The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

VCU could be very successful in this conference, but the leadership at VCU would be wise to take a peak at the last 20 years of Charlotte 49er athletics. At the first opportunity, This collection of schools will not hesitate to leave VCU holding the bag, leaving VCU in a bad spot. VCU's best option is the C7, and it's not close IMO, unless they can sign some sort of guarantee with the America 12 about keeping them around, or guaranteeing football admittance as soon as possible should they decide to field a program.

I think that a good idea. Though they will likley say no if we call our conference the America-12. Sounds like a hig tech olympic bobsled.

well it is odd to have a conf called the A12 w/ only 11 full members. I mean at least the B12, B10 and A10 had those numbers at one point where they actually matched.

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

TIGER fans concur, Orange.

The final piece to the puzzle is to add the 12th all sports school. My thinking is it would be Tulsa.

America12 could then have a North / South division split:

NORTH
Connecticut
Temple
Cincinnati
MEMPHIS
Tulsa
VCU (BB only)
Navy (FB only)

Yes, put MEMPHIS in the North. This puts all the BB powers in one division so there is H&H each year.

SOUTH
ECU (extend the all sports invite in 2015)
UCF
USF
Tulane
SMU
Houston

(03-07-2013 10:50 PM)boss man Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

TIGER fans concur, Orange.

The final piece to the puzzle is to add the 12th all sports school. My thinking is it would be Tulsa.

America12 could then have a North / South division split:

NORTH
Connecticut
Temple
Cincinnati
MEMPHIS
Tulsa
VCU (BB only)
Navy (FB only)

Yes, put MEMPHIS in the North. This puts all the BB powers in one division so there is H&H each year.

SOUTH
ECU (extend the all sports invite in 2015)
UCF
USF
Tulane
SMU
Houston

Insane to wait until 2015 to invite ECU for all sports. You get VCU in for 2014, and you have your 12 teams at that point. (and it's not going to happen- it will be 2014 period).

And- they won't put all 6 in the same division. Split 3 and 3. Instead of getting 10 games vs all the good teams- you get 7. But it's better balanced, making for a stronger tourney end of the season.

I say they should invite the two best programs the c7 does not go after. But this Tulsa to the Big East talk needs to die because all they are doing is putting a band aid on a wound. UNCC brings in good basketball now and football can be sent in the right direction with one good coach.

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

I approve this post.

I'm not sure that it would be wise to invite a BB only school. Has no one learned the lesson of the BE (and to a lesser extent, the CAA)? Conferences thrive when all members are on the same page. BBall only schools do not get along with Football schools. VCU will likely ALWAYS be a BBall only school.

Just my opinion. Conferences should align across shared interests. If the A-10 poaches GMU and Davidson, I don't think VCU would go.

Forget Tulsa. Invite NIU and you can grab the Chicago TV market. NIU football would be competitive right away, as would soccer, but basketball would need to step up.

(03-07-2013 10:55 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 10:50 PM)boss man Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

TIGER fans concur, Orange.

The final piece to the puzzle is to add the 12th all sports school. My thinking is it would be Tulsa.

America12 could then have a North / South division split:

NORTH
Connecticut
Temple
Cincinnati
MEMPHIS
Tulsa
VCU (BB only)
Navy (FB only)

Yes, put MEMPHIS in the North. This puts all the BB powers in one division so there is H&H each year.

SOUTH
ECU (extend the all sports invite in 2015)
UCF
USF
Tulane
SMU
Houston

Insane to wait until 2015 to invite ECU for all sports.

ECU has already been invited for all sports. The ECU Chancellor even talked about the invite on Pirate radio. For some reason a small group of Memphis fans are refusing to accept that.

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

Yep that addition would be a home run for the Dirty Dozen/America 12; but I'd make one more change to get membership up to 15:


Navy Football only/VCU Hoops only
Army Football only/George Mason hoops only: 4 CAA titles and tied with ODU & VCU for most CAA finals appearances with 10.
UMass hoops only: 2nd largest number of A10 hoops titles with 5
Temple
Cincy
UConn
Memphis


South
Tulane
Houston
SMU
ECU
USF
UCF

VCU & George Mason make up for Georgetown and get you a solid presence in VA, UMASS brings New England/East Coast roots and UMASS has the 2nd largest number of A 10 hoops championships only to Temple. George Mason was a final 4 participant just 5 years ago (VCU in 09)
Army almost goes without saying what a positive addition they would be along with Navy for football. Both academies would be an attendance boost for the conference and the regular season final Navy/Army game would be a Big East Conference game on National TV.

ALso gives the conference a buffer should they lose any members in realignment.

Forget this basketball hybrid garbage. No school should be invited which doesn't have football. The correct way to go is 12\14.

EAST DIVISION
UMass (Football-Only)
UConn \ Temple
Old Dominion \ East Carolina
USF \ UCF

WEST DIVISION
Navy (Football-Only)
Cincinnati \ Memphis
Tulane \ Houston
SMU \ Tulsa

UMass only gets added once it is impossible for Navy to back out. Just go with 12, otherwise, and Old Dominion over Charlotte.

(03-08-2013 05:55 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  Forget this basketball hybrid garbage. No school should be invited which doesn't have football. The correct way to go is 12\14.

EAST DIVISION
UMass (Football-Only)
UConn \ Temple
Old Dominion \ East Carolina
USF \ UCF

WEST DIVISION
Navy (Football-Only)
Cincinnati \ Memphis
Tulane \ Houston
SMU \ Tulsa

UMass only gets added once it is impossible for Navy to back out. Just go with 12, otherwise, and Old Dominion over Charlotte.

I like it. I'd like it better if all schools in fbs had to play all sports in that fbs conf. even more.

(03-08-2013 06:23 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  I like it. I'd like it better if all schools in fbs had to play all sports in that fbs conf. even more.

The problem is that Navy wouldn't be able to compete in basketball and doesn't want to leave the Patriot League anyway. UMass is a simple counterbalance since they already have the A-10 for basketball. Of course I still think there is a chance that Navy will back out before 2015.

(03-09-2013 07:00 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  

(03-08-2013 06:23 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  I like it. I'd like it better if all schools in fbs had to play all sports in that fbs conf. even more.

The problem is that Navy wouldn't be able to compete in basketball and doesn't want to leave the Patriot League anyway. UMass is a simple counterbalance since they already have the A-10 for basketball. Of course I still think there is a chance that Navy will back out before 2015.

I know, they can't even compete in the PL in bball anymore either.

Dont worry about it until navy is either in or out. If they are in, we add the best available non fball school. If they are out, we add the best available all sports school.

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

While I agree that VCU would be a good add....did you really just say that ECU has the same institutional profile as the rest of the conference?

I mean, the rest of those are (or are trying to be) urban research institutions. Some of them aren't as good at it as others, but they at least share the same goal. ECU has different goals as an institution than the rest of the conference.

ECU wants to be more like WVU or Texas Tech than any Metro/A-12 school (whatever we end up calling ourselves). But even they'd admit that they're not quite there yet as an institution.

(03-10-2013 07:05 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

While I agree that VCU would be a good add....did you really just say that ECU has the same institutional profile as the rest of the conference?

I mean, the rest of those are (or are trying to be) urban research institutions. Some of them aren't as good at it as others, but they at least share the same goal. ECU has different goals as an institution than the rest of the conference.

ECU wants to be more like WVU or Texas Tech than any Metro/A-12 school (whatever we end up calling ourselves). But even they'd admit that they're not quite there yet as an institution.

My thinking is that all of the listed schools are national profile public research universities, but none are flagships or land grants. Texas Tech would be in this group as well. WVU is a flagship and a land grant. Status as a flagship or land grant automatically places a school at the top of the food chain within its own state.

(03-10-2013 07:05 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 08:44 PM)orangefan Wrote:  The America 12 should invite VCU. VCU would:

- Balance Navy's membership as football only
- Give the hoops league 12 members, so it's membership would match its name
- Boost the quality of the hoops league
- Have a similar institutional profile to Cincy, UCF, USF, Houston, Temple, ECU and Memphis
- Serve as a travel partner for ECU in hoops and Olympic sports
- Be an Additional eastern school to help keep UConn happy

While I agree that VCU would be a good add....did you really just say that ECU has the same institutional profile as the rest of the conference?

I mean, the rest of those are (or are trying to be) urban research institutions. Some of them aren't as good at it as others, but they at least share the same goal. ECU has different goals as an institution than the rest of the conference.

ECU wants to be more like WVU or Texas Tech than any Metro/A-12 school (whatever we end up calling ourselves). But even they'd admit that they're not quite there yet as an institution.

Captain Bearcat, without looking it up, please tell me what ECU's institutional profile is. And while no institution should ever be satisfied with it's current status and should always be seeking ways to advance, I would bet you we're farther along than many would like to admit or even know about.