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Article from San Jose outlines WAC options. Appears Benson wants a Central Time Zone strategy combined with a defensive one against MWC in the Western half of the conference. I struggle with out he could pull off getting Houston, Tulane and, wishful thinking, TCU.

<A HREF="http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6299698.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6299698.htm</A>



[This message has been edited by Water Pony (edited 07-14-2003).]

Benson for all the flack he gets is not some wrong-headed goof. He is simply working from lower down on the food chain. Going to 12 makes perfect sense for the WAC. Two 6 team divisions could work out well. Unlike some I don't think TCU is the key. TCU has peaked. They will never be much better than they are now.

C-USA as it will be without Cincy, Army and Louisville is not greatly attractive and maybe not any more attractive than the WAC. It is a far-flung eastern version of the WAC. People who know the numbers ( read dollars) will have to make this decision.

Talks mainly about NMSU/UTEP but also mentions the WAC's focus on adding teams in the east.

<A HREF="http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/sports/todaysstories/20030714-136096.shtml" TARGET=_blank>http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/sports/todaysstories/20030714-136096.shtml</A>

Got this from the MWC board. It's a new twist on things. If the MWC, WAC and C-USA will work out 3 conferences that make geographic sense, maybe all can stay viable. This Tulane guy is my hero.

<A HREF="http://www.aros.net/~pmm/mwc/index.cgi?read=75249" TARGET=_blank>http://www.aros.net/~pmm/mwc/index.cgi?read=75249</A>

Nacho,

The idea of MWC, Conf. USA and WAC rationalizing their conferences geographically makes a lot sense of this way:

BE is ET Zone, and should inherit E. Carolina (because of proxmity) as well as Louisville & Cincinnati.

Conf. USA is both CT and ET with a base from Fla (So. and Central) and run to Texas/OK.

MWC should do MT and PT only.

WAC should do PT primarily, a few MT plus Hawaii.

Problems include what to do about EC, western WAC being viable and does Hawaii go to MWC? Sequence appears to be:

- BE adds two to three
- Conf. USA adds three to four (southern ET/CT)
- MWC grabs two WAC (Nevada and either Fresno or Boise State)
- WAC adds NMSU or other Sunbelt schools

[This message has been edited by Water Pony (edited 07-14-2003).]

The problem with everyone agreeing to work together is that everyone is competing for TV dollars, and nobody is going to want to confine themselves to a single time zone. As the UTEP A.D. says, the WAC would like to expand into the central time zone to add more TV sets to the negotiations.

I do think UTEP and NMSU should be conference mates, but the only way it happens is if the new SWC comes to be, and that's not likely. It certainly appears that CUSA, the WAC and MWC will at least work together enough that all will survive.