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DCDuck

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Posts posted by DCDuck

  1. Not every new graduate from a Big Ten institution moves back home with his/her parents back in their hometown (as the economy may indicate), they migrate all across the country. If not that, they relocate across the country and still follow their alma mater.

    But again, that's true of graduates of just about every conference, not just the Big Ten.

    That doesn't say anything about whether Maryland or Virginia would make a more attractive candidate for expansion.

  2. But here's the secret: the Big Ten doesn't need Maryland to get into DC. Just like they don't need Rutgers to get into New York. The current Big Ten schools have such large expatriate communities in those two cities that they have pre-existing footholds in the college sports consciences of those cities.

    ... except nobody here gives two farts about the Big Ten except for Big Ten alumni (but then you could say that about any conference). The Big Ten is a decidedly Midwestern conference, whereas DC is a decidedly Mid-Atlantic (some would say Southern despite its strong progressive bearings) city. DC doesn't care about college football. That's part of the reason Maryland football has struggled to fill Byrd Stadium even during the early Fridge years when they were ranked in the top-10.

    And if what you claim is true about the Big Ten not needing Maryland or Rutgers to expand influence to the Eastern Seaboard, then why would the Big Ten even consider expansion at all?

  3. PS. It's cute that Maryland thinks its Penn State's biggest rival in football. Is this kind of like how Illinois views Michigan?

    First off, I never said Maryland was Penn State's biggest rival, I said Penn State was Maryland's biggest rival. There's a difference.

    Second, who do people in the DMV care about if not Maryland? Virginia? Two hours away from DC. Georgetown? They play football in the Patriot League. Virginia Tech? Nobody around here even knows where Blacksburg is, let alone drives down there for games.

    This isn't the same Virginia that was ranked year-in and year-out during the 90s and early 2000s. This Virginia has trouble generating enough interest for even regional TV coverage (living in Richmond for three years, I can recall exactly three times that Virginia had a football game on TV that wasn't broadcast on ESPN).

    Maryland controls the DMV in terms of college sports. Georgetown comes in second. Virginia isn't even on the radar here.

  4. Because Virginia is likely a better get than most of those schools you just named. Virginia is a major state school in a large-ish and growing state, which means it commands a sizable resource base the Big Ten would like to get. Additionally, while football and basketball is not convincingly the best-supported program there, there is better growth potential for the football and basketball teams than you would see at a place like Rutgers or Maryland.

    Virginia plays second-fiddle to Virginia Tech because of their perception not only in the Commonwealth but nationally. UVa is seen as a school full of rich white kids who play soft in football and can't get their act together in basketball. In terms of student enrollment, UVa is something like sixth behind George Mason, VCU, Old Dominion, Virginia Tech and James Madison. UVa's academics are top-notch, yes, but since when was any of this realignment nonsense focused on academics?

    Nobody in Virginia cares about the Big Ten. The SEC? Sure. But in the South (and Virginia is no doubt a "southern" state), the perception of the Big Ten is one of entitled kids who play second-rate football.

    Maryland is located in a media gold mine, located between DC and Baltimore and commanding both markets. They have far more prestige in basketball and a higher ceiling for growth in football (remember: UnderArmour CEO Kevin Plank is like their personal ATM machine). If AD Kevin Anderson could ever get his act together and stop firing good coaches for "great" ones like Randy Edsall, Maryland has the potential to be a powerhouse in at least a half-dozen sports. Heck, in the past ten years they've won National Championships in Men's BB, Women's BB, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, and have been pounding at the door in Men's Lacrosse for at least the past fifteen years.

    Oh, and Maryland's biggest rival in football already plays in the Big Ten (Penn State).

  5. Those political forces would be satisfied by a hypothetical Virginia Tech to the SEC, Virginia to the Big Ten scenario.

    Why would the Big Ten want Virginia when they could have Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Pittsburgh instead? Virginia is far, far down the list of possible expansion candidates. Nobody wants a school where the two biggest sports on campus are baseball and lacrosse, even if the academics are top-tier. Why do you think Rice has been left out in the cold by both the Big XII and the Big East?

  6. Why does everyone keep saying VT to the SEC? Virginia Tech is handcuffed to Virginia. There are powerful political forces keeping the two of them joined at the hip, and the SEC would have no interest in adding both.

    Realignment is dumb. I just thought I'd put that out there. This whole thing is dumb.

    Florida State really wants to be in the SEC. The Big XII would be their silver medal. The same is true for West Virginia. Incidentally, Mizzou really wants to be in the Big Ten. The SEC is their silver medal.

  7. Legitimate question:

    Why not let the big schools in football have power conferences FOR FOOTBALL, whilst maintaining regional & historic rivalries for olympic sports? Because it can't be advantageous for, well anyone, to have to send, say, the womens water polo team halfway across the country just to play a conference game.

    It's harder to negotiate how (or if) to split football revenue among non-football members of a given conference.

  8. I didn't think it was gonna be that quick. I'm starting to wonder if something's going on in the CAA?

    Nothing is going on, but the CAA has a clause that lets them ban any school that plans to leave from the conference tournament.

    15 is a hell of an awkward number to work with.

    Seadragon that's kind of funny - except VCU was one of only five programs (out of 343) in D1 to sell out every home game last season.

  9. If the CAA exit fee is only $250K, how much NCAA Tournament money is VCU leaving on the table since the CAA uses a formula for distributing shares based on regular season champions, CAA tournament Champions, and NCAA/NIT performance? The Final Four shares are paid out over six years.

    We're giving up approximately $800k per year to make the jump.

    I for one am not thrilled about the move. All of the hype surrounding the A-14 (14 teams - prestige of BCS affiliation = A-14) depends on Butler returning to the back-to-back National Championship Game form they had a couple seasons ago with three NBA players on their roster, Xavier not taking a step back, and all of those other programs making significant strides. And even then, all of the teams will just beat up on each other. Think of what goes on in the NFC East, only in college basketball.

    The VCU-TICK rivalry will be the same, only it will be played twice a season instead of just once. UR has no fan base, so that rivalry is only intense when the TICKS play at VCU.

  10. Air Force Falcons (NCAAF)

    I really love how they play. The triple option is fun to watch and their defense is aggressive. It's worth noting that all players at Service Academies have to go through boot camp and conform to US Armed Forces fitness standards - that means no players over 265 lbs. Of course, that means players on the offensive and defensive lines are always playing at a weight disadvantage compared to teams they play against. But that's what makes me root for them all the more.

    VCU Rams

    Class of 2011.

    Even then, I love how they play the game. Intense, full-court defense for 40 minutes. Shaka Smart calls it "Havoc". It's fun, exciting, and means that a score is never "out of reach" as long as there is time on the clock.

    Washington Natinals

    Natinals. No "o". But yeah, I live in the District. They play in the District.

    Washington Redskins

    Growing up in the '90s the Redskins/Cowboys rivalry actually meant something. Now the Skins are a farce owned by a petty miser with the maturity level of a seventh-grader who sics lawyers on anyone who dares to report the truth.

    But I still hold out hope. Some day, the Skins will return to being one of the NFL's most revered and respected franchises instead of being a punch line.

    Oklahoma City Thunder

    Eric Maynor: VCU, Class of 2009. Also known as "The Dagger".

    Washington Capitals

    Because they're the only pro team in DC that has had success in recent years.

  11. It isn't the fact that Mizzou left, it's the fact that a year ago they pledged their loyalty to a 10-team Big XII.

    Could you really blame Kansas for being bitter towards Mizzou if the Big XII folded and KU had to join the Mountain West for football and the Missouri Valley for all non-football sports following the Tigers' departuer?

  12. The problem is non conference match ups are decided years in advance, so it will take a few years to get these meetings up again.

    I say the NCAA should step in and mandate Texas and A&M, KU-Mizzou and Pitt-WV continue their rivalry no matter what.

    Not gonna happen. WVU's already got two out-of-conference rivalries to maintain (Maryland, which is actually a good competitive rivalry, and Marshall, which is pretty much mandated by the governor of West Virginia). TAMU probably won't play UT if they know the game will be broadcast on the Failhorn Network. And KU-Mizzou probably won't happen with the way Mizzou departed the Big XII.

  13. Hawaii is going to trade an upgrade in football for a downgrade in every other sport.

    And an upgrade in travel savings. Say goodbye to trips to Ruston, Louisiana WOOF.

    "No, we're not ever going to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament playing in the Big West... but at least we saved some money."

    The selection committee doesn't exactly look kindly on the WAC and hasn't for some time if I recall Utah State's past bubble troubles. Hawaii basketball isn't that good anyway (4 NCAA bids lifetime-3 of the autobid variety), why chain yourself to a WAC that is shifting to the center of the US?

    Utah State had an at-large bid as recently as 2010. The WAC has received multiple bids five times in the past ten years, in fact. Utah State tends to get a raw deal from the Selection Committee because of Stew Morrill's abject refusal to play anyone decent outside of conference.

    But that's not football.

    What IS football is that Hawaii will end up playing in a raided Mtn. with even less TV exposure than they have now. I guess Wyoming and San Diego State are upgrades over Utah State and Louisiana Tech.

    But worth the downgrade in all other sports? Meh...

  14. Speaking of the Big Sky, what are the chances of Idaho admitting defeat and moving back down there? Let's face it, other than two trips to the Humanitarian Bowl spaced over a decade apart, they've been completely outmatched in FBS football. Their stadium is a dump and way too small, and their appeal is hyperlocal at best. They're only in the FBS because they begged the Idaho State BoE to be allowed to move up along with Boise State. There's no shame in Idaho moving back down to a level where they can have success and be competitive - to the contrary, there's more shame in staying in the FBS and getting boatraced pretty much every year.

    eastern-michigan-eagles-primary-logo-4-primary.jpg

    "Take us with?"

  15. @ spleen: Student enrollment has nothing to do with student support or suitability for an athletic conference. Take the state of Virginia for example. VCU is the largest school in the state by undergraduate enrollment (32,000+), followed by George Mason and Old Dominion. Virginia Tech is fifth in the state by enrollment, while UVA is eighth. Yet those two schools are the only relevant ones when it comes to college football (which is the only thing that matters, otherwise we'd be talking about Baylor to the SEC or Tulane to the Big XII or something).

    Have you ever been to PSU? It's absolutely huge. Maybe not bigger than Oregon as in area wise, but that's because UO is more spread out. Plus, it's the only university in a big city. If they got an on campus stadium, they could do it.

    The same goes for VCU and ODU, which are really the only two urban campuses in the state commonwealth of Virginia.

    My point is that campus population has little bearing on what actually goes on in the athletic department. Old Dominion is located right smack in the middle of a fairly large market that has no major professional teams in a 2-hour radius and is hungry for college football. Yet the fact of the matter is that they aren't going to be moving anywhere anytime soon for a number of reasons, one of which is the fact that the governor of Virginia carries what Teddy Roosevelt called "a big stick" - and departing the CAA or the ACC carries the risk of incurring the wrath of that big stick. Remember: former governor Mark Warner pretty much strong-armed the ACC into taking Virginia Tech instead of Syracuse during the first round of ACC expansion.

    Also Portland State isn't Boise State. Last I checked, they weren't exactly setting the world on fire in the Big Sky standings.

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