Bear Down Wildcats

AzCatFan2 wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 8:42 pm Once ORWA officially went B1G, we were out of options.

AzCatFan2 wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 8:42 pmToday, the BIG12 likely created long term survival.

azgreg wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 8:36 pm

Fishclamps wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:05 pm I wish I could just shut my brain off like some people here

PHXCATS wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:15 pm

Fishclamps wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:05 pm I wish I could just shut my brain off like some people here

Exactly. Imagine if we all just followed what Scheer and Luke said and never thought independently

dmjcat wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:13 pm

azgreg wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 8:36 pm

Agree completely.

We will also do better in recruiting in certain areas due to:

1) Many of the upper level 3 stars/low level 4 stars that previously went to Stanford/Cal will now look at the UA because
they will not want to play in the MountainPacWest Conference (or whatever they call it)

2) The two LA schools (especially UCLA) are likely to get their ass kicked in the B1G.....this will not make those schoolsl
more attractive in the eyes of recruits

3) The LA schools will be doing some serious traveling (sometimes in the snow/sleet in November). Once potential recruits see
USC/UCLA players freezing their ass off on TV (while getting clobbered) they may decide to take a 2nd look at the UA

dmjcat wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:13 pm

azgreg wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 8:36 pm

Agree completely.

We will also do better in recruiting in certain areas due to:

1) Many of the upper level 3 stars/low level 4 stars that previously went to Stanford/Cal will now look at the UA because
they will not want to play in the MountainPacWest Conference (or whatever they call it)

2) The two LA schools (especially UCLA) are likely to get their ass kicked in the B1G.....this will not make those schools
more attractive in the eyes of recruits

3) The LA schools will be doing some serious traveling (sometimes in the snow/sleet in November). Once potential recruits see
USC/UCLA players freezing their ass off on TV (while getting clobbered on a frozen field 2500 miles from sunny LA) they may decide to take a 2nd look at the UA

RondaeShimmy wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:15 pm

Trying to find a way out

Siempre Verde wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 11:28 pm I think it is time to interject, Fuck Larry Scott.

Alieberman wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 5:59 am If the Big12 wants a west coast presence why not press Stanford and Cal?

Alieberman wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 5:59 am If the Big12 wants a west coast presence why not press Stanford and Cal?

Chicat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 4:16 am Just waking up to realize we are still in a conference with Michael Crow. I hope the other school presidents kneecap that motherfucker at the first meeting.

Alieberman wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 6:32 am This is true.

Sometimes I wish I was more like a Stanford fan

wyo-cat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 6:33 am

Chicat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 4:16 am Just waking up to realize we are still in a conference with Michael Crow. I hope the other school presidents kneecap that motherfucker at the first meeting.

He’ll have zero juice in the B12.

It will make him STFU about shit.

wyo-cat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:52 am Stop knocking on truck stops.

The TTT at I10 and Craycroft has a great breakfast.

Postmaster wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:17 am Crow is also working on getting Raytheon to move to Tempe. I know it’s not sports, but it still seems like he is trying to undermine U of A and Tucson.

O’Neil: Latest conference realignment shows stunning lack of thought or foresight

https://theathletic.com/4749959/2023/08 ... ign=602288

This is where we are. Ostensibly bright people are instead acting like lunatics, a lethal combination of pinheaded panicked presidents and carnivorous conference administrators forging a future that is no more stable than the past, while giving exactly zero consideration to their athletes and not even thinking about what the market might bear out in 10 years.

If conference realignment has taught us anything, it is that it is never aligned. “We’ve been waiting for a year, and there is so much enthusiasm in my time across the country with alumni and parents, I really couldn’t wait until July 1.’’ Colorado chancellor Philip DiStefano said that in 2011, as the bells tolled on his campus 12 times to signify the move to the Pac-12. Don’t let the door hit you, Phil.

That’s the great joke in all of this, that somehow these college enterprises are collegial. They are loyal to no one and beholden only to their bank accounts. In the midst of the mayhem, Florida State felt compelled to threaten the ACC with its departure … as if it were 1988, and Wide Right still mattered. (Though God bless Oregon State for pledging its undying love to the Pac-12. Which is kinda like saying the prom is an archaic rite of passage, when, in truth, no one has asked you to go.) All of 12 hours ago, Big Ten presidents reportedly weren’t all on board to add Washington and Oregon, and yet now here we are. Grab hands, sing Kumbaya, and grit your teeth. Meanwhile, Arizona and Arizona State are still mulling their move to the Big 12, which does not exactly read like anyone is super eager to join.

If the past has taught us anything, rarely do these reconfigurations work. How many teams or leagues have truly gotten better, or made their league better? Since all of this shook out, only one realigned team has made it to the College Football Playoff (TCU), while only one (UConn) has won a men’s college basketball title — and UConn was misaligned to the American; that does not count.

If anything, they’ve all been diluted by their bloating. Boston College athletics is hanging on a missing poster inside every campus post office. Maryland, Syracuse and Pitt basketball, all successful and proud members of their former associations, have struggled to carve new identities in the Big Ten and ACC, respectively. Texas A&M football joined the SEC in 2012. And? And while the Big Ten keeps getting bigger, it still hasn’t won a college hoops championship in 23 years. The small but mighty Big East, meantime, has won three in the last seven.

Didn’t the Pac-12 essentially just prove that neither Oregon nor Washington was enough to attract more money from TV packages?

And still we gather eggs, not merely overlooking the value, but giving zero care to the consequences, long term or short. At its core, all of this is about TV money. As one college basketball coach once quipped, “the Fox Conference versus ESPN.” Yet just this week, the New York Times reported that ESPN’s profits plunged 29 percent in the last six months. Disney is so concerned about its once fatted calf that it’s considering spinning off minority stakes to professional teams. Why? Because the network has spent a gajillion dollars on rights fees at a time when people are cord cutting, and the presumed cash cow of streaming hasn’t exactly paid off.

But very often booms are followed by busts, and much like the homeowner never sees his or her property value tanking, university presidents seem immune to the idea that the steady flow of cash is not forever. Right now, people are still tuning in to college football, but just how much interest that Washington-Northwestern traditional battle draws remains to be seen.

Also, basic math lesson for the academics: The more teams you add, the more you have to spread the wealth.

Granted, Arizona-Kansas hoops — if the Big 12 expansion shakes out — could be fun, but please let’s not pretend this is about basketball. Or any other sport. It is not, nor has it ever been. We can invite Bill Walton to conduct last rites on Pac-12 basketball, but no one making these decisions truly mourns its death. Or frankly even considered the idea it was killing it. Chip Kelly (27-29 at UCLA) > John Wooden (620-147).

Perhaps down the road the brain trust that wants to expand the NCAA Tournament will realize how this could backfire. It’s kinda hard to get more of your cruddy teams into the bracket when the size of your conference could mean not all of your members will even make the conference tournament. That might catch their eye. Not because the athletes won’t get a shot in March; because they won’t get more NCAA tourney shares.

But odds are, right now at least, that hasn’t crossed anyone’s mind. Nor has the idea that while the football players load up in their charter flights for their grueling weekend trips, there will be a volleyball player somewhere grabbing a middle seat in coach to travel across the country on a Wednesday in December and take a chem lab in the Hyatt ballroom.

Way back when — in this case, Monday — Big Ten people discussed how diligent they’ve been at tackling the new travel for USC and UCLA. The diligence in this case meaning that they had discussed it — not that they had a solution. In fact, they lauded the fact that the Los Angeles airport as a West Coast hub made things a lot easier for everyone. Two schools neatly tied to the big airport, easy entry and exit for anyone.

So did anyone, in this mad dash to grab Oregon and Washington, consider the Eugene to State College commute? Maybe the conference is divided into divisions. Iowa City to Seattle is still not exactly a puddle jumper for Olympic sports athletes who rely on the ever-reliable commercial airline industry.

Also just curious: USC and UCLA beach volleyball? On the banks of the old Raritan? Or Lake Michigan?

Right. None of that occurred to anyone.

UAEebs86 wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:29 am

Postmaster wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:17 am Crow is also working on getting Raytheon to move to Tempe. I know it’s not sports, but it still seems like he is trying to undermine U of A and Tucson.

Really? Do you a link with any details?

I don't think they will ever be able to move the manufacturing away from the Tucson plant site, but they could probably move the engineering and other office jobs like supply chain/finance/HR etc. They've been looking at trying to do that for years - the turnover at the Tucson site is insane since the merger with United Technologies.

BBQ wildcat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:41 am I'm just breathing a huge sigh of relief that this whole shitshow is over -- for us anyway. I always thought that, once USC and UCLA left, we just had to get out.

TheCatInTheHat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 9:59 am Meanwhile, we'll be playing a lot of teams we already know all about, and nobody in Big XII football is all that intimidating.

UAEebs86 wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:29 am

Postmaster wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:17 am Crow is also working on getting Raytheon to move to Tempe. I know it’s not sports, but it still seems like he is trying to undermine U of A and Tucson.

Really? Do you a link with any details?

I don't think they will ever be able to move the manufacturing away from the Tucson plant site, but they could probably move the engineering and other office jobs like supply chain/finance/HR etc. They've been looking at trying to do that for years - the turnover at the Tucson site is insane since the merger with United Technologies.

Catintheheat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 10:08 am

UAEebs86 wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:29 am

Postmaster wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:17 am Crow is also working on getting Raytheon to move to Tempe. I know it’s not sports, but it still seems like he is trying to undermine U of A and Tucson.

Really? Do you a link with any details?

I don't think they will ever be able to move the manufacturing away from the Tucson plant site, but they could probably move the engineering and other office jobs like supply chain/finance/HR etc. They've been looking at trying to do that for years - the turnover at the Tucson site is insane since the merger with United Technologies.

Raytheon is located next to Tucson International Airport. It makes it easier to ship missile parts.

TheGreatCatsby wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 11:04 am It's likely all this will change again dramatically in another 8 years or so as the media market continues to evolve. Right now we're at the crossroads of failing traditional linear TV, while streaming paywalls aren't quite there yet to offer security or enough guaranteed money. Now was just a terrible time for the PAC12 to try and get a new TV deal, as Disney is looking to dump ESPN. The time for that was back in 2018 when ESPN offered the PAC a lifeline, and Larry fumbled the bag in his ivory tower.

Given that some current streamers are losing massive amounts of money year over year, we don't even know which of those will survive. In 2031 there may be also be no linear TV ESPN of FOX to offer $4 billion dollar contracts to leagues. You would think there would be something to replace them, but we could see a broadcast industry so fractured by then it looks like the current music industry, with no big players left to make mega deals.

And also by then everybody might realize we collectively lost our minds back in the post-pandemic 2021-2025 years. The athletes may decide they hate all the crazy travel demands and schedules, leading to an even stronger push for student athlete unionization. The unions will be at the table next time determining who plays where and in what conference. By then the schools out west, as it continues to add population, might realize something like a PAC16 might make sense financially and it might make sense to play schools closer to home. Maybe by 2031 society will view all the carbon emission based jet travel as environmentally dangerous/irresponsible, and that could change the calculations as well.

For now at least, the new Big12 rivalries will be a lot of fun. Basketball is going to be great. A finally getting some actual east coast exposure and recognition will be nice.

wyo-cat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:52 am Stop knocking on truck stops.

The TTT at I10 and Craycroft has a great breakfast.

CalStateTempe wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:59 am I love truck stops too!

I love the B12 and everything it represents.