RE: Notre Dame and Realignment

[Shinkle, Randy]

OK, another week has passed, and another scenario has reportedly moved to the front (the "Gavitt" plan), this time preserving all of the remaining Big East, according to the Enquirer and other sources.  A few things I don't like about this one:

  - The split between football and non-football schools is incomplete, since (at least in basketball) there would apparently be crossover conference games, resulting in an 18 game schedule.  But now we're back to playing some conference members twice, some once and some not at all in a given season.

  - Notre Dame reportedly wants to disrupt the football/non-football divisional split by playing other sports with the football members, in particular UConn.  This would force one football member to move to the non-football division.  Who would want to do that?  Maybe Temple, if they're included.

  - A conference of 8 football members yields a 7 game schedule, with a home-away imbalance each year.

While I continue to have long-term concerns about a large, mixed-bag alignment, if it's going to happen anyway, a little more creative thinking can address these problems.  Consider what the Big East becomes without Boston College, Miami and Syracuse:
  - 5 non-football:  Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova
  - 5 football:  Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
  - Notre Dame, who wants to play with the football schools but not play football

My preference is to add to this group 4 football schools:
  - Cincinnati
  - Louisville
  - Memphis
  - either East Carolina, South Florida, Temple or ????

Now you have 15 members, 9 of which play football, which is best for scheduling.  Since an 18 game basketball schedule is already being considered, you can divide the 15 schools into 3 groups (*not* divisions) of 5, perhaps like this:
  - Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova (same as above)
  - Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Rutgers, West Virginia
  - Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Virginia Tech, #15 (see candidates above)

Each team plays the others in its group twice and everyone else once.  Notre Dame is (conceivably) happy, and the additions from C-USA stay together.  The regular season basketball champion goes directly to Madison Square Garden for the tourney and is met by the winners of the first round games (#15 at #2, #14 at #3, etc.) played at campus sites.

I like this better than the current "hot" option, but not as well as a homogeneous 9 or 12 team conference.

Randy '78


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shinkle, Randy 
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 4:42 PM
> To: Bearcat Forum (E-mail)
> Subject: [UC Basketball] Notre Dame and Realignment
>
>
> Surprisingly, it appears Notre Dame is likely to side with 
> the football playing schools of the Big East, as opposed to 
> joining the rumored "Catholic" conference.  Read this:
>
> http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2003/05/30/sports.2003
> 0530-sbt-MARS-B1-Notre_Dame.sto
>
> So, how does this sound for a revised Big East conference?
>
>     Cincinnati
>     Connecticut
>     Louisville
>     Memphis (or Temple, or ...)
>     Notre Dame (everything but football)
>     Pittsburgh
>     Rutgers
>     Virginia Tech
>     West Virginia
>
> That's 8 for football, 9 for basketball (and everything 
> else).  Maybe Army could come along for football to balance 
> Notre Dame.  On the other hand, having a space ready and 
> waiting for Notre Dame (in case they ever change their mind 
> on football independence) may be the smartest move.
>
> I didn't think this was a possibility, but it looks great to 
> me.  I'd like to see Memphis included, but taking Temple 
> instead would make for better geography.
>
> This is *really* getting interesting.
>
> Randy '78