Per Massey Composite (as of 4/2/18)
https://www.masseyratings.com/cb/compare.htm

AAC
Cincy (6)
Houston (18)
WSU (19)
Temple (85)
SMU (92)
Tulsa (93)
UCF (97)
Memphis (118)
UConn (152)
Tulane (173)
USF (266)
ECU (279)
Average: 116.5

BE
Nova (1)
Xavier (9)
Seton Hall (27)
Butler (28)
Creighton (33)
Marquette (50)
Providence (52)
St John's (73)
Georgetown (101)
DePaul (126)
Average: 50

UConn, Memphis, ECU and USF reaching #25, #30, #190, and #200 respectively only improves the AAC's average to 85.7.

It will take significant AAC betterment from 4th place to 12th place, a BE drop-off, or a combination thereof for the AAC to surpass the BE - at least by the Massey Composite average.

Here are the basketball budget numbers from a couple years ago.

Big East
9) Georgetown University 11,343,826
10) Marquette University 11,308,266
19) Villanova University 9,447,198
22) St John's University-New York 9,167,279
38) Providence College 7,907,240
47) Creighton University 7,264,599
68) Seton Hall University 6,264,583
81) Xavier University 5,710,021
84) DePaul University 5,569,062
91) Butler University 4,833,565


AAC
12) University of Memphis 11,226,419
17) University of Connecticut 9,516,308
43) University of Cincinnati-Main Campus 7,421,986
53) Southern Methodist University 7,086,547
56) Wichita State University 6,920,933
70) University of Tulsa 6,174,244
76) University of Houston 6,023,125
78) Temple University 5,920,903
92) University of South Florida-Main Campus 4,711,026
102) Tulane University of Louisiana 3,987,379
119) East Carolina University 3,187,963
120) University of Central Florida 3,166,282

Big East has better depth. That's the real rub. The bottom half of the AAC must not drop bad non-conference games if this is to change. I think it's possible in about 3-4 years.

(05-21-2018 08:59 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Per Massey Composite (as of 4/2/18)
https://www.masseyratings.com/cb/compare.htm

AAC
Cincy (6)
Houston (18)
WSU (19)
Temple (85)
SMU (92)
Tulsa (93)
UCF (97)
Memphis (118)
UConn (152)
Tulane (173)
USF (266)
ECU (279)
Average: 116.5

BE
Nova (1)
Xavier (9)
Seton Hall (27)
Butler (28)
Creighton (33)
Marquette (50)
Providence (52)
St John's (73)
Georgetown (101)
DePaul (126)
Average: 50

UConn, Memphis, ECU and USF reaching #25, #30, #190, and #200 respectively only improves the AAC's average to 85.7.

It will take significant AAC betterment from 4th place to 12th place, a BE drop-off, or a combination thereof for the AAC to surpass the BE - at least by the Massey Composite average.

I see it differently. I don't think ECU or USF will ever be worth a fart bball wise because they don't care. If Memphis and UCONN become top25 mainstays or better, the entire conference perception goes up no matter what the bottom two does. Not only that but it would provide a boost in kenpom that would
flow throughout the whole conference. Right now the best thing for the AAC is to have some teams that can make deep tournament runs and be a
threat to make final 4s. Heck outside of Nova how many NBE teams have really made deep tournament runs out of all of those bids year after year? How long honestly was the SEC more than Kentucky and sometimes UofFL? What about the big12? Haven't they been mostly Kansas with different schools popping up making hay. If Memphis and UCONN and Temple snap back to normal then 2 bids become 5/6 bids and 3 bid years become 6/7 . Who cares or remember the bottom of any conference

(05-21-2018 06:12 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  Football is what moves the TV needle. If basketball was so important for the TV guys, UConn and Memphis would have been taken in expansion.

Cincy got take'n with University 6 to the Big East because of basketball.

(05-21-2018 08:59 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Per Massey Composite (as of 4/2/18)
https://www.masseyratings.com/cb/compare.htm

AAC
Cincy (6)
Houston (18)
WSU (19)
Temple (85)
SMU (92)
Tulsa (93)
UCF (97)
Memphis (118)
UConn (152)
Tulane (173)
USF (266)
ECU (279)
Average: 116.5

BE
Nova (1)
Xavier (9)
Seton Hall (27)
Butler (28)
Creighton (33)
Marquette (50)
Providence (52)
St John's (73)
Georgetown (101)
DePaul (126)
Average: 50

UConn, Memphis, ECU and USF reaching #25, #30, #190, and #200 respectively only improves the AAC's average to 85.7.

It will take significant AAC betterment from 4th place to 12th place, a BE drop-off, or a combination thereof for the AAC to surpass the BE - at least by the Massey Composite average.

Maybe we don't catch the big east in that scenario, but that composite and make up of teams includes us ahead of the Pac 12 and right with the rest of the other top conferences in basketball. We go from 'good tweener' to in the group of elite conferences with that move.

That's the goal IMO.

(05-22-2018 09:45 PM)stxrunner Wrote:  Maybe we don't catch the big east in that scenario, but that composite and make up of teams includes us ahead of the Pac 12 and right with the rest of the other top conferences in basketball. We go from 'good tweener' to in the group of elite conferences with that move.

That's the goal IMO.

Yea, I get why it gets framed the way it does, but it's not really an AAC vs. the Big East thing as it is the AAC chasing the average performance of "conference 6", whoever that might be in a given year (and so far hasn't actually been the BE). Just get solidly in the pack on an annual basis and you're (relatively) good.