After further review...

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

So I decided to take a look at the “New Big East” and look at each team and see if a basketball only conference would be better or worse from a basketball perspective only.

New Teams:
UCF – Had UCF not gotten sanctions against them they would have had a really nice team this year, they had some returning talent that could have propelled them into some nice years. They have potential to be a good addition in a few years given their market and recruiting area.

Houston – I really think basketball wise they could be a sleeper here, they signed two top 75 players for this year and they have a GREAT area to recruit and have a good history to sell, I think they could end up being a surprise addition.

Memphis – Everyone knows the story here, Memphis recruits well and is a perennial top 25 team if not better, only question is if Pastner can do more than recruit.

SMU – While historically they are a bad basketball team they have clearly shown they have the money to throw around to change things. I think the coaches they have in place for both football and basketball will help, Larry Brown has one of the better recruiting staffs to get it done here, they could be scary in a few years, plus like Houston their local area is just full of recruits

Temple – A solid program, definitely will be better than say a Rutgers type, I think this is a real good basketball addition that can make the NCAA tournament at least 2 or 3 out of every four years

Tulane – Not much to say here, they are bad, they will likely be another DePaul… if not worse.

If you really look at the teams above and the potential that they have this may not be a bad basketball conference to be in, certainly better than the A10 or any other basketball conference we could patchwork together… Now is it as good as the Big East we all remember? No… Do these schools replace what we lost? No… but given time we could be formidable and better than what CUSA was especially when you consider that on top of these schools we have Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Cincinnati, UCONN, and Villanova. That means in any given year this league could have 7 or 8 NCAA tournament teams.

[MUMac]

Outside of Memphis and Temple, a lot of hope and conjecture to make them sound good. UCF = USF. Gorgeous area, nice recruiting base, not much history and not much of a university. I don't hold out much hope here. Houston - I would have been excited in the 1970's and early 80's. Today, not so much. Dead program and dead arena. SMU - Yuck. Tulane - YUCK.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

SMU and Houston already have some recruits coming in... I think SMU for sure will be a good program.

[MUMac]

I hope you are correct. I, personally, don't think so.

As for the incoming recruits, as has been said on this board about MU, what negative impact will they experience recruiting in the future with all the defections? I don't see them being much of a program in the future.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

Again I'm not saying they will go to final fours and replace what we lost, but I think they can be a top 50 to 25 team occasionally, at the very least they have potential which is pretty much all the Big East can hope for, all the established schools are gone. They reached for MU years ago and that worked out, hopefully one of these schools can step up again.

[Nukem2]

Outside of Memphis and Temple, a lot of hope and conjecture to make them sound good. UCF = USF. Gorgeous area, nice recruiting base, not much history and not much of a university. I don't hold out much hope here. Houston - I would have been excited in the 1970's and early 80's. Today, not so much. Dead program and dead arena. SMU - Yuck. Tulane - YUCK.I suspect UCF folks would disagree with you. It is a very large university with much research. Heavily involved with NASA

[MUMac]

Don't forget De Paul. That one did not work out.

MU was just removed from a Final 4. Not as great a reach. Houston is only 28 years removed from a Final 4. They have more experience in the CBI than NCAA over the last 20 years. Their only NCAA appearance was getting hot in the C-USA Tournament.

SMU's last Final 4 was 56 years ago. Last NCAA appearance was 29 years ago.

Comparing (and I know you were not litterally comparing) the chance taken on MU to either Houston or SMU is a non starter.

Maybe Larry Brown turns it around at SMU. Or maybe he get's them in NCAA trouble. I lean toward the latter being more likely than the former.

As I stated, I hope you are correct. I just do not see it.

[MUMac]

I suspect UCF folks would disagree with you. It is a very large university with much research. Heavily involved with NASA

USF is actually similar in size. Both are larger school. As for the engineering programs, I haven't seen many basketball players try that major. Maybe it will be more of an attraction to them, as you imply. As, afterall, that is the basis of this thread.

As for the campus - it is beautiful. Since I moved out of Florida 20 years ago, it has grown immensely. It was a dead school, outside of the space program (which, by the way, USF has that) for a long time. I see many similarities between UCF and USF. None that I find favorable for basketball.

[Nukem2]

USF is actually similar in size. Both are larger school. As for the engineering programs, I haven't seen many basketball players try that major. Maybe it will be more of an attraction to them, as you imply. As, afterall, that is the basis of this thread.

As for the campus - it is beautiful. Since I moved out of Florida 20 years ago, it has grown immensely. It was a dead school, outside of the space program (which, by the way, USF has that) for a long time. I see many similarities between UCF and USF. None that I find favorable for basketball.

Just referring to your "not much of a unversity" comment...I suspect those folks would take issue with that. Is MU any better overall, aside from BB....?

[Goose85]

Looking at the basketball side here.

Top level (NCAA bid) schools - UConn, Villanova, Georgetown, Memphis, Temple, St. John's, MU, Cincy.
Next level - Providence, Seton Hall, USF
Struggle - DePaul


That is not a bad conference. It's not the old Big East, but it is not a mid major hoop conference. The old Big East was an absolute beast top to bottom. This Big East still has numerous NCAA level teams and is a multiple bid conference. The change is the bottom teams or the weak RPI teams just increased. I think what some of the new schools do bring may be sports such as baseball to ensure the nornmal non revenue sports still have a conference.

The schools we are talking (Tulane, SMU - Houston - UCF) are currently looking to be at the bottom of the conference with hopes they can move up and become at least occasional NCAA type teams that don't kill RPI by being in the conference. I don't think it is too much to ask, and schools like Houston should have some potential and do have some history, although not recent.

It is the best we can do for now, but there are likely to be more changes and we just have to sit back and react.