Gregg Marshall is getting the schedule he needs to be able to get into the dance as a respected seed if Wichita State continues to deliver as they have in the past. It was announced today that the Shockers would be moving to the American Athletic Conference for the 2017-18 season. This allows the AAC to add a all sports but Football member to raise that number to 12 schools since they have a 12th football school in Navy. Going to be interesting to see how things play out now that the Shockers are going to have that tougher conference schedule to deliver against every year.
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/19101126/american-athletic...
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
I can't be the only one thinking it:
To think that conference went from a superpower with Nova, UConn, Cuse, WVU, GTown, ND, etc in basketball paired with Miami, Cuse, Pitt, VT, WVU, in football to a football conference whose highest profile team is ECU or Houston and a basketball conference that is desperate to take a team from Kansas just to remain relevant... I know the Big East still exists as a basketball-only league, but man... what a complete fall from grace.
They're really going to be racking up those frequent flyer miles in their new conference. How on earth are they going to keep their athletic department in the black with so many travel expenses?
Not sure, but their challenge is less than what WVU faces by being in the Big12.
I could see them being in a division with: SMU, Houston, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, Wichita State
Other Division would be: UConn, ECU, South Florida, Cincinnati, Temple, Central Florida
Play your division twice a year and the other side once a year or something like that.
the AAC already announced they're sticking with an 18 game conference schedule. 7 home & homes, and four single meetings (implying 2H, 2A) . Not sure there's any reason to have divisions in a basketball conference, just rotate that format through the entire league year by year.
It would make sense to maximize the number of home-and-homes that are shorter distances, in which case divisions still make sense. Just have 2 rotating series against the other division.
Reason I was suggesting that format was based on the comment about travel above. They essentially have an East coast group and a Midwest group by geography. Otherwise, travel will be a major concern dollars wise compared to the MVC where they were playing.
JENN!
Leg for Batdad reference