SB Nation Conference Re-Draft Update: "The 12 Pack" Expands to Nine Teams
by T Kyle King on Jul 12, 2011 10:54 PM EDT
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PrintThe 12 Pack is three-fourths complete! With the last pick of the eighth round of the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft, the league selected the Virginia Cavaliers. The Boston College Eagles were added with the first pick of the ninth round.
The former ACC schools join the Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Georgia Bulldogs, Texas Longhorns, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, and Wisconsin Badgers in the new conference. By choosing Boston College and Virginia, the 12 Pack continued its trend of selecting strong academic institutions situated near major media markets. The league, which already boasted six of the 30 largest stadiums in college football, now adds Charlottesville’s Scott Stadium, which holds as many fans (61,500) as the Chicago Bears’ Soldier Field.
The Wahoos likewise bring another strong revenue stream to the table, and the eclectic mix of quality athletics has been strengthened by solid additions in lacrosse to match the 12 Pack’s already strong women’s gymnastics base. The league also looks like a real powerhouse in baseball, and, on the all-important football side of the equation, sharing an affiliation with Boston College and Virginia ensures that Georgia will not have to face either of them in a bowl game, after having encountered one or the other of them in the postseason five times between 1986 and 2001.
The only flaw in the conference’s composition so far is evidenced by this map:
The league continues to form a ring around the continent, but there has been a distinct shift eastward in recent rounds. (Frankly, the pickings in the mountain time zone are a little slim.) As we head toward the final rounds, and the selection of the last three teams, we need to begin giving consideration to such matters as divisional splits.
Unless the league ends up adding a trio of schools on the far side of the Mississippi River, an east-west dividing line would require putting Wisconsin in the 12 Pack West, due to the clump of teams along the eastern seaboard. On the other hand, a north-south alignment would produce some interesting bedfellows. Right now, such a divisional breakdown would look like this:
| 12 Pack North | 12 Pack South |
|---|---|
| Boston College | Clemson |
| Virginia | Georgia |
| Washington | Texas |
| Wisconsin | UCLA |
Right now, Duke is basically on the borderline, and the Blue Devils could go either way, depending upon which teams are taken in the tenth and subsequent rounds. What do you think? How should the divisions be structured? Where should the 12 Pack go from here?
Go ‘Dawgs!
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Forgive my ignorance...
… but if the following West Coast teams are still on the board, I would look seriously at them.
- Oregon State – sneaky-good football, awesome baseball
- Air Force – Athletes are good in almost every sport. Excellent academics, and everybody loves the service academies.
- BYU – Can you imagine how fun it would be to get the visiting students to commit honor code violations? That alone is worth it.
Others:
- Navy – For the same reason as Air Force
- Mississippi State – getting better in football, they’ve got baseball, and a good basketball pedigree
- USF – Newish school, but could be a value pick in later rounds. Football is good by Big East standards (and an NFL stadium), and positioned for virtually all sports in the recruiting fertile valley of Florida.
I hate to sound like a Longhorn fan during last year's conference realignment discussion, but
I’m not ready for this conference to take the kind of academic hit necessary to pick up a couple of the schools you’ve listed.
Regular visits to Colorado Springs, on the other hand, would be very nice.
These are they:
ACC: Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Wake Forest
Big East: Cincinnati, Rutgers, South Florida, all teams that do not play Div. I-A football
Big Ten: Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue
Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech
Pac-12: Colorado, Oregon State, Washington State
SEC: Mississippi, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
Non-AQ: all teams except BYU and TCU
To put it in Mel Kiper, Jr., terms, who’s the “best available”?
Go 'Dawgs!
By the way, . . .
. . . in theory, I suppose we could reach down into the Division I-AA ranks and take, say, an Ivy League school, since the Big East’s non-football members are in play. Certainly, there are some valuable basketball programs (Butler, Xavier) remaining to be taken.
We’re getting to the point where it’s picking the dog with the fewest fleas, and we’re certainly about to have to decide which priorities are the most important, but there’s still some decent value out there, though I suspect all the worthwhile remaining schools from AQ leagues will be gone before it comes back around to us, and we’ll be left to concentrate on promising mid-majors.
I’m really starting to wonder whether schools like Baylor and Washington State will get picked at all.
Go 'Dawgs!
Post script thought on below...
how about UNLV or Hawai’i? If we’re picking for fewest fleas, those would be pretty nice bonuses for fans. You get a trip to a great vacation spot, and likely enjoy a win by your team in the process, kinda like Vandy/Nashville.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
by Mr. Sanchez on Jul 13, 2011 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
I'd go Air Force.
That campus is magnificent (and in Colorado, a beautiful destination), the football program and most of the other athletic programs are respectable, and everybody loves a service academy.
by vineyarddawg on Jul 13, 2011 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Not a bad choice...
was just making a suggestion for later rounds. Adding UNLV and Air Force would balance out the left side of the conference geographically, and give two decent programs which would provide great road trips/mini-vacations for opposing fans.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
by Mr. Sanchez on Jul 13, 2011 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions
If you were going the non-I-A football route...
You’d want the better Big East schools on that list (‘Nova, Georgetown, Marquette, and maybe St. John’s).
‘Nova is I-AA football and good at it; Georgetown is non-scholarship I-AA and bad at it (which is not surprising, because they’re Georgetown); Marquette, St. John’s, Seton Hall, DePaul and Providence don’t have football.
Colorado and South Florida seem like the two strongest choices
Indiana could cap a powerhouse hoops conference with fellow historical big boys Duke and UCLA in the mix.
Northwestern and Vandy give great academics, with Vandy being a bit more respectable athletically thanks to their solid showing in hoops and baseball. Baylor would also add to the academic profile.
Rutgers could add to the conference seemed ownership of the Eastern seaboard. And Utah is Pac 12 now right, so not among those all non-AQs aside from BYU and TCU?
The ACC contingent is already strong, so unless y’all are wanting to just reconstruct the conference, that knocks out the two weaker sisters of the research triangle area. GT might warrant consideration except, it’s Tech.
So in summation, I’d target Colorado, South Florida, or Indiana. Maybe Vandy.
But as I read your “by the way” that you’re not “on the clock” to use draft parlance, that changes things. I’d look for sleepers out of the non-AQ schools I guess if the above quartet of targets is unavailable.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
I think we may have to go the non-AQ sleeper route
Colorado would be my first pick, partially to give the west coast some closer teams (I know distance doesn’t matter, but timezone showings do). However, I doubt they drop to the end of the 10th.
People always laud the service academies for their academics, at least Navy and Army. Since academics are obviously a strong portion of this conference, does anyone know Air Force’s reputation? I doubt they’re slouches, and maybe they just get forgotten as the other third branch. US News has them as the #1 regional school in the West, but I’d like a little more knowledge of its national ranking.
Colorado State is #124 nationally. However, from what a friend who lived out there told me, NO ONE cares about the Rams. Plus, I don’t think their athletics are all that good.
After those three, if we look out west past Mr. MIMAL and are putting any stock into academics, we should only look at Fresno State, San Jose State, and Boise State.
The AF academy is a good pick. They have had more recent football sucess and their academics are at a very high standard.
We are talking kids with 1200+ SATS, 3.5 or higher GPAs and letters of recommendation from Congress to go.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
Unless I'm mistaken...
… the USAFA produced many (if not most) of the astronauts that flew the space shuttle, in addition to multiple Rhodes Scholars. Also, according to Wookiepedia:
Air Force has ranked highest of all undergraduate-only universities in federally-funded research as reported by the National Science Foundation, surpassing $60 million in 2010.
by vineyarddawg on Jul 14, 2011 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Seriously, keep this kind of information coming.
All of the 12 Pack bloggers are in constant ongoing conference over which team should be our next pick, and I’d like to have as much ammo at my disposal as possible in lobbying for Air Force, a school I like a lot.
Talk to me more about academics and sports other than football. Thanks in advance.
Go 'Dawgs!
Standard requirement that every cadet participate in a sport
That leads to them having tons of sports, such as fencing, men’s gymnastics, rifle, water polo, boxing, etc. Their non-NCAA sanctioned rugby teams are apparently pretty damn good. Boxing is probably the greatest collegiate (albeit non-NCAA) dynasty of all time: 18 national championships since 1980 and through 2009 only finished outside the top two twice at third.
I don’t think you’re going to find that Air Force has the prestige as the greatest all around sports programs. However, it does let the 12 Pack get to claim that they support America (and if you don’t like America you can get out). It boasts the strong academics and fairly good football team, as you note. It brings some strong sports that are obscure even by non-revenue sport standards. Plus, as I said, it brings some Mountain Timezone exposure now that Colorado is apparently gone.
It’s almost a pick due to failings of other schools at this point. I doubt Indiana and Minnesota drop that far. Northwestern and Vandy bring better academics, but I don’t know if you can say their overall sports programs are better. Oregon State and USF bring schools rated at 139 and 183 respectively. I don’t think USF would really bring any of the Florida ratings; they’re arguably the fifth school in the state. Many of the other schools are retreads over existing media markets.
Plus, boxing, fencing, rifle, and wrestling. How frickin’ awesome is that? We can just sick Air Force cadets on other teams to beat them up.
My best friend on earth boxed at the academy.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
If it was at all from 1980 on
Then there is an 85.7% chance he’s a team national champion. (Further digging showed that West Point won it in 2010 and 2011. Still no word on Air Force’s placements.)
He was runner up in his weight class in their division actually. Or something.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
Well, from the sources I hear, Air Force has the best damn long snapper in th...
… oh wait, you said sports other than football. Never mind.
From what I can see, USAFA fields intercollegiate teams in almost every sport that the NCAA sponsors. Baseball, Basketball (M&W), Boxing, Fencing (M&W), Football, Gymnastics (M&W), Ice Hockey (M), Rugby (M), Wrestling (M), Golf (M), Soccer (M&W), LAX (M), Track & Field (M&W), X Country (M&W), Rifle (M&W), Swimming & Diving (M&W), Tennis (M&W), Volleyball (W), and even Water Polo (M).
The basketball team has made 2 NCAA tourneys and one NIT in the last 10 years. The baseball team used to be good, but now isn’t. I couldn’t find much information about the other teams.
by vineyarddawg on Jul 14, 2011 8:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks, guys!
Seriously, keep the insights coming. I really like Air Force, but I want to be able to back that up with more than just a gut patriotic feeling.
Go 'Dawgs!
But SSSSHHHHHHHHHH...
… don’t tell anybody on the other teams that we want Air Force! Then, when they mention something like, “How about Air Force?” we can be all like, “Well, I guess they’re ok, but they ain’t all that.”
That’ll fool ’em.
by vineyarddawg on Jul 15, 2011 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Dude.
We have to pick Air Force just because of this picture:
by vineyarddawg on Jul 14, 2011 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions
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