Gonzaga to Big East?

[YNot]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/sport ... coast.html

Creighton's coach also recently stated that public universities weren't off the list; he then stated that his preference is for the Big East to expand to 12 teams with Gonzaga and Wichita St.

If Gonzaga leaves for the Big East, and BYU isn't in the Big 12, BYU better be all over that!

May be BYU and Gonzaga could get St. Mary's and San Diego St. involved too.

[Expanded] BIG EAST

NORTH: Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova
EAST: Georgetown, Xavier, Butler, *VCU*
MIDWEST: Depaul, Marquette, Creighton, *Wichita St.*
WEST: *Gonzaga*, *BYU*, *St. Mary's*, *San Diego St.*

OR, move Villanova to the EAST, remove VCU, and put UCONN in the NORTH

18-game schedule, with 6 games (h-h) within your division and 12 other games (1 against each other school, rotating home-away each year). To limit costs and travel, stack the schedule so that only three 2-game road trips outside of your division.

OR, add VCU, UConn, and Cincinnati or Dayton, plus two additional MIDWEST and WEST schools

NORTH: Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, *UConn*
EAST: Georgetown, Xavier, Butler, *VCU*, *Cincinnati*
MIDWEST: Depaul, Marquette, Creighton, and *Wichita/SMU/Memphis/Tulsa*
WEST: *Gonzaga*, *BYU*, *St. Mary's*, *San Diego St.*, *Pepperdine/USF/SCU*

BYU, SDSU, UConn, Cincinnati and SMU/Memphis/Tulsa would be independent in football; but could collaborate for media deals, late-season scheduling, and bowl affiliations.

[hawkwing]

Gonzaga to the Big East is the absolute nightmare scenario for BYU.

[nuk13]

I'd rather go back to the WCC

[hawkwing]

I'd rather go back to the WCC

Do you mean MWC?

[nuk13]

I'd rather go back to the WCC

Do you mean MWC?

I'm not sure how I did that, yes the MWC. I get most of why we left the mwc but since we've been gone it seems like we're hunting a lot for a big conference. A big conference doesn't mean basketball and football will be more fun to watch. I enjoyed beating some of the schools we beat a lot. I enjoyed the tougher ones that we had to be up for. Just my 2 cents.

[YNot]

I'm not sure how I did that, yes the MWC. I get most of why we left the mwc but since we've been gone it seems like we're hunting a lot for a big conference. A big conference doesn't mean basketball and football will be more fun to watch. I enjoyed beating some of the schools we beat a lot. I enjoyed the tougher ones that we had to be up for. Just my 2 cents.

Problem with that scenario is that the MWC will not likely take BYU Olympic sports without football.

In my opinion, BYU basketball in a western division of the Big East (a bball power conference) and football independence (where we are recognized as a power opponent by most conferences) >>>>>> MWC full membership and official Group of 5 status.

[BlueK]

I'm not sure how I did that, yes the MWC. I get most of why we left the mwc but since we've been gone it seems like we're hunting a lot for a big conference. A big conference doesn't mean basketball and football will be more fun to watch. I enjoyed beating some of the schools we beat a lot. I enjoyed the tougher ones that we had to be up for. Just my 2 cents.

Problem with that scenario is that the MWC will not likely take BYU Olympic sports without football.

In my opinion, BYU basketball in a western division of the Big East (a bball power conference) and football independence (where we are recognized as a power opponent by most conferences) >>>>>> MWC full membership and official Group of 5 status.

I agree. a national conference coming out of an expansion of the current Big East could be a really good thing for BYU short of joining the Big 12. As good as Gonzaga is, I would really doubt the BE would take them by themselves. The logistics don't make a lot of sense there. But a western division might be attractive to them. The hard part there would be figuring out which teams to invite. I think you can eliminate anyone who currently plays D1 football other than BYU. Independence wouldn't make sense for almost any school other than BYU, ND or a service academy. I wish the WCC had a few more consistently good teams to make this work. St. Mary's appears to be getting stronger, so take them. I think you need one more western/midwestern team to get to 14. If they decide to open it to a public school, wichita state would be a pretty strong candidate.

East:
Villanova
Georgetown
Seton Hall
Providence
St. John's
Xavier
Butler

West:
BYU
Gonzaga
St. Mary's
Wichita State
Creighton
Marquette
DePaul

I think this would be a very strong league. You could make it work pretty well with a 16 game conference schedule -- H/H with the 6 other teams in the same division and then play 4 games against the other division, with two of those on the road and two at home. You schedule the two non-division road games the same weekend so each team only makes one long road trip per season. Big East basketball could open up to all the TV markets on the west coast as BYU and Gonzaga tend to have big followings pretty much all over the west. Rotate the conference tournament between NYC, Las Vegas and Chicago. I think this would be awesome.

[Gunk]

Gonzaga would need a "rival." I highly doubt the Big East takes Gonzaga without another western team to pair them with and of the available teams (legit programs that aren't already in a P5 conference) BYU really is the best option.

St. Mary's has no fans. Sure it's in the Bay Area, but that market has Cal and Stanford taking the lion's share of eyeballs. SJSU has more fans than St. Mary's. I lived in the Bay Area for 30 years and I can probably count on two hands the number times I saw someone walking around with a St. Mary's shirt. A lot of people in the Bay Area don't even know St. Mary's exists. So, should this new Big East conference happen, no way I see them taking St. Mary's over BYU.

[frdbtr]

BYU going back to the MWC is like a dog returning to its vomit. BYU should never go back to the MWC under any circumstance.

[Mars]

Gonzaga to the Big East is like USC to the ACC.