(08-24-2013 01:25 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 12:10 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 02:26 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-23-2013 03:34 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  It would be a slight to themselves and their perception in those ranks. Besides, I really don't think the Big Ten folks are overly excited about them. They are a great overall brand and school but the Big Ten looks for stand out qualities. Schools like Oklahoma, Kansas and obviously Texas all offer up something that truly stands out. The same could be said for Virginia and North Carolina. The same could have been said of Georgia Tech. The same could be said of Duke. Hell, the same could even be said of FSU with their amazing electromagnetics laboratory and their football pedigree.

Could the same be said for Maryland and Rutgers?

Stand out markets for sure. Maryland and Defense research contracts, yes. Maryland basketball, yes. Rutgers market, yes and yes I am saying that twice. Rutgers football history as the first? For the Big Ten, yes. Oh, both are also the only flagships of their respective states.

Mostly though these are market grabs that for me foreshadow later expansion yet to come that can fully take advantage of this massive market increase for the Big Ten.

Bottom line though is that there is nothing about these programs at Maryland & Rutgers that stands out n the any way similar to the other programs you listed. Clearly the B1G is looking at a variety of factors when they're considering who's a good fit and for us, guessing what those factors are, it's shot in the dark.

Uh, no once again, it is not just about the athletic programs. I know some folks want to focus just on that but there is more to these schools than just their football programs and that is how the Big Ten operates.

(08-24-2013 01:34 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 01:25 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 12:10 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 02:26 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-23-2013 03:34 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  It would be a slight to themselves and their perception in those ranks. Besides, I really don't think the Big Ten folks are overly excited about them. They are a great overall brand and school but the Big Ten looks for stand out qualities. Schools like Oklahoma, Kansas and obviously Texas all offer up something that truly stands out. The same could be said for Virginia and North Carolina. The same could have been said of Georgia Tech. The same could be said of Duke. Hell, the same could even be said of FSU with their amazing electromagnetics laboratory and their football pedigree.

Could the same be said for Maryland and Rutgers?

Stand out markets for sure. Maryland and Defense research contracts, yes. Maryland basketball, yes. Rutgers market, yes and yes I am saying that twice. Rutgers football history as the first? For the Big Ten, yes. Oh, both are also the only flagships of their respective states.

Mostly though these are market grabs that for me foreshadow later expansion yet to come that can fully take advantage of this massive market increase for the Big Ten.

Bottom line though is that there is nothing about these programs at Maryland & Rutgers that stands out n the any way similar to the other programs you listed. Clearly the B1G is looking at a variety of factors when they're considering who's a good fit and for us, guessing what those factors are, it's shot in the dark.

Uh, no once again, it is not just about the athletic programs. I know some folks want to focus just on that but there is more to these schools than just their football programs and that is how the Big Ten operates.

Agree. That's what I was trying to say. Clearly it was about markets with MD & Rutgers.

With the exception of athletics, Rutgers is actually a very B1G-like school. So the fit for the CIC is very good, which is a big deal.

There's a not-so-mysterious pattern of invites:

Independent: 1 + whatever happened with ND
Big 12: 1
Big East: 1
ACC: 1

National sports identity: 2
Not so much: 2

All AAU (at time of invite), contiguous, flagships.

(08-24-2013 02:29 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 01:34 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 01:25 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 12:10 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 02:26 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  Could the same be said for Maryland and Rutgers?

Stand out markets for sure. Maryland and Defense research contracts, yes. Maryland basketball, yes. Rutgers market, yes and yes I am saying that twice. Rutgers football history as the first? For the Big Ten, yes. Oh, both are also the only flagships of their respective states.

Mostly though these are market grabs that for me foreshadow later expansion yet to come that can fully take advantage of this massive market increase for the Big Ten.

Bottom line though is that there is nothing about these programs at Maryland & Rutgers that stands out n the any way similar to the other programs you listed. Clearly the B1G is looking at a variety of factors when they're considering who's a good fit and for us, guessing what those factors are, it's shot in the dark.

Uh, no once again, it is not just about the athletic programs. I know some folks want to focus just on that but there is more to these schools than just their football programs and that is how the Big Ten operates.

Agree. That's what I was trying to say. Clearly it was about markets with MD & Rutgers.

With the exception of athletics, Rutgers is actually a very B1G-like school. So the fit for the CIC is very good, which is a big deal.

Yeah, I think both have a lot of future potential in terms of athletic brand. Maryland basketball in the Big Ten is great. The Big Ten is trying to move into Lacrosse. Not a big money public sport but it is a big time sport for a certain important demographic. Maryland is great for that, havn't looked into Rutgers but they should be able to get into it at some point.

Their football program though has serious potential. I could see them rising to become another football power within the Big Ten.

The fact that PSU-IU could outdraw UMD-FSU mere miles apart a few years back suggests that the "markets" up for grabs weren't about the number of people living in the regions, but who was living in them: Big Ten alumni living in the Beltway and in the New York metro areas.

Academics? Sure...both are great schools. I think the bigger draw was their size. "Big statey" indeed.

(08-24-2013 02:51 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 02:29 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 01:34 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 01:25 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 12:10 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  Stand out markets for sure. Maryland and Defense research contracts, yes. Maryland basketball, yes. Rutgers market, yes and yes I am saying that twice. Rutgers football history as the first? For the Big Ten, yes. Oh, both are also the only flagships of their respective states.

Mostly though these are market grabs that for me foreshadow later expansion yet to come that can fully take advantage of this massive market increase for the Big Ten.

Bottom line though is that there is nothing about these programs at Maryland & Rutgers that stands out n the any way similar to the other programs you listed. Clearly the B1G is looking at a variety of factors when they're considering who's a good fit and for us, guessing what those factors are, it's shot in the dark.

Uh, no once again, it is not just about the athletic programs. I know some folks want to focus just on that but there is more to these schools than just their football programs and that is how the Big Ten operates.

Agree. That's what I was trying to say. Clearly it was about markets with MD & Rutgers.

With the exception of athletics, Rutgers is actually a very B1G-like school. So the fit for the CIC is very good, which is a big deal.

Yeah, I think both have a lot of future potential in terms of athletic brand. Maryland basketball in the Big Ten is great. The Big Ten is trying to move into Lacrosse. Not a big money public sport but it is a big time sport for a certain important demographic. Maryland is great for that, havn't looked into Rutgers but they should be able to get into it at some point.

Their football program though has serious potential. I could see them rising to become another football power within the Big Ten.

Agree.

Another benefit is that both are located in metro areas where Big Ten schools have a lot of alums. Now they have a presence in those cities and there teams will be coming to town every year, getting.ots of local attention.