St. Joe's: Why The Move To the BCL??

[coach41]

Like I said earlier, it's been a long time since I've been on this board! Burning question I had was why St. Joe's was moved from their normal East Bay League to the BCL-East?

Seemed like a downgrade in the quality of teams they were playing? Nothing against the BCL but the best teams in the BCL were in SF (University, Stuart Hall, etc) and St. Joe's handled them pretty well.

Just an odd thing I was curious about. The early news articles were not particularly clear on why the move was initiated besides some "league realignment".

 

[Fentons Cream]

Like I said earlier, it's been a long time since I've been on this board! Burning question I had was why St. Joe's was moved from their normal East Bay League to the BCL-East?

Seemed like a downgrade in the quality of teams they were playing? Nothing against the BCL but the best teams in the BCL were in SF (University, Stuart Hall, etc) and St. Joe's handled them pretty well.

Just an odd thing I was curious about. The early news articles were not particularly clear on why the move was initiated besides some "league realignment".

That league change is tough but understand that they want to play in and against teams that are the same size as them. The only real downside beside level of competition is that they will rack up lots of wins yearly there. This will put them on the short list every year for Open, especially if they also go on to win D4. 30-2, 31-1 those types of records jump off the page for a committee who probably hasn't been out to see that many games.

 

[kiddman32]

I go to St. Joe's games a *lot*, and have asked and been asked that very same question many times. I've never talked to anyone in an official position about it, though... Most old-school Pilots fans like me weren't and aren't very happy about it, and I don't think many fans of other teams in the BCL are exactly thrilled to see the Pilots either.

Someone at Bentley (I don't know if he's a fan or school official, even) said that St. Joe's had *asked* to change to this league... Others said that the BCL had invited the Pilots to move over and they'd accepted. I have no idea if either of these scenarios is true...

One thing that occurred to me recently was that *maybe* the TCAL had been trying to pressure the Pilots to field a football team since St. Joe's was the only school in the league without one... If this is true (pure conjecture, I remind you), then maybe St. Joe's, without the student numbers or the space for a field, started looking elsewhere for a hoops league that also had no football.

 

[coach41]

kiddman32,

Thanks for the insight (unofficial as it may be). I'm a hoop fan and follow teams from all over. I was shocked to hear St. Joe's moved to the BCL. I look at the teams at their league and I thought "WHY? These teams are anywhere close to St. Joe's level".

The move may well have cost the Pilots a chance at the state title with the suspension.