BTN asking fans if Legends and Leaders division names should stay
We all remember how the overwhelming disapproval of the current names was ignored last time, but for whatever reason, BTN has posted a survey on the matter again this morning. Maybe with the impending additions of teams 15 and 16 (and beyond?), the conference is considering redoing the divisions.
The poll is hosted by Facebook, so some of you won't be able to make your voices heard. But for everybody else: https://www.facebook.com/BTN/app_127709503932081
FYI, the questions in the survey are:
- What is your favorite B1G school?
- My favorite school is in which division?
- As the conference expands beyond 12 teams, should the new teams be added to an existing division or should new divisions be drawn from scratch?
- What do you think of the "Legends" and "Leaders" names? (Strongly Like to Strongly Dislike.)
- Should the B1G change or keep the current division names?
- If you think the division names should be changed, what should they be changed to? (Input box!)
- If divisions were to be changed, what criteria should be used to determine them? (Rank most important through least important: Competitive balance, geography, protect traditional rivalries.)
- How important is it for IN-STATE rivals to be in the same division? (Or, "How to ditch Lil Bro forever.") Very important to not important.
- How important is it for TRADITIONAL rivals to be in the same division? (Or, "How to make The Game matter like it used to.) Very important to not important.
- Currently, the number of conference games the B1G plays is 8. Should this increase?
- What is your preference on a B1G Basketball Tourney? (Every team qualifies, or 12 of 14 teams qualify.)
- Currently, the B1G has no divisions for basketball. Should this be changed?
- If yes, why should there be divisions for basketball?
- If no, why shouldn't there be divisions for basketball?
- When people reference "B1G", do you recognize that to be the Big Ten Conference?
- With 14 teams currently, should the B1G remain the "Big Ten", or should its name be changed?
- Do you have any further thoughts on B1G expansion?
Some pretty interesting stuff in there. Go do good!
EDIT: Those of you without Facebook can take the survey on BTN's website: http://btn.com/2012/12/01/big-ten-expansion-tell-us-what-you-think/
December 1st, 2012 at 1:26 PM ^
I'm looking forward greatly to filling out this poll.
#8 will probably have a direct correlation by the pollee's school of choice.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^
Can we switch it so Ohio is in our division and Staee is a cross division game?
December 1st, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^
Don't really care about MSU, but Michigan and OSU should be in the same division. Maybe if the B1G expands to 20 teams, they'll realign so it's the Original and Expansion instead of Leaders and Legends?
December 1st, 2012 at 2:15 PM ^
That would be fantastic for everybody except Nebraska. (Unless we add more western teams, but still the expansion division would be crossing half the country several times each season.)
Also, there is a large proportion of Michigan fans that really don't give a damn about our rivalry with Sparty. All of the Michigan alumni who came from outside the Midwest didn't care from the start, and those of us like me who left Michigan after graduation don't see any Sparties to razz anymore.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:20 PM ^
I guess i am one voice in the wilderness, but as an OOS former student, now long time alum, I love that game and have gotten to the point where I detest little brother as much as Ohio.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:23 PM ^
Sure, I don't mean to say that you guys aren't out there (or even the majority), but most of my OOS friends in college hated Notre Dame more than Sparty and Ohio more than both combined. I think turning the game wtih Sparty into a less-than-annual affair would ruffle too many feathers at this point, but I know I'm not alone in not caring that much about it.
December 1st, 2012 at 5:10 PM ^
All you have to do is spend some time on this board and you can see the Michigan State game is pretty meaningful.
December 1st, 2012 at 7:27 PM ^
Dick.
December 1st, 2012 at 8:27 PM ^
I could have done much, much worse.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:26 PM ^
I think MSU should be our protected cross-division rivalry though. I'm very excited by this survery and here's what I had to say in the "additional comments" section regarding divisions
Plains (or West)
Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota
Atlantic (or East)
Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Northwestern, Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue
Protect:
Michigan vs. MSU
Ohio State or Penn State vs. Wisconsin or Nebraska (and the other...)
Northwestern vs. Illinois
Maryland or Rutgers vs. Iowa or Minnesota
Purdue vs. Indiana
I see balance in football (& hoops if we choose that route), geography, and most rivalries protected with potential few new ones to grow. If we choose to go 16 teams the the new guys would likely come from the East, so simply shift Purdue over. I also think a 9 game conference slate is almost necessary. 3 NC games --> 1 cupcake, 1 SOS builder, 1 middling should be the goal.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:17 PM ^
I'd rather have the possibility of beating Ohio twice than beating Sparty twice. But that's just me.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:54 PM ^
See here's the thing: how many times are you really going to play MSU twice in a season? Given their track record of only spotty success, we won't play them in the BTCG except once in a great while. OTOH, we'd play OSU all the time if we were in seperate divisions. I have no problem with playing somebody twice, it's just that in a lot of scenarios, we'd go into the Game knowing that it was meaningless because we'd rematch them for the championship the week after.
December 1st, 2012 at 5:47 PM ^
Not me. I want that game to be a once a year thing. Winner get's bragging rights for the next year. Can you imagine if we beat them in the regular game and lost in the championship? That would suck ass.
December 1st, 2012 at 6:26 PM ^
December 1st, 2012 at 8:03 PM ^
December 1st, 2012 at 1:32 PM ^
I took the survey not to say anything about the division names, but for the last question.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
I can't honestly vote on that question because there's no "fucking despise" option.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
After this poll is complete, the Legends and Leaders will be replaced by the Victors and Scarlets, and then they will put Michigan in the Scarlets division.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^
Those BTN Facebook posts are brutal. Every single one of them immediately descends into ignorant, non-funny trash-talk.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
Yeah, BTN's Facebook comments are the MLive of the entire B1G. I avoid at all costs.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:16 PM ^
Michigan Football's fan comments aren't much better, especially concerning our QB situation this season.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
I find basketball divisions to be an odd suggestion. What would be the point? Would there be a regular season championship game between the two division winners, followed by the Big Ten Tournament? Seems superfluous.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:45 PM ^
December 1st, 2012 at 1:45 PM ^
December 1st, 2012 at 2:04 PM ^
The sun never sets on the Big Ten Empire. I look forward to the addition of the University of Mumbai and Delhi State University so that we can add cricket to the Big Ten channel.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:41 PM ^
the University of Bologna. Populated market, tons of tradition as the first ever university, plus it will totally help soccer recruiting.
December 1st, 2012 at 7:30 PM ^
There's an untapped market on Mars, should it present itself viable.
December 1st, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
- Michigan
- Legends
- From Scratch
- Strongly Dislike
- Change current names
- East/West, North/South, Central Time Zone/Eastern Time Zone
- 1.Protect rivalry 2. Geography 3. Competitive balance
- Very Important for instate rivals in same division
- Very Important for traditional rivals in same division
- 9 conference games, but I wouldn't mind having 10 conference games
- Every team qualifies
- No, BBall doesn't need divisions
- n/a
- Don't fix what isnt broken. No need for divisions
- Yes, nickname
- Keep the name its a brand
- I said to expand to 16 teams and snatch up 2 of these schools: North Carolina, Notre Dame, Boston College, Virginia.
December 1st, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^
Same here except for #8 ( I put "somewhat" ) and #17 (I don't want any more teams, and I urged them to put Michigan and Ohio in the same division).
December 1st, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^
But just in case they are listening, everyone vote for putting us and tOSU in the same division. It can't hurt...
December 1st, 2012 at 1:53 PM ^
Maybe the B1G should go to the English Premier League model and line up the divisions according to performance:
Upper Tier: Neb., Mich., Ohio, Wisc., Northwestern, Penn St., Rutgers
Lower Tier: Iowa, MSU, Illinois, Minnesota, IU, Maryland, Purdue
The Championship Game could be played between the top two finishers in the upper tier, and then there could be a relegation/promotion game between the worst team in the upper tier and the champion of the lower tier.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:22 PM ^
The problem with that is college football is so variable that a team can be mediocre one year and a national contender the next (like Auburn in 2009/2010). If you relegate a team down for a single bad season then you're, then you're limiting their season by how their last season went.
December 1st, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^
That's certainly a good counter-argument. But I don't see any other way of putting UM and Ohio in the same division without giving Nebraska an easy ticket to Indy (should be Chicago) more-or-less every year. Maybe if Penn State hadn't gotten nuked by the NCAA and I had more confidence in Wisconsin...
December 1st, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
I may or may not have just written a long rant about how brutally stupid the current divisions are. I think they're going to think I'm a grumpy old man.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:00 PM ^
December 1st, 2012 at 2:09 PM ^
I don't think Lakes and Plains would make sense considering we have Rutgers and Maryland joining.
I do like the Eastern/Western divisions because its almost a perfect split (Indiana/Purdue mess it up) with Eastern Time Zone and Central Time Zone. I'm not sure how competitive balance would be, but it works.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^
Suggesting Lakes Division and Heartland Division. Everyone else should do the same!
December 1st, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^
That would just lead to teams that should logically be in a Lakes division being put in the Heartland division. Most of the Big Ten is close enough to a Great Lake that they could say they belong in a Lakes division. Only Iowa and Nebraska are really in what I'd consider the Heartland of America. And what do you do with Maryland and Rutgers? Neither is really fits a Lakes or a Heartland theme.
Just go with East/West or North/South and be done with it. No more cutesy names.
December 1st, 2012 at 3:09 PM ^
North: minn, msu, UofM, Rutgers, NW, Purdue,UW. (Random team)
South: Maryland, PSU, Ohio, IU, UI, Iowa, NU (gatech soon)
December 1st, 2012 at 3:37 PM ^
Regionally should have been regional'
Apologize for the horrible composition, don't have much in the tank today.
December 1st, 2012 at 3:34 PM ^
And why should I listen to you? You don't like hot dogs. Your argument is invalid.
December 1st, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^
Ohhhhh burn. Really got me there.
Didn't say you had to listen to me. Just said that trading one set of cutesy names for another isn't an improvement. You clearly seem to disagree though.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:08 PM ^
Thanks for the non-facebook link.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:09 PM ^
I hope someone important reads the rant I wrote in the last question box, I doubt that will happen though.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^
December 1st, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^
Had to answer not sure on this one. Two years into these stupid division names, and I'm still not 100% sure what the hell division Michigan is in. That's how you know your division names are a disaster.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:22 PM ^
This is how I remember....
You know our fight song, when we call ourselves the leaders and best? Well, we're in the oppositive division.
December 1st, 2012 at 3:53 PM ^
Just realized that as smart as they are with naming things, the Big Ten will probably go with East/West divisions and put Michigan in the East. So then the "Champions of the West" can't actually win the West division.