(06-20-2015 11:00 PM)Afflicted Wrote: The biggest difference between me and all the other Rice fans is that I can see that no matter how well the athletics programs do, it will never be enough for a P5 invitation. That boat has sailed. The fanbase is just simply too small and there isn't nearly enough money flowing into athletics from donors. I could go on and on listing the barriers and shortcomings. We're all too familiar with them. I've been told I'm not a real fan for acknowledging them, but I may just be too much of a realist. Being that Rice will never be a P5 member, the best thing it can do is align itself with as many public schools in the immediate region as it possibly can, no matter how it's done.
Sorry, but you are arguing against a bit of a straw man here. I’ll give you that there are some Parliament posters who seem to think a P5 invitation is just around the corner if only we’d try or that if it doesn’t come the world would end. However, it’s not a binary choice between that viewpoint and your vision of a 20 team merger with the Sunbelt. I think the majority of Rice fans are somewhere along the spectrum between those two points.
I tend to agree with Owl[numbers] that what we should be focusing on is staying Rice in baseball, becoming Gonzaga in basketball, becoming Boise in football, and growing our attendance/fan base. (I think that probably applies to every G5.) If there is any chance of a P5 invite, however small, we need to do those things. But if we do those things and there is no P5 invite, then I’ll still be one happy Rice fan, and we will be in good shape if/when another shakeup occurs. Again, I think most of this applies to every G5 and would still apply to Rice if we were in the AAC or MWC.
Regarding the AAC and our former conference mates – Tulane is a fellow AAU school and we have nearly a century of history with SMU. Tulsa I’m indifferent to. Not a knock on Tulsa, just that neither of those things apply. UH as a rivalry actually works well OOC, I think. My bigger concern with conference affiliation is 1) that the current perceived pecking order will get set in stone, and 2) if a split happens it will not be P5/G5 but P5 + 15-20 G5 schools.
Regarding (1): The general perception is AAC/MWC >CUSA>MAC>Sunbelt. I’m talking about perception. We can make arguments that we belong in the top group of three, but the MAC can make arguments they belong with us. All of us in CUSA need to hope that CUSA can establish itself in perception as one of the top 3 G5 conferences. I think that’s possible. I also think it’s possible that we get stuck as one of the “other three”. That’s a risk for all of us, and I think it is more likely if we expand with more Sunbelt teams, even if there are arguments in their favor. I just don’t think expansion helps us right now.
Regarding (2): I don’t think a full P5 split is likely. They need us for OOC and there are too many state flagships or near-flagships outside the P5 for it to be politically feasible. But I can see a P5+2 split happening. And currently CUSA would not be one of the two.
So, let’s not expand, and each of us focus on improving our own programs.