Xavier AD says expanding to 12 schools within 5 years

[ElDonBDon]

As I see it, the only truly household name in our conference is Georgetown. Very casual fans know Marquette, Nova, and now Butler, but people who only watch in March (if at all) probably have never heard of any the programs in our conference except for Georgetown. Maybe some of that comes from their academic prestige, but nonetheless, they are the clear headliner of the BE and the closest thing we have to a blueblood.

[Dave]

As I see it, the only truly household name in our conference is Georgetown. Very casual fans know Marquette, Nova, and now Butler, but people who only watch in March (if at all) probably have never heard of any the programs in our conference except for Georgetown. Maybe some of that comes from their academic prestige, but nonetheless, they are the clear headliner of the BE and the closest thing we have to a blueblood.

Only because we don't have UConn.

Add UConn.

[TheHall]

As I see it, the only truly household name in our conference is Georgetown. Very casual fans know Marquette, Nova, and now Butler, but people who only watch in March (if at all) probably have never heard of any the programs in our conference except for Georgetown. Maybe some of that comes from their academic prestige, but nonetheless, they are the clear headliner of the BE and the closest thing we have to a blueblood.

Only because we don't have UConn.

Add UConn.

What he said...

[BillEsq]

As I see it, the only truly household name in our conference is Georgetown. Very casual fans know Marquette, Nova, and now Butler, but people who only watch in March (if at all) probably have never heard of any the programs in our conference except for Georgetown. Maybe some of that comes from their academic prestige, but nonetheless, they are the clear headliner of the BE and the closest thing we have to a blueblood.

Only because we don't have UConn.

Add UConn.

I doubt most people in the US even know where Georgetown is. Most would unfortunately say it was the capital of Georgia. While at least people have a better chance of knowing where Connecticut is UConn is now known as the team no real conference wants. Odds are Cincy will be picked before UConn and thats with UConn's close proximity to NYC. A lot of this deals with location. west of the Appalachians most people don't think much of GTown or UConn. If i walked out on the streets of Louisville today I'm certain the team picked as the closest to a blueblood would be Marquette. A lot of this is relative to location. Its not shocking and in fact its common for people to be more aware of regional teams. Is this correct most likely not, is Gtown better than Marquette who knows. Is Uconn better than the damaged goods its perceived to be nationally probably. I just don't think name recognition is a very good factor especially when the only school that has true name brand to the casual sports fan outside their region in basketball is probably Duke.

I refuse to weigh in on who the BE should include or who they shouldn't or if they should include anyone at all. However if the reason you add a team, don't add a team, or don't add any team is due to perception I argue that its a waste of time. When the tournament comes around people will flock to pundits to figure out how to fill out their brackets, all sorts of various methods will be used to determine their winners from flipping coins to wasting hours on studying useless statistical bracketology programs. Almost all will have no clue what they are doing. Practically all will have a great time doing it. Some will be pissed when GTown tanks their bracket. Others will be shocked when their 2 year old nephew talks the lead with his random pick of LaSalle. Its peat and repeat every year just change out the names of the schools. If you want to try to pick who is popular and known across the country call Ryan Seacrest. If your goal is to put together a league that maximizes the amounts of teams in the tourney, I suggest taking a tack different than who's getting the most likes on facebook.

[BillEsq]

As I see it, the only truly household name in our conference is Georgetown. Very casual fans know Marquette, Nova, and now Butler, but people who only watch in March (if at all) probably have never heard of any the programs in our conference except for Georgetown. Maybe some of that comes from their academic prestige, but nonetheless, they are the clear headliner of the BE and the closest thing we have to a blueblood.

Only because we don't have UConn.

Add UConn.

What he said...

your wife was leaving you. she was chasing after men with a lot more money than you have to offer. any interest in you is only to use you for money until she leaves you for the next suitor. the sad thing is you are begging her to use you again and she has made no attempt to come back, its pathetic, sorry and sad. just let her go... she is never coming back and you will be better off for it. The faster you realize this the better off you are. It does not matter where you go from here just that you can't go back to the past. you cannot simply remarry and return to the better days of yesteryear. your bride is gone. You can sit here and mope or move on either alone or with someone else. the choice is yours.

[aughnanure]

My point is just that the list of successful brands does not end with the premium brands.

This are degrees of "brands." It's not just you are one or you aren't.

[marquette]

I doubt most people in the US even know where Georgetown is. Most would unfortunately say it was the capital of Georgia. While at least people have a better chance of knowing where Connecticut is UConn is now known as the team no real conference wants. Odds are Cincy will be picked before UConn and thats with UConn's close proximity to NYC. A lot of this deals with location. west of the Appalachians most people don't think much of GTown or UConn. If i walked out on the streets of Louisville today I'm certain the team picked as the closest to a blueblood would be Marquette. A lot of this is relative to location. Its not shocking and in fact its common for people to be more aware of regional teams. Is this correct most likely not, is Gtown better than Marquette who knows. Is Uconn better than the damaged goods its perceived to be nationally probably. I just don't think name recognition is a very good factor especially when the only school that has true name brand to the casual sports fan outside their region in basketball is probably Duke.

I refuse to weigh in on who the BE should include or who they shouldn't or if they should include anyone at all. However if the reason you add a team, don't add a team, or don't add any team is due to perception I argue that its a waste of time. When the tournament comes around people will flock to pundits to figure out how to fill out their brackets, all sorts of various methods will be used to determine their winners from flipping coins to wasting hours on studying useless statistical bracketology programs. Almost all will have no clue what they are doing. Practically all will have a great time doing it. Some will be pissed when GTown tanks their bracket. Others will be shocked when their 2 year old nephew talks the lead with his random pick of LaSalle. Its peat and repeat every year just change out the names of the schools. If you want to try to pick who is popular and known across the country call Ryan Seacrest. If your goal is to put together a league that maximizes the amounts of teams in the tourney, I suggest taking a tack different than who's getting the most likes on facebook.

Funny story, I was talking to this guy about how my parents met and I mentioned she went to UConn. Guy looks at me and says, "I thought she was from Connecticut, why'd she go to school in Canada?" He's not a college basketball fan, but still kind of illustrates the point.

[TheHall]

your wife was leaving you. she was chasing after men with a lot more money than you have to offer. any interest in you is only to use you for money until she leaves you for the next suitor. the sad thing is you are begging her to use you again and she has made no attempt to come back, its pathetic, sorry and sad. just let her go... she is never coming back and you will be better off for it. The faster you realize this the better off you are. It does not matter where you go from here just that you can't go back to the past. you cannot simply remarry and return to the better days of yesteryear. your bride is gone. You can sit here and mope or move on either alone or with someone else. the choice is yours.

Saying it would be smart to try adding a potential free agent blueblood program to avoid mid-major status is your idea of begging. Funny how no one uses that word when saying Uconn & Cincy are simply "waiting" for an inevitable P5 call-up. We'll be better off not trying to get better...really. Ackerman wasn't brought in to not try for big things...

Based on what you've been saying I can't see how you're not really just a Big East hater...or an AAC fan or maybe ACC, whatever.

[Dave]

your wife was leaving you. she was chasing after men with a lot more money than you have to offer. any interest in you is only to use you for money until she leaves you for the next suitor. the sad thing is you are begging her to use you again and she has made no attempt to come back, its pathetic, sorry and sad. just let her go... she is never coming back and you will be better off for it. The faster you realize this the better off you are. It does not matter where you go from here just that you can't go back to the past. you cannot simply remarry and return to the better days of yesteryear. your bride is gone. You can sit here and mope or move on either alone or with someone else. the choice is yours.

er, ok. nice analogy. i think maybe the prodigal son would be a more appropriate parable for a Catholic based league.

Add UConn.

[Dave]

Add UConn

2011 National Champs
2009 Final Four
2004 National Champs
1999 National Champs

All this talk of brands and blue bloods. Here it is, and it is the one we have a chance of landing. We shouldn't be waiting, we should be courting.

Marquette, a high profile brand? No Hardware.
Georgetown still has some polish, but their last championship was 1984. 1984!
Villanova, 1985.

This is a small sample size here on the holy land, but it seems that the new programs are more content with a mid-major, lower level league. Maybe it is all they have ever known. Maybe an A10+ is all they aspire too.

The C7 knows what it is like to be in the best conference in America. I think we strive for something higher.

The argument to add this school or add that school because they have the POTENTIAL to compete is BS. It is not good enough now that we have our base 10 programs. We need to average up the conference, not dilute it with more mid-majors.

Gonzaga? BYU? Ok stronger than some of the other programs mentioned. But still not good enough for the Big East.

Add UConn. Our prodigal son. Bring in the fatted calf.