Predicting the Free Agents

Some people like to moan and groan about how the summer's the slowest time in sports. I've always cried BS on this, but usually not to much avail. I'm one of the few people out there who can appreciate the wonder of regular season baseball, but then again that may be because my Cincinnati Reds are good for the first time since they won the 1990 World Series. And I was about to turn one back then. Of course there's World Cup soccer right now too. I played soccer so I understand the game and can enjoy it. Then again, I can see why others don't particularly enjoy watching the game; can't understand those who don't consider it a sport, though.

The point is that many do see summer as the proverbial "Doldrums of Sports"; after all, NBA action's over early on in the summer, college football and the NFL are months away, and I guess for the sake of Bostonians and the like, the NHL doesn't start back up until October.

This summer, however, is an exception: it is an offseason even the most casual of sports fans can immerse themselves in for we are about to embark on the biggest offseason in the history of the NBA. Superstars and franchise-altering players are there for the taking and even the most desolate of teams have even the faintest of hopes that they are a signature on the dotted line away from rewriting their collective destinys and fates.

It all commences on Thursday, although players can't technically sign until July 8th, so don't expect anything too immediate on this. However, don't expect that to mean that we still won't take the liberty of making some predictions as to where the top impending free agents will ultimately land. I'll do the list in ascending order of importance of the free agent, because well, it only makes sense:


Carlos Boozer




Boozer, once deemed to be too injury-prone to be considered a top notch free agent, shed that stigma this past year by posting up his usual 20-10 sort of numbers. He's been a central figure in Utah's success over these past five years working in tandem with Derron Williams, so you would have to think he'd maybe show some loyalty. However, this is the same guy who turned his back on Cleveland about five years ago to sign with Utah. Loyalty's not too big on this guy's radar and the amount of money that the Jazz threw at forward Paul Millsap last summer may have very well spelled the end of Boozer's time in Mormon-land.

Prediction: Signs huge contract, makes amends, and goes back to Cleveland


Dirk Nowitzki




As long as I've followed his career, Dirk Nowitski has been a Dallas Maverick, even dating back to when they had those old jerseys with the hat logo and Steve Nash and Michael Finley were on the team. It seemes weird to think that people are even considering the possibility of Dirk leaving Big D, and I can't wrap my head around it. This isn't even because of some sentimental reason -- I don't really care for Dirk, the Mavericks, or the city of Dallas very much. It's just that logically it doesn't make sense for him to leave. With Mark Cuban as the owner, Dallas has been a place where players get pampered because that's the way that Cuban runs things -- it's a very player-oriented environment. Not to mention it provides Dirk a chance to be the main guy and not a supporting figure; trust me, these guys have egos and that factors into their decisions.

Prediction: Re-signs with Dallas


Joe Johnson




Johnson has really come to fruition as a star in his time in Atlanta. I remember him getting signed by the Hawks a few years back and thinking, "Man, they really overpaid for a guy who looked good because he played with Steve Nash. No wonder the Hawks suck." As I probably will be with these predictions, I was dead wrong. While maybe not worthy of a max contract, you better believe Johnson's going to get one. It's just up to him whether it's going to be for selfish reasons like going to a bad team alone just to be the star, or for the goal of winning, i.e. you sign with a contender to be the sidekick to Wade or LeBron or whoever.

Prediction: Signs max contract with the Knicks


Amare Stoudemire




Chris Bosh is getting a lot of the ink and attention with regards to free agent big men, but Stoudemire is an elite player in this league and will be a real get for whoever lands him when all is said and done. He, along with Steve Nash, has been an integral part of why Phoenix has been one of the dominant teams in the Western Conference for the past seven or so years. People talk about how much he loves being a part of the Suns organization and how much he loves Phoenix, but it's being widely speculated that he's gone. He had a big postseason which should go a long way towards landing him a coveted max contract, although he's likely in the same boat as Johnson, maybe set up to play second fiddle somewhere to a bigger star.

Prediction: Signs a max contract with the Knicks


Chris Bosh





Bosh is a curious entity here. There's no doubt about it that he's a talented player, among the best, if not the best, power forward in the NBA, but he hasn't accomplished much in terms of his team's success. Injuries have also plagued Bosh, but when healthy, he epitomizes production from a big man. Even though he's easily the third best player available in this loaded free agent class, Bosh may very well be looked upon to be the glorified second option, likely playing Robin to Wade or James' Batman (my God, I really need to think up some original labels to designate in these first and second guy situations). Conventional wisdom for the past two or three years has been that Bosh wouldn't be around North of the Border much longer and don't expect anything to change now.

Prediction: Signs max contract with Miami


Dwyane Wade





Of all the free agents listed here, this one's the biggest no brainer. I'd feel dumb spending more than five sentences going over this one. Wade has been with Miami his whole career, has proven to the city of Miami and to the Heat organization that he is a winner and champion, and has shown little to no indication that he wants to leave. Simply put, he's staying on South Beach.

Prediction: Re-signs max contract with Miami


LeBron James




Naturally, the face of this free agent class is the last one to discuss. The topic of James' impending free agency has been a hot topic for the past two years, making him the only athlete in the history of sports, as far as I can remember, to have that kind of attention around where he'll sign a contract. Teams have been speculated on end -- Knicks, Nets, Heat, Bulls, Clippers, Bobcats (kidding) -- and now all of that speculation is coming to a head for the moment has finally arrived. The teams have cleared the cap space and now all that needs to be determined is where James will sign. I originally thought Cleveland, but then when I did my LeBron post on here I picked New York. Then I thought Chicago for a while. If you think about it, this is such a convoluted scenario because there are great options out there, albeit with some negatives.

New York's got the glamour and the chance at immortality if he leads the Knicks to their first championship since 1973. But have you seen that roster lately? You think LeBron's going to want to waste two or three years with Chris Duhon and Danillo Gallinari while the team continues to build?

Miami's got the allure of playing with Wade and possibly Bosh, all under the careful watch of Pat Riley, but facts are facts and Wade is the king of that city. LeBron would be the No. 2 option there and that's something that no two-time defending MVP will accept.

Chicago offers another big market and a talented young supporting cast to play with, but the ownership is notoriously stingy there and he'd take a huge gamble by playing for a first time head coach whom he had no say over whatsoever. Besides, would you want to play in Michael Jordan's immense shadow.

The simple fact here is that LeBron's a loyal guy. He still dates the same girl that he did in high school. His best friends and closest advisors are all childhood friends from back in Akron, Ohio. This is the same guy who has accepted both of his MVP trophies at his old high school. The simple question is does LeBron want to admit defeat, bolt for another team and become the biggest pariah in his hometown's entire sports history, or does he want to create his own legend and immortalize himself as the superhuman talent who delivered hope and success to a city desperately longing for them both? I'm going to have to lean towards the latter.

Prediction: Re-signs for max contract with Cleveland

Wolff Doin' Work, Part Deux

It was announced here on H & V a few weeks ago that former BU basketball coach Dennis Wolff is now happily employed as the Director of Basketball Operations at Virginia Tech. Well now, there's news on another member of the Wolff-pack.

Shitty, humorless puns aside, it was recently revealed that Matt Wolff- yes, the Matt "I'm a Direct Product of Some Serious Nepotism" Wolff who inexplicably started for three years at guard for BU ahead of my own personal favorite Marques Johnson- has landed a gig as the DBO at American University.

http://www.aueagles.com/sports/m-baskbl/2010-11/releases/20100628

At American, Wolff will be working for head coach Jeff Jones, the same man who his father was an assistant for at Virginia before he landed the head job at BU.

Sure, Matt shouldn't have started all of those years and gotten the minutes he did, but he always seemed like a nice-enough kid who always hustled and gave his all. Best of luck to him with this job and maybe one day, he'll be gracing the sidelines just like his father as a head coach.

Jersey Fail....or WIN?

After the conclusion of the US-Slovenia World Cup game a couple of days ago, there were a few unanswered questions, most of which revolved around the mysterious call from the referee that took away what would have been the winning goal for the US. As a former referee, I can tell you that "call" was absolute BS. There was no offsides on the play and any replay that's been shown indicates that there was no foul at all; you could have called a foul on the Slovenians but you usually let the play continue to see what happens and in this case, it would have been a goal so the fouls would have been moot. A lot of people are comparing it to Jim Joyce's blown call that cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game, but I think they're different. Joyce's call, while indefensible, at least didn't affect the final outcome of the game. Sure Galarraga didn't technically achieve perfection, but Detroit still won the game. This ref literally cost the US the game and, unlike Joyce, he doesn't seem to care that he messed up and he isn't even man enough to admit his mistake. Inexcusable, simply and utterly inexcusable.

Anyhow, one key thing that I noticed in this game were the Slovenian uniforms. Anyone who reads this blog knows I have something of an affinity for uniforms and aesthetics in sports, and the Slovenian unis have me genuinely puzzled.

One thing that is evident is that they have a very Charlie Brown-like quality to them.





I know that Slovenia is a very mountainous country being right in the midst of the Alps, so the jagged line probably represents mountains, but the question has to be asked: are these jerseys cool?

It seems a little obvious that these jerseys are almost a carbon copy of the shirt worn by America's favorite animated prematurely bald ten year old, so it could be considered tacky or lame in the eyes of many. I for one will disagree with this. I happen to be a huge fan of the Peanuts, especially my man Chuck, so any thing that displays any sort of homage to them is a complete and total win in my book.

Anyone else who wants to voice an opinion on the matter, meaning the five or so people who read this blog, well you've got the comment section. Bombs away...

News on BU Hoops Non-Conference Schedule

Non-conference schedules in basketball are a pretty interesting thing. For your big programs out there, it's a delicate balance: do you go with a creampuff schedule of low majors in order to pile up the wins and boost your chances of making the NCAA Tournament, or do you make things tough, schedule some good teams, thus preparing yourself for conference play and boosting your RPI and SOS?

It's an incredibly underrated part of planning a season and is absolutely critical to a team's success. What scheduling is to a college basketball team is underrated in the way that the hotel worker from "The Hangover" is underrated.



Along with the dude's bride, easily the hottest chick in that movie.

I digress.

Per FoxSports college basketball writer Jeff Goodman, BU's compiling quite the impressive non-conference schedule.


http://community.foxsports.com/goodmanonfox/blog/2010/06/04/america_east_offseason_rundown


This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, seeing as last season Chambers put together an out-of-conference schedule that included Kansas State, Indiana, and Georgia Tech in the Puerto Rico Tipoff; playing at UConn; and playing at eventual NIT champion Dayton, with the last of those providing me to meet some of the best and most underrated (gathering there's a theme here) fans in the country.


Among the things listed in Goodman's article:

- BU will play in the Villanova pod of the preseason NIT. Don't know if that means that BU will get to play in MSG, but that'd be pretty insane.

- A November 30th date on the road against Kentucky, a team that will be bringing in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country and figures to be in the preseason top 15. This probably means that Chambers had to set something up and plan with that slimeball Calipari, but hey, a great opportunity for BU, even if it means they're likely going to get trounced.

- A nice regional matchup will take place as BU will travel to take on UMass in Amherst on New Year's Eve. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the Philly connection between Chambers and new BC coach Steve Donahue can materialize in that series being given life.

- And at last, the home dates: as of now, at least based on Goodman's article, they have home dates set for December 21st against St. Joseph's and December 9th against LaSalle. No word on any of the others, although Harvard seems like a likely suspect.

Sounds like it is shaping up for another quality non-conference schedule, hopefully one that can prepare this team for conference play.

A few non-schedule related notes:

- Goodman's article also mentioned that Scott Brittain did indeed transfer out of the program and will likely play back home in Canada. Best of luck to Scott with his play north of the border.

- Just in that former UCLA coach and basketball legend John Wooden passed away tonight in Los Angeles. Goes without saying that Wooden will be sorely missed. The Wizard of Westwood is truly without peer in college basketball. Besides, nobody can pull off the bolo tie quite that well.



R.I.P

-CM

Wolff Doin' Work

Don't confuse this title with Spike Lee's unwatchable documentary "Kobe Doin' Work" that came out last year; this is actually an entertaining bit of news.

For months, I've been pimping out Dennis Wolff for some sort of coaching job. Do I think he's a great coach? No, not really, but you would think a guy with over 200 wins in Division I basketball could land a coaching gig at some point. Well, that time is evidently now.

Wolff is reportedly about to become the Director of Basketball Operations for his good NYC friend Seth Greenberg down at Virginia Tech. Link below:

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/notebookplus/wb/248480

A DBO position may seem strange for a man like Wolff with the kind of DI success that he had, but I guess it's a foot back in the game, this time on a much larger stage than he had at BU..

I can't speak for Teddy because I'm sure he'd say otherwise, but I'd like to wish Wolff the best of luck with that job. Good to see him back on his feet and still collecting checks from BU.

H & V's NBA Finals Preview

Well, if the ESPN reminders and all the hype haven't been enough, here's this: the Lakers and Celtics, possibly the biggest rivals in all of sports, are meeting in the NBA Finals, playing for the ultimate prize.

By my estimation, it very well could be the best rivalry in all of sports. Red Sox-Yankees? They play about 20 times a year, plus how different are those fan bases, really? Patriots-Colts? It's been great this decade, but there's no history to it. Duke-North Carolina and Michigan-Ohio States? That's college my friend.

Here we get East Coast vs. West Coast, Larry Legend vs. Showtime, One Bandwagon Fan Base vs. Another Bandwagon Fan Base. Most importantly, you get not only bitter rivals, but the two most storied franchises in the history of the NBA; the Celtics with 17 banners and the Lakers with 15.

This is truly the cream of the professional basketball crop, and tonight, it all tips off. How will it play out? How will the matchups play between various players? And ultimately, who will come out on top?

In true H & V fashion, we will be taking each matchup and giving the edge in each, Lakers or Celtics, all the way down to the last guy on the bench. Three different picks will come from three different angles: myself, Frost, and Rene.


Point Guard: Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher

I really don't see this as the mismatch that everyone else does. Is Rondo an electrifying player? Absolutely, he's arguably one of the best point guards in the NBA. But I don't completely buy him being the best player on a championship team, he's way too inconsistent of a player. I'm not trying to diss the guy; he's a fellow Meyzeek Middle School alum, but I'm just saying this isn't a blowout of a matchup. Derek Fisher, old and limited as he may be, is still a guy who plays his best when the lights are the brightest. The stage doesn't get much bigger than the Finals, and I expect D-Fish to have a good series. Just not a good enough one to be able to match the speed and play-making ability of Rondo.

Edge: Rondo


Shooting Guard: Ray Allen vs. Kobe Bryant

It's not exactly a secret that these two guys don't like each other; in fact, they hate each other. This is a big reason why I've never liked Kobe. Ray may have proved himself as a horrible actor in "He Got Game", but he's widely regarded as the nicest guy in the NBA.



How can you be in an intense feud with the nicest guy in the NBA, especially one who can so emphatically and persuasively deliver a line like, "I don't have a father!"

Anyhow, this is a pretty easy call. Ray Allen's a future Hall of Famer, but he's limited in the Celtics offense and he's slower on defense than he used to be. Expect him to run around screens looking for an open three that he'll usually drain. But we've got to remember that he's going to be facing not only the man who I consider to be the best player in the NBA, but also a man possessed in Bryant.

Big Edge: Bryant


Small Forward: Paul Pierce vs. Ron Artest

Of all the starting spots, this may very well be the hardest call. Pierce will always be remembered as the guy who absolutely tore the Lakers apart back in 2008, but let's remember that was against Vlad Radmonovic. Let's just say those times are over as Pierce will face off against one of the league's elite defenders in Artest. Will he be able to handle a more physical matchup against a better player? We'll see, but so long as Pierce doesn't settle for too many outside jumpers and attacks the basket, Artest could get into foul trouble. And Pierce is far more integral to his team's offense than Artest is with his.

We do know one thing for sure: Artest won't be taking any charges. When asked about the Lakers being paid $50 for every charge they took, Artest wasn't exactly on board. He responded with the following gem:

"I don't even know how to take a charge. To get a charge you'd have to fall. I'd rather not fall. You call an offensive foul, possibly be a fight. That's just how we grew up playing basketball."

Queensbridge FTW.

Slightest of All Edges: Pierce


Power Forward: Kevin Garnett vs. Pau Gasol

Another really tough call. Fans like myself remember Garnett absolutely owning Gasol a few years back. He was just a much tougher, harder-nosed player and he physically overpowered him down low and outclassed him in virtually every imaginable aspect of the game. But just as 2010 KG isn't the same player that 2008 KG was (largely due to knee problems), the 2010 NBA Finals will be featuring a very different Pau Gasol, a guy who has emerged as one of the top 10-15 players in the league and a guy who can handle physical intensity a lot better than he was able to a couple years ago. Gasol is undoubtedly a better player right now, but if KG can hold him in check, the Celtics have a great shot at winning this series.

Edge: Gasol


Center: Kendrick Perkins vs. Andrew Bynum

A far cry from Robert Parish vs. Kareem to be sure, but an interesting matchup nonetheless. As far as I'm concerned Perkins is a solid player who benefits a lot from playing with a group of future Hall of Famers. He's a great defensive player, but he's a technical foul or two away from facing a suspension. Perkins was a straight to the NBA guy, but was originally committed to play at Memphis, so this headcase thing really shouldn't be too surprising. Bynum is another interesing case study. When healthy, this guy has the potential to be an elite center in this league. Problem is, this guy's never healthy and hasn't been since he entered the league as a teenager. The Lakers have put a lot of faith in Bynum, turning down blockbuster trades involving him, and he simply hasn't been able to be a consistent producer. His injury problems have continued with having to have his knee drained, and many expect him to play limited minutes and have a similarly limited contribution.

Edge: Perkins


6th Man: Rasheed Wallace vs. Lamar Odom

This actually works out pretty well for comparisons sake because these two will actually be facing off against each other when they come in. Odom will likely get a lot more minutes than Rasheed and the guy has proven himself to not only be an absolute matchup nightmare, but also an effective player who comes up big in big moments (when need be). Odom's a force on the boards, and it's always likely that Rasheed reverts to his old ways by chucking up contested threes.

Edge: Odom


Bench: Celtics Bench vs. Lakers Bench

It's critical to realize that not everyone on the bench is going to be playing, so the 11th and 12th guys on the team don't really have much of a place in the context of this argument. This is The Finals: your best players play, simple as that. We'll assume that each team goes with a nine man rotation, so having already covered the sixth men, here are the top three subs on each team:

Boston: Glen Davis, Nate Robinson, Tony Allen

Los Angeles: Shannon Brown, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic

If you can't see the immense advantage that the Celtics have with depth just based on that, it's time to get your basketball IQ checked.

Big Edge: Celtics


Coach: Doc Rivers vs. Phil Jackson

I'll preface this by saying that I love Doc Rivers. I can guarantee you that I love him more than most Celtics fans because even when the Celtics were headed for the a high spot back in the Greg Oden lottery back in 2007, I maintained that this guy is a great coach when people up in Boston wanted to run him out of town. When you give Rivers talent, by my estimation, there's probably only one active coach who can do more with that talent. It just so happens that's the man that Rivers is facing in this series, the Zen Master himself, Jackson. The man can handle egos and talent and maximize that talent and potential of a team in a way that no other coach in the history of basketball has been able to (yes Boston fans, even more so than Red). That's why the man has ten championship rings and that's why he's in position to win another one in these coming weeks.

Edge: Jackson


Prediction Time

Let's just say this much: if the Lakers win tonight, this thing is over. Jackson is a million and zero when he wins the first game of a playoff series. I'm actually not kidding or exaggerating here. He has won every single series he's coached in which his team captured Game One. The man can close better than anyone ever has, at least partially due to the likes of players that he's coached: MJ, Scottie, Shaq, Kobe.

It's not exactly Earth-shattering to say that these are two very different teams from the ones to that faced off against each other two years ago.

Let's take a look at Boston. Rondo's gone from complimentary piece to a full-blown star. Allen's lost a step or so, but he's still the same dead-eye shooter. Pierce has maybe aged a bit, but not too drastic of a change. Garnett's aged considerably, especially from a physical health standpoint. Game Two '08 Finals hero Leon Powe's gone. As is PJ Brown. In are Robinson, Wallace, and Marquis Daniels.

Then look at the Lakers. Kobe's still arguably the best player in the league. Gasol's toughened up and become an elite big man. Artest has been added as a defensive juggernaut. Bynum is actually playing.

This isn't quite a toss-up, but I can assure you, this will be a great series, better than the one in 2008. NBA Finals tend to be anti-climactic, but this one will defy that; I can assure you of that much.

The difference here is inspiration. The Celtics are looking for that last hurrah, but they've already proven themselves as a champion and did so against the Lakers. They've conquered that obstacle. There's still something to be had for LA, though. Sure they won a title last year, but that was against a Magic team that it was much, much better than, a team in which they matched up incredibly well against. This is different. This is a chance for Bryant to prove himself as a winner yet again, for Gasol to shed his soft image, a chance for Artest to prove he can be a key piece on a championship team. Most importantly, they want to make people forget that they blew a 20-plus point lead in Game Four, that they lost by 39 in the series-ending Game Six that in a game that wasn't even that close.

Revenge is on their mind, and in a series like this, instilling that sort of mindset in a player like Kobe Bryant and a team as talented as the Lakers, and that can be all the edge that you need.


The Final Pick: Lakers in Seven

-CM

Plea to LeBron

Gotta thank Franky Frost for shooting me this link last night. With LeBron James' impending free agency, there's been a lot of posturing on the part of people in Cleveland, New York, New Jersey and everywhere in between, trying to lure The King to their city.

Anyhow, there's a sog out by Jadakiss and a poo-poo platter of other MCs where each makes a plea to LeBron to come to their city. Jada leads it off with the NYC argument, then others follow, representing their own cities; you've got Chicago, Miami, and LA among others.



Overall, this is pretty awesome, hilarious at the very least. This takes LeBron's free agency to a whole new level. Any other free agent in the history of any other sport cause something to this level?

Proves why this summer, regardless of LeBron's decision, is so historic and why so much attention is being paid to this decision of one man.

My Conference Realignment Plan

I'll give a little bit of context on this one. I'd been discussing the conference realignment possibility with our newest contributor to the blog (you know, the guy who geniusly identified Rally Cat as a threat to out precious freedoms?) for quite some time, mostly through April and early May until finals and papers began to take their inevitable toll.

I was doing a lot of talking on the matter, going in depth on a lot of the possibilities, so it was wisely asked that I shoot him an e-mail detailing my big idea on the matter.

With topics at a minimum (watch out for an NBA Finals preview tomorrow, courtesy of Rene and myself), I figured now would be an appropriate time to whip it out, the
e-mail that is.

Below is the e-mail copied and pasted onto the blog. Not a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Hey, the hippies got something right.



Here's what's up: conference realignment is going to happen whether we think it's right or not. The Big Ten is going to expand, possibly upwards to 16 teams. We can all acknowledge that they're not going to get Notre Dame for anything, especially football- too rich of a TV contract that they've got with NBC, plus their boosters have expressed an intense desire to remain independent. This means the Big East is going to get raided to the point where it's no longer going to exist. The teams that it would be losing couldn't possibly be made up by getting the likes of Memphis and Central Florida.

Make no mistakes about it, this is all happening for football. Basketball, popular as it may be, doesn't generate a fraction of the revenue that football does. Even the best regular season college hoops game can't even match a mediocre Saturday game in the fall with TV ratings and what not.

Anyhow, unless the Big Ten expands by only one school (highly unlikely), the Big East football will cease to exist and the Catholic, non-football schools will break off and form their own conference. This has been talked about for some time.

What will ensue out of all of this will be the formation of four "superconferences", with about 16 teams a piece. This has been written about extensively on a national level and is a very plausable option should things transpire as expected. Below, I've set up what these four conferences will look like, trying my best to maintain a level of geographic integrity. New additions are bolded.

New Big Ten- Midwest and Northeast



Illinois
Indiana
Penn State
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Ohio State
Northwestern
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
UConn
Boston College


The New ACC- Lower Midwest and Southeast Coast



Maryland
Duke
North Carolina
NC State
Wake Forest
Clemson
Miami
Georgia Tech
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Florida State
South Carolina
Louisville
Cincinnati
South Florida
West Virginia


New SEC- Southeast and Southwest (Basically the Current Big 12 South)



Florida (Go Gata!)
Georgia
Vanderbilt
Tennessee
Alabama
Auburn
Mississippi
Mississippi State
LSU
Arkansas
Kentucky
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Baylor
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State


New Pac-10- West Coast, Rocky Mntns, and Great Plains



Arizona
Arizona State
USC
UCLA
California
Stanford
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State
Colorado
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State



The previously alluded to basketball-only conference of Big East remnants would look something like this:

Georgetown
Villanova
Seton Hall
St. John's
DePaul
Marquette
Providence
Notre Dame
Xavier
Dayton
Butler
Virginia Commonwealth or George Mason


A few explanations:

-BC goes to the Big Ten, firstly because it's the most profitable league out there, with their own TV network and all. Also, geographically to the ACC, they don't match. The closest team to them is Maryland. This way they have UConn, Cuse and Rutgers all fairly nearby

-South Carolina to the ACC because of the natural rivalry that exists with Clemson. They're on a coastal state and they haven't been in the SEC so long that they're indispensible or anything.

-Big 12 North to Pac-10 and Big 12 South to the SEC for geographic reasons. As a side note, the new SEC would be a beyond unreal football league.

-Added in some non-Catholic schools to the equation for bball. Ten teams really isn't much for a conference like that, and who would pass on the chance to get a program like Butler who doesn't have DI football?

My twosense anyway, hope you enjoyed it and that your mind's not too, too boggled.



Granted, a lot of this conference expansion will be dictated by who makes the first move and when, but look for an entry on how all this might affect BU.