Big East or CUSA?

So, after yesterday’s news, I have been reading responses by Niner Nation and many people are saying they wouldn’t accept a Big East invite or are looking down on ECU. I still feel like Big East is not a bad option. I wanted to start a thread to discuss just this in terms of where Niner Nation thinks Charlotte should be? I want to take a look at the conference as a whole (All sports). I ask because I think football is similar between the two and basketball in Big East is still very respectable.

I think the main things to take into consideration is:

[ul][li]Football[/li]
[li]Basketball[/li]
[li]Other Sports[/li]
[li]Geography[/li][/ul]

Add your two cents about how you think the conferences will hold up if you would like as well, but please make sure to tie in where you think Charlotte should be.

With ECU and Tulane out of CUSA this is what the two conferences look like now. This is assuming rumors about L’ville leaving for ACC are correct. It also is how the conferences should look in 2015 since we won’t be playing FBS football until then.

CUSA

[ul][li]Rice[/li]
[li]Southern Miss[/li]
[li]Tulsa[/li]
[li]UAB[/li]
[li]UTEP[/li]
[li]Marshall[/li]
[li]La Tech[/li]
[li]FIU[/li]
[li]North Texas[/li]
[li]ODU[/li]
[li]Texas-San Antonio[/li][/ul]

Big East

[ul][li]Cincy[/li]
[li]UConn[/li]
[li]Temple[/li]
[li]USF[/li]
[li]Navy[/li]
[li]Boise State (Football Only)[/li]
[li]Houston[/li]
[li]Memphis[/li]
[li]SMU[/li]
[li]UCF[/li]
[li]ECU[/li]
[li]Tulane[/li]
[li]San Diego State[/li]
[li]Villanova (No Football)[/li]
[li]DePaul (No Football)[/li]
[li]Georgetown (No Football)[/li]
[li]Marquette (No Football)[/li]
[li]Providence (No Football)[/li]
[li]Seaton Hall (No Football)[/li]
[li]St. Johns (No Football)[/li][/ul]

Please tell me if I’m missing someone in the lists above.

Big East and CUSA are on the same level for bowl eligibility. I feel like competition is better in Big East as far as football goes when you look at it top to bottom. And basketball is way better. I am not excited about CUSA basketball one bit. Not to mention Big East’s TV contract. Many have speculated that that contract will go away, but they still have good quality basketball and offer more money than CUSA. Now with ECU there we have a regional rival there as well.

I would jump at Big East invite knowing we probably don’t have a shot anytime soon at something better.

Big East, and it isn’t even close.

I think this is a good question, but IMHO the answer isn’t as simple as just C-USA or Big East. I don’t believe that the Big East can continue in its current form. With the next round of defections (at least 1 and possible 3 or 4 schools today), the Big East isn’t much better than C-USA will be. Essentially, it IS C-USA football, but the basketball league is not the BE of old. And on top of that, there is no more AQ bowl spot from the BE; they are now on equal footing with every other conference. The draw of the Big East is still $$$, but how are they going to leverage a good TV deal when it is C-USA under a new name?

I really think the Catholics are going to band together, raid the A-10, and form a new league. SDSU and Boise are gone. L’Ville, Cincy, UConn are gone.

What’s left:

Temple
USF
SMU
Navy
Houston
Memphis
UCF
ECU
Tulane

Is that a sustainable league? In my mind, the answer is no. And so if this remnants league disbands, we are set up to try to form a new league, and I think that is our best bet. No guarantees that we would be a part of it, but we’ll definitely have a shot because of our size and TV market.

So for now, our best bet is to stay in C-USA, with our eyes wide open and our ears to the ground.

The Big East of tomorrow (2015) might well end up worse than our CUSA.

You can not look at the Big East of today and say you want to be there because the reality is the Big East of today is not an option.

I am happy that we will be FBS. I am happy all our sports will be together. I am not going to judge our success by the other members of our conference. Likewise, my support for our programs will not change due to our conference affiliation. If you are less interested in Charlotte after this news…shame on you.

Is it bad that I’m liking CUSA right now for the potential road trips?
Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio beat Philly, Cincy and uconn (I will miss Tulane for NOLA).
Sports wise, I would rather play in the big east for the old rivalries and the Sun Dolls.

I would agree, but then I remember people are seeing the Big East name only and maybe not realizing it isn’t the same league anymore. I mean, there IS a reason so many teams are dying to LEAVE the Big East, right? Sure, the money may be better now, but who knows how long that will last.

I would agree, but then I remember people are seeing the Big East name only and maybe not realizing it isn’t the same league anymore. I mean, there IS a reason so many teams are dying to LEAVE the Big East, right? Sure, the money may be better now, but who knows how long that will last.[/quote]The teams dying to leave the Big East have established themselves at FBS level and have an opportunity at BCS. We don’t. For us it’s looking at two FBS conferences sitting outside of the top 5.

[quote=“ChevEE, post:2, topic:27176”]Big East and CUSA are on the same level for bowl eligibility. I feel like competition is better in Big East as far as football goes when you look at it top to bottom. And basketball is way better. I am not excited about CUSA basketball one bit. Not to mention Big East’s TV contract. Many have speculated that that contract will go away, but they still have good quality basketball and offer more money than CUSA. Now with ECU there we have a regional rival there as well.

I would jump at Big East invite knowing we probably don’t have a shot anytime soon at something better.[/quote]

Agreed on all points.

Seconded. Look at those basketball schools.

Big East and it isn’t close if it’s for all sports.

[quote=“2k, post:11, topic:27176”]Big East and it isn’t close if it’s for all sports.[/quote]So, you would take BE for football only?

+1

[quote=“ChevEE, post:12, topic:27176”][quote=“2k, post:11, topic:27176”]Big East and it isn’t close if it’s for all sports.[/quote]So, you would take BE for football only?[/quote]I don’t think so, I don’t want to be in the CAA, SoCon or Atlantic Sun for our olympic sports. We should have just stayed in A10 if that’s the case.

The only real edge that the BE will have is basketball. Let’s be honest UL, UConn, and Cincy are bolting at the first chance if they haven’t already signed on somewhere already. Memphis is likely not far behind. If the basketball schools stay, the money would be better there for that reason alone and I’d be more open to that, but honestly, after those main 3 leave the conference, football will be fairly equivalent, or at least not even a huge gap, and as mentioned the BE will not have the AQ status.

Already announced this morning that Louisville is headed to the ACC: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8685541/acc-votes-add-louisville-cardinals-source-says

The “Basketball First” conferences, i.e. the ACC and Big East, are doomed in the new college football landscape. They may survive in some form, but they will be (or in the ACC’s case, become) second tier conferences. CUSA may be a third tier conference, but it will be a LOT closer to the Big East than say the Big East will ever be to the SEC or B1G 10. Plus, we are going to get some cut of the FBS playoff payouts. It wont be huge, but it will be much larger than whatever we would have gotten from basketball staying in the A10. Make no mistake about it, the A10 was a disaster for our athletics program - and if we had stayed would have continued to be a disaster.

[quote=“upperdeck, post:5, topic:27176”]The Big East of tomorrow (2015) might well end up worse than our CUSA.

You can not look at the Big East of today and say you want to be there because the reality is the Big East of today is not an option.

I am happy that we will be FBS. I am happy all our sports will be together. I am not going to judge our success by the other members of our conference. Likewise, my support for our programs will not change due to our conference affiliation. If you are less interested in Charlotte after this news…shame on you.[/quote]

This.

I would agree, but then I remember people are seeing the Big East name only and maybe not realizing it isn’t the same league anymore. I mean, there IS a reason so many teams are dying to LEAVE the Big East, right? Sure, the money may be better now, but who knows how long that will last.[/quote]The teams dying to leave the Big East have established themselves at FBS level and have an opportunity at BCS. We don’t. For us it’s looking at two FBS conferences sitting outside of the top 5.[/quote]

These are also the teams we were conference partners with less than 8 years ago…Who’s to say we aren’t doing what they’re doing in another couple years (or less).

I think a lot of folks have a hard time separating what the Big East used to be from what the Big East is going to be in 2014. UConn, UL and maybe even Cincy will be gone. Not sure what Boise St. and SDSU would get from being in a non-AQ east coast conference. All they’re doing is wrapping the lower half of CUSA 1.0 up with Temple and a few basketball-only schools and calling it the Big East instead of CUSA.