Most people have never heard of Creighton, and I'm guessing even most college basketball fans couldn't tell you what city/state it is in. I realize they've been fairly successful over the last couple decades, but not successful enough to really elevate their profile like a Gonzaga. Schools like UConn and Villanova are orders of magnitude higher profile as basketball programs, and schools like Notre Dame and Georgetown could go a decade without winning a single basketball game and would still be orders of magnitude higher profile as institutions. It would make zero sense for ND to cast their lot with the likes of Creighton over the current ACC or Big East schools. I realize Creighton is a current Big East school, but it's not one of the bellwethers of the group, whereas it would be in Cold's new conference.

that ND has over these schools. If popularity is the goal, fantastic then! In my view, given ND's "higher profile" it is even more disappointing that the basketball performance isn't better.

I didn't advocate for the OP's idea of ND forming or joining a conference with the listed schools. I don't think that would be a viable option for many reasons.

Your reference to Gonzaga is interesting. Years ago, when I lived on the West Coast, Gonzaga was a middle-of-the road WCAC team. Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount were consistently better. Their first NCAA appearance was in 1994. They've been a fixture since 1999. Certainly schools like Creighton, Xavier, and Marquette haven't come close to building or maintaining that kind of success. But the Gonzaga example is very telling - that success is attainable regardless of whether "most people" know where you are located.

Creighton assuredly is not embarrassing itself in the Big East. I think the academics standard is very high there (I'm biased, like you), and their sports teams and facilities are quite good.

I attended the Big East basketball tourney in NYC at Madison Square Garden in 2017...Creighton traveled quite well, some 3k fans were there, represented itself with class...and the team made the finals. Last year, they tied for 1st in the Big East, would have made the tourney with a low #2 or high #3 seed, and were in the top 10 at the end of the season. This year, made the finals of the Big East tourney, made the sweet 16 and unfortunately ran into a buzz saw in Gonzaga (who didn't?)

Creighton was better last year than this year, imo.

no one is arguing that a school like Creighton is elite...but your assertion that it is small timey is pure ND arrogance? Has ND been to a Final Four in your lifetime? I'm 51 and the last time they did it was when I was 8 years old.

I love ND basketball, but Creighton's program is better than ND's right now. They made Big East finals this year...they made it to the Sweet 16 and would have last year if not for covid (they were better last year than this year and finished first in the Big East) They rank in the top 5 for NCAA men's attendance (great arena, poor Nebraska basketball program, and serving beer helps out a ton) Creighton would not have accomplished this if they had continued on in the Missouri Valley...the move to the Big East was a masterful stroke by their AD and President...in 10 years they'll be an even better program than they are today.

North Carolina beat ND by 42 points in the conference tourney and Roy Williams retired because he wasn't getting the job done. ND is in basketball hell right now...I don't see how they break out of it (we both know JS couldn't hire a basketball coach worth $%&#)