I actually think that as long as they stay at 16 for now, they are better off going with divisions. Move Purdue over to the east, and then you have the 8 teams in Eastern Time Zone in the east - Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland. The west consists of six teams in the central time zone and two teams in the Pacific - Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, UCLA, USC. Plus, Nebraska hasn't really lived up to their billing in the west, so now you have two new glamour teams to help the west.

Divisions, as will the SEC.

Let's wait to see who moves in and who gets dropped before we set them.

Mike

On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 11:24:00 AM UTC-4, Michael Falkner wrote:
> Divisions, as will the SEC.
>
> Let's wait to see who moves in and who gets dropped before we set them.
>

What fun is waiting? I suspect that SEC and Big Ten both grow and break away from the NCAA entirely. And each of them then acts as their own NCAA-like entity with conferences and/or divisions within them.

On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 8:34:37 AM UTC-7, JGibson wrote:
> On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 11:24:00 AM UTC-4, Michael Falkner wrote:
> > Divisions, as will the SEC.
> >
> > Let's wait to see who moves in and who gets dropped before we set them.
> >
> What fun is waiting? I suspect that SEC and Big Ten both grow and break away from the NCAA entirely. And each of them then acts as their own NCAA-like entity with conferences and/or divisions within them.

2024-2025 -- and that's about what I see happening. But you'll need to have the Purdues and Vanderbilts dealt with and have space for Notre Dame, Clemson, and perhaps others.

Mike

> What fun is waiting? I suspect that SEC and Big Ten both grow and break away from the NCAA entirely. And each of them then acts as their own NCAA-like entity with conferences and/or divisions within them.

Nobody is going to break away "entirely" from the NCAA unless they want to drop their basketball programs. There is no way that even if there is a combined SEC/Big Ten basketball tournament, its champion will be considered "the national champion" every year or close to it.
For the Big Ten, throw in ice hockey and wrestling - yes, those are important enough to bring into the conversation. SEC, I can't think of any other sports besides men's (or, maybe if you're Tennessee, women's) basketball that would make them even hesitate in considering a breakaway.

I think a football-only breakaway from the NCAA is quite possible - especially if they go one step further and have a clean break between the football teams and the schools. (Most, if not all, of the money that would be lost by the schools would be made up for by the teams (a) licensing the schools' names, colors, and mascots, and (b) renting out the stadiums to the teams for home games.)

Michael Falkner <darkstar7646@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 8:34:37 AM UTC-7, JGibson wrote:
>> On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 11:24:00 AM UTC-4, Michael Falkner wrote:
>>> Divisions, as will the SEC.
>>>
>>> Let's wait to see who moves in and who gets dropped before we set them.
>>>
>> What fun is waiting? I suspect that SEC and Big Ten both grow and break
>> away from the NCAA entirely. And each of them then acts as their own
>> NCAA-like entity with conferences and/or divisions within them.
>
> 2024-2025 -- and that's about what I see happening. But you'll need to
> have the Purdues and Vanderbilts dealt with and have space for Notre
> Dame, Clemson, and perhaps others.

They need the Purdues and Vanderbilts. If the top teams only play each
other some of them will end up with losing records and become the bottom
teams and they won’t like that.

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

On 7/1/2022 3:49 PM, xyzzy wrote:
> Michael Falkner <darkstar7646@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 8:34:37 AM UTC-7, JGibson wrote:
>>> On Friday, July 1, 2022 at 11:24:00 AM UTC-4, Michael Falkner wrote:
>>>> Divisions, as will the SEC.
>>>>
>>>> Let's wait to see who moves in and who gets dropped before we set them.
>>>>
>>> What fun is waiting? I suspect that SEC and Big Ten both grow and break
>>> away from the NCAA entirely. And each of them then acts as their own
>>> NCAA-like entity with conferences and/or divisions within them.
>>
>> 2024-2025 -- and that's about what I see happening. But you'll need to
>> have the Purdues and Vanderbilts dealt with and have space for Notre
>> Dame, Clemson, and perhaps others.
>
>
> They need the Purdues and Vanderbilts. If the top teams only play each
> other some of them will end up with losing records and become the bottom
> teams and they won’t like that.
>
That's what the MAC and Sun Belt are for.

--
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is." Ruben Goldberg