The market will accept it, we have little doubt about it. |
The NFL is going to be playing in that Thursday night slot now and ESPN didn't want that game on that night to go against it. |
The only way this thing won't survive, ... is if these coaches can't coach and recruit, and if I screw up. They ain't going to screw up, because this league has always been successful because of our basketball coaches. |
The rest of the season just was not a lot of fun, ... Everybody was painting a negative scope on everything we were doing and not doing. They [Louisville] gave us credibility because of all the criticism we were taking. |
The way we're scheduling now is not the right way to do it. We are committed to having everybody playing everybody else at least once. |
Then there are other rivalries that are good but that we just couldn't fit in, such as Connecticut-Providence. But because Connecticut is one of our top teams we had to cross over and have them play Syracuse and Louisville. |
There was so much stability that people were partners for long periods of time. In the true sense of the word, they were conferences, ... I don't know what the word means anymore. My biggest challenge is making certain that this large gathering that we now have can adopt a family atmosphere that we've always had here. |
There were certain rivalries that we were committed to keeping intact, |
They operate in a pressure-packed world and not going to New York exacerbates the situation. |
They're very ambitious. They're not coming here just to be a part of this league, they're coming to be a significant factor. |
This, ... will be the most disastrous blow to intercollegiate athletics in my lifetime. |
To go back originally to the defections, it was as bad a time as a lot of us have ever gone through. There were some days when we didn't even know if there was going to be a league. |
Two years ago a lot of people didn't even think our conference was going to make it, ... There was a lot of discussion about separation. ... Two years, for our members, have been pretty difficult. Collectively, we think we have a significant upside. |
Two years ago, a lot of people didn't even think our conference was going to make it, ... What occurred a year ago was that we didn't have our members with us. Boston College was playing for us; they didn't want to be there. So last year was a year in limbo. |
Two-and-a-half years ago, we were out of business. It's nice to have everyone focused on how much fun it is to come to New York. Everybody just has big smiles on their faces. |