Just when geography was starting to win out (a southern school, Miami leaving a Northern conference to be in a southern conference), the southern conference skips several states and adds a northern school! - nooooooooo it don't make sense - should have taken WVU if anyone - they at least have some rednecks there! - Arkansan

Sounds like a solid reason to leave them alone, if you ask me. I was rooting for Temple. Alas...

now the BE can regroup, drop the stupid lawsuit, and get on with the business of raiding C-USA :P :-/

ACC raiding the BE,a little humor from Pete Fiutak over at CFN at http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2003/Columnists/Fiu/COW/Cavalcade_of_Whimsey.htm

Gator Guy, the link is not working. Please check it. I could use a good laugh today.

Broken link over at Fox-CFN? Last time at http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2003/Columnists/Fiu/COW/Cavalcade_of_Whimsey.htm

Da#$%$@n link! I haven't done this before.As Arkansan would say,I need helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllpppppppppp!!

Do Jonesboro or Little Rock qualify as "Sun Belt" locations (esp. Jonesboro)? It is the Atlantic Coast Conference, although 3/4s of its future membership resided in the Southern Conference at one time.

The "Sunbelt" as defined by Webster's is "the U.S. Southern and Southwestern states" - Arkansas is definitely a southern state - having said that, if you have read some of my previous posts, I have criticized the "Sunbelt" Conference many times - to have schools stretched from Alabama to Idaho is ridiculous - pretty much anything west of Arkansas is "western", (ok, maybe Oklahoma and straight North are "Midwestern" (whatever that is) or southwestern - really, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and possibly Oklahoma could be classified as midsouthern, southcentral etc. - anyway, your premise is that Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock should not be in a "Sunbelt" Conference" - we'll, maybe not but they do belong in a conference with schools from Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and maybe Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri - to have Idaho and Troy State in the same league.......whatever you want to call it is ridiculous - as far as the ACC goes, yes, BC is on the Atlantic Coast - I still think it is a very odd pick as there are several states with big schools between it and the core ACC schools (NY, NJ, RI, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia etc. etc.) - hey it's just my opinion and I think the contiguous state thing/culture is good for rivalries - man, I can really see Clemson getting keyed up for BC (not) - Arkansan

As far as the conference is concerned, it's Sun Belt: two words. If Vic Bubas is dead he is turning over in his grave...

Thanks for correcting my English - I used to spell thankyou as one word also - my apologies, but I am unfamiliar with Vic Bubas.......is he the "Sun Belt" Commissioner? - Arkansan

One thing the Sun Belt has that the ACC doesn't: it's contiguous.

AL-TN-AR-LA-TX-NM-UT-ID

Thanks, Four Points National Monument!

Gunnerfan, I was pulling for Temple also. Of course, that was about as likely as ND joining. Temple has no place to go and it wouldn't have hurt the BE since the BE already kicked them out.

BC was the best choice for them, but BC would have been a lot better paired with SU.

Temple actually was not a terrible choice. They were contiguous, brought the ACC into a fertile recruiting ground for bb and fb, brought the ACC, most importantly bb, into the nation's 6th largest metro area, and contributed probably the best bb program in the NE over the last 10 years. The future ACC, last week, had 3 of the top 5 fb teams in the country. They really didn't need more fb strength, they needed a good bb program (all the more reason SU + BC were better). Temple provided that. If they only averaged 35-40k like BC instead of half that (and that only when they had a lot of discounted tickets), they might have made it.

Re: Temple
Bullet, I think Temple's football attendance was hardly an issue, at least in the sense that it is something that can improve under the right circumstances. What was an issue, besides the academics, was that Temple seemed unable to commit to creating those right circumstances for the program to thrive. Granted, the stronger their athletics, the more likely they impact Maryland's recruiting. But I imagine it to be only marginally so and given the market something easily manageable. I blame it on the academic and athletic visions, or lack thereof.

Re: Sun Belt
One thing to give the league credit for is that these schools recognized the value of being in a conference. Not only does it allow packaged marketing and base scheduling, but it invites some sense of stability: With the exception of those schools suffering to meet 1-A standards, members will either be chosen for lofter membership elsewhere or at least have a home here. For that reason, I can see the Sun Belt surviving while the WAC (as an organization) is plucked apart. Perhaps after all is said and done there'll be more functional east/west divisions, however.

you must be a youngin' ;D

http://www.hoopshall.com/inductees/2002/bubas.html

http://www.sportsstats.com/duke/coach/bubas.html