Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

I didn't want to limit this to only one reason for future success, but I am focused on what I believe is the most important one: we are basketball only.

The knock on us presently coming from mostly BCS schools is that we are comprised of smaller, private universities. With them, as you would expect, it is always about strength in numbers. Fans of State U are always going to perceive themselves as being the biggest show in town. Frankly, they should feel that way, because that is an advantage.

But this is where I think we got it right (it's already been mentioned, but I really believe this deserves some focus): our 10 programs combined with our emphasis on basketball will prove to be a successful combination when it comes to recruiting. We are already seeing that come to fruition now. The traditional programs like Kentucky, Kansas and Duke will continue to succeed at their high-level even as part of BCS programs, and other BCS programs will continue to be successful as well, but there will be a solid chunk of highly regarded recruits who are going to like the notion of playing for schools that focus on basketball as the primary sport.

Our programs, combined with an increasingly successful Fox platform and this strong recruiting dynamic is going to spin this thing up very successfully.

So, that's the way I see it. I think being basketball only is going to prove to be a major strategic advantage for the conference. Perhaps that means that we should never consider adding schools that have football. Perhaps it means that we shouldn't be thinking about adding any schools for a few years anyway.

Absent the need to add schools for content purposes for Fox, I do feel strongly that we should wait. At any rate, being basketball only is going to prove to be a material strength. There are many solid recruits out there that like that dynamic coupled with the ability to receive a very good education, and at universities which emphasize that.

Basketball being the only show on campus has turned out to be a huge factor that I never really considered before. Its already shown dividends with the recent recruiting tear some of the schools have been on.

FS1 exposure in combination with the resurgence of SHU & SJU in largest market in the country (sans cuse!).

TheHall wrote:FS1 exposure in combination with the resurgence of SHU & SJU in largest market in the country (sans cuse!).

Add into that the recruiting successes of Providence and the continued strength of Nova & G'Town. If these 5 teams can continue to succeed on the recruiting trail and on the court. It would make for a powerful Northeast footprint in the Washington/Baltimore/Philly/NYC/Boston Media markets. That in-and-of-itself is a great way to keep media attention on the NBE.

Yes the why be #2? message will ring a lot of bells in recruits heads when selling the Big East as an urban centric basketball first league. Also don't sleep on FS1, I think the wall to wall league coverage will pay off in spades, even though Fs1 is just getting rolling, this is a 12 tear deal and this level of coverage for a single league is as far as I know unprecedented.

Basketball First is the vision I hope, instead of Basketball Only.

We need to be the best basketball conference we can be, not a cute asterisk of schools that don't 1A.

Add UConn.

Being good is most important. I don't think Basketball Only is a great tool for DePaul recruiting.

shupat08 wrote:

TheHall wrote:FS1 exposure in combination with the resurgence of SHU & SJU in largest market in the country (sans cuse!).

Add into that the recruiting successes of Providence and the continued strength of Nova & G'Town. If these 5 teams can continue to succeed on the recruiting trail and on the court. It would make for a powerful Northeast footprint in the Washington/Baltimore/Philly/NYC/Boston Media markets. That in-and-of-itself is a great way to keep media attention on the NBE.

As glad as I am that the league is recruiting well your comment about a powerful Northeast footprint I find troubling. I hope the league sheds it's east centric mentality. We're all in this together.

muwarrior69 wrote:

shupat08 wrote:

TheHall wrote:FS1 exposure in combination with the resurgence of SHU & SJU in largest market in the country (sans cuse!).

Add into that the recruiting successes of Providence and the continued strength of Nova & G'Town. If these 5 teams can continue to succeed on the recruiting trail and on the court. It would make for a powerful Northeast footprint in the Washington/Baltimore/Philly/NYC/Boston Media markets. That in-and-of-itself is a great way to keep media attention on the NBE.

As glad as I am that the league is recruiting well your comment about a powerful Northeast footprint I find troubling. I hope the league sheds it's east centric mentality. We're all in this together.

I understand the point of wanting our teams on the eastern seaboard to do very well, given the media markets in which they reside. I trust the statement wasn't meant to be at the expense of the midwestern members.

Overall, I want us all to do well, because that obviously means that the hoops-centric model was the way to go, at least for our schools. Personally, as a Xavier fan, I don't see Marquette having one single thing that will keep them from their continuing success. Marquette has the tradition, track record, fan support, et al. I see it the same way for Xavier. Last year was an anomaly, especially with one of our key players playing for Maryland and another playing for Arizona. I fully expect Xavier to be competing for the Big East championship by next season.

I know we all can't do well every year; we'll have some combination of winners and losers in this deal. But I'm most interested in seeing if we can excel in our respective OOC schedules and otherwise produce a regular season collective result that puts at least 5 teams into the Dance. It would be very nice for the Big East to come out of the gate strongly.

Relax dudes we are all in this together already....The path to our greatest success as a conference is a different matter...For Example, the B1G leadership wants RU & Maryland to do well, probably better than most teams in the league save a few if they had their way. They know if the B1G plays well in the northeast, they all benefit. But the inverse is also possible- If those teams stink it will put an disproportional blight on the conference. No different than the BE.

Here's an example. This is a headline that will reach much of the NYC market via Zags & SNY TV:

"Metta World Peace Unsure What League St. John’s Is In"

http://zagsblog.com/articles/metta-world-peace-unsure-what-league-st-johns-is-in/

Would a similar story about Butler or Providence or Creighton get nearly as much pub? Pub which isn't flattering to the BE either. If SJU steps up on the court headlines like this will turn into BE praise instead that we all will benefit from.