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Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:30 pm
by Charleston Pony
Topper wrote:UT will only go where they will be allowed to cut their own deals to their liking. That undoubtedly leaves out the SEC and the Big 10. UT and OU orchestrated the membership of the Big 12 to allow them to breeze through a conference schedule with a minimum of risky games thereby leaving them in a good position to make the playoffs. The UT athletic department has all the cash they need to run the program but they need wins to keep their jobs. Their formula is to play one legitimate team in their OOC schedule, at home if possible, and hope that they beat OU. Bottom line is this: the Big 12 belongs to OU and UT in terms of football, and it has enough legitimate hoops to give them a chance to get some quality wins for their perpetually over-ranked team by tournament time. They have no need to go anywhere. I live within a stone's throw of campus, know a lot of big UT donors, and I can tell you that they were happy to see Nebraska and A&M go. Opened the door to schedule San Jose State and UTEP anytime they like.


Except that under the current Big XII with only 10 members and 9 conference games, they can only schedule 3 non-conference games vs the 4 games they initially could schedule. For SEC schools, playing only 8 conference games means they can play an unbalanced home vs away schedule and most like to schedule 7 home games

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:48 pm
by Topper
Charleston Pony wrote:
Topper wrote:UT will only go where they will be allowed to cut their own deals to their liking. That undoubtedly leaves out the SEC and the Big 10. UT and OU orchestrated the membership of the Big 12 to allow them to breeze through a conference schedule with a minimum of risky games thereby leaving them in a good position to make the playoffs. The UT athletic department has all the cash they need to run the program but they need wins to keep their jobs. Their formula is to play one legitimate team in their OOC schedule, at home if possible, and hope that they beat OU. Bottom line is this: the Big 12 belongs to OU and UT in terms of football, and it has enough legitimate hoops to give them a chance to get some quality wins for their perpetually over-ranked team by tournament time. They have no need to go anywhere. I live within a stone's throw of campus, know a lot of big UT donors, and I can tell you that they were happy to see Nebraska and A&M go. Opened the door to schedule San Jose State and UTEP anytime they like.


Except that under the current Big XII with only 10 members and 9 conference games, they can only schedule 3 non-conference games vs the 4 games they initially could schedule. For SEC schools, playing only 8 conference games means they can play an unbalanced home vs away schedule and most like to schedule 7 home games

Notice that they often schedule Rice at Reliant stadium where they play what is actually a home game in front of 95% home crowd and the annual OU game is played in front of a 50/50 crowd a 30 minute plane ride from Austin.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:51 pm
by horsemanx
SMUstang wrote:I don’t see the Big XII changing. The best thing for us would be for Boise State to fill that 12th spot for football only. If they decline, then we should stay at 11.

We should just offer them all sports - or at least football and basketball so we could use them as a travel partner to try to get Gonzaga too.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:23 pm
by SMUstang
Gonzaga would be great, but I don’t think they would come. Anyway 12 or more basketball teams is too many for scheduling purposes if you want to play a round robin.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:38 pm
by EastStang
Remember the Big XII lost the Aggies, Missouri and Nebraska in part because UT was insufferable. Nebraska has never recovered its glory. The Aggies and Missouri are irrelevant in the SEC. Arkansas has had maybe one or two good years in the SEC after leaving the SWC. UT is now looking up at Baylor of all schools. Karma's tough some times. The AAC is our lot. We have some good programs in great cities: Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Tampa, Memphis, Cincinnati, Balto-DC area, Philadelphia and New Orleans. Now if those programs can start doing what SMU is doing (and Memphis has done) by linking themselves to their city, we could really make some noise. Why shouldn't Tulane by New Orleans college team? Or Temple as Philly's. (although the thought of Philly fans scares me). 7 of those cities have NFL teams. 7 have NBA teams. 6 have MLB teams. 4 have NHL teams. These are sports cities. At this point, I believe we need to build the AAC and let it grow naturally. Start building up in conference rivalries. Houston/SMU. UCF/USF. Memphis/Tulane. Temple/Cincy. It would be nice if we could add Air Force or Army to add a Navy rival. I think the Big XII is unstable and UT is the main reason followed by the Sooners. But they are like the woman that has had too many boyfriends, they now have a rep of not being fully committed. And the rest of the conference has no self-esteem and takes whatever abuse UT/OU dish out for fear of losing them. Our conference has to look like a great landing spot for any defectors.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:49 pm
by SMUstang
Great post! I think Air Force would be a great add, Army not so much. Cincinnati might have two rivals in basketball, Memphis and Temple. And Temple vs Navy in football might develop into a rivalry. Also Navy vs East Carolina. SMU might also have two rivals, Tulsa and Houston, for both football and basketball.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:38 pm
by Pony81
What AAC team is in the DC- Baltimore area?

SMU is in the exactly the conference it needs to be in.When UT and OU leaves the Big 12 we will join the left overs along with many other AAC teams. ECU and Tulsa would be dropped in that scenario.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:27 am
by SMUstang
EastStang is probably referring to Annapolis. I wonder if the Big XII would be a Power 5 conference without UT and OU? Surely they would be way down in the rankings and not able to demand the big Media Rights deals that they have right now. They would be close cousins to the AAC. Where do you think UT and OU would go?

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:24 am
by DanFreibergerForHeisman
Pony81 wrote:What AAC team is in the DC- Baltimore area?

Technically true, but I can't imagine having Navy as football-only gives The American any presence at all in the DMV.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:30 pm
by SMUstang
DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:
Pony81 wrote:What AAC team is in the DC- Baltimore area?

Technically true, but I can't imagine having Navy as football-only gives The American any presence at all in the DMV.

Excuse my ignorance, but what the heck is the DMV?

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 3:05 pm
by DanFreibergerForHeisman
SMUstang wrote:Excuse my ignorance, but what the heck is the DMV?

DC/Maryland/Virginia

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:24 pm
by SMUstang
I’m still betting that ESPN will destroy Fox and the MWC by luring BYU, BSU, and probably AFA to the AAC for football only. This for revenge for Fox stealing Boise State from them.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:28 pm
by EastStang
Pony81 wrote:What AAC team is in the DC- Baltimore area?

SMU is in the exactly the conference it needs to be in.When UT and OU leaves the Big 12 we will join the left overs along with many other AAC teams. ECU and Tulsa would be dropped in that scenario.


Navy is in Annapolis which is between Baltimore and Washington. It gives us a football presence, no hoops presence. If you want a basketball only school there are about 5 candidates, GW, American, George Mason, Howard, and VCU.

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:41 pm
by SMUstang
JUST SPECULATION BUT:
From the "Banner Society" earlier this month:
Since we’ve first published this newsletter, the school and conference seem to have made amends — at least for now. But their saga is still notable, because it brought some long-running tension points between Boise and the MWC to the surface. These issues could still result, some day, in the two parties going separate ways.

2019 @ESPN_BillC
Conference Rankings if AAC drops UConn and adds Boise (Avg SP+ Rating)

1. SEC: 12.1
2. Big 10: 9.5
3. Big 12: 7.3
4. Pac-12: 5.3
5. AAC: 4.6 (!!)
6. ACC: 3.0

7. MWC: -5.1 (!!)
8. Sun Belt: -6.1
9. CUSA: -8.7
10. MAC: -10.4

AAC would be > ACC in this world

And one fan replied on Feb 12, 2020:
Picture this:
Navy moves to the East Division. Bring in Army. Poach Boise State and Air Force to fill out the West Division.

You thought the AAC looked strong before? Now you have basically ALL of the G5 strength in one conference that can finally push for Power 6 status. Oh ESPN, you’re looking to renegotiate since UConn left? What do you say to getting Boise State back, but instead of them playing UNLV they’re facing Memphis? Oh, and you’ll also play host to all of the Commander-in-Chief trophy games! How much is that worth to ya?

This also works out nicely for the schools involved since they’ll get a bigger payout, and better strength of schedule. All of the Service Academies will also get more scheduling flexibility since they won’t have to use non-conference games to play each other any more.

I AGREE

Re: AAC Re-Alignment

PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:55 pm
by Water Pony
Hard to imagine poaching both Boise State and AFA, partly because of all other sports. As FB members only, each will need a home for BB and non-revenue sports.

However, having Air Force, Army and Navy in the American Athletic Conference has appeal. Good traveling teams and the Commander-in-Chief Trophy is a plus with a season within a season. Army has become more competitive recently and all three teams uncommon challenges for the rest of the conference.

Also, AAC could support other trophies within the conference or division (annual match-ups)

Mid-South: Memphis, Tulane and Cincinnati.
Mid-Atlantic: Temple, Navy and ECU
Texhoma: Houston, SMU and Tulsa