Whoa... Could this be true?!?

[Mucrisco]

Gus Johnson is on Fox now, isn't he?

[Phantom Warrior]

I don't either; it wasn't my point. My point was related to that old saying, "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear," or in this case, read.

[TheSultan]

Gus Johnson is on Fox now, isn't he?

BTN primarily...

[Mucrisco]

This is still my ideal.

Go 16, Four divisions, home and home in your division, one vs rest of conference.

Butler
Marquette
DePaul
Dayton

St. Joe's
Georgetown
Nova
VCU

Providence
St John's
Seton Hall
Xavier

Zags
SLU
Creighton
St. Mary's

St Joe's is the only school that doesn't excite me. If we could somehow replace St Joe's with Temple or Memphis...

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

This is still my ideal.

Go 16, Four divisions, home and home in your division, one vs rest of conference.

Butler
Marquette
DePaul
Dayton

St. Joe's
Georgetown
Nova
VCU

Providence
St John's
Seton Hall
Xavier

Zags
SLU
Creighton
St. Mary's

St Joe's is the only school that doesn't excite me. If we could somehow replace St Joe's with Temple or Memphis...

I'd possibly be game for that. At the end of the day though that's a lot of accomodation to get the zags in the conference and not make them feel like an outlier. Branding woud be critical given the lack of geographical semblance.

[Mucrisco]

I think that's an 8-10 bid league. Call it the best basketball conference in the country again. Some programs would have to step it up though since we don't have the premier teams like a Cuse, Louisville, or UConn's that consistently make Final Fours or Championships. Maybe Gtown could claim that? Xavier, Butler, MU, Zags, Nova could fill that role.

[TedBaxter]

Keep it at either 10 or 12 teams and in 2 time zones.

[MUMac]

Keep it at either 10 or 12 teams and in 2 time zones.

+1 This is my position completely. Looking at basketball and the non-revenue sports together.

[TedBaxter]

You probably won't read this on the Badger boards. When the Big Ten went to 12 teams by adding Nebraska, there was probably some angst since it wasn't the norm for that conference to add newcomers. Can you imagine what they were thinking when Maryland and Rutgers were tabbed to join the conference, especially from the basketball side? Tough to compete for conference championships when there are 10 of 11 teams and when you go to 14 it's real hard on a yearly basis.

12 teams is the tipping point for me. If you go more than 12 you have to start trying to think who's actually in the conference and while I liked the Big East for Marquette, there was always the thought that there were too many teams and too many who didn't fit with each other. That's why I like the 10 team conference first and will accept 12 teams only if Creighton is one of those teams and they keep it geographically within two time zones.

[Markedman]

The reason I like 10-12 is more practical. Once you add teams you really can't get rid of them. If you go to 14-16 now and football keeps doing it's thing there may be a time when Lousiville/Uconn/Syracuse/ND want back in assuming the AC implodes.


It may not happen but I'd want to keep my options open at least for a few years.