Should Villanova be invited to the ACC? (PART OF A SERIES)

Last edited by thewiz06 on Tue Dec 08, 2009 7:30 pm; edited 2 times in total

Villanova University

The Academics
Location: Villanova, PA
Type of School: Private Roman Catholic
Total Student Population: 10,275
Undergrads: 7,161
Demographics: 7% Asian; 5% Black; 6% Hispanic; 79% White; 3% International
Sex Ratio: 49% male; 51% female
%age of Natives: 75% are Pennsylvanians
Ranking: 1^st among Masters Universities in the North
AVG SAT of admitted kids: 1290
Endowment: $355,255,000

CURRENT CONFERENCES: Colonial (Football); Big East (Non Football)
Football stadium capacity: 12,500
Men's Basketball capacity: 6,500*
Women's Basketball capacity: 6,500**
Most notable money sport: Men's Basketball

*Note that Villanova’s men’s basketball team does play in an arena of 8,722 in games against Temple, La Salle, St. Joseph’s, and Pennsylvania, which is the Palestra. They also play in an arena of 21,600 for up to five regular season home games against higher tier Big East opponents and other marquee teams,which is the Wachovia Center.

** Note that Villanova’s women’s basketball team does play in an arena of 8,722 in games against Temple, La Salle, St. Joseph’s, and Pennsylvania. They do not play in the Wachovia Center for highly anticipated Big East or regular season home games to date, but it is possible that they can use this arena if needed.

Villanova University is a Catholic liberal arts university in the suburbs of the city of Brotherly love, near Lower Merion and Radnor Townships. Anyway, the school has a rather large size for not being a national or in my words, a full researcg university, and this is because of their lack of doctoral programs. The only doctoral programs they have are in Philosophy, Engineering, and Law (a law degree by default is a doctoral degree). Nevertheless academically, this is a great school to go to, though it is considered to be a safety of arch rival Pennsylvania, which is in the Ivy League as you know.

Why Nova Should Get in the ACC
Well, once again, basketball is the key money sport, and it’s men’s basketball this time, and it’s for real. The Wildcats have consistently been in either the NCAA or the NIT every year this decade and have been in a Final Four and an Elite Eight this decade as well to go with their cinderella 1985 Championship against Georgetown. Nova also gives the ACC access to the Philly TV market a lot more than Rutgers would as well. Adding Nova to the ACC in addition can improve the basketball in Philly’s college rivalry, the Big Five, which include the Cats, Pennsylvania, St. Joe’s, Temple, and La Salle, all arch rivals of each other and one of the sport’s most storied rivalries. An ACC Villanova team will not only improve the Cats, but also the other four schools in their leagues; the Ivy, and the A-10. You also can say the same in Big Five women’s basketball, though Temple has had an edge on them in recent years.

Football has been a consistent FCS power, being in the running for the A-10 and now CAA championship and right now they’re in the Division 1 Semis vs. William and Mary. The football team has put out NFL talent consistently and this can sock Temple in the mouth. The geographic continuity continues here, as PA borders MD.

Academically as a student body, Villanova is right on par with the other ACC schools and like Richmond, it is better than most of them in fact.

Why Not
Two reasons. First, is football. Right now they are FCS. Their stadium is 12,500. Building a 40-50,000 seat stadium on campus is unrealistic and VERY expensive, because they don’t have much campus land and the stadium borders a major road (see Richmond as well). The only logical solution is to move all home games to Lincoln Financial Field in Philly which already has the Eagles for the NFL and Temple for college. Scheduling conflicts should be minimal because after all, football games are only once a week and Nova could be on alternating Saturdays with Temple. Any agreement to Villanova joining the ACC MUST secure Lincoln Financial Field for football. No ifs ands or buts. Second, Uconn’s ascension from A-10 to Big East was remarkable, but we can’t guarantee that Nova football will be the same way.

Two, yes, basketball is an issue as well. Their basketball arena is the smallest with 6,500 people. Fortunately, the men do use the Wachovia Center for some games against the big boys. Also the University has talked about trying to expand or replace it with a bigger on campus arena:

http://vuhoops.com/2008/12/19/what-to-do-with-the-pavilion/

Again for women’s basketball, the 6.500 may be enough for Big East standards. After all, Georgetown plays in an arena for 2,500! Seton Hall for 2,600! Providence for 2,603! DePaul in an arena for 3,000!, Marquette for 4,000. St. John’s does play at an arena of 6,000, but again, still small. It’s no wonder that most of these aforementioned schools suck in women’s basketball in the Big East AND overall, DePaul and Marquette being the exceptions (I don’t know how they do it). Maybe the Big East is fine with it because they can ride on UConn every year, but when a major conference is fine with many women’s basketball teams playing in high school gyms, they are usually gonna suck. But that’s the Big East. This is the ACC. 6,500 is unacceptable for ACC standards, even if most teams don’t average 8,000 every game for women’s basketball, and every school needs the resources in order to maximize their potential.

In the short term, the basketball teams will at a minimum have to find a way to secure a larger arena for at least ACC home games (SIXTEEN DATES, eight men, eight women) so attendance for the ACC is worthwhile. The women should fill the house up when Duke, UNC, and UMD come to town. Also Nova should be able to schedule another good non conference team so perhaps up to TEN games need to be in a larger facility. Ideally, I’d like to see how many dates the Cats can get in the Palestra, and this shouldn’t be much of a problem, because after all, this is home of the Big Five, and the University of Pennsylvania gets PAID for this!

VU alumni

Admiral Willliam Fallon (1967) – Former Vice Chief of Naval Operations and US CENTCOM

Should Villanova be invited to the ACC? (PART OF A SERIES) Adm_fa10

Tim Donaghy (1989) – Former NBA Referee and game fixing extraordinaire

Should Villanova be invited to the ACC? (PART OF A SERIES) Image_10

Maria Bello (1989) – Golden Globe nominated actress; was in ER in its first season and Coyote Ugly as the head bartender

Should Villanova be invited to the ACC? (PART OF A SERIES) Mariab10

Brian Westbrook (2002) – All American Half Back; 2001 Walter Payton Award Winner; Pro Bowl Half Back for the Philadelphia Eagles

Should Villanova be invited to the ACC? (PART OF A SERIES) Brian211

Randy Foye (2006) – All American Basketball Player, now a Guard with the Washington Wizards

Should Villanova be invited to the ACC? (PART OF A SERIES) Randy-10

Your Take
To me, Nova has the basketball to get in the ACC, no question. Academics, yes, they got it, no question, though they lack nearly all doctoral programs. Football is a concern, and whether they can get Lincoln Financial Field is one HUGE roadblock. Second is on their plans for a possible new basketball arena, Go? Or no go? If they get it, I can tolerate an 8,000 seat arena or 9,000. Hell, Duke’s house is barely more than that. But if they don’t get it, will they be able to get the Palestra and the Wachovia Center to fill at least sixteen dates for men’s and women’s basketball games?

How do you like Villanova as an ACC school?

I think it's good for the ACC and Villanova basketball.

I like this move since Villanova can hang with any team in the nation in College Basketball. It would only add more power to the conference to see Villanova go up against the powerhouses. The ACC tournament would be hectic and maybe even get a bigger getting to play the ACC Basketball Tournament in Philadelphia some years.

If they have to be in the ACC for football it's a bad move because it only makes the ACC worse

If only basketball than good move

OH ok, so you are not in favor of a UConn style move when they were in A-10 then I-A indep. then in the Big East?

One way for Villanova to be in the ACC is that it goes independent in FBS for four years in a transition to ACC football after that. They join the ACC immediately in all other sports. Would this work with you? To date only the Big East has a football and non football format, the other Big Six conferences will NOT do it because it promotes scattered schools, and makes it a target for other major conferences to snag them away. Look at last time.

I think Villanova is perfect in the Big East and should remain there if that is the case.

It's in a great location and the Big East is a perfectly setup basketball conference for Villanova. Don't think the ACC would work for it

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