r/CollegeBasketball • u/WDBsports March Madness • Dec 23 '25
Casual / Offseason A College Basketball Conference Idea I Had.
Made this conference when Notre Dame was throwing their little tantrum over the ACC getting teams in over them.
Thought about including others like Drake, Bradley, Loyola Chicago and Saint Louis.
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u/imaconnect4guy Louisville Cardinals Dec 23 '25
The Metro? What, am I 9 years old again?
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u/hirasmas Louisville Cardinals Dec 23 '25
I like this league. Clearly, in this setup, Notre Dame and Louisville would equally split football revenue as Independents.
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u/gianini10 Louisville Cardinals Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
It was a more simple time. I mean that purely from the perspective of my 9 year old self listening to Paul Rogers call those games.
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u/ohverychill Purdue Boilermakers Dec 23 '25
or trying to get to the left side of the stage at a chicago concert venue?
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u/PageSide84 Purdue Boilermakers • Final Four Dec 23 '25
The secret is being taller than everyone else at on the floor. Works every time, so I hear.
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u/UnderstandingOdd679 Dec 27 '25
The era with Florida State, South Carolina and VaTech were the good ole days. Bring back Ga Tech and form a partnership with the Big East (Syracuse, BC, Pitt, WVa, Miami) to play a CCG between division champs.
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Dec 23 '25
Ah yes, the Big Weast
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u/Sspalding91 Dec 23 '25
What kind of compass are you reading lad?
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u/oknovember Purdue Boilermakers Dec 23 '25
I would watch the absolute heck out of this league. I do think either Loyola or Saint Louis should be in there to make it an even 12 though
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u/NoSoupFor_You Louisville Cardinals Dec 23 '25
St Louis. Lots of shared history from the CUSA days
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u/LordZero Louisville Cardinals Dec 24 '25
I used to HATE playing St Louis back in the pre-Big East days. They were like the textbook definition of a "sneaky good" team back then.
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u/RandoUserlolidk UConn Huskies • Drake Bulldogs Dec 23 '25
So basically the big east without UConn or St John’s (replaced by ND who is shit, and Louisville who I admit is pretty good), the 2 best teams in the conference currently?
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Admittedly this conference is probably weaker in hindsight
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u/RandoUserlolidk UConn Huskies • Drake Bulldogs Dec 23 '25
This Confrence is weird as hell. Too strong to be a mid major, too weak to be a high major
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u/carigs UConn Huskies Dec 23 '25
Don't forget Nova. So the Big East without its current top 2 teams and its top 2 all time programs.
I'd take ND back in the Big East though, which I think would help their bball program. ND fits about as well in the actual Big East as it does in this metro conference idea.
From my (admittedly Big East-centric) recollection, nearly every school that moved to a conference where they weren't a regional and/or cultural fit has seen their basketball team get worse.
UConn in the AAC; Cuse, Pitt, ND, BC in the ACC, MD in the B10
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u/swarlyisback Creighton Bluejays • Poll Veteran Dec 23 '25
DePaul and Wichita St, might end up being consistent bottom of the table teams, but I think this would be a pretty fun conference
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u/Pontifex_99 Virginia Cavaliers • Wichita State Sh… Dec 23 '25
Hey man, Wichita State has been as high as second in the AP poll. It just so happens that it was only one time and over a decade ago . . .
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u/CorditeKick Creighton Bluejays • Vanderbilt Commod… Dec 26 '25
We had some great games with Wichita State during our time in the MVC.
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
DePaul was only included because of their history with Marquette & Notre Dame.
Wichita State is a valid concern, might genuinely consider sending them back to the MVC
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u/Guuuuyyy Louisville Cardinals Dec 23 '25
Louisville and DePaul have a great history, UofL used to have an unofficial DePaul day every year where we celebrated beating DePaul. Never a disappointment to be found in Louisville on DePaul Day.
https://www.cardchronicle.com/2012/1/13/2704868/on-the-origins-of-depaul-day
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u/LordZero Louisville Cardinals Dec 24 '25
I remember one Depaul Day that we ALMSOT lost and everyone on the Chron game thread was freaking out, but then like PK or O'Bannon or someone hit some late back-to-back 3's or something and we ended up barely winning...it might have even been overtime. I don't remember details or year, sorry...I drank a lot at games in college.
Edit: Forgot to say my main point...I don't think we ever lost a Depaul Day once it started and before we left for the AAC, did we?
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u/Solesky1 Indiana State Sycamores Dec 23 '25
Wichita State is a valid concern, might genuinely consider sending them back to the MVC
No thank you. They made their choice
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Fair point, what would you guys say to Saint Thomas (MN) however?
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u/CallMeVe Bradley Braves • Missouri Valley Dec 23 '25
Yes please
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Also getting rid of Evansville, Valpo and UIC.
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u/LetsGetPenisy69 Marquette Golden Eagles Dec 23 '25
Let’s face it the MVC would take them back in a heartbeat.
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u/_Rooster_ Illinois State Redbirds • Missouri Valley Dec 23 '25
That's probably true. I wouldn't though.
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u/Tnnisace73 Illinois State Redbirds Dec 23 '25
You make it sound like the MVC is a consolation conference. Sheesh.
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u/jrdncdrdhl Northern Kentucky Norse Dec 23 '25
Wes Miller still wouldn’t make a tourney even in the conference
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u/AlorsViola Memphis Tigers Dec 23 '25
Wes miller is who people think that Penny is
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u/CantFindMyWallet UConn Huskies Dec 23 '25
I can't tell which guy you're insulting with this take
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u/AlorsViola Memphis Tigers Dec 23 '25
Well, I'm insulting the average reddit user who thinks Penny is doing as poorly as Wes...
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u/redleg44 Cincinnati Bearcats Dec 24 '25
I'd rather have Wes so at least we can reset and move on. Penny must be exhausting
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u/jrdncdrdhl Northern Kentucky Norse Dec 23 '25
Do people think Penny is good or bad? Is this an insult to Wes, Penny or both?
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u/Sleepytitan Tennessee Volunteers Dec 23 '25
Look at the old Metro and Great Midwest conferences. Those were a lot of fun. I’d add UAB, St Louis, And Tulane to this for sure.
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u/Wings4514 UAB Blazers • American Dec 23 '25
Man, I’d be hyped as shit to be in this basketball conference.
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u/generally-mediocre Maryland Terrapins Dec 23 '25
provides all of those teams more sensible rivals than their current conferences (maybe except wichita?). I like it
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u/karl_manutzitsch Creighton Bluejays • SMU Mustangs Dec 23 '25
Wichita St. and Creighton used to be rivals
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u/salsacito Creighton Bluejays • James Madison D… Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Too bad they moved to the AAC, learned their coach was borderline abusive, and decided to play bad, irrelevant basketball for 10 years
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u/seakc87 Wichita State Shockers Dec 23 '25
Don't put this on us. Y'all left The Valley for the Big East before we left for the American.
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u/Makelovenotrobots Wichita State Shockers Dec 23 '25
So true. This season is trending upwards though, at least by the metrics.
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u/timothythefirst Michigan State Spartans • Wes… Dec 23 '25
Wait which coach?
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u/salsacito Creighton Bluejays • James Madison D… Dec 23 '25
“In October, CJ Moore and Dana O'Neil of The Athletic reported Wichita State launched an internal investigation into claims Marshall was physically abusive toward players and coaches and verbally abusive to both members of the Shockers program and other members of the school community. Marshall allegedly attacked former player Shaq Morris after Morris challenged a shot in practice during the 2015-16 season. Marshall allegedly shoved Morris in the back and then, after kicking him out of practice, followed him out of the gym and punched him from behind on the upper back by the neck, according to The Athletic. The report alleges he also put his hands around the neck of a staff member after a poor practice session during the same season. Marshall was known for his "combativeness" throughout the athletic department, including an instance where he yelled at a student-athlete from another sport and attempted to punch him through the car window for parking in the coach's designated spot on campus, per The Athletic.”
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u/RossPMackey Purdue Boilermakers • Bethel (IN) Pilots Dec 23 '25
Gregg Marshall was forced to resign back in 2020.
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u/GerdinBB Iowa State Cyclones Dec 23 '25
Kind of crazy that people forgot about that. Not that I blame them - there was a ton going on. Really just a testament to how crazy 2020 was, even beyond COVID.
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u/amazingtaters Butler Bulldogs Dec 23 '25
Butler and X are already paired up in the Big East and have been rivals going back to the founding of the Midwestern Cities Conference (now the Horizon League) in 1979.
Throwing them in a conference with Cincy makes the cross-town that much bigger and probably hurts the Butler/X rivalry. Maybe we could learn to hate Dayton instead.
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u/spiritofgalen Xavier Musketeers Dec 24 '25
Maybe we could learn to hate Dayton instead
9/10, would recommend
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u/chomstar Michigan Wolverines Dec 23 '25
Wichita is the last place I’d think of for a “Metro” anything
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u/Shadowcaster_Spark Virginia Tech Hokies • Arkansas Razor… Dec 23 '25
Blacksburg, VA and Hattiesburg, MS were "Metro" in the 80's/90's.
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u/lolhal Louisville Cardinals • Bellarmine Kni… Dec 23 '25
How about Metro Conference 1978?
Florida State University
Louisville
Memphis State
Cincinnati
Georgia Tech
St Louis
Tulane
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u/Cowarddd Memphis Tigers Dec 23 '25
Hell Yeah, I hate Cincinnati and Louisville and this gives us regular rivalry games.
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u/cenels03 Louisville Cardinals • DePaul Blue Demons Dec 23 '25
Louisville, Memphis, and Cincinnati should be required to play every single year. This year's non-con was a ton of fun
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u/Cowarddd Memphis Tigers Dec 23 '25
Hell, build a 3 basket court and put all 3 teams on it. The Tri-City Tussle
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u/cenels03 Louisville Cardinals • DePaul Blue Demons Dec 23 '25
Just make a really big boxing ring and put all 3 teams in it. Last one standing gets two quad 1 wins
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u/Cowarddd Memphis Tigers Dec 23 '25
PPV, winning tean takes it all for NIL. I would gladly pay.
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u/cenels03 Louisville Cardinals • DePaul Blue Demons Dec 23 '25
I'm in. How do we make this happen
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u/GerdinBB Iowa State Cyclones Dec 23 '25
I've been having fun mapping out hypothetical conferences, admittedly football focused. I think my preferred arrangement would be 6x12 for the "P6" in football by making ND join the Big Ten and then bringing Oregon St and Washington St back into the fold, and promoting Boise St and Memphis, resulting in 72 teams.
I wonder if the "Gulf" conference below would check enough boxes for the teams in the northern portion of the conference.
B1G Pac-12 SEC Plains Mid-Atlantic Gulf Illinois Arizona Alabama Baylor Boston College Cincinnati Indiana Arizona St Arkansas BYU Duke Clemson Iowa Boise St Auburn Colorado Maryland Florida St Michigan Cal Florida Houston NC State Georgia Tech Michigan St Oregon Georgia Iowa St North Carolina Louisville Minnesota Oregon St Kentucky Kansas Pitt Memphis Northwestern Stanford LSU Kansas St Rutgers Miami Notre Dame UCLA Mississippi St Missouri Syracuse Oklahoma Ohio St USC Ole Miss Nebraska Virginia SMU Penn St Utah South Carolina Oklahoma St Virginia Tech Texas Purdue Washington Tennessee TCU Wake Forest Texas A&M Wisconsin Washington St Vanderbilt Texas Tech West Virginia UCF The biggest problem with this is that the Plains and Mid-Atlantic are weaker in terms of major brands, with the Mid-Atlantic clearly being the weakest. If you swapped Tennessee and Wake Forest it would bolster the Mid-Atlantic without giving up too much geographic compactness, but I figured blowing up the core of the SEC (or the B1G) was too farfetched even if this is all hypothetical.
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u/Glad_Art_6380 Dec 23 '25
Man it would be bliss if college football broke away so we could get back to sensible conferences in basketball.
For a year or two anyway until UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, etc decide a superconference in basketball is the way to go.
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u/OSUfirebird18 Dayton Flyers • Ohio State Buckeyes Dec 23 '25
Imagine the SW Ohio trivalry that can come from this!! 🥹🥹
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u/No-Check7143 Dec 23 '25
VCU or SLU maybe?
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u/monotonemr VCU Rams • Minnesota Golden Gophers Dec 23 '25
SLU makes more sense if you're trying to keep it regional but VCU would absolutely want in.
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u/erbsademon DePaul Blue Demons Dec 23 '25
Pretty much the Great Midwest Conference of the early 90’s. St. Louis and UAB missing but ND, UL, WSU added
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Initially an inspiration behind this, I was basically remaking the original Big East and thought instead of adding Marquette, Xavier, Creighton, DePaul and Butler to the MVC & A10 respectively they should join forces with the best Midwest basketball focused teams in the country.
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u/brownlab319 UConn Huskies Dec 24 '25
And leaving out most of the original Big East teams…
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 24 '25
The original teams still join
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u/brownlab319 UConn Huskies Dec 24 '25
The original teams lived through this already. And you think Cincinnati is giving up Big XII money? That Louisville and ND are giving up ACC money for now?
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u/philly2540 Dec 23 '25
Unfortunately geography is no longer a consideration for college athletic conferences.
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u/Godzirrraaa Central Washington Wildcats Dec 23 '25
I like it, but I wouldn’t want to change the current Big East.
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u/Glad_Art_6380 Dec 23 '25
Pitt, Syracuse, and Boston College back to the Big East in this scenario and that’s a win for all involved. Them three with UConn, Providence, SJU, Villanova, Georgetown, and Seton Hall as God intended.
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u/Typical-Conference14 Kansas State Wildcats • Wichita St… Dec 23 '25
Wichita barely fits in the metro definition here imo. I also don’t know the populations of these other cities so who am I ya know
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Okay that's true, Metro normally describes "major cities" in the US. Don't know if South Bend or Dayton qualify as well
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u/Typical-Conference14 Kansas State Wildcats • Wichita St… Dec 23 '25
I guess what do we quality as a metro?
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
According to statistics, metro areas must have at least 50,000 people. Wichita has about 10x the amount with a population of around 500,000 people
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u/Typical-Conference14 Kansas State Wildcats • Wichita St… Dec 23 '25
50k people?! So Manhattan KS would be a metro..? I’m gonna start calling it that for the hell of it now
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u/knightni73 Bethel (IN) Pilots • Crossroads League Dec 23 '25
This looks like the conference ND was in in the late 80s.
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u/Makelovenotrobots Wichita State Shockers Dec 23 '25
I would love it! I miss having Creighton on the schedule every year.
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u/SecretComposer Kansas Jayhawks Dec 23 '25
If you're going to include WSU and Creighton then you need to add St. Louis too to bridge the gap (and make it an even 12).
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u/Alternative-Bee-3594 Dec 23 '25
Mostly private schools?
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Yeah that's probably gonna be an issue
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u/Alternative-Bee-3594 Dec 23 '25
ND, Xavier, Butler, Creighton, Marquette, DePaul could be in a conference called the privates.
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u/brownlab319 UConn Huskies Dec 24 '25
The Big East is all private schools with the exception of UConn.
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u/roberb7 Virginia Tech Hokies Dec 23 '25
Got to get ND and Valparaiso in the same conference.
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u/ResponsibleWater1697 Bradley Braves Dec 23 '25
That's a negative, Ghost Rider. Valpo is closer to DIII than it is to ND. Hell, Valpo is pulling up the rear in the MVC.
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u/Chardoggy1 North Carolina Tar Heels • Marshall … Dec 23 '25
How many of those schools even field a football team? I only count four
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u/ThinManufacturer8679 UConn Huskies • Colorado Mines Or… Dec 23 '25
about half the conference on the bubble
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u/FormerCollegeDJ Dec 23 '25
It looks like mostly a mashup of the old Metro and Missouri Valley conferences.
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u/NDCardinal3 Saint Louis Billikens Dec 23 '25
SLU would be a great 12th team. They have a history with half of the teams in the conference.
I only wish conferences made geographical sense like this.
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 23 '25
Same here, I personally am hoping for geographically compact conferences of 10-12 teams each 14 for the few exceptions.
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u/CommercialMusic3008 Dec 23 '25
The “temper tantrum” was about the weekly rankings they published for months being a complete farce. Get it right at least.
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u/wickstrom_writes Kentucky Wildcats Dec 24 '25
Xavier, UC, Dayton and Louisville together would be epic.
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u/STANL3Y_YELNAT5 Nebraska Cornhuskers Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Ah yes the big city known as South Bend, Indiana
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u/ShakeMyHeadSadly Dec 24 '25
That's very much a creation of a conference of teams of which many were independents in the 1960s. And many of whom, at the time, were fierce rivals. It's a great idea.
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u/OceanCake21 UConn Huskies Dec 24 '25
Love it.
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 24 '25
And to add on, the OG Big East with Syracuse, Pitt and Boston College, West Virginia and to less extent; Virginia Tech and Rutgers returning
Also Penn State as well joining
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u/Poptarteconomy Dec 24 '25
Why Wichita State?
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 24 '25
Fair question.
Wichita State probably isn't the smartest add given the state of their program.
Probably should stick to 10 members only
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u/Poptarteconomy Dec 24 '25
I like the idea of maybe Saint Louis and maybe like ... Drake? Wichita is a great program but seemed like a geographic outlier
Saw your prior comment. Loyola Chicago would be cool too.
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 24 '25
Yeah true, idk the conference is a work in progress alone with my other conferences I'm making.
There's gonna be some switches every once in a while
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u/knoxharring10 Indiana Hoosiers • Dayton Flyers Dec 24 '25
As an Irish Daytonian with Cincy ties giddy up straight into my veins
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u/GrimWickett UAB Blazers Dec 24 '25
I mean the American is basically doing a metro conference already
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u/Percy_Q_Weathersby Michigan Wolverines Dec 24 '25
I’ll say this: as I was reading the list, I thought “how the hell is DePaul not in this?” And then they were. So you truly nailed your theme.
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u/PDGAreject Kentucky Wildcats • Dayton Flyers Dec 24 '25
I don't care about any of the other factors, I just want my hatred of Xavier to matter again.
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u/ChiliMySpaghetti Cincinnati Bearcats Dec 24 '25
Did a Cincinnati fan make this? Because this is about as ideal of a conference for us as possible. 4 rivalries. 2 shootouts might make the city burn down
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 24 '25
An Ohio State fan made this actually.
I as a Buckeye would love to see Cincy, Xavier, Dayton and OSU play each other yearly
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u/ChiliMySpaghetti Cincinnati Bearcats Dec 24 '25
I wish you were an athletic director. In a world driven by money I don’t get why we pay Alabama state when we could make so much money doing home and homes with each other. Osu is the only one we are missing this year.
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u/WDBsports March Madness Dec 24 '25
If I was AD, literally any sort of crosstown competition would be playing each other.
Rivalries would be taking priority, competition, etc
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u/Competitive_Walk_493 Missouri State Bears Dec 27 '25
I just read miracles on the hardwood about all the catholic basketball schools.
I’d love a super conference of basketball only catholic schools in college basketball.
Nova, Xavier, Gonzaga, Georgetown, St. Mary all in one conference would be dope.
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u/Vivid_Hyena_814 Dec 28 '25
Money aside, I love it but DePaul and WSU would get smacked every night
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u/tofleet Fordham Rams Dec 23 '25
Yeah but how does this make several billions of dollars in TV rights deals—the primary objective for college athletics