could hang onto an automatic BCS bid with what they have left remains to be seen. They do the best they can by absorbing the upper echelon of the Mountain West, Boise St, and some Texas schools just to keep a presence in one of the top football recruiting areas...along with big TV markets. The Big East ceases to exist as a football conference and goes back to its roots as a basketball-only conference, led by Georgetown, Villanova, St Johns, etc. South Florida, Louisville and Cincinnati will get left out in the cold and will probably have to beg their way back into Conference USA. Like I said, even though this is the basketball forum, football is the sport that will drive the bus here.

Big Ten

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Northwestern

Ohio State

Penn State

Purdue

Wisconsin

Notre Dame

Missouri

Nebraska

Rutgers

Syracuse

ACC

Boston College

Clemson

Duke

Florida State

Georgia Tech

Maryland

Miami

North Carolina

North Carolina State

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Wake Forest

Connecticut

West Virginia

Pittsburgh

Navy

SEC

Alabama

Arkansas

Auburn

Georgia

Florida

LSU

Kentucky

Mississippi

Mississippi State

South Carolina

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Texas

Texas A&M

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Pac-10

Arizona

Arizona State

California

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

UCLA

USC

Washington

Washington State

Colorado

Utah

Big 12

Kansas

Kansas State

Iowa State

Texas Tech

Baylor

TCU

BYU

Air Force

Boise State

Fresno State

Houston

SMU

[mweb]

I don't see why the ACC would take Navy.

[paulcoates]

The Big 10 is basically choosing their teams based on potential market share. Here is an article as to why WVU is being underrated as far as market share goes....

http://westvirginia.scout.com/2/964349.html

[Birds of B'more]

I don't see why the ACC would take Navy.

To me it was a tossup between them and South Florida. I went with Navy because they have better academics and a larger national following (TV viewers). Also, Navy helps to create natural pairings within the northern part of the expanded conference (UConn/BC, Pitt/WV, UVA/VTech, Maryland/Navy). But like I said, I could see them taking South Florida too, just to further expand the conference's presence in Florida.

[Birds of B'more]

The Big 10 is basically choosing their teams based on potential market share. Here is an article as to why WVU is being underrated as far as market share goes....

http://westvirginia.scout.com/2/964349.html

The guy is mostly comparing WVU to Pitt. And while I agree with what he says, it isn't about Pitt for the Big 10. In fact, while Pitt was one of the first schools that came to mind when the Big 10 announced expansion, I now think that they aren't even on the list. It's all about getting new markets for the Big 10 Network and getting local cable systems to carry it on their basic tier package. The Big 10 pretty much has PA covered with Penn St. They might add fans and extra viewers in western PA w/Pitt, but it doesn't expand the broadcast footprint they already have. The Big 10 wants to get into NYC. And while NYC isn't a big college sports market, if they could add Rutgers, Syracuse, and maybe even UConn, that might be enough to get the Big 10 Network on most of the cable carriers in the New York TV market. And while the entire state of West Virginia compares to the Pittsburgh market, it comes nowhere close to NYC.

[paulcoates]

Tagliabue rips the Big 10.

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/tagliabue-has-stern-words-for-big-ten/?pagemode=print&scp=3&sq=Tagliabue&st=cse

[mweb]

To me it was a tossup between them and South Florida. I went with Navy because they have better academics and a larger national following (TV viewers). Also' date=' Navy helps to create natural pairings within the northern part of the expanded conference (UConn/BC, Pitt/WV, UVA/VTech, Maryland/Navy). But like I said, I could see them taking South Florida too, just to further expand the conference's presence in Florida.[/quote']

Ok, but they are a poor program with little potential. I don't see it. They'd also try to get Syracuse who SG mentioned may have an ACC preference.