2019 Big East: First 10+ Team Conf Ever w All 500 Or Better

[cu blujs]

Agree. The narrative of ESPN and some Husker fans trying to make themselves feel better after their greatest season of all time went up in flames might be that BE is a step below. But, I really don't think the P5 football conferences nor their athletic administrations do. Otherwise, they wouldn't be scheduling us home and homes or the challenges, as mentioned before. Also, 7-8 out of 14 to 16 teams is 50%. Even in a down year we are probably going to be 40%, and if we sneak in a 5th (I know not likely), then we are right at the same percentage. 4 of 12 from AAAAAAAC is just 33%, so even in a "down year", if we get 4 in we are above them. Plus Pac XII ain't getting 7-8 in.

[Redmen23]

It's obviously a down year for the league and like I said it's evident by how many teams will get an invite to the dance. That said, I think it's more cyclical than anything. The conference should be stronger again next year and the AAC can never match us to this point because we have the reigning national champs who have won 2 of the last 3 as well. No AAC team can ever say that. For this year only though, Houston and Cincy are the real deal and I think one of them can make a deep run.

[MullinMayhem]

Going to be hard to ever view AAC as a power conference with the likes of East Carolina and Tulane. Same with Tulsa even though they're pretty good, they don't do anything nationally. As I expected, SMU is back to being irrelevant without Brown. Houston, UCF, Memphis, and Cincy will likely be poached in the near future too. Both can compete at a high level in both basketball and football...keyword AND. UConn only offers a good hoops program in the past. There has never been a bigger dropoff from a NC year in 2014 to being completely irrelevant within 5 years later. I'm sure Hurley is too good enough for them to suck for much longer, but god I hope they do.

[stever20]

Going to be hard to ever view AAC as a power conference with the likes of East Carolina and Tulane. Same with Tulsa even though they're pretty good, they don't do anything nationally. As I expected, SMU is back to being irrelevant without Brown. Houston, UCF, Memphis, and Cincy will likely be poached in the near future too. Both can compete at a high level in both basketball and football...keyword AND. UConn only offers a good hoops program in the past. There has never been a bigger dropoff from a NC year in 2014 to being completely irrelevant within 5 years later. I'm sure Hurley is too good enough for them to suck for much longer, but god I hope they do.

Funny you mention the AAC coaches getting poached when a- their good coaches never have been poached while Big East has, and b- UConn got Hurley over Pitt who was trying to get them.... To blindly say that AAC coaches will get poached is rather ignorant and hopeful at best.

Also, conferences and I'll always say this are viewed as how good you are at the top of the confernce, not at your depth. The General public thinks the ACC is better than the Big Ten.... People view depth here way too importantly. The reason the conference is down this year is because the top teams are way down.

[MUBoxer]

Going to be hard to ever view AAC as a power conference with the likes of East Carolina and Tulane. Same with Tulsa even though they're pretty good, they don't do anything nationally. As I expected, SMU is back to being irrelevant without Brown. Houston, UCF, Memphis, and Cincy will likely be poached in the near future too. Both can compete at a high level in both basketball and football...keyword AND. UConn only offers a good hoops program in the past. There has never been a bigger dropoff from a NC year in 2014 to being completely irrelevant within 5 years later. I'm sure Hurley is too good enough for them to suck for much longer, but god I hope they do.

Tulsa has a surprising amount of basketball history though you're right despite that they've never built a national rep

[Hall2012]

The AAC doesn't matter to us. Our primary goal after realignment was to be viewed as an equal to the P5 in basketball. We've done that. There's always going to be haters that try to downplay us but the simple fact remains that we've been treated as their equal by: P5 teams, P5 Conferences, exempt-tournaments, most media outlets, and the NCAA Tournament selection committee. I wouldn't say that the AAC is there yet, but it's clearly a goal of theirs (though secondary to being considered a P5 equal in football) and if they get there - good for them. It isn't a zero-sum game between these two leagues. The animosity between the two leagues is just a stupid little "rooting for your ex to fail" complex that somehow still exists 6 years later.

[stever20]

The AAC doesn't matter to us. Our primary goal after realignment was to be viewed as an equal to the P5 in basketball. We've done that. There's always going to be haters that try to downplay us but the simple fact remains that we've been treated as their equal by: P5 teams, P5 Conferences, exempt-tournaments, most media outlets, and the NCAA Tournament selection committee. I wouldn't say that the AAC is there yet, but it's clearly a goal of theirs (though secondary to being considered a P5 equal in football) and if they get there - good for them. It isn't a zero-sum game between these two leagues. The animosity between the two leagues is just a stupid little "rooting for your ex to fail" complex that somehow still exists 6 years later.

I wish more people would say what you said that this isn't a zero-sum game between the AAC and Big East. If the AAC does well, it's not going to be at the expense of the Big East. Or vice versa. Now maybe there's an individual team with Creighton/Temple this year- but that's going to happen almost no matter what.

I think both the AAC and Big East get treated pretty well by the P5. You look at the schedules the AAC teams are putting together now and it's really good. Lots of good home and homes(or at least ones that look good on paper, see Cincy, UCLA- that's going to happen no matter what). They're getting into the best exempt tournaments. Really since the first 2 years, the selection committee has been very fair to the AAC- last year they got 2,4,6 seeds. It'll be interesting to see this season with them.

[sju88grad]

The AAC doesn't matter to us. Our primary goal after realignment was to be viewed as an equal to the P5 in basketball. We've done that. There's always going to be haters that try to downplay us but the simple fact remains that we've been treated as their equal by: P5 teams, P5 Conferences, exempt-tournaments, most media outlets, and the NCAA Tournament selection committee. I wouldn't say that the AAC is there yet, but it's clearly a goal of theirs (though secondary to being considered a P5 equal in football) and if they get there - good for them. It isn't a zero-sum game between these two leagues. The animosity between the two leagues is just a stupid little "rooting for your ex to fail" complex that somehow still exists 6 years later.

My animosity towards the AAC is only driven by one person - Stever. Otherwise, they are completely irrelevant to me.

[billyjack]

Stever replied a couple of times this afternoon. I'm on my droid it takes too long to approve them. My comment on them is Mullinmayhem was talking about poaching AAC teams, not coaches.

[billyjack]

The AAC doesn't matter to us. Our primary goal after realignment was to be viewed as an equal to the P5 in basketball. We've done that. There's always going to be haters that try to downplay us but the simple fact remains that we've been treated as their equal by: P5 teams, P5 Conferences, exempt-tournaments, most media outlets, and the NCAA Tournament selection committee. I wouldn't say that the AAC is there yet, but it's clearly a goal of theirs (though secondary to being considered a P5 equal in football) and if they get there - good for them. It isn't a zero-sum game between these two leagues. The animosity between the two leagues is just a stupid little "rooting for your ex to fail" complex that somehow still exists 6 years later.

My animosity towards the AAC is only driven by one person - Stever. Otherwise, they are completely irrelevant to me.

I agree. I really don't focus on the AAC any more than the MAC or the Big West. It's not like northeastern sports pages are casually dropping stories about the AAC. I'm positive that SMU and Tulsa fans rarely if ever think about Providence. I actually like the teams in the AAC*. I totally root for them** vs the B1G, ACC, etc. And what's there not to like about Taco Fall or Fran Dunphy? I like Houston's history. I'm just freakin sick of Stever constantly talking about them. Some obsessive compulsive stuff going on with him.

* Wichita and UConn fans are kinda douchey.
**UConn for obvious historic reasons i don't always root for.