We are here today with a problem:  football holds WAY too much sway in college athletics, as is obvious.  Football drives money, and football is the reason we're an ACC team.  However, I went to SU 2000-2004.  I grew up playing basketball.  I'm a Jim Boeheim disciple.  Basketball, to me, is the best product college sports puts out.  If we accept that the old conferences are a relic of the past, and somehow the schools will realign based on what makes the most sense for the institution (acting understandably selfishly), then we need a real idea for the future.  Something that asserts the power college hoops can have over the landscape, that will make basketball uber-profitable, and will provide the best product for the country.  Thus, my idea (with a "friend" who is a UConn grad):  the basketball superconference.  The requirements:

1)  We have 12 FBS schools, 4 hoops-only members

2)  The conference has to be national to attract as much attention and as much money as possible

3) Each FBS school must be a primarily basketball school.  This precludes strong programs like Florida and Ohio State, who are ultimately football schools.  However, with enough large, noteworthy institutions involved, a 12 school football conference with a Championship game is pretty much guaranteed a BCS spot (Hell, they gave one to the old/current Big East lineup, it should be a given).   In this scenario, I let SU qualify, although we probably come about the closest to breaking this rule.

4)  The hoops only members are for basketball strength only.

5)  Because of the power of this conference with hoops, there must be strong incentive to win nightly.  Only 12 of the 16 teams make the conference tourney (at MSG, obviously), and we know that only 10 per season will likely make the dance.

Without further ado, our new SuperMegaHoopsGODILOVEBASKETBALL Conference:  Syracuse, UConn, UNC, Duke, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan State, UCLA, Arizona, Louisville, Kentucky, Purdue, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, St. Johns.

Notes:  The 12 FBS schools are large enough, with a big enough alumni base and available money, to make this a BCS conference easily.  Schools like SU, MSU, and UCLA with strong hopes of being relevant nationally in football are the early frontrunners to take control of the conference

-Purdue or Maryland for the last FBS school was a tossup.  Had Maryland been selected, Butler likely gets the nod for the last hoops-only school over St. Johns.

-St. Johns and Gonzaga was another discussion.  Eventually NYC won over the Northwest wilderness, but in the spirit of a national conference and more sustained recent success, a good case for the Zags can be made.

-If ESPN would offer the Big East 11 mil/team/year, wouldn't this conference get an insane offer?  ESPN, CBS, NBC/Versus or whoever could have an entire winter's programming of marquee matchups 5 nights a week.  ESPN would probably make an entirely new sub-website and channel for it.  Even Depaul played in the Big East.  And by only allowing 12 teams in the conference tourney, all of a sudden that Marquette-Indiana game in late Feb has a lot on the line.

-Almost every team has some sort of rival:  All the Big East teams playing against each other, let alone SU/Gtown, Duke/UNC, Kansas/Kentucky (it'd work), Indiana/Purdue, UCLA/Arizona, Kentucky/Louisville, Michigan State/Indiana, etc.  Besides power schools, this has great matchups that already provide instant national attention. 

-Finally, that conference tournament.  At MSG.  Can you imagine?

-Editors note:  this idea was born with the caveat that the rules of physics and space/time do not apply when it comes to the insane travel schedules that would be involved.

Looks like Coach P got the axe in Miami (according to PFT).  I know nothing of the Dolphins D, as I dont watch much AFC East football, so I cant speak on whether it was justified or not.  That said, I still love Coach P.  Maybe its just because the sting of GRob still hurts so much, but I always thought Coach P was a good, stable coach for SU.  I was there 2000-2004, not his best string of years, but still enjoyed the wins over VT, the Walter Reyes era, Pat Woodcock's immortal name, Dwight Freeney's freakish speed off the edge, and everything else that happened those 4 years, despite not being a dominant team.  Sure, I was more forgiving because I got to be a student during the teams first hoops title.  But I liked him as our somewhat-longtime coach then, and it makes me feel bad for newer students who attended during Greggers era of despair that they weren't at least able to have a likeable coach at the helm during their matriculation.  We almost certainly wouldn't have ever had any title aspirations under Coach P, mostly because I don't think there was ever another McNabb coming down the road for him.  That said, a tip of the cap to our temporarily unemployed former leader.  Seemingly nice guy, better than average coach, and always (to me, at least) an Orangeman.

To Temple (which I loved to see, despite it hurting the overall Big East Ranking, if only very slightly).  It should help an already expected jump into the top 5...4th behind KU, Texas, and UK?  I can't see us jumping any of them, maybe Purdue just based on name recognition, view of the Big East over the Big Ten, etc.   Texas and UK aren't going anywhere, KU is entrenched at the top, but I'll take number 4 if thats what we get.  

I saw the post-game fistpump on the ESNP360 replay. That wasn't just a little pump either, it was short, but he had a quick unrestrained moment there. Watch it, its the best moment I've seen in a long time. He knows what he has now. And he's pumped about it. He knows, you could see it in that moment. I was coming off cloud 9, getting more realistic, then I saw that. Remember that fist pump. Jimmy don't do that if Jimmy don't know. Jimmy knows. Hell yes, he's ready for this season. So are we.