Is Penn State all of a sudden a better much better basketball job with the B1G push to the east coast? Follow me for a minute... Back when Penn State joined the Big Ten, Jim Boeheim went on record as saying that Penn State would NEVER be good at hoops
http://m.collegian.psu.edu/archives/arti...l?mode=jqm
primarily because of recruiting. Boeheim reasoned that top midwest recruits would want to play in the midwest while top eastern recruits would want to play in the eastern conferences. I have to give it to Boeheim, he hit the nail right on the head. Excepting an occasional upset, Penn State's Basketball program is an afterthought. They have no real hoops rivals, haven't played high level eastern teams (Cuse, UConn, BC, Pitt, Maryland, Villanova, GTown) regularly since joining the B1G, and as Boeheim predicted can't successfully recruit the Midwest or East.
But are times achanging? I think the biggest beneficiary in Rutgers, Maryland, (and hopefully UConn) joining the B1G... is Penn State. With the Olde Big East imploding there is something of a vacuum on the east coast. The football schools (which were superior in hoops IMO) from the Olde Big East have been splintered between the AAC, ACC, B12, & B1G. The New Big East doesn't have the pop of the Olde Big East yet. So the battle is on between the ACC and the B1G to see who will to muscle into that market. B1G has the benefit of proximity (thank you UMD &RU) and huge alumni bases. ACC has advantage of being a known as a basketball & lacrosse conference and having schools popular in the northeast.
Which leads us to today. Given that the B1G has made a concerted effort to push east by: 1. Adding RU & UMD 2. Adding a lacrosse league, 3. Opening offices in DC & NYC. 4. The Gavitt Tipoff. & 5. Adding UConn (If they know what's good for 'em)
Is that enough to get Penn State past the curse of the Boeheim? Only time will tell but here's where I'd start if I were athletic director to turn Penn State into a hoops monster.
1. Lobby the B1G like hell to lock the eastern schools into home & home every year in conference, eastern exposure starts in conference.
2. Lobby like hell to get another eastern school (UConn) in the conference especially if Northwestern deemphasizes athletics.
3. Build a show stopper practice facility (see Nebraska)
4. The most fun part would be the non-conf schedule. The overarching goals would be to make like the original Big East and saturate the eastern markets & get onto the slate of old school rivals. Starting with 29 regular season games take out conference games and ACC challenge and you have 10 games left (Gavitt isn't frequent enough to count.) Using a home & home model, it would break out like something like this:
New England (2): Boston College & Providence
NYC Area (2): St Johns & Seton Hall
Philly (2): Villanova & Temple
DMV (2): Georgetown & George Washington
Old Rivals (2): Cuse & Pitt
Obviously rotate the the schedule and obviously this schedule is brutal in combination with a B1G conference schedule, but I'd make damn sure the Lions are playing in each of those 4 markets every year non-conference.
In the final analysis Boeheim was right, but with conference realignment (B1G trying to fill the Olde Big East void) & Penn State playing an ultra eastern schedule, this may be the opportunity PSU needed to become a solid hoops school.