Originally Posted by
TexasTerror
There’s multiple threads on this
The Texas schools have actually created a smaller footprint of a league if you just isolate the Texas Division in which most sports (minus hoops and football) will play within the division. They will solely be playing in Texas in those sports for league play which for most of them, is where they recruit their athletes.
basketball is seen as a huge improvement as a league. Only four schools in SLC rank in top 300 of NET let alone top 200. Three of those schools are going to the WAC next year and have been carrying the SLC flag as it relates to hoops. They envision creating a situation where they are an improved seed and the league RPI should be a significant (8 to 15 league improvement over the SLC) in league RPI
football is more about being aligned with similar schools who have a desire to explore FBS. Again, heavily Texas weighted right now with one annual trip to Utah. That’s not bad for the Texas schools. They maintain an AQ once dust settles and with the likely addition being another TX school or two (UTRGV is strongly looking at FB and we anticipate a D2 school from the LSC), again the travel minus the one UT trip makes a tighter league within a single state.
end of day, the schools leaving SLC had the top budgets in league. There was a growing disparity on the financial side, there were some weak links in SLC related to facilities, all the departing schools have ESPN broadcasts in house (only SLU of remaining schools does), there’s a commitment to reviewing FBS and improving MBB hoops (where the $$ is). It’s a no brainer regardless of what some think
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