Big Ten Divisions Bump BYU's WCC Move From The Headlines
by Chris Dobbertean on Sep 1, 2010 8:53 PM EDT
in Conference Realignment
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Football season kicks off tomorrow -- meaning we're about two months from the start of basketball. But the dying moments of the college sports offseason are more than enough time for a few more pieces of conference realignment info to make their way into the news. More on these after the jump.
BYU Football Goes Independent; WCC The Destination For Most Other Sports
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 31, 2010 7:16 PM EDT
in Conference Realignment
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Well, it appears As The Mountain West Turns has reached its conclusion.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the talk of BYU reconciling with the Mountain West Conference was a bit premature.
Cougars to the WAC? Well, that's dead too.
The Trib says BYU will play as an independent in football, with the bulk of their other sports headed to the West Coast Conference.
For BYU's remaining sports, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation would be a logical home for men's and women's indoor track and women's swimming. However, the MPSF doesn't sponsor men's swimming, softball, and outdoor track and field.
So, here's how the MWC, WAC, and WCC will look in the coming seasons, probably as soon as the 2011-12 academic year, when BYU is slated to depart the Mountain West.
Mountain West
Air Force
Boise State
Colorado State
Fresno State
Nevada
UNLV
New Mexico
San Diego State
TCU
Wyoming
West Coast
BYU
Gonzaga
Loyola Marymount
Pepperdine
Portland
Saint Mary's
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Clara
Western Athletic
Hawai'i
Idaho
Louisiana Tech
New Mexico State
San Jose State
Utah State
The WAC is really in trouble because it will lose its basketball auto bid if it doesn't pick up a seventh members before the 2013-14 academic year begins and the NCAA's two-year grace period expires.
And that doesn't account for Hawai'i potentially declaring its football independence and finding another home for its other sports.
Or Utah State realizing its dream by joining the MWC to make up for the loss of BYU and Utah.
Plus, there's the whole matter of the $5 million WAC exit penalty. Apparently, that's a simple case of "No BYU, No Fee." Fresno State and Nevada, you should be off the hook...after the courts speak, of course.
So, there's a bit more certainty in the conference landscape for the moment, don't expect it to last. Members of the Big Sky, Conference USA, and Sun Belt could all be on the move in the inevitable next round, as the Mountain West and WAC try to recover from BYU's choice.
Hoops Schedules Pour Out As MWC/WAC Realignment Remains Unresolved
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 27, 2010 10:18 AM EDT
in Conference Realignment
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Before I get to a long list of schedule links, it's time to recap at the latest chapter of As The Mountain West Turns...
The Denver Post reported that BYU would announce that they were going to make up with the MWC Thursday; however, it's now Friday afternoon and there's been no official announcement.
At Mountain West Connection, Jeremy Mauss has a post detailing "The Project" that was supposed to bring BYU to the WAC in all sports and how MWC commissioner Craig Thompson threw a boulder to those plans by inviting Fresno State and Nevada.
With the WAC's future up in the air, the third school Thompson invited, Utah State, has reapplied in an attempt to be the MWC's 12th team. Opinion among MWC fans seems to favor Houston or UTEP over the Aggies, however.
Adrian Mac, editor of SBN's UTEP blog Miner Rush, made an interesting comment in that Utah State post regarding how the mindset of MWC's membership has changed in the span of a decade.
Just insane that 10 years ago the MWC formed and it's already changed to the point where they have to add teams the original members blamed for the demise of the WAC (like Fresno). Back then, BYU & Others were upset that the WAC had been watered down and that it was spread too far - into Texas. Now, the MWC is also adding teams that never would have been added to the WAC had the original MWC 8 never left to begin with (namely the Big West's Boise, Utah State, Nevada- 1999).
Hawai'i, meanwhile, is still contemplating football independence. In terms of a home for its other sports, ESPN's Andy Katz reported that the university is discussing moving all of the other Warrior/Wahine teams to the Big West, not the West Coast Conference as rumored.
That's because the WCC wants to remain a league of smaller, church-sponsored schools, and Hawai'i is decidedly neither. On the other hand, the Big West's grouping of University of Califiornia and California State University campuses (with one private school, Pacific, thrown in for good measure) would be a better fit from an institutional standpoint, though travel could be a sticking point.
Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser writes that no matter what conference Hawai'i calls home, intercollegiate athletics will likely become a more expensive proposition for the university, even if it stays in a newly-expanded WAC,
Call them travel subsidies, stipends or guarantees, the fact is it is going to be tough to find anybody willing to regularly put their soccer, tennis, swimming, golf or softball teams on planes here without some help.
Schools in California have been cutting sports, so they aren't going to welcome the expenses of UH membership with open arms. An open wallet by UH, perhaps.
The scary thing is that UH, which does not currently pay travel subsidies in the WAC, could find itself forced to ante up even if it stays put. That's if it expects to have any company in the WAC.
In short, there are still a few decisions to be made to close out this latest round of realignment.
The good news is we're one week away from football season, which means basketball season is that much closer to tipping off. After the jump, I have a very long list of schedule links for your weekend.
Et Tu, Hawai'i?: Warriors Looking At Independence While The MWC And C-USA Talk
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 20, 2010 6:40 PM EDT
in Conference Realignment
2 comments
Editor's Note: A couple of thoughts popped into my mind overnight and I've added them to this post.
The WAC's future continues to be in doubt today, as they wait on BYU, and potentially Hawai'i, to determine its next move. Meanwhile, the Mountain West continues to explore its options. More after the jump.
BYU Assessing Its Options Puts The WAC's Auto Bid In Danger
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 19, 2010 5:56 PM EDT
in Conference Realignment
7 comments
Over at Mountain West Connection, there's been some talk today about the state of the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Since this topic has already come up (Andy Katz made brief mention of it in the sidebar to an ESPN story.), I wanted to explain the auto bid rules for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament for everyone, since they aren't that easy to fins on the Internet. Follow me past the jump for more.
Conference Realignment Over? BYU Says Not So Fast
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 18, 2010 7:13 PM EDT
in Conference Realignment
2 comments
Earlier today, Brigham Young University's intentions to move from the Mountain West Conference back to the Western Athletic Conference in all sports but football became public.
I'll have more on this move, it's impact on basketball, and the Mountain West's countermove after the jump.
NIT Season Tip-Off Bracket Finalized And ESPN Is Doing The Marathon Thing Again
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 16, 2010 8:45 PM EDT
in Early Season Events
1 comment
The 16 teams invited to take part in the 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off have been known for a few weeks. Today, the road to Madison Square Garden became clear with the announcement of the bracket. I have more about the field of 16, and ESPN's third annual season opening marathon (which I'm likely to try to survive again), after the jump.
Bracket Thursday, Scheduling News, And Some Housekeeping (But Not In That Order)
by Chris Dobbertean on Aug 6, 2010 6:15 PM EDT
in Early Season Events
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On Thursday, ESPNews aired a half-hour special to announce many of the early season tournament brackets. You could consider it a mini-Selection Sunday, except for the fact the event took place during the early afternoon/late morning hours of a weekday...and the fact that no bubbles were burst.
Thursday was a nice reminder of what's to come, especially as we're in the midst of the silliest of silly seasons in recent memory. Three long months still remain until the second best time of the year tips off (intriguing matchups at neutral sites will always be high on my list), but the season IS moving ever so closer.
Before I get more into early season event talk, I have a few housekeeping matters to address.
On the SBNation front, we have a new college blog and a new name for an old favorite, so it's time to update your bookmarks.
First, head over to Cowboys Ride For Free, our new Oklahoma State blog, and give Samuel and his cohorts a hearty welcome. The SBN roster for the Big 12 (soon to be minus two) is almost complete now, as only Baylor is missing.
Secondly, our Seton Hall blog has a new name (but the same management). Gonzo Ball is dead. Long live South Orange Juice! I must say I love the simplicity of the new logo, even though it looks like Otto meeting a cruel end.
As for this site, I have a new Twitter address. You can still follow me @ChrisDobbertean for my general tweets, but @CDobb_BtB_SBN is the new home of Blogging The Bracket on Twitter. With football season around the corner, expect a third account focused on that sport in the coming weeks.
In terms of the actual blog, expect things to be quiet for the next few weeks. Thanks to seemingly everyone else at my day job going through significant life changes at the same time, my team of technical editors, which stood at four on July 22, will be down to just one (yours truly) effective next Thursday, for at least a few weeks.
Since this change coincides with what's typically a busy time of year at the office, and it takes quite awhile to get new folks hired and working, my posting will be even more sporadic than it normally is during the offseason. Remember last year's epic season preview series? A reprise is not likely to happen this season.
That's enough angst for one post. After the jump, I'll have some thoughts on Bracket Thursday and a whole slew of schedule links for the upcoming season.
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