Post by elp525 on Oct 13, 2011 5:09:35 GMT -5
10/12/2011
MetroNews Sports
Morgantown
All of the recent changes in conference realignment and expansion have been related to football because that’s where the majority of the money is made in college athletics. There hasn’t been much talk of basketball affecting the conference realignment. Those schools are just along for the ride and because of that, the Big East has lost two of its top basketball schools in Pitt and Syracuse.
But with the 27-month exit requirement in the Big East by-laws, Mountaineer head coach Bob Huggins said there shouldn't be any immediate effect on the league.
“From what I understand Pitt and Syracuse are going to be in for a while so it really doesn’t change,” stated Huggins.
This isn’t the first time Huggins has dealt with conference realignment. It affected him in two prior head coaching stops. The first was at Akron and the second was at Cincinnati.
“Probably in my first eight years at Cincinnati I was in three different leagues so I’m a veteran in league switch,” joked Huggins. “Actually when I was at Akron we went Division I in football and got knocked out of the Ohio Valley and was an independent. Then they went from the Northeast Conference to the Mid-American Conference.”
Conference realignment doesn’t affect basketball as much as football, considering that every team in the nation has an opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season. Unlike football, where if a team wants to make it to the Bowl Championship Series they would have to be in a BCS Conference. But just like anything in sports in this day and age, it comes down to the money.
When asked if he was upset that basketball isn’t as big of a factor as football in conference realignment, Huggins said the sport has no one to blame but itself.
“It’s our own fault,” said Huggins. “You go to a meeting with basketball coaches and we can’t agree on anything.”
“I think I can say it where some other guys can’t," continued Huggins. “We have Division III coaches in our meetings that don’t have any idea what we do, we have Division II coaches in our meetings that don’t know what we do and then you have so called low majors, mid-majors and high majors and there’s a big difference. Seemingly everybody tries to protect their own interest.”
MetroNews Sports
Morgantown
All of the recent changes in conference realignment and expansion have been related to football because that’s where the majority of the money is made in college athletics. There hasn’t been much talk of basketball affecting the conference realignment. Those schools are just along for the ride and because of that, the Big East has lost two of its top basketball schools in Pitt and Syracuse.
But with the 27-month exit requirement in the Big East by-laws, Mountaineer head coach Bob Huggins said there shouldn't be any immediate effect on the league.
“From what I understand Pitt and Syracuse are going to be in for a while so it really doesn’t change,” stated Huggins.
This isn’t the first time Huggins has dealt with conference realignment. It affected him in two prior head coaching stops. The first was at Akron and the second was at Cincinnati.
“Probably in my first eight years at Cincinnati I was in three different leagues so I’m a veteran in league switch,” joked Huggins. “Actually when I was at Akron we went Division I in football and got knocked out of the Ohio Valley and was an independent. Then they went from the Northeast Conference to the Mid-American Conference.”
Conference realignment doesn’t affect basketball as much as football, considering that every team in the nation has an opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season. Unlike football, where if a team wants to make it to the Bowl Championship Series they would have to be in a BCS Conference. But just like anything in sports in this day and age, it comes down to the money.
When asked if he was upset that basketball isn’t as big of a factor as football in conference realignment, Huggins said the sport has no one to blame but itself.
“It’s our own fault,” said Huggins. “You go to a meeting with basketball coaches and we can’t agree on anything.”
“I think I can say it where some other guys can’t," continued Huggins. “We have Division III coaches in our meetings that don’t have any idea what we do, we have Division II coaches in our meetings that don’t know what we do and then you have so called low majors, mid-majors and high majors and there’s a big difference. Seemingly everybody tries to protect their own interest.”
