No more Leaders and Legends?

[Mace]

Sounds like the B1G will revisit the naming of the divisions but, considering the weak football being played in the conference, the gayness of Leaders and Legends might remain appropriate. I never understood what would be wrong with East and West instead of trying to come up with some catchy bullshit names.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... elany-says

[WolverineSteve]

Sounds good to me. I don't know who's in which division or which one Michigan is in for that matter. I could get North and South or East and West.

[Cornhusker]

Sounds good to me. I don't know who's in which division or which one Michigan is in for that matter. I could get North and South or East and West.

East
Penn St.
Ohio St.
Michigan
Michigan St.
Maryland
Rutgers
Indiana



West
Minnesota
Purdue
Iowa
Nebraska
Northwestern
Illinois
Wisconsin


However I think it's believed, by in large, Delany has a wish list consisting of tOSU and Michigan playing "possibly" twice a season. Putting them in opposite divisions.

Word on this side of the river is Iowa isn't warmed about playing on Black Friday every season....Mace?...any truth to that?
Folks here seem to want a Wisconsin meeting each year..on that day...

[WolverineSteve]

^^^^this might be a tad weighted toward the east. UM, MSU, OSU, PSU, has meat grinder written all over it. That said, UM and OSU will play in consecutive weeks next year, they will split, it will suck, they will be in the same division when they realign.

[Van]

In that scenario the East positively kills the West. Maybe it would be better to go North and South...

North

Michigan
Michigan St
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Rutgers
Maryland
Penn St

South

Ohio St
Iowa
Nebraska
Purdue
Indiana
Northwestern
Illinois

[Mace]

Word on this side of the river is Iowa isn't warmed about playing on Black Friday every season....Mace?...any truth to that?

I haven't heard any rumblings about that but I know Ferentz liked the old schedule when he had Thanksgiving weekend off and everyone watched tOSU-Michigan. With conference expansion they'll have to play someone that weekend but, given the current condition of the Iowa program, a Nebraska-Wisky matchup would be more entertaining and likely have more bearing on the conference title. Isn't that the weekend the Badgers play Minnesota? They probably won't want to give that up....but Goobs could probably address that better than me.

[Cornhusker]

^^^^this might be a tad weighted toward the east. UM, MSU, OSU, PSU, has meat grinder written all over it. That said, UM and OSU will play in consecutive weeks next year, they will split, it will suck, they will be in the same division when they realign.

No doubt "as of now" the East would be weighed more heavily. You expect tOSU and the Ganders always being heavyweights. Always.
The layout I gave is regionally based of course.
What I have never understood is the fact Illinois has always been Illinois. They recruit damn good athletes it seems, but never "get there."
You expect Wisconsin will always be hardnosed, and as long as Fitz stays home, I think Northwestern will continue it's climb..they're pretty good now. As far as B1G standards go that is.

I believe attrition will play into strength of the divisions to some degree..i.e.coaching changes, recruiting homeruns, and the dreaded sanctions (sup Urb?)...Penn St. most certainly will feel the sanctions beginning next season and could linger for 4-5 years after that. I'd be surprised if O'Brien is there for any significant period of time.

As to Van's scenerio..the B1G will go to no less than 9 conference games..thus 3 crossovers each year. So cross-divisional play and rotating schedule within.. will off-set some of the power of a particular division.
I doubt defined rivials will remain.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Sounds good to me. I don't know who's in which division or which one Michigan is in for that matter. I could get North and South or East and West.

East
Penn St.
Ohio St.
Michigan
Michigan St.
Maryland
Rutgers
Indiana



West
Minnesota
Purdue
Iowa
Nebraska
Northwestern
Illinois
Wisconsin

This is the alignment that makes most sense. I don't think you can align divisions based on balance of power. That changes. Geography, OTOH, does not.

It's a must that Penn State play both Maryland and Rutgers annually, and that alone is reason enough to change the alignment. Of course, the ghey-ass Leaders and Legends crap doesn't hurt, either.

[Van]

My two divisions are also based on geography, and they create a better balance of power. The only downside is the splitting of Ohio St and Michigan into separate divisions, but it can still be worked out that they play each other every year.

[Terry in Crapchester]

My two divisions are also based on geography,

Maryland in the north? In this conference?

You might want to check your map again. But at least they're in the same division as Penn State.

Edit: Since you got me curious about north/south, I decided to google the latitude of the B1G schools. A more accurate north/south alignment would be as follows:

North
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Wisconsin

South

Illinois
Indiana
Maryland
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers

So essentially, the North would be the West Division and the South would be the East Division, except with Michigan and Michigan State swapped out for Illinois and Purdue. Alternatively, the North would be the current Legends Division and the South would be the current Leaders Division, except with Wisconsin changing divisions to accommodate Maryland and Rutgers going into the same division. Either way, I guess I could live with that.

[Van]

Maryland is in the North in my set-up in order to keep them together with Penn St and Rutgers. I thought that would be fairly obvious.

[Mace]

I think they'll keep Rutgers and Maryland with PSU and the rest will try to be aligned for competitive balance with consideration given for rivalry games. It won't be perfect and not everyone will be satisfied with what they come up with.....that I can guarantee.

[King Crimson]

i don't care who goes where but leaders and legends is something BTPCF can certainly live without. super gay.

no reason to reinvent the poetic wheel. east-west, north-south...working for a long time in sports. less tampering, less "meaning" or psychology applied to sports the better....game is about what happens between the sidelines and inside the whistles. why the NBA and NFL is basically unwatchable.

that's what makes sport....and not the daytime drama ESPN wants to make of it.

[M Club]

no reason to reinvent the poetic wheel. east-west, north-south...working for a long time in sports. less tampering, less "meaning" or psychology applied to sports the better....

How to name the divisions is just a reflection of how unique the Big Ten is when it comes to honoring tradition, which is why UTEP will be a member by 2015.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Y'all are forgetting Georgia Tech.

What happened to that deal?

According to this, the ACC could be in big trouble. http://www.eersauthority.com/big-10-and ... c-schools/. Of course, the timetable referenced in the article has come and gone, and the author certainly hedges quite a bit at the end.

The more I think about it, the more I think a north/south alignment like the one I mentioned could work if the B1G stays at 14. But if it goes to 16, I think you have to go east-west:

East

Georgia Tech/UNC
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
Virginia

West

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin

Division split at a natural place: the Ohio-Indiana border.

What a north-south split would look like (if done right geographically) in a 16-team B1G:

North

Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn State
Wisconsin

South

Georgia Tech/UNC
Illinois
Indiana
Maryland
Ohio State
Purdue
Rutgers
Virginia

This splits Penn State from the three schools in the conference that are located in geographically adjacent states (Maryland, tOSU, Rutgers).

[Left Seater]

RICE would be competitive in the West grouping above.

Not so much in the East.

[Terry in Crapchester]

I'm not sure the ACC members are going to enjoy a whole lot of success here. If we were talking Florida State or Va Tech, perhaps, but we're not.

[King Crimson]

no reason to reinvent the poetic wheel. east-west, north-south...working for a long time in sports. less tampering, less "meaning" or psychology applied to sports the better....

How to name the divisions is just a reflection of how unique the Big Ten is when it comes to honoring tradition, which is why UTEP will be a member by 2015.

not if the Big XII gets them first. a couple UTEP hoops teams could have .500 or better in the XII over the last decade. some good teams but keep losing their coaches to better jobs. there was a UTEP team i liked a couple years back that had Final Four Butler down 10 for while. Butler too tough in the end....but that was a legit Miner team. really athletic...Butler was a tough draw for them since BU didn't get intimidated by UTEP jumping all over the gym....they just the offense and play help D