UCLA averages 9.2 TO's per game. Akron averages 11.5 TO's per game. Great analysis using statistics OCF. Appreciate that!

I think the reference was more that going from Akron in the MAC to Duquesne near the bottom of the A10 is somewhat lateral -- i.e. not a "power" conference job.

But I also see your point, and know that Duquesne is more financially stable. Plus the A10 is definitely a better league.

There are plenty of others who have seen and sustained high levels of success while chasing the so-called dream. Depending on your definition of "has it worked" you could make the argument for any one of these. And before we get into specifics like demographics and endowment sizes, let's not act like Gonzaga is alone in this front simply because they've reached a National Title game and held a #1 seed a few times.

Xavier
Dayton
Butler
Wichita State

These three have a long history of success from the past, but until recently (early 2000s or later) weren't in major conferences.

Houston
Cincinnati
Louisville

TCU - moreso a football example, but they went WAC -> C-USA -> Mountain West -> Big 12 in a matter of two decades. Investing heavily in the basketball program by hiring Jamie Dixon was huge for them.

And then you can throw in your NCAA Tournament regulars who made their name during magical tourney runs like Davidson, VCU and Loyola and other well-known programs like Marquette, Temple and Providence.

Are all of these programs national champions or have they even been to a Final Four? No. But you could hardly call them a failure for "chasing the dream."

There's a unifying theme with all of these programs (which also applies to Duquesne for what it's worth): market.

Xavier, Butler, Houston, Cincinnati, TCU, Loyola, Temple, and Marquette are in major markets. Dayton, Wichita State, Louisville, VCU, and Providence are in mid-size cities. Only Davidson's a bit of an outlier, and even they're just outside of Charlotte.

Those markets provide potential ROI for the investments they make. It means they're potentially attractive to larger conferences who are negotiating TV deals.

I think the sad reality for OU is that the Athens market is just limits our upside from the vantage point of larger conferences.

Then you are underscoring the need for OU to have football for another conference to deem it desirable to bring in since it can't rely on the metro basketball approach with no media market.

And often used in the same sentence as "football powerhouse" ;)

The Athens market is a big reason we can't move up. Sure, we can try and spend a lot of money. Maybe if we had a Phil Knight type of supporter. I just don't see it. Iona is paying Rick Pitino 50M for 10 years! Are you kidding me? He didn't make the dance this year, either. I wonder who is ponying up. Maybe the My Pillow Biter guy.

I'm not saying you're wrong, just curious -- Cincinnati is a "major market?" Even Cincinnati and Dayton combined have a smaller population than Louisville I believe. Why do you include Cincinnati as a "major market" and Louisville as a "mid-size city?" Is it because Greater Cincinnati/Tri-State Area is top 40 in Nielsen rankings? I think that's probably the answer, I just don't think of Cincinnati as a major market. But I don't think of Cleveland as a major market either and "Greater" Cleveland is much higher in Nielsen.

Haha, was having this conversation recently. Green Bay?

Combined Statistical Area (CSA) provide a good view. As a general rule of thumb a population of 5,000,000 is large market for pro sports. Cleveland CSA is ranked #17 at 3.63 million. Cincinnati is #30 and that doesn't include Dayton. Louisville is #37. Dayton is #55 with just over 1 million.

I think its fair to call any city with two of the Big 5 sports (MLB, MLS, NFL, NBA, NHL) a major market, if it doesn't classify as a large media market. Cincinnati has MLB, NFL and MLS. Cleveland has MLB, NFL and NBA. Dayton and Louisville don't even have one of the Big 5.

Dayton of course is light years of a local corporate presence over Athens and really about the perfect size for a college sports market.

Conferences do also look at academic profile, whether an institution has a footbal program and specific sports also. If the entire MAC moved down to FCS except Ohio CUSA would take us in on the basis of another FBS program to fill out the schedule as they did with no market New Mexico St. Without any football Ohio is hoping for a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The year began with Trimble and Ball St. transfer Walton starting in the Akron backcourt. Groce dismissed Walton in December, a couple of month before dismissing Trimble.

Don't know how Duquesne can't turn the corner decent coaches over the years but no improvement. Coach Nee and Dambront ,Scott Edgar it doesn't make sense.

Pitino is likely worth at least 50M. If he wanted to coach Nelsonville CC for nothing, he could. Whatever Iona is paying him is ridiculous.