Catholic 7, Creighton, Butler, Xavier, Dayton, St. Louis ...

[Mark Miller]

Catholic-7, Butler, Creighton, Xavier, Dayton, St Louis = 5 NCAA Final Fours in the last decade.

Catholic-7, Butler, Creighton, Xavier, Dayton, St Louis = 50 NCAA Tournament berths in the last decade.

Catholic-7, Butler, Creighton, Xavier, Dayton, St Louis = All in top 80 of NCAA attendance last season.

[TheSultan]

I could definite buy this.

[Markedman]

Do teams split road attendance money in any way? I always see attendance being brought up in these kind of discussions but I thought teams basically kept all home attendance money in conference games.

Obviously much better to have bigger crowds regardless but as we know some of the best venues don't have huge crowds.....

If attendance revenue is a big factor then Creighton should defintely be strongly considered.

[MU/Panther]

I love it!!! Let's make this league happen. Get the TV deal with ESPN & NBC Sports Network. Play the league tourney at MSG.

On a side note, if St. Louis was to join this just makes their attendance goes up. They have a new on-campus building. There was reports about 2 years ago they want to leave the A-10 because of travel cost.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

I love it!!! Let's make this league happen. Get the TV deal with ESPN & NBC Sports Network. Play the league tourney at MSG.

On a side note, if St. Louis was to join this just makes their attendance goes up. They have a new on-campus building. There was reports about 2 years ago they want to leave the A-10 because of travel cost.

Well, this league won't help with their travel costs much. Providence, Seton Hall, and Georgetown are lengthy trips for them, and if we go with Gonzaga and St. Mary's, that's no puddle jump. Though I suppose television revenues and NCAA shares would significantly offset those costs...

[MU/Panther]

St. Louis only has Xavier & Dayton who was close to them in the A-10. Though in Butler, MU, Creighton & DePaul that helps that cause.

I see no way St. Mary's is in a league with MU.

[TAS35]

No interest in bringing along Memphis and Temple? i can understand not taking UCONN and Cincy, as they are destined for the ACC at some point. But Temple and Memphis are never getting big conference invites. Plus, Temple already had their football parked elsewhere while playing in the A-10, they can do it again. Does Memphis value their football? They can't be a big revenue generator. If they parked football in the Sun Belt or something similar why wouldn't we want them, too?

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

I'm on board with Temple and Memphis, but I'm warming to the idea of no football schools simply to prevent them from having the desire to leave at some point. I could see a scenario where the ACC eventually decides their football will never be at SEC, Big 12, or Pac-12 level, and won't even rise to B1G standards, and after a couple more raids decide they're just going to take any high-level basketball schools that have football programs. That could eventually put Temple and Memphis in the crosshairs.

[IrwinFletcher]

I'm on board with Temple and Memphis, but I'm warming to the idea of no football schools simply to prevent them from having the desire to leave at some point. I could see a scenario where the ACC eventually decides their football will never be at SEC, Big 12, or Pac-12 level, and won't even rise to B1G standards, and after a couple more raids decide they're just going to take any high-level basketball schools that have football programs. That could eventually put Temple and Memphis in the crosshairs.

Which is fine. as long as it is because they have exhausted their search for a football conference and understand that BBall rules in this conference, that is OK.

[MU/Panther]

Why do you guys want to bring in schools that have football? That is how this whole mess started!

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Because like it or not, the best non-affiliated basketball schools in the country will also have football programs. As good as Gonzaga, Xavier, and Butler may be, they are still smaller names than UConn, Cincy, and Memphis, and at best on par with Temple.

It all comes down to how much quality you want the league to have. And do you want the opportunity to ultimately avoid lawsuits by keeping them around, to collect their tournament shares when they inevitably leave, as well as collecting their league exit fees?

[JohnnyRev]

It seems pretty clear to me that the reason the 7 bball presidents and ADs met is that they are sick of getting screwed by football jumping and instability. No way do they want any football schools, for football jumping conferences seems endemic and unavoidable. I have now heard that we have a decent TV money possibility and that ESPN seems interested in such a conference. We have enough good bball only schools for a very strong conference, and hopefully we can schedule some former opponents like ND and Louisville. Our presidents LEFT the big east in a bloc, will still be NCAA invitees. Forget the football schools, no matter how attractive they may now be. Football is what killed the Big East and was threatening to kill MU and the other 6 schools. Also, DePaul has been killing teams like UWM - maybe won't remain a weak sister. And DePaul is excellent in some other sports like women's basketball.