Big Ten to push for 12th team

Donate To GopherHole

Interesting. I was hoping they might name possible teams.

I wonder though if they might want to wait to see what happens with the playoff thing. It's quite possible a smaller conference might have the advantage in a playoff format.
 


awesome

Two divisions, one less non conference game, Big ten championship for the Rosebowl.

Eastern division
OSU
MSU
Michigan
Indiana
PennState
Purdue

Midwest division
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Notre Dame

Championship game rotating Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit. What fun that would be! If ND doesn't in, see about Kansas or Kansas St. Maybe a MAC school wants in.
 

StartGrayPlz said:
They should get Pitt.
Click to expand...

TV shares, academic fit, and geographic location are the 3 big drivers. Pitt doesn't give them any market share they don't already have via PSU. I'm unfamiliar with Pitt as a research school so I can't comment if they meet the 2nd criteria or not. Regionally they make sense since they end up being as far away as PSU basically.

In the end, there is only 1 school that fits completely and that is ND. Which isn't going to happen. Which then leaves suspect 2nd choices who all have at least 1 strike against them in the above criteria. Not saying it doesn't happen without ND. But it sure does make predicting the potential 12th school way more wide open!

I think the only thing you can be sure of is that it won't be a MAC school.
 


gopherjay said:
Two divisions, one less non conference game, Big ten championship for the Rosebowl.

Eastern division
OSU
MSU
Michigan
Indiana
PennState
Purdue

Midwest division
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Notre Dame

Championship game rotating Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit. What fun that would be! If ND doesn't in, see about Kansas or Kansas St. Maybe a MAC school wants in.
Click to expand...
I like it, but I'd wager the Big Ten would like to have a presence in Chicago. I can't see them playing their championship game in anyplace other than a dome though.
 


It's really hard to find a team that benefits us as much as we benefit them. Maybe Cincy?? Do they improve their lot if they switch? Are their any MAC teams able and ready for the next step that add anything to the Big Ten? Would a big 12 team ever jump conferences? It all sounds good, but the difficulty in finding the right team has to be darn near impossible. I did find it interesting when they said they'd looked at possiblities from all over the country. I had always believed an incoming team had to be in an adjoining state.
 

Schnoodler said:
It's really hard to find a team that benefits us as much as we benefit them. Maybe Cincy?? Do they improve their lot if they switch? Are their any MAC teams able and ready for the next step that add anything to the Big Ten? Would a big 12 team ever jump conferences? It all sounds good, but the difficulty in finding the right team has to be darn near impossible. I did find it interesting when they said they'd looked at possiblities from all over the country. I had always believed an incoming team had to be in an adjoining state.
Click to expand...

I believe Cincy was (is?) a Research I school, but I don't know if it's overall academic profile currently fits what the Big Ten wants. Great geographic fit but no real TV share gain since it is 2nd fiddle to OSU in Ohio. It would make for an interesting life in my house since my wife is a Cincy grad and is from there. :)
 



gopherjay said:
Two divisions, one less non conference game, Big ten championship for the Rosebowl.

Eastern division
OSU
MSU
Michigan
Indiana
PennState
Purdue

Midwest division
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Notre Dame

Championship game rotating Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit. What fun that would be! If ND doesn't in, see about Kansas or Kansas St. Maybe a MAC school wants in.
Click to expand...

My bias:

Push into the huge Eastern/NYC media market with Syracuse in the BT-East.

Move MSU to BT-West.

Otherwise, a perfect setup...until the next expansion round to a dynamic 14-team/2-div power megaconference around 2016. Possible candidates for two slots: ND, Pittsburg, Rutgers, Missouri, Kansas.
 

Notre Dame, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, and Cornell are the front runners last I heard. The reason is they want Notre Dame (for obvious reasons), or an eastern school that can represent a large media market.

As long as the school plays hockey, I'm cool with it.
 

I would think Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt and Cincinnati would all give good exposure to new markets and are not too much of a stretch geographically. It would be a step up for Cincinatti or Louisville. Lateral move for Missouri or Vanderbilt and wouldn't make much sense. Vanderbilt has excellent academics, Missouri and Louisville would fit fine, but Cincinnati is a bit lacking, I think.
 

broken-record.jpg


I wasn't sure if this or the dead horse photo was more appropriate.
 



magpie said:
Notre Dame, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, and Cornell are the front runners last I heard. The reason is they want Notre Dame (for obvious reasons), or an eastern school that can represent a large media market.

As long as the school plays hockey, I'm cool with it.
Click to expand...

Cornell? We're going to add a school that plays in the Ivy League (which it hasn't won in 20 years), in a 25,000 seat stadium, and has zero TV draw power whatsoever? Nuh uh.
 

magpie said:
Notre Dame, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, and Cornell are the front runners last I heard. The reason is they want Notre Dame (for obvious reasons), or an eastern school that can represent a large media market.

As long as the school plays hockey, I'm cool with it.
Click to expand...

Cornell?? Come on, let's be realistic here. I think it should be and will be Pitt. (assuming ND has no chance)
 

I didn't say that I wanted them, I just listed the last top 5 that I heard when this topic was last discussed. The thought of them blew my mind too, but in terms of academics, they were said to be very similar to UW and NU and are in the NY market. Syracuse seems more likely, but it's all about money...

EDIT: I can't find the original article, but there are some blogs discussing it. Appears the Cornell was more interested than the Big Ten was.

The Wiki Big Ten site appears to have been updated. The new list is now:

* Notre Dame
* UConn
* Rutgers
* Syracuse
* Missouri
* Nebraska
* Pittsburgh
* West Virginia
* Iowa St
* Maryland
* Kentucky
* Louisville
 

Oh, that would be really neat. A championship game would be excellent. Notre Dame would be a HUGE addition to the conference. Seriously, I wouldn't care who we took.
 

I'd like to see them pull in one of the Big 12 schools (preferably ISU, just for geographic purposes) and have the Big 12 fill that empty slot with TCU.
 

alvarez is all about a big ten hockey conference and a 12th football team in the BT. he does not seem happy with the status quo at all. i do agree with him on creating a big ten hockey conference.

there is very little prestige playing in a hockey conference with nebraska-omaha, bemidji state, michigan tech, etc. give me: ohio state, michigan, michigan state, penn state, notre dame, illinois, minnesota, wisky d!ck.
 

PlayHosea said:
I'd like to see them pull in one of the Big 12 schools (preferably ISU, just for geographic purposes) and have the Big 12 fill that empty slot with TCU.
Click to expand...

isu? so we can deal with even more hayseed dinks from ioweee milling around our fair city of minneapolis each year? no thanks! ;)

would rather see nebraska, missouri or a dark-horse candidate of texas (academically texas is right in line with the big ten's standards for membership) move to the big ten
 

gopherjay said:
Two divisions, one less non conference game, Big ten championship for the Rosebowl.

Eastern division
OSU
MSU
Michigan
Indiana
PennState
Purdue

Midwest division
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Notre Dame

Championship game rotating Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit. What fun that would be! If ND doesn't in, see about Kansas or Kansas St. Maybe a MAC school wants in.
Click to expand...

Talked with a friend extensively about a similar scenario a few weeks ago throwing out different teams as no.12. We thought the Big Ten would almost have to find a way to split up Michigan/tOSU (while keeping their rivalry game as protected) in to different divisions. The "Midwest/West" division is too weak and the Eastern division is too strong. I'd love it though, Minnesota should be able to get to the conference championship game very frequently and have the potential to become a power if the divisions were set up like this.
 

gopherjay said:
Two divisions, one less non conference game, Big ten championship for the Rosebowl.

Eastern division
OSU
MSU
Michigan
Indiana
PennState
Purdue

Midwest division
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Notre Dame

Championship game rotating Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit. What fun that would be! If ND doesn't in, see about Kansas or Kansas St. Maybe a MAC school wants in.
Click to expand...

Adding Notre Dame is a big problem with divisions. I can't see the BT not putting them with Michigan, OSU, and PSU, even Purdue. I would imagine that the midwest would be considered the "weak sister" even with ND. It's also then tough to split up MSU-Mch/Ind-Pur/Ill-NU/OSU-Mch, etc.

I could see a solution like the ACC that is sort of "random" geographically. NC St. and Wake are in a different division than UNC and Duke. FSU and Miami are in different divisions.

A westerly team (Missouri, ISU, Colorado, Nebraska) makes it easier to split geographically and "rivalry-wise" in Jay's alignment:

Great Lakes Division
OSU
MSU
Michigan
Indiana
PennState
Purdue

Great Plains Division
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Northwestern
Illinois
Missouri-ISU-Colorado-Nebraska

Add Syracuse, Rutgers, or Pitt and we'll need to either split up Purdue-Indiana or NU-Illinois to stay "geographical".

You still play 8 conference games--5 in your division and 3 from the other 6, changing the rotation every other year--pretty easy.

I don't see the championship game anywhere but Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis. Big new stadium, centrally located.

And here's my dead horse---:horse:
 

Nebraska would be great, I think they were in the Big Ten way back, before it was the Big Ten. Schedules would have to rotate so we could keep the LBJ alive.
 

Bronko Nagurski Gopher said:
alvarez is all about a big ten hockey conference and a 12th football team in the BT. he does not seem happy with the status quo at all. i do agree with him on creating a big ten hockey conference.

there is very little prestige playing in a hockey conference with nebraska-omaha, bemidji state, michigan tech, etc. give me: ohio state, michigan, michigan state, penn state, notre dame, illinois, minnesota, wisky d!ck.
Click to expand...

Disagree very strongly about breaking up the WCHA. It is undoubtedly the premiere college hockey conference in the country. Also Illinois and Penn State only have club teams so wouldn't qualify, leaving only MN, Mich, MSU, OSU, and Wisc. as Big 10 teams with hockey programs. I would much rather stick with the WCHA and great geographical rivalries against many great programs.
 

Ron Johnson Super Fan said:
Disagree very strongly about breaking up the WCHA. It is undoubtedly the premiere college hockey conference in the country. Also Illinois and Penn State only have club teams so wouldn't qualify, leaving only MN, Mich, MSU, OSU, and Wisc. as Big 10 teams with hockey programs. I would much rather stick with the WCHA and great geographical rivalries against many great programs.
Click to expand...

You can. Make the Mariucci Classic similar to the Great Lakes Invitational and pit Minnesota against 3 of the 4 in-state rivals on a rotational basis. Then pit the one left out of the tourney to a 2 game NC series. Keep an eastern rival series, but add UND instead of the Big Ten Showcase, and leave the last series for whomever we feel the need to play (WCHA or not).

Then, in addition to the 5 current Big Ten teams, keep in mind 1/2 the schools being talked about for expansion have hockey teams, so that's 6. Penn St has openly admitted they want to be D-I and want to skip the D-III ranks to get there. They certainly won't make money playing Quinnipiac, RPI, and Niagara -- but should there be a Big Ten conference -- they certainly could sell tickets to play Minnesota, Michigan, etc. With 7, Illinois would be an easy choice to also make the jump with Penn St -- and there you have it: 8 Big Ten teams.

To remain in the WCHA is negative for our program. The top recruits can go anywhere in the country, but they used to want to go to Minnesota first. Now with 5 teams in state, UND, UW, etc all so close and respectable -- it's hard to keep that. We will fall to mediocrity in the near future (it's already happening). To go to the Big Ten would surely make kids think twice about playing at St Clown or Mankato... who wants to play tiny schools when they can be playing prestigious one's weekly?
 

Iowa State would be a nice addition, natural rivalry with MN, IA, WI, and strong in all sports.
 

What about promoting Villanova from FCS to the Big 10? Seems like it could work, they are one of the better teams in the FCS, and a great basketball program as well. Is this being talked about just for a football switch or will the team compete in all sports? Villanova seems like a possible fit.
 

magpie said:
You can. Make the Mariucci Classic similar to the Great Lakes Invitational and pit Minnesota against 3 of the 4 in-state rivals on a rotational basis. Then pit the one left out of the tourney to a 2 game NC series. Keep an eastern rival series, but add UND instead of the Big Ten Showcase, and leave the last series for whomever we feel the need to play (WCHA or not).

Then, in addition to the 5 current Big Ten teams, keep in mind 1/2 the schools being talked about for expansion have hockey teams, so that's 6. Penn St has openly admitted they want to be D-I and want to skip the D-III ranks to get there. They certainly won't make money playing Quinnipiac, RPI, and Niagara -- but should there be a Big Ten conference -- they certainly could sell tickets to play Minnesota, Michigan, etc. With 7, Illinois would be an easy choice to also make the jump with Penn St -- and there you have it: 8 Big Ten teams.

To remain in the WCHA is negative for our program. The top recruits can go anywhere in the country, but they used to want to go to Minnesota first. Now with 5 teams in state, UND, UW, etc all so close and respectable -- it's hard to keep that. We will fall to mediocrity in the near future (it's already happening). To go to the Big Ten would surely make kids think twice about playing at St Clown or Mankato... who wants to play tiny schools when they can be playing prestigious one's weekly?
Click to expand...

We'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think that playing in the WCHA is hurting Minnesota or its recruiting. By and large we still get the pick of recruits from in state and don't lose too many players to Mankato or SCSU. It wasn't too many years ago that we won back to back national championships.
 

Ron Johnson Super Fan said:
Disagree very strongly about breaking up the WCHA. It is undoubtedly the premiere college hockey conference in the country. Also Illinois and Penn State only have club teams so wouldn't qualify, leaving only MN, Mich, MSU, OSU, and Wisc. as Big 10 teams with hockey programs. I would much rather stick with the WCHA and great geographical rivalries against many great programs.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with RJ Superfan. You do not want to break up the WCHA - we have a good rivalry going with almost every one of those teams and certainly anyone that has a decent team. To be honest, we have a much better rivalry going with North Dakota St. in hockey than we do with Michigan in football. Winning once every 15 years or so isn't really a rivalry in my opinion.

Only someone that does not have a hockey background like an Alvarez doesn't see the real value of the WCHA. There are a lot of Minnesotans playing against other Minnesotans all over the league. It's good for our entire state, really.
 

Am I way off base for suggesting that a Big 12 team would not see a move to the Big 10 as anything to get excited over? Why would a team make that jump?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom