BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

Can't blame Creighton, but good lord are they going to get walloped in that conference. Especially if Doug McDermott declares for the draft.

 

I'd be very surprised if McDermott leaves early -- why rush into a league where he's going to be a tweener? As for the conference, $3 million a year in TV money will help cushion those hard falls (how quickly they get a full share is another issue).

Haven't found anything to back this up, but I heard on local radio that Creighton won't even have to pay a buyout to the Valley. Wonder if Denver will get the same courtesy if/when it enters the league.

 

Don't think they can consistently rack up wins against at least Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and DePaul?

 

There may be a few years of lag time while the Jays field MVC talent against until-recently-Big East competition, but with their facilities and the new league they should be competitive before too long.

 

Nope. They are far less athletic than any of those teams and I don't trust Greg McDermott to make up for it. Creighton was going to be trending downward next year even if it stayed in the MVC. In the new Big East? They're bottom-half material.

Creighton's buyout isn't zero, but it might as well be. That's on MVC commissioner Doug Elgin for not playing defense within his league.

Their facilities? They built an on-campus gym/practice facility (their women play there) two years ago, but it's not a game-changing, blow-your-mind/get recruits to Omaha kind of thing.

As for Doug McDermott, he'll be a tweener this year or next. All he can do if he returns is fuck up the modest draft status he has. Or get hurt. He won't have Gregory Echenique to take defenders away from him next year either. Maybe he stays to give his dad a push in the new league, but I'm not sure that's in his best interest.

Creighton has a long ways to go. It lags significantly behind the rest of the Catholic 7 in terms of athletic budget, etc. The TV deal will soothe that, but it also has far-and-away the biggest travel burden of any of those schools, something Creighton's never had to worry much about in the MVC.

Creighton also essentially just gave its baseball program a death sentence. Doesn't sound like a big deal, and realignment isn't based on baseball, but they occasionally play in front of big crowds in Omaha and it's been one of their signature sports for years.

Don't get me wrong. It's a no-brainer move. I just hope Creighton fans -- who come out in droves now, but who as recently as the early 2000s struggled to fill Omaha's old Memorial Auditorium -- are ready for the shock when they're no longer alpha dog in their conference.

 

Creighton would have been on my list of top 10 options, but it would have been down the list. I get the new conference wants to get to 10, but there were better options.

Now if you need to get to 12 in a year or two, I could see needing Creighton to get there. But right off the bat I would have taken St. Louis or Dayton or VCU or St. Joe's before them.

 

Maryland is getting a ton of money to cover its travel costs in the Big Whatever.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/terps/bs-sp-terps-big-ten-travel-0315-20130314,0,1297978.story

 

The Atlantic 10 isn't wasting much time replacing Xavier and Butler, scheduling an announcent on Monday that George Mason is joining: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21940151/george-mason-heading-to-the-a-10

Presumably they'd add at least one more school to bring them to 14 for next season, with Dayton and St. Louis presumably headed to the Big East in 2014-15. Whether the A-10 intends to expand to 14 or 16, or just stay at 12, is anyone's guess. That's not counting what they'll do if/when UMass gets an all-sports invite to the whatever they're planning to call the other part of what we're calling the Big East today.

 

I wish all of the conference expansion/switching would slow down for just a few minutes. My head is spinning and I still haven't caught up with everything from the past few weeks.

 

The SEC will announce on Wednesday it is annexing Florida Gulf Coast for basketball only. hehe.

Hell with the shape of the Big 12 (Wasn't W.Va. supposed to be an upgrade and of course, wasn't this a decent basketball conference in the first place?) they may annex FGC and bring in LaSalle for the Philly market.

 

The Atlantic Sun would make Florida Gulf Coast pay an exorbitant exit fee and replace them with Columbus State or some other member of the Peach Belt Conference moving up from Division II.

 

That also assumes in a year or two the new-look Big East doesn't come trolling the A-10 to get to 12.