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I was listening to Aresco during the UH/Temple game and in another interview - both times he mentioned expanding to 14 with the right mix of academics and tv value.

The only teams that I can imagine that would meet both requirements would be the Acadmies (as well as BYU - but that is a pipe dream). All other candidates do nothing academically nor do they add tv value (So Miss, Marshall, et al). ODU and Umass would make sense, but I think those programs need time to develop at this level before moving up.

If Navy was somehow able to convince Army and AFA to come aboard, how would SMU fans feel about this division:
Army
Air Force
Navy
Tulane
Tulsa
SMU
Houston

Personally I don't like it, but attendance would be better and TV money would be better. We wold have to go after Paul Johnson to stay competitive in that division.

Not a very exciting division imo.

We could be very successful in a division like that... if we could learn how to defend the option

I do not want to play 3 academies

that's a pretty big if since I have never seen us defend that in 30 yrs of watching SMU.

Feels pretty boring to me. Not sure why you think that would have higher TV money than what we have now - maybe the militaries bring some eyeballs - but Tulsa and Tulane are SMU except worse teams, no potential and no TV markets.

It wouldn't be terrible.

mustangxc wrote:Personally I don't like it, but attendance would be better and TV money would be better. We wold have to go after Paul Johnson to stay competitive in that division.

Yeah, I would rather keep on playing Cincy and Uconn/USF and legacy Big East teams.

LHS81 wrote:

I agree - it makes us look small time IMHO.

But if expansion within AAC did occur, I could see it happening.

doesn't do much for me but financially it would be very beneficial because the academies would mean much better attendance than the other eastern AAC teams

Laughably bad for b-ball.

(1) For starters, Air Force isn't leaving the MWC rivalries with Colorado St, New Mexico, and Wyoming. . . Easy travel for their Olympic sports.

(2) I could see adding Army to join the AAC with Navy (football only) in 2015, which would give the AAC a 12 team league. If that happens, add VCU & Wichita St for basketball. Would give the AAC a 12 team league in basketball. Not to mention, two very strong basketball programs

Be lucky to draw more than 20K for those opponents.....

LHS81 wrote:(1) For starters, Air Force isn't leaving the MWC rivalries with Colorado St, New Mexico, and Wyoming. . . Easy travel for their Olympic sports.

(2) I could see adding Army to join the AAC with Navy (football only) in 2015, which would give the AAC a 12 team league. If that happens, add VCU & Wichita St for basketball. Would give the AAC a 12 team league in basketball. Not to mention, two very strong basketball programs

No it would give us 13 in football and then 13 in basketball. It's currently slated to be 12 in FB and 11 in BB with Navy being the only FB only member. In case you forgot, Louisville and Rutgers leaves this year and Tulane (so much vomit), ECU and Tulsa come aboard next year with Navy in 2015.

You don't know much about our conference do you? And adding BB only schools is a terrible idea and will never happen. It's what destroyed the original Big Easy to begin with