Poll - If Gonzaga Should Join Us In Big East...?

[Bill Marsh]

exactly what wasn't responded to?

people mention charter flights - i've stated that only basketball takes charter flights - and that this is really screwing all other sports except basketball - also recognizing that these are some looooong ass trips for a chartered situation as well

someone mentioned that student athletes can "study on a plane" or "in an airport" - i stated that this isn't a substitute for being in class or even having a slight chance to function as a normal part of the student body and that experience. i care about CU's kids - and want them to have a positive collegiate experience. that others ignore or discount that is telling and frankly, disappointing for grads of institutions espousing judeo-Christian ethics. it's a mentality that i'd expect to exist in so called university "basketball factories".

someone doesn't like that i've focused on the outlier of providence or NYC to spokane - even though it seems foolish to work off an average when the worst case situation should be considered - which is exactly what i did.

others have mentioned split divisions - it still doesn't really solve the travel issue - it barely salves it. if X becomes the eastern most of a "western division" - that's still traveling across four time zones and 2000 miles one way

adding BYU or san diego or whoever - seems silly. while adding GU would be great if the fit could be there - doing it at the cost of some pretty mediocre programs (one that doesn't have institutional fit - and the other that has been playing fast and loose with NCAA rules doesn't seem terribly attractive). it's like dating kate upton's ugly cousin so you can hang out with kate once a year at thanksgiving...

why did i choose seatac vs spokane? i doubt there are direct flights from spokane to san diego - so i tried to be fair in that instance in choosing that particular airport for GU's farthest current WCC travel and frankly - it doesn't make much difference - excepting charter flights - all travel for GU in NBE would go through SEATAC - so it was an apples to apples comparison.

this stuff all seems pretty obvious to me.

does GU have a better basketball argument to join NBE over SLU, Richmond, Dayton, etc? Of course - but that doesn't really make it a situation worth considering after quickly looking at the overall picture.

edit - and as a final point - i'd be terribly disappointed in GU and their role of "in loco parentis" for the entire athletic dept - so that they could milk some more bucks from their basketball program

Just off the top of my head, what wasn't responded to includes:

1. There are alternatives to the long flight times you claimed.
2. Long travel times are nothing new. They go back to long bus trips and long train trips, which were much worse.
3. Long trips can be scheduled during intercession or Presidents' Weekend to reduce or eliminate missed class time.
4. Gonzaga would only be involved in one East Coast trip per year; East Coast schools would only make a trip to Gonzaga once every other year.
5. Gonzaga already makes long trips - 2-3 per year and as many as 4 in recent years to the Midwest and the East, exclusive of tournaments. Big East trips would simply replace these.
5. The entire athletic department will not necessarily follow the same travel schedule as the basketball program.

To respond to your last point, every big time schools could be accused of doing this - including the Big East schools. Conferences used to be local or regional. They've all grown way beyond their original scope. If we could end all of this, I'd be all for it.

[Bill Marsh]

Gonzaga requiring a cross country trip for every league game for every sport (or even just for basketball if you want to argue that route) to be in the Big East and enough of the Big East presidents deciding that its worth it over any of the other schools they could choose from (including not choosing any) is not as ridiculous as the meteors but both have the same 0% of happening.

There would not be a cross country trip for every league game for every sport. How do I know? Because other leagues are already doing this with a span of 2000 miles apart for the most extreme members (WAC Big West). Scheduling of minor sports is handled much differently and leagues have a great deal of flexibility with them.

With basketball divisional play would require teams from the opposite division to play one game per year, so that means one cross country road trip every other year, NOT every year. 3 East Coast teams can be handled in one road trip during January intercession, meaning no class time missed. Gonzaga is already making 2-3 road trips per year into the Midwest and the East. If they substitute 2 road trips into the Midwest, there's no difference from what they're already doing. A road trip to Creighton is no different than their current road trip to San Diego - especially if it's paired with BYU.

I don't get what's so hard to understand about this. It's nowhere near as much time away from school as everyone is claiming. Intelligent scheduling utilizing the Dec/Jan intercession and Presidents' Weekend solves almost all of the problems that have been presented.

[Burrito]

As long as they don't add Dayton or Richmond, I'm fine with staying at 10 or expanding to 12. We could even go to a 15 school conference consisting of 3 pods. Round robin with your pod and then play everyone else once.
The 3 pods below are pretty well balanced. Not even sure which is the best. And it would totally screw up the WCC, A-10 and MVC in one fell swoop. Don't invite Dayton or Richmond is all I really ask though.

Pod 1
Gonzaga
BYU
Creighton
St Louis
Wichita State

Pod 2
Marquette
Butler
Xavier
Depaul
VCU

Pod 3
Georgetown
Villanova
Providence
St Johns
Seton Hall

[marquette]

As long as they don't add Dayton or Richmond, I'm fine with staying at 10 or expanding to 12. We could even go to a 15 school conference consisting of 3 pods. Round robin with your pod and then play everyone else once.
The 3 pods below are pretty well balanced. Not even sure which is the best. And it would totally screw up the WCC, A-10 and MVC in one fell swoop. Don't invite Dayton or Richmond is all I really ask though.

Pod 1
Gonzaga
BYU
Creighton
St Louis
Wichita State

Pod 2
Marquette
Butler
Xavier
Depaul
VCU

Pod 3
Georgetown
Villanova
Providence
St Johns
Seton Hall

Oh boy, wait 'til the Creighton fellas hear about this.

[MUSeashells&Balloons]

As long as they don't add Dayton or Richmond, I'm fine with staying at 10 or expanding to 12. We could even go to a 15 school conference consisting of 3 pods. Round robin with your pod and then play everyone else once.
The 3 pods below are pretty well balanced. Not even sure which is the best. And it would totally screw up the WCC, A-10 and MVC in one fell swoop. Don't invite Dayton or Richmond is all I really ask though.

Pod 1
Gonzaga
BYU
Creighton
St Louis
Wichita State

Pod 2
Marquette
Butler
Xavier
Depaul
VCU

Pod 3
Georgetown
Villanova
Providence
St Johns
Seton Hall

I dont really like pod 2 I think it wakens Marquette's schedule Pod 3 definitely would be the heavyweight.

[Dave]

When you make comments claiming that it's a "pointless questions" or that logistics are "insane", you don't come across as being open minded enough to have give-and-take on the issue. If you simply want other posters to take your comments as the last word on the subject, fine. But forgive me if I don't accept the claim that I or anyone else hasn't read the entirety of your argument. It's a complex situation and the fact that others don't agree with you doesn't indicate that they haven't read or understood what you're proposing.

Do you feel as open minded on adding UConn?

[BillikensWin]

I honestly think football scares people off UConn. Damn good team.

[Friarfan2]

Bill Marsh is dominating this thread

[Friarfan2]

Uconn is out. They don't have a commitment to making the big east the best it can be. Their only commitment is to find what they hope is a temporary home for their sports while they look for a better spot. I don't think they find a better spot for at least a decade, if ever, but that's their priority.

They aren't welcome, even though they have been a great partner the past three decades.

[billyjack]

The votes for us here, and over at the Gonzaga site, were both 50-40-10 or similar. The "no" voters raised some great points. I expected both sites to vote 80% yes or higher. Anyway, the relative closeness of the votes, especially compared to the overwhelmingly positive feedback during the XU, Butler and Creighton invite discussion, tells me that we should hold off on Gonzaga... too many hurdles on the whole. I mean, small sample size of course, but we're all diehard fans and all.

For me, I'm ready to jump into other topics and get ready for the upcoming season...! But first let's land a few more top recruits...!