Author Topic: Conference Shake Up!  (Read 1102 times)

RecoveringHillbilly

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Re: Conference Shake Up!
« Reply #30 on: May 08, 2013, 03:27:03 am »
Someone had mentioned here MAC in non-FB sports, but that's not allowed long-term. The MAC let UB join in every sport but football for 1 season to give us another year to complete stadium expansion. The MAC is all about affiliates so SBU could easily join as #14 to balance UMass (moving BGSU to MAC West FB) and leaving other sports wherever. Moving to full member could wait until there is another school interested in joining fully. UMass isn't, with the A-10 still strong.

Yep seawolf97 we got UTEP once and have a 2-2 deal with Baylor that's cool. They came here a few years ago and their traveling crowd was great. We play them in Waco this year then host next fall. We've also hosted/host: Syracuse ('04), Pitt ('09, '12), UConn ('00, '02, '03, '11, '13), Rutgers ('01, '05), and a long H-H deal with Army visting often ('09, '14, '16, '18). We will host Boston College in 2015 or 2016 as well. We get these deals due to a 30K seat stadium and Buffalo-Niagara Int'l Aiport being a 15 Min drive away. So based on that SBU could get all those same teams from time to time. Even if SBU could not get an 'AQ' team to Suffolk Cnty a home game at CITI/Yankee would likely draw AQ looks in a 1-1 or 2-1 deal.

To iBOsbu, the MAC appears worse than it is in RPI because the West schools who can't get anything right like NIU and EMU drag us down. East teams have won 11 of the last 13 titles. Playing our tournament at an NBA arena is very cool with title games drawing 9K-12K fans.
*Ohio is the top program right now, getting over 10K to their games and being ranked at times in the Top 25. In 2010 as the MAC's 9th seed they won the MAC bid, then upset Georgetown a #2 seed. In 2012 they won another bid, upset Michigan and USF to reach the Sweet 16.
*Akron hasn't won tournament games in its 3 recent trips but is a strong mid-major which reached the top 25 last season.
*Kent St had a string of 10 straight years with 20+ wins, with a tournament win vs Indiana in 2001, then being ranked and reaching the Elite 8 in 2002.
*Those programs have been UB's foil as we had a string of 17-20 win seasons only to just miss in 2 title games, not dissimilar to SBU's story.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2013, 03:45:12 am by RecoveringHillbilly »