pesik
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RE: Which Conference has better Basketball? American or Big East?
(01-19-2018 12:56 PM)MU88 Wrote: (01-19-2018 10:13 AM)Stickboy46 Wrote: Just saw this tweet
https://twitter.com/billpotter_/status/9...3340653568
"Tulane up to 100 in today's RPI.
Which means The American has 9 teams in the Top 100 of the RPI - Cincinnati, Wichita State, Temple, SMU, Houston, UCF, Memphis, UConn, Tulane.
That's more than the Big East, Big Ten and Big 12."
Interesting. Although, the BE has 7 teams in the top 45. The Big 12 has 6. The AAC? 2.
The AAC has 4 historically great programs, UConn, Memphis, Temple and UC. The rest are clearly a step below and 4 are traditional doormats. As great as Wichita State has been over the past few years, they had a grand total of 8 NCAA appearances before 2012. SMU has a total of 12 and only 2 in the past 25 years. These schools are not traditional powerhouses. They are simply having a nice run. To compare, UAB, which started basketball in 1978 has more appearances than both schools. Historically, Tulsa and Houston are more successful than Wichita State and SMU.
If all 8 of the top team could play at a sustained, high level, the conference could be one of the best. Chances of that happening are pretty remote. Everything has to land just right. You need all 8 teams to invest substantial resources in the program and up their recruiting. You have to overcome the perception that its a second tier conference. Plus, it doesn't help that there are articles after articles about UConn wanting out of AAC before their bball team is destroyed.
Look, I think it is entirely possible that the AAC could have a season or two when they are one of the best. The A-10 had a nice run a few years ago. But, the AAC is the latest of a long line of conference trying to move up to be considered a high major. None have made it. The Great Midwest and CUSA were close, but they imploded. The MWC, the A-10 and the MVC made runs, but fell back down.
As for the Big East falling back down to a mid-major level, it is entirely possible. But, you have to remember, these schools view basketball differently than most, if not all conferences. These schools use basketball to market their schools. They don't have FBS football. They are in large metro areas. They have history behind them. They have rabid fan bases. The schools in the BE that have struggled, are the schools that don't place as much emphasis on the success of their bball team to recruit their student body, e.g. DePaul and St. John's. Both are commuter schools which draw more locally for their students. There is a reason a school like Marquette spends more than almost any team in the country on basketball.
few things i want to adress
1) almost everyone in the nation view the AAC as a top tier basketball league..ncaa officially lists us as a high major..100% of espn and cbs articles considers us high major.. their is funny long thread in the MWC board about how come we are considered high major but not them
you stating we arent shows clear bias, and obliviousness to reality
2) uconn wanting to leave isnt a national story, and only talked about by aac/big east fans..that has zero effect on our perception
3)using historical data is bad evidence for anything since we arent in comparable situations.. saying teams didnt make tourneys while they were in 1 bid leagues isnt going to define how they are in the AAC
4) you speak of investments as to why marquette will stay good, but call smu a good run, when they are willing to invest more than any non p5, and have more billionaire donor money than non power5 team..they will have spent close to half a billion on sports from 2010-2021 when their full upgrade is done..they also have recruiting/location..they arent some team that luckily got a new coach that performed better than expected, they went and bought larry brown
5) the biggest flaw with your theory is that its about sustaining..for the big east its about sustaining, not the AAC...you act like the AAC is league that has had the same members for 15 and randomly just stating we will get better..all but 3 of our 12 team league were in a dramatically worse conference 5 seasons ago, and most are just adjusting. its not about sustaining top level..but how much can we grow...since joining, ucf, tulane, smu all landed their first 4 or 5 star player since the idea of recruit rankings started...houston got a 5star when it was announced they were joining the league..sampson just put together his best 2 recruiting classes at houston, next year bringing in 3 4star...ecu, yes ecu, has legitimate chance to land tom crean as a coach when the season is over.... there is an obvious upward projection in this league
(This post was last modified: 01-19-2018 01:56 PM by pesik.)
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Which Conference has better Basketball? American or Big East?
