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Post by dariantownesvanzandt on Aug 26, 2024 8:08:03 GMT -5
The main thing it hurts is the BET attendance. UConn fans always packed that. If Gtown gets its act together, we can pull our weight and help with BET attendance again. I can't wait to be relevant and in the draw for a weekend game. Yeah - you can't replace that. 50% of the conference is invisible at the Garden. Regular Xavier, Marquette, Creighton, and Butler semifinal participants are killers. Need the five from the old guard to be good again to keep the tourney exciting. The basketball will survive but the BET will definitely suffer w/o the Huskies.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Aug 26, 2024 8:14:47 GMT -5
While UConn clearly helps MSG attendance, the attendance was very good even before Connecticut rejoined the conference. It's easy to forget Connecticut has only played 4 seasons in the Big East since returning. Obviously, I would prefer that UConn stay but if they leave we will survive nonetheless. And as I said above, I think there could be some very high quality basketball programs with no home in the next 5-10 years. The conference should wait for those dominoes to fall before adding anybody else. Adding Connecticut made a ton of sense given the history and geography. Not so much with the other schools mentioned.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 26, 2024 8:28:50 GMT -5
Yeah - you can't replace that. 50% of the conference is invisible at the Garden. Regular Xavier, Marquette, Creighton, and Butler semifinal participants are killers. Need the five from the old guard to be good again to keep the tourney exciting. This past year, St. John's made the Friday semifinals for the first time since 2000. The last Friday night appearance for the others (2021/COVID excepted): Connecticut: 2024 Marquette: 2024 Providence: 2024 Creighton: 2023 Villanova: 2022 (but consecutive from 2015-2022) Seton Hall: 2019 Xavier: 2019 Butler: 2018 Georgetown: 2015 DePaul: Never
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Post by dariantownesvanzandt on Aug 26, 2024 8:53:17 GMT -5
Yeah - you can't replace that. 50% of the conference is invisible at the Garden. Regular Xavier, Marquette, Creighton, and Butler semifinal participants are killers. Need the five from the old guard to be good again to keep the tourney exciting. This past year, St. John's made the Friday semifinals for the first time since 2000. The last Friday night appearance for the others (2021/COVID excepted): Connecticut: 2024 Marquette: 2024 Providence: 2024 Creighton: 2023 Villanova: 2022 (but consecutive from 2015-2022) Seton Hall: 2019 Xavier: 2019 Butler: 2018 Georgetown: 2015 DePaul: Never and...?
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 26, 2024 11:02:36 GMT -5
As fan bases go, making it to Friday at the Big East is a big deal and in almost all cases (2024 excepted), that's four teams that are essentially locked in for the NCAA tournament. It's not the end of the season for the two teams that fall short on Friday. Yes, I understand that I'm one of a dwindling number of people who buy tickets for the entire tournament and stay right through Saturday. Playing (and losing) on Wednesday has brought fewer and fewer Georgetown fans to the Garden every year, and it continues on to the next season. There's nothing like Friday at the Big East and an entire generation of Hoyas fans have no experience with it.
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Post by Lethal_Interjection on Aug 26, 2024 11:24:53 GMT -5
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guru
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Post by guru on Aug 26, 2024 13:32:54 GMT -5
Gonzaga will most certainly end up in the B12 If Gonzaga could be an attractive addition for the B12, why wouldn't we be as well?
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guru
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Post by guru on Aug 26, 2024 13:34:15 GMT -5
As fan bases go, making it to Friday at the Big East is a big deal and in almost all cases (2024 excepted), that's four teams that are essentially locked in for the NCAA tournament. It's not the end of the season for the two teams that fall short on Friday. Yes, I understand that I'm one of a dwindling number of people who buy tickets for the entire tournament and stay right through Saturday. Playing (and losing) on Wednesday has brought fewer and fewer Georgetown fans to the Garden every year, and it continues on to the next season. There's nothing like Friday at the Big East and an entire generation of Hoyas fans have no experience with it. This is true
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tgo
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Post by tgo on Aug 26, 2024 15:00:23 GMT -5
The main thing it hurts is the BET attendance. UConn fans always packed that. If Gtown gets its act together, we can pull our weight and help with BET attendance again. I can't wait to be relevant and in the draw for a weekend game. Yeah - you can't replace that. 50% of the conference is invisible at the Garden. Regular Xavier, Marquette, Creighton, and Butler semifinal participants are killers. Need the five from the old guard to be good again to keep the tourney exciting. The basketball will survive but the BET will definitely suffer w/o the Huskies. The BET sold out every year when UCONN was gone and it will continue to do so if they leave.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Aug 26, 2024 16:30:16 GMT -5
As fan bases go, making it to Friday at the Big East is a big deal and in almost all cases (2024 excepted), that's four teams that are essentially locked in for the NCAA tournament. It's not the end of the season for the two teams that fall short on Friday. Yes, I understand that I'm one of a dwindling number of people who buy tickets for the entire tournament and stay right through Saturday. Playing (and losing) on Wednesday has brought fewer and fewer Georgetown fans to the Garden every year, and it continues on to the next season. There's nothing like Friday at the Big East and an entire generation of Hoyas fans have no experience with it. As long as Rick Pitino is of sound body and mind, the odds of St. John's continuing to play on Friday or Saturday night of the tournament will be very high, and so I think that alone will bring in bigger crowds that otherwise would not have come. Connecticut is great for MSG attendance, no doubt, but they aren't necessary, either. And let's not kid ourselves. While Georgetown has a lot of New York area alumni (like me) and a good Georgetown program would help attendance for sure, it's not like Georgetown being good is going to bring 5,000 fans who otherwise would be there. Okay, MAYBE if we had a long string of success. But that seems so out of reach at th moment, it is hard to even fathom. Bottom line. We will be fine, just as we were before UConn came back.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Aug 26, 2024 16:33:48 GMT -5
Gonzaga will most certainly end up in the B12 If Gonzaga could be an attractive addition for the B12, why wouldn't we be as well? Better geography, plus more importantly, Gonzaga has made the tournament 25 consecutive years (excluding 2020 when they would have likely been a 1 seed if not for COVID). In that period, if my counting is right, Gonzaga has made it past the first weekend 14 times, including 2 runner up finishes. Of course, no need to compare that record to Georgetown's, but that is a major reason we are not as attractive an addition. Had John Thompson and his successors kept up the success of the 1980s and early 1990s, then we might be in a a similar or better position than Gonzaga. But we aren't.
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nbhoya
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Post by nbhoya on Aug 26, 2024 17:02:19 GMT -5
I do think we need to keep in mind it’s not all about recent athletic success. We have a lot going for us: location, academic prestige, basketball facilities, etc.
And these decisions are made by university presidents — who care about their association. That gives us some mystique among large public administrators.
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astrohoya
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Post by astrohoya on Aug 26, 2024 18:35:50 GMT -5
Quite frankly we don’t have a lot going for us in these discussions, and the Big 12 or anybody else is not going to be interested. No football, Small school with a weak alumni base, one of the worst arenas in D1, and a program that has not been relevant in over a decade. Beyond that, we have been comically bad for several years. Had this discussion happened in the 1980’s, we’d be in it. But while we can and should be better than the last three years, those days are not coming back.
Luckily, the Big East should be relevant, with our without UConn, until the power two conferences leave the NCAA.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Aug 26, 2024 22:25:35 GMT -5
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Post by ColumbiaHeightsHoya on Aug 27, 2024 7:10:00 GMT -5
If Fox is against it, it won't happen.
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guru
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Post by guru on Aug 27, 2024 22:36:51 GMT -5
If Gonzaga could be an attractive addition for the B12, why wouldn't we be as well? Better geography, plus more importantly, Gonzaga has made the tournament 25 consecutive years (excluding 2020 when they would have likely been a 1 seed if not for COVID). In that period, if my counting is right, Gonzaga has made it past the first weekend 14 times, including 2 runner up finishes. Of course, no need to compare that record to Georgetown's, but that is a major reason we are not as attractive an addition. Had John Thompson and his successors kept up the success of the 1980s and early 1990s, then we might be in a a similar or better position than Gonzaga. But we aren't. Very true on basketball, but Georgetown is a better all-around athletic program and more prestigious school. Geography does not seem to be a determining factor for conference membership anymore.
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coach98
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Post by coach98 on Aug 30, 2024 20:40:45 GMT -5
Why isn't the Big East talking about expansion? Add one or three teams. I would love to see the conference continue to go against the grain. Go back to a more geographically coherent league. In fact, try to recreate the old Big East, but with a tweak. Add St. Bonaventure, Richmond, and BU.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Sept 1, 2024 22:46:21 GMT -5
Why isn't the Big East talking about expansion? Add one or three teams. I would love to see the conference continue to go against the grain. Go back to a more geographically coherent league. In fact, try to recreate the old Big East, but with a tweak. Add St. Bonaventure, Richmond, and BU. Going against the grain is NOT expanding. Why would we add programs like the ones you’ve posted above with no recent success in basketball and programs that do not compete on the same level or have similar budgets? The ACC will fall apart eventually. We need to be patient and scoop up the remains which ironically could include Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
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Post by 104pleasant on Sept 2, 2024 7:48:20 GMT -5
Why isn't the Big East talking about expansion? Add one or three teams. I would love to see the conference continue to go against the grain. Go back to a more geographically coherent league. In fact, try to recreate the old Big East, but with a tweak. Add St. Bonaventure, Richmond, and BU. i would have a hard time of picking 3 worse teams to add to the Big East. Not only is Boanventure is a mediocre academic school that it a difficult place for a visiting team to bus into from Buffalo, the school has relatively small endowment, little national following, and zilch N$L. Richmond is a very good academic school with strong endowment but no national following and poor student support. Boston University made a conscious decision to de-emphasize its athletics in 2013 when it joined the Patriot League. I agree with the above post that the Big East should not expand until it sees how the ACC shakes out, unless something can be worked out with geographically difficult Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. Stronger national brands for Georgetown and StJohn’s with return of Villanova will be best prescription for success for the Big East when UConn eventually moves on.
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bigskyhoya
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Post by bigskyhoya on Sept 2, 2024 14:16:02 GMT -5
Why isn't the Big East talking about expansion? Add one or three teams. I would love to see the conference continue to go against the grain. Go back to a more geographically coherent league. In fact, try to recreate the old Big East, but with a tweak. Add St. Bonaventure, Richmond, and BU. i would have a hard time of picking 3 worse teams to add to the Big East. Not only is Boanventure is a mediocre academic school that it a difficult place for a visiting team to bus into from Buffalo, the school has relatively small endowment, little national following, and zilch N$L. Richmond is a very good academic school with strong endowment but no national following and poor student support. Boston University made a conscious decision to de-emphasize its athletics in 2013 when it joined the Patriot League. I agree with the above post that the Big East should not expand until it sees how the ACC shakes out, unless something can be worked out with geographically difficult Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. Stronger national brands for Georgetown and StJohn’s with return of Villanova will be best prescription for success for the Big East when UConn eventually moves on. Maybe this weekend’s football smackdown by the Twerps will convince UConn that they should continue to lead with basketball.
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