New Big East and Atlantic 10

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The Big East, in its first official year of existence, had a disastrous showing in the NCAA Tournament, getting 0 teams to the Sweet 16. They went 2-4 which (I believe) results in six shares for the conference.

If my computations are also correct, the A-10 gets one more share than the Big East, thanks to Dayton's run.

Does this have any effect on the schools that play FCS football that compete in the Big East and A-10? For Richmond, Duquesne and Dayton, that could mean they are less likely to move to the New Big East. For Georgetown and Villanova, they have to be concerned about the long-term prospects for the New Big East if their teams are no longer capable of making big tournament runs.

[DFW HOYA]

"Does this have any effect on the schools that play FCS football that compete in the Big East and A-10?" No.

"For Georgetown and Villanova, they have to be concerned about the long-term prospects for the New Big East if their teams are no longer capable of making big tournament runs." No.

[Nova09]

The Big East, in its first official year of existence, had a disastrous showing in the NCAA Tournament, getting 0 teams to the Sweet 16. They went 2-4 which (I believe) results in six shares for the conference.

If my computations are also correct, the A-10 gets one more share than the Big East, thanks to Dayton's run.

Does this have any effect on the schools that play FCS football that compete in the Big East and A-10? For Richmond, Duquesne and Dayton, that could mean they are less likely to move to the New Big East. For Georgetown and Villanova, they have to be concerned about the long-term prospects for the New Big East if their teams are no longer capable of making big tournament runs.

The (New) Big East has no concerns about the viability of its basketball. The conference will have at least one team capable of a final four run every year. I would venture to say the biggest problem the A10 caused us was that dip**** Martelli.

Now, if you want to talk concerns for the (New) Big East, it would be the fact that the now most likely new governance structure would have the (New) Big East on the bottom rung with only one vote while the AAC got to the middle rung with 2 votes.

[GannonFan]

The (New) Big East has no concerns about the viability of its basketball. The conference will have at least one team capable of a final four run every year. I would venture to say the biggest problem the A10 caused us was that dip**** Martelli.

Now, if you want to talk concerns for the (New) Big East, it would be the fact that the now most likely new governance structure would have the (New) Big East on the bottom rung with only one vote while the AAC got to the middle rung with 2 votes.

The bigger issues for the Big East, other than poor performance on the floor, include the fact that TV ratings this year on FS1 were terrible, and that the ACC is going to have their tournament in NYC in 2017.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

The bigger issues for the Big East, other than poor performance on the floor, include the fact that TV ratings this year on FS1 were terrible, and that the ACC is going to have their tournament in NYC in 2017.

The Big East will be fine imo. It's a group of like minded institutions who take basketball very seriously. The key will be getting a few games on regular Fox to help keep the league on the national radar on the weekends. FS1 would be perfectly fine for weeknight games imo.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The (New) Big East has no concerns about the viability of its basketball. The conference will have at least one team capable of a final four run every year.

You could say the exact same thing of the Atlantic 10, with the difference being that Dayton made it to the Elite 8 this season.


The Big East will be fine imo. It's a group of like minded institutions who take basketball very seriously. The key will be getting a few games on regular Fox to help keep the league on the national radar on the weekends. FS1 would be perfectly fine for weeknight games imo.

But this is a circular argument. Getting a few games on regular FOX requires teams with national cachet that are doing well. To get national cachet and to do well, you need solid NCAA tournament runs, which they didn't have this year.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

But this is a circular argument. Getting a few games on regular FOX requires teams with national cachet that are doing well. To get national cachet and to do well, you need solid NCAA tournament runs, which they didn't have this year.

It's still pretty relative. Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Xavier and Villanova are capable of going on a deep run imo. The Big 12 was considered to be the best conference all year yet they didn't have a team reach the Elite 8.

[Nova09]

You could say the exact same thing of the Atlantic 10, with the difference being that Dayton made it to the Elite 8 this season.




Ehh, I've been a big proponent of A10 basketball over the years and I fully expect them to continue to have a final four contender more years than not, but I'm not sure I would say they'll have one year in and year out...I don't know the answer, but how many FFs have current A10 teams had over the last 10 years? I know current BE have a few.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Ehh, I've been a big proponent of A10 basketball over the years and I fully expect them to continue to have a final four contender more years than not, but I'm not sure I would say they'll have one year in and year out...I don't know the answer, but how many FFs have current A10 teams had over the last 10 years? I know current BE have a few.

The A10 usually has really good depth 1-8. However, their top teams are usually a half-step behind the nations elite and the bottom, Fordham and Duquesne are usually terrible. I'm still a fan of the league. In fact, had Temple remained, I would be content.

[Nova09]

Going back to the 04-05 season, the current BE membership has had a top 10 team in the final regular season ranking almost every year, and at least 2 top 20 every year except 04-05. 7 different teams (of 10) make that list. The A10 is hit or miss in that time period even having a ranked team (of current membership). The key FF that comes to mind (there may be others) didn't even deserve to make the field that year.

(again, I have long been a proponent of A10 bball, but they are no threat to the Big East)

[clenz]

Oh....I like this game.


Any of you read cs.com?


Let me get and numbers together

Sent from my S4 using Tapatalk

[Fordham]

It's still pretty relative. Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Xavier and Villanova are capable of going on a deep run imo. The Big 12 was considered to be the best conference all year yet they didn't have a team reach the Elite 8.
St Johns?

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

St Johns?

Well, perhaps when Lavin is fired and their players decide to stay in Jamaica, Queens. If nothing else, they were s tourney regular under "shady" Mike Jarvis. Plus, MSG is a tremendous resource imo....

[Libertine]

...they have to be concerned about ...

Nobody gets more mileage out of those six words than LFN. What's today's crisis? The AD at Villanova enjoys ham and peanut butter sandwiches? Well then, they -- meaning someone but not necessarily anyone specific -- must be concerned about that. How will the world go on?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

By a real measure the A-10 gets more NCAA shares than the New Big East from this years men's tournament. But this, apparently, means nothing, despite the fact that the near-entirety of the New Big East's value is its men's basketball.

So L, nothing to see or comment on here?

[heath]

By a real measure the A-10 gets more NCAA shares than the New Big East from this years men's tournament. But this, apparently, means nothing, despite the fact that the near-entirety of the New Big East's value is its men's basketball.

So L, nothing to see or comment on here?
Chuck.your credibility keeps tanking when you post crap like this........approach your wife with these mind trips and see how she responds first. OR.......change your name to Sports Rubbish Nation. At least then you do not tarnish THE institution.xnodx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Chuck.your credibility keeps tanking when you post crap like this........approach your wife with these mind trips and see how she responds first. OR.......change your name to Sports Rubbish Nation. At least then you do not tarnish THE institution.xnodx

Ohio State?

[ccd494]

By a real measure the A-10 gets more NCAA shares than the New Big East from this years men's tournament. But this, apparently, means nothing, despite the fact that the near-entirety of the New Big East's value is its men's basketball.

So L, nothing to see or comment on here?

It's one effing year! Calm down.

[centraljerseycat]

Exactly it's one year. The New Big East will be fine in the long run and a lot better than the A-10. Plus the new TV contract with Fox Sports 1 pays each Big East team $4.5M/year while the A-10's crappy deal pays each team less than a $1M.

[citdog]

Chuck.your credibility keeps tanking when you post crap like this........approach your wife with these mind trips and see how she responds first. OR.......change your name to Sports Rubbish Nation. At least then you do not tarnish THE institution.xnodx


only one THE around here boy.

- - - Updated - - -


Nobody gets more mileage out of those six words than LFN. What's today's crisis? The AD at Villanova enjoys ham and peanut butter sandwiches? Well then, they -- meaning someone but not necessarily anyone specific -- must be concerned about that. How will the world go on?


it amazes me that chuckie can get his articles in on time.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Exactly it's one year. The New Big East will be fine in the long run and a lot better than the A-10. Plus the new TV contract with Fox Sports 1 pays each Big East team $4.5M/year while the A-10's crappy deal pays each team less than a $1M.

Perhaps. We'll see.

$4.5 million/year certainly is a nice chunk of change, but it doesn't exactly balance all the books of the athletic department, either. For all the basketball-only or basketball-first schools (and conferences), NCAA shares mean an enormous amount. It's not like the "Big 5" who don't really care all that much about the revenue (right now) from the NCAA Tournament because of their insane TV money (right now).

[Lehigh Football Nation]

it amazes me that chuckie can get his articles in on time.

I'd get more articles in on time if you motivated me the same way you motivated dback

[citdog]

I'd get more articles in on time if you motivated me the same way you motivated dback

Dback is WAY more of a man than you will EVER be.

[Libertine]

By a real measure the A-10 gets more NCAA shares than the New Big East from this years men's tournament. But this, apparently, means nothing, despite the fact that the near-entirety of the New Big East's value is its men's basketball.

So L, nothing to see or comment on here?

Uh, nope. In other news, it's raining.

[clenz]

Perhaps. We'll see.

$4.5 million/year certainly is a nice chunk of change, but it doesn't exactly balance all the books of the athletic department, either. For all the basketball-only or basketball-first schools (and conferences), NCAA shares mean an enormous amount. It's not like the "Big 5" who don't really care all that much about the revenue (right now) from the NCAA Tournament because of their insane TV money (right now).
We'll see what happens with that contract after it's first run with how ****ty the ratings were.

I've got some numbers I'll post that are quite interesting. Give me some time to dig them up.

[clenz]

By conference title/FF breakdown. Old conference alignment comes first...next year after the /

ACC: 5/6 titles, 6/7 title game appearances, 9/11 Final Fours, 4/5 different schools in F4
B1G: 0/0 titles, 5/5 title game appearances, 10/10 Final Fours, 5/5 different schools in F4
Big 12: 1/1 title, 3/3 title game appearances, 8/9 Final Fours, 4/5 different schools in F4
Pac 12: 0/0 titles, 1/1 title game appearance, 3/3 Final Fours, 1/1 school in F4
SEC: 3/3 titles, 4/4 title game appearances, 7/7 Final Fours, 3/3 schools in F4
Big East: 4/0 titles, 4/2 title games, 10/5 Final Fours, 5/4 schools in F4
AAC: (obviously 0 in contemp.) 4 titles, 5 title games, 8 Final Fours, 3 schools in F4

I took that from another site...don't know the time frame on it

[clenz]

Going forward what gives you a lot of hope about the Big East?

Nova will continue to be a top 15 ranked program. However, since their title they have made the second weekend in the NCAA tournament just 5 times. They do have a FF and EE in the last decade, however, they've shown a history to put up great record in the season but find a way to flame out in the NCAAs

Creighton is about to slide pretty bid. They lost about 65% of all of their stats (offense and defense) after this season. They have just 3 players who saw "good" minutes last season...and almost none the year before that. I'm extremely familiar with Creighton and predicted everything that happened with them this season here: http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=26174 I was told I was wrong on everything I said in that thread (it's a long thread but WELL worth the read when it comes to the BE/A10 right now). They are going to have to count on guys who haven't played more than a handful of minutes to carry them...especially after this season. Maybe those guys are good enough to carry them at the top of the conference...but I doubt it.

Georgetown is a wildcard. They seem to get a lot of hype and never really live up to it. They could return to being really good...but will they?

St. Johns has a lot of hype about their recruiting class...but when was the last time they were actually relevant? They had a good season a couple years ago but what did that get them? I'll believe them being nationally relevant/contender when I see it.


Those are the four names that could carry the Big East...and right now...only 1 has a *bright future* as we sit right now.

After that you get

DePaul....no explanation needed.
Marquette - their coach just left them for a dead end ACC job. Either something is about to happen there...or...well...yeah. They still may be a top 50 program though.
Butler - they pulled off the biggest coup yet of all of the realignment stuff (sans maybe Rutgers). They will NEVER be what they were again...ever. They will be what they were this year. Beat up on a poor OOC and then be an average - at best - conference team.
Seton Hall - see DePual but with less history from 3 decades ago

Xavier and Providence are wildcards. Xavier has shown the last decade plus that they can be a top 25 program. Providence had a good run at the end of the season this year. They are .500 (give or take a game) over the last decade with 2 20 win seasons (03/04 and this year). It's pretty ironic that their best season in over a decade comes after Cuse, Louisville, UCONN, Cinci, and Notre Dame leave the conference.

Teams that were bad in the old Big East will look better now because they don't have those teams beating them up, but does that make the conference better?

There's this from a Winners/Losers article on....gasp...Bleacher Report
How the mighty have fallen.
Over the previous 10 NCAA tournaments, the Big East had produced four national champions and 10 Final Four teams. In both cases, that was more than any other conference had during that stretch.
Along with great regular-season basketball and the best conference tournament, the Big East was on top of the college hoops world.
But then conference realignment happened.
All of those championship banners now hang in gyms that no longer belong to the Big East.
Not only did the Big East have to watch as a former conference member made a run to the national championship, but there wasn't a single Big East team in the Final Four.
Or the Elite Eight.
Or the Sweet 16.
The Big East went 2-4 in this year's tournament without playing against a single team seeded No. 5 or better.
Worse yet, Buzz Williams left Marquette to take an unheralded position at Virginia Tech. Meanwhile, St. John's is losing sophomore Jakarr Sampson to the NBA draft and sophomore Chris Obekpa has elected to transfer.
With Doug McDermott, Bryce Cotton and Semaj Christon all moving on to bigger and better things, the Big East could be rapidly deteriorating into a wasteland.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2020099-biggest-winners-and-losers-of-the-2014-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament/page/3

The reason the old Big East was so great are teams that aren't in it anymore. They had the best conference tournament. Now those teams are gone and the A10 and ACC are taking over NYC for conference tournaments. They had strength in numbers. The conference was huge so they had a great separation between top and bottom with a good middle to fill the gap. Now they have the bottom and the middle... Their best bet is to completely raid the A10 to get back to 16-18 members and hope that Dayton or St. Louis becomes Syracuse and UCONN. Even with raiding the A10 (who by far had a better season) you are raiding a bunch of mid-majors (even though they don't like that title)....VCU, Dayton, SLU, GWU, Richmond, St Joes...Out east you may think they are huge nationally (I've already seen that with GTown people on another thread and on CS with nova fans) but the reality is I'm a huge CBB fan right in the middle of the NCAA demographic and while they exist as teams we saw the names of this March (or one previously) they don't have the national pull you think/want them too....don't get me wrong I'm praying that the MVC finds a way to pull either/both SLU/Dayton. The chances are about .00001 but I can hope....then again I'm a fan of a MM conference that admits it's a MM conference.


I'm not predicting death, by any means, for the BE but they needing some serious help the next couple seasons to retain the BE "Brand". Another year or two like this one and...well...you're the old CUSA with one team (Memphis) dominating and the rest putting together a run every now and then

[bostonspider]

I think the new Big East is more of a tweener conference like the A10 than they would like to admit. Better than the mid majors, but not at the level of the Power 5. Even though UConn won the tournament, I think the AAC in general will be at that level as well, especially with the additions and subtraction coming this off season. I do think they FS deal, while giving the Big East a ton of money is hurting their visibility in the short run, as no one watches that channel, and if you are not on ESPN at all, sometimes you don't get on Sportscenter either. ESPN protects their own, and they seem to have daggers out for the new Big East. I would think the Big East would want to steal a few A10 teams, to allow for more separation and NCAA bids for the conference. SLU and Dayton seem the obvious adds, though Xavier supposedly has no desire to see UD in their conference again. Maybe the Big East looks back to the East and selects Richmond as a regional rival for Georgetown. VCU seems a no brainer, except that they are a public university with 32,000 students, not exactly a like minded institution. No real clue what the conference will do, or if they will just sit pat and collect the money..

[GannonFan]

I agree with clenz entirely - the new Big East isn't so big anymore. They're like the A10 but with better history, even if it's history of teams that are no longer in the conference.

[superman7515]

Looks like Temple could be in trouble from a football standpoint...

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20140411_Temple_says_Eagles_seek_big_rent_hike_for _Linc.html


An unwillingness to pay a higher rent, coupled with a $12 million cash payment up front for the use of Lincoln Financial Field for home football games, has once again sparked conversations about a possible new stadium for Temple University.

"That would certainly be one of the alternatives we'd look at," Temple president Neil Theobald said Thursday.

Signed before the start of the 2003 season, Temple's lease with the Eagles (http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/?lc=int_mb_1001) does not expire until after the 2017 season.

Theobald said that he has been negotiating with the Eagles for more than a year and that they have not given a reason for the increase, which he said would more than double what Temple is paying.

In a statement released Thursday, Eagles president Don Smolenski said that they "have not had any negotiations or discussions with Temple about continuing their license for the use of Lincoln Financial Field in over a year," and that "the statements made by President Theobald do not accurately reflect our conversations with Temple representatives, which began in 2010," Smolenski said. "In our last meeting, Dr. Theobald asked us to give them time. We have not heard from them since. We do not consider statements in the press to be negotiations with us and we are mystified as to why Temple hasn’t communicated with us on this subject in over a year.”...

[Yotes]

The Big East is good, but they aren't a power conference anymore. They'll perennially be one of the top 3 mid-major conferences, and occasionally give the weakest power conference a run for their money, but is that really any different than the Atlantic 10?

[Nova09]

The Big East is good, but they aren't a power conference anymore. They'll perennially be one of the top 3 mid-major conferences, and occasionally give the weakest power conference a run for their money, but is that really any different than the Atlantic 10?

Ummm, only if your definition of "power conference" is "whoever happens to be the top 2 or 3 conferences this year." At the end of the regular season the Big East was pretty much the consensus number 3 conference in the nation by any metric. Yes, it was a disappointing showing in the postseason this year, but my god some bad luck in a tournament known for "madness" in a year particularly expected to be wide open, and some people act like they just forget how to play basketball out here and will never have strong recruiting classes again.

[clenz]

You're tomcat...aren't you

Sent from my S4 using Tapatalk

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Looks like Temple could be in trouble from a football standpoint...

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20140411_Temple_says_Eagles_seek_big_rent_hike_for _Linc.html

[/LEFT]

This is no surprise. I've even mentioned the lease situation on this board a few times. There's good reason to believe that Temple will build an on-campus stadium within the next 5 years. The Linc is not the best option for Temple football. I'd prefer a renovated Franklin Field over the Linc personally.....

[Yotes]

Ummm, only if your definition of "power conference" is "whoever happens to be the top 2 or 3 conferences this year." At the end of the regular season the Big East was pretty much the consensus number 3 conference in the nation by any metric. Yes, it was a disappointing showing in the postseason this year, but my god some bad luck in a tournament known for "madness" in a year particularly expected to be wide open, and some people act like they just forget how to play basketball out here and will never have strong recruiting classes again.
They were stronger than maybe one of the five power conferences, and even that's debatable. The Big East is likely just the premier mid-major conference now. The last national championship from any of the teams in the Big East was in 1985, and the members have combined for 7 Final Four appearances since.

Power conferences send more than 7 teams to the Final Four in a 30 year span, and also win National Championships. The Big East isn't a power conference.

[DFW HOYA]

Power conferences send more than 7 teams to the Final Four in a 30 year span, and also win National Championships.

Tell that to the Pac-12.

[clenz]

Tell that to the Pac-12.
The P12 has lived off of Arizona and UCLA's success and is barely considered a "power" conference most years...and they did get 6 in this year.

However, they've had deep runs to the S16EE/FF from UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, multiple S16s and an EE from Oregon the last decade..ish... 2 S16s from Washington the last decade,

The bottom of the league is bad but the top of that league is usually pretty damn good.

What's the Big East have currently sitting in their arsenal?

Comparing the conferences over the last 20 years or so

Pac 12: 0 titles, 1 title game, 3 Final Fours
Big East: 0 titles, 2 title games, 5 Final Fours

Seems pretty even over the last 20 years when the teams currently in it aren't boosted by the numbers from Louisville, UCONN, Syracuse, Pitt, and Cinci...


And since BE fans LOVE RPI...the P12 finished a head of the BE in RPI this year at realtimerpi (http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_conf_Men.html), cbssports (http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/conference), rpiratings (http://rpiratings.com/mensrpi.php), and I can't find conference rankings for Sagarin or KenPom...so those MIGHT have the BE ahead of the P12...

[DFW HOYA]

In the last seven years, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, Xavier, and Butler have all advanced to at least the the round of eight so that's a group to build upon. A couple others can be in that conversation (cough...St. John's, Seton Hall..) if they step it up.

DePaul is so deep in the ditch it's hard to see a path for them. But it's not like they're making furtive plans to join the A-10, either.

[clenz]

St Johns and Seton hall are just as far in the ditch as DePaul...

Butler...you really want to hang your hat on Butler right now? Do you really trust them going forward?

Xavier did it from another conference but seems like they'll handle the new BE...which isn't any better...maybe not the same level..as their old conference

Marquette is a huge question mark going forward. Their coach bolted for about as dead end job as you can get in anything other than a low major conference and they were turned by by 2 or 3 coaches. Maybe the get back a top 20 program...maybe they don't. But without the big boys in the conference anymore.

Nova I don't have a ton of questions on. I think they are overhyped but a very solid program going forward.

Georgetown I don't get. Much like Villanova they have a ton of history from the 70s and 80s but they are just 1-4 in their tournament appearances..just 5 S16 (or deeper) since 1990. They have all of the potential, and yearly hype, yet just aren't what they are made to sound like.

[Nova09]

They were stronger than maybe one of the five power conferences, and even that's debatable. The Big East is likely just the premier mid-major conference now. The last national championship from any of the teams in the Big East was in 1985, and the members have combined for 7 Final Four appearances since.

Power conferences send more than 7 teams to the Final Four in a 30 year span, and also win National Championships. The Big East isn't a power conference.

Ok now I'm even more confused about how you use the term "power conference." I was assuming you meant the standard 5, but again, the BE was clearly a better conference than the Pac-12 and SEC, so I don't know what you mean by "maybe one." What's actually debatable is the BE, ACC, B1G order.

[clenz]

Ok now I'm even more confused about how you use the term "power conference." I was assuming you meant the standard 5, but again, the BE was clearly a better conference than the Pac-12 and SEC, so I don't know what you mean by "maybe one." What's actually debatable is the BE, ACC, B1G order.
The SEC was clearly better....2 final four teams kind of solidifies that.

The PAC12 had twice as many NCAA teams and actually had teams clear the first weekend...

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The SEC was clearly better....2 final four teams kind of solidifies that.

The PAC12 had twice as many NCAA teams and actually had teams clear the first weekend...

How do you judge "better", number of national championships or number of teams that almost made it?

NDSU has been dominant recently in the FCS playoffs, but the CAA, Southland and Big Sky had more teams make the Final Four. Does that make those conferences better than the MVFC?

[clenz]

How do you judge "better", number of national championships or number of teams that almost made it?

NDSU has been dominant recently in the FCS playoffs, but the CAA, Southland and Big Sky had more teams make the Final Four. Does that make those conferences better than the MVFC?
The MVFC is very weak...just look at the number of bids the conference gets. 2...maybe 3 in an exceptional year.....

[DFW HOYA]

Georgetown I don't get. Much like Villanova they have a ton of history from the 70s and 80s but they are just 1-4 in their tournament appearances..just 5 S16 (or deeper) since 1990. They have all of the potential, and yearly hype, yet just aren't what they are made to sound like.

The last few years have been a down period for many Georgetown teams. Lacrosse used to be a Top 10 national power and hasn't made the NCAA's in seven years. The Hoyas got thumped by Lehigh over the weekend and is now ranked 57th of 71 teams that play D-I lacrosse. Women's basketball is bringing on its third coach in two years, and baseball continues to struggle. Football has some good things going on right now, but the W-L loss record may decline even further over the next 2-3 years (which at 2-9, isn't saying much).

A common thread? Facilities and financial support. Not enough of either, and no short term fixes available.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The MVFC is very weak...just look at the number of bids the conference gets. 2...maybe 3 in an exceptional year.....

That may be true, but I've always felt it a mistake to judge a championship by number of conference slots. Ten years from now nobody's going to remember that an SEC team made the finals and lost, they're going to remember UConn won the championship. And the AAC is hoping that they will remembered as an AAC team and that they are still in the AAC.

[clenz]

That may be true, but I've always felt it a mistake to judge a championship by number of conference slots. Ten years from now nobody's going to remember that an SEC team made the finals and lost, they're going to remember UConn won the championship. And the AAC is hoping that they will remembered as an AAC team and that they are still in the AAC.
I'll remember 2 SEC teams in the finals a hell of a lot more than 3 (or 4...hell I already don't remember how many BE teams got it) all losing the first weekend.

I was being sarcastic about the MVFC comment. It's common knowledge the MVFC is ****ed out of births yearly.

Years ago it was "The top is good with UNI and SIU but the bottom is very very weak so we can't reward you for beating the up"....well the bottom got better and now it's "Well, too many teams in your conference are good enough to beat others teams so we can't reward mediocrity".

Meanwhile the Big Sky has probably the ****tiest bottom of a conference of any of the "power" conferences yet it's a "Well, the top is so good it makes up for it" or "Look how many conference wins they have". Same with the CAA. They beat up on each other and it's seen as "Great conference strength top to bottom". The MVFC does it and it's "Look how mediocre all of the teams are...too much parody."

The committee did it last year again by saying that "number of conference wins was more important than winning against a weak schedule" was the justification for leaving a team like UNI out...but YSU had the conference wins but was left out because of a poor OOC...meanwhile UNI crushed a seeded team from the SLC (UNI pulled the starters on them), and was the FCS team within 2 scores of NDSU (and led them for 57 minutes)...meanwhile teams with 5 D1 wins from other conference (in a 12 game season) got in.

I'm sure there is a great BB comparison to me made here...I just don't care to make it right now.

[Nova09]

The SEC was clearly better....2 final four teams kind of solidifies that.

The PAC12 had twice as many NCAA teams and actually had teams clear the first weekend...

UGA finished 2nd in the SEC. It is not a strong conference no matter how you try to spin it.

6 is not twice 4. And if you haven't noticed, there are more teams in that conference than the BE.