PrimalCookie

30 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Would UTEP leave CUSA for MTN West?

 

Absolutely, and if I'm not mistaken they've tried in the past. However, the MWC has never shown any interest in adding them.

Expanding based on markets and nothing else is what made C-USA the hollow husk it is today. If I'm the AAC I want proven success and/or large fanbases above everything else, and the first four that come to mind are UAB, Appalachian State, Marshall, and Army (who won't accept, even with Navy in the conference, but it's worth a try). After that I don't know - FAU maybe? Southern Miss? Liberty?

I think the first three adds would be a slam dunk, as would Army if they can somehow get them, but the problem is there isn't really a fourth option that pops off the pages. I can't see them poaching the Mountain West aside from maybe Air Force if they get Army, but no one in the MWC makes even a little sense geographically for the American (and, aside from Boise State and San Diego State, no one really makes sense competition-wise either).

I can't imagine Wichita State is very happy with their current situation. They left their longtime home in the Missouri Valley to become the only non-football member in a football-centric conference that's now losing it's three most valuable members. Where do they even go from here? They're in a much worse position now than if they'd never left the MVC. 

On 9/10/2021 at 10:39 PM, See Red said:

 

I would be surprised if the SEC didn't go with a pods + annual rivalry setup. Sankey's already acknowledged they need to rotate schools to different campuses with greater frequency, which simply isn't possible by keeping the current structure after expansion.  Best setup I've seen is four pods of four teams.

 

A. Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri

B. Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Tennessee

C. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky

D. LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas

 

Each school would have one annual rival from each other pod.  This gets every school to every stadium at least once every six years, compared to the current setup where Florida hasn't played at Auburn since 2011 and won't for a while. 

 

Whatever two pods play eachother in a given year become a de facto division. 

 

Or do the same thing but with no permanent outside of pod opponents. Then you go to 9 conference games and do rotational divisions:

- Odd years: A and D, B and C (East/West)

- Even years: A and C, B and D (Outer/Inner)

The final 2 games come from the pods that will never be matched together in a division, in this case A and B and C and D.

With that system, everyone plays everyone in 2 years, and hosts everyone in 4 years. Georgia and Auburn will cry about losing their annual game, but it'll still happen every other year and it's best for the conference as a whole.

SEC Network proposed pods identical to yours except Texas A&M and Arkansas were swapped (the reasoning was that makes it so every pod has 2 traditional powers except for B), but if I were the SEC I'd swap Arkansas with Missouri, putting all the former SWC teams together (and Oklahoma, because you can't split them from Texas).

This article says the other schools considered by the Big 12 aside from the ones being invited were Boise State, Memphis, SMU and USF. So I assume if anyone else bails (which I don’t see happening at this point) it would be one of those four, probably Memphis.

54 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Are the serious discussions on the part of the Big 8 or the schools themselves? The Big 8 can have all the discussions they want, but the schools they’re trying to woo hold all the cards. 

All reports right now are saying these discussions are on the Big 8's part. However, I don't see any reason why the AAC teams being invited would say no. Worst case scenario the Big 12 collapses and they end up in basically the same situation that they are now but with a different conference name. BYU's a different story, because they've been making it work as a football independent and WCC everything else, but I still think the allure of being in a power conference will do the trick.

UCF and Houston were in this exact situation in 2013 when they joined the Big East on its deathbed, so I imagine a lot of their leadership is feeling some deja vu right now.

I'm a bit surprised the Texas schools would be okay with Houston (I was expecting Memphis over them) but this combination of schools are the Big 12's best path to long term survival IMO, so good move if this turns out to be what they do.

The Power 5 is dead, long live the Power 1.

This would be the finishing blow for college sports as we know it. Unfortunately for us, no amount of fan backlash will be strong enough to kill this Super League like it killed the European one.

6 minutes ago, heavybass said:

So where does this leave:

Kansas State
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
Baylor
TCU
West Virginia

The most obvious of all of these is West Virginia to the ACC. As for the other 5, I think at least 2 (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) end up in the Pac-12, maybe Baylor and TCU as well but those are unlikely because IIRC the Pac has a long standing "no religious schools" policy. Kansas State is the most screwed out of everyone, and will probably have to accept life as a member of the AAC.

43 minutes ago, heavybass said:

We definetly  be seeing the death of the Big 12 conference within the next week.
 

 

Iowa State as well

I feel bad for TCU in particular. They spent all that time trying to join a power conference and once they finally broke through and got in one it promptly collapsed a few years later.
 

IMO them, Baylor, and Kansas State are the 3 schools that should be the most worried about being left without a seat when the music stops, as if the Big Ten or Pac-12 don’t want them (which I’d consider likely) their best option left is the American. Yikes.

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Granted a lot can happen in 10 years but before the last round of expansion, there wasn't anything requiring them to be in the same conference.

 

Now this is what I've been waiting for, FBS expansion shenanigans.

 

If this happens, what happens to the Big XII. Do they implode or do they go after some AAC teams to get back to 10 or even 12? 

I'm thinking implosion, because with the SEC going to 16 I don't see the other conferences being fine staying at 14. Kansas and Iowa State to the Big Ten (they fit geographically and are the only AAU members available for the taking), West Virginia to the ACC along with Notre Dame finally giving up and becoming a football member, and as for the other 5 who knows, maybe they poach a whole bunch of top G5 programs and start a constant debate on whether the "New Big 12" is a power conference or not. 

2 hours ago, SpenserRM said:

It's July 12th, 2021 and I am still asking the Orlando Magic to bring back the 90s pinstripes full time. 

This, but change the number font to the one used on the most recent City jerseys, which fixed the 9 (and presumably the 6 as well, but I don’t think anyone wore a number with 6 last year so who knows for sure).

4 hours ago, DNAsports said:

A “BENGALS” helmet and nothing less

 

They’re probably going to do a White Tiger helmet to match the rest of the CR set and I’m all for it. 

Let's all brace ourselves for the Seahawks in green from head to toe.

45 minutes ago, upperV03 said:

Another fantastic matchup between Germany and Portugal, with both teams looking exactly as they should:

 

This is shaping up to be the best looking day of the tournament thus far, and Spain/Poland should be pretty nice as well (though Poland will likely change to white shorts).

Early contender for best looking game of the tournament. 

6 hours ago, Sport said:

I don't know why everyone keeps searching for other reasons when this very large, very valid reason explains the entirety of the problem. 

Because they start with the predetermined conclusion that baseball in Tampa Bay (or Florida as a whole) is inherently doomed to fail and then work backwards from there.

On 5/23/2021 at 12:20 AM, SSmith48 said:

It doesn't help that their City uniform, for as much as I kind of enjoyed it, looks almost exactly like a stock car/NASCAR scheme.

Which is funny, because Love's has been a sponsor in NASCAR for a long time but their cars don't look anything like that jersey.

I really like Atlanta, Chicago/LA/Brooklyn are alright, Miami never should've seen the light of day.

20 hours ago, QCS said:

I preferred when clicking the circle next to it would do that.

Wait, you can do that?

I've been on here for close to 5 years and I never knew that was a thing. That's so convenient. Thanks, lol.

9 hours ago, mjd77 said:

 

Maybe the sale had something to do with the fact that the players on said jerseys are likely no longer on the team.

Nope. They've already done the clearance firesale of the Vooch/Gordon/Fournier jerseys, these were all Bamba/Isaac/Fultz/Ross.

1 minute ago, Conrad. said:

I wouldn't look too far into any Statement jerseys going on sale this offseason. 

...oh. Well that’s unfortunate.

On 5/18/2021 at 12:45 PM, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

Hopefully they return back to the old pinstriped blues.

These were their best jerseys in the set, and possibly the best since the original pinstripes.

I hope they bring those back as well.

Unrelated (and slightly depressing) side note - 4 of the 5 players in that picture no longer play for the Magic, and the one that still does didn't see the floor at all last season.

I like pretty much everything about the redesign except how everything is now off to the left with a giant gray block on the right of the screen. It'd look a lot better centered, although I understand that's probably not possible due to the "post stats" or whatever at the top right.

On 5/18/2021 at 1:57 PM, WSU151 said:

 

Were they Jordan Statements or Nike? That tripped me up about the Lakers' sale. 

I think both? I didn't pay attention to that, so you may be right.

I forgot to say it here earlier, but at the final Magic home game of the year they were selling the Statement and City jerseys 50% off AND buy one get one free. Obviously the City jersey won’t be around next year, but it’s interesting that the Statement ones were also in that promotion. This was the second year of the current blue jerseys with the weird rectangle panels, so I’d expect a new one for next season.