When a star dies, it expands outwards and outwards until it furthermost layer sheds off into space and its core collapses. This is basically what the Big East is up to right about now.
The Big East was once a Northeastern conference, in this realignment it will add schools in the Northwest (Boise St.) the Southwest (SDSU), and the Southeast (UCF). This will send the conference's midpoint a remarkable 465 miles west and 140 miles south, while the average distance from this midpoint will spike 120 percent to 713 miles.
So congratulations to Benton, Ky., the new center of the Big East. Enjoy it while it lasts. Since 2004 the conference has moved more than 600 miles west; by 2049-like Northeastern settlers of old-it should find its way to the sweet waters of the Pacific.
"There ain't nothing you can't solve with one more beer"
but its ok that West Virginia plays in the Big 12? At least the cities of the NBE have real airports, unlike say Lubbock, Manhattan and Morgantown. Boston and Miami are pretty far apart in the ACC. its all jacked up but its not as if the Big East went out on a limb here or was the first league to go far flung.
Hoop Fan wrote:but its ok that West Virginia plays in the Big 12? At least the cities of the NBE have real airports, unlike say Lubbock, Manhattan and Morgantown. Boston and Miami are pretty far apart in the ACC. its all jacked up but its not as if the Big East went out on a limb here or was the first league to go far flung.
I agree with that. The nice part of going for the metro cities with a few exceptions is the ease of transportation. Sure the air flights might be little longer but does it matter if you have an hour flight va two hour flight, I doubt it. This conference will be vastly different because of the geographic claim of 4 time zones. It's that uniqueness that we hope will push the big east over conferences like ACC in popularity. I know it will never happen but could you imagine Florida state being that 14th team. That's the ACC main school lol.
Hoop Fan wrote:but its ok that West Virginia plays in the Big 12? At least the cities of the NBE have real airports, unlike say Lubbock, Manhattan and Morgantown. Boston and Miami are pretty far apart in the ACC. its all jacked up but its not as if the Big East went out on a limb here or was the first league to go far flung.
buuuuuut....
Taking a look at these five conferences, it seems like the death of regional identities may have been exaggerated. The Pac-10/12 did move east from the Pacific, but only by about 90 miles, as Arizona and Arizona State were already further east than people realize. The ACC barely budged from the Atlantic (11 miles west) because the East Coast doesn't run as straight north/south as people think it does. The Big 12 and the SEC moved towards each other by 165 miles, and will likely collide someday in a sweet slo-mo explosion. The Big Ten barely twitched. Every conference became a little less compact, but only by 12 percent on average.
"There ain't nothing you can't solve with one more beer"
EastStang wrote:The ACC also has such easy locales to get to as Blacksburg, VA, Charlottesville, Raleigh/Durham, Chapel Hill, Clemson, SC, Tallahassee.
Well, the "Triangle" area of NC is easy to get to. And those three cities and schools are all within a 30 minute drive from each other.
The writer does not make much of an argument. No conference has been this large so you have nothing to compare to. Nothing more than more subjective negative spin.
An atheist is a guy who watches a Notre Dame-SMU football game and
doesn't care who wins.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Did they say the same thing for the expansion of the Big XII and X? How about the expansion of the SEC? What about the geographic axpansion of the PAC X? Are they like dying stars as well?
Seems the geographic growth of a conference is the thing to do to survive and thrive.
Treadway21 wrote:The writer does not make much of an argument. No conference has been this large so you have nothing to compare to. Nothing more than more subjective negative spin.
What about the WAC16? Not that that is a good argument.
Go Ponies!!
Beat whoever it is we are playing!!
@PonyGrad
That's an interesting diagram, but here's a more accurate picture of the Big East layout.. and all the new conferences.
NOTE: I see a few mistakes in there, but it's pretty accurate.
Treadway21 wrote:The writer does not make much of an argument. No conference has been this large so you have nothing to compare to. Nothing more than more subjective negative spin.
What about the WAC16? Not that that is a good argument.
WAC 16 did not have the TV markets of Big East. It is about TV not geography.
An atheist is a guy who watches a Notre Dame-SMU football game and
doesn't care who wins.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
