<p>
The Ivy League is more than just a sports conference. But there is a viable sports conference at the heart of it. It would be incredibly naive to think otherwise.</p>
<p>It may come as a surprise to many collegeconfidential readers, but schools don’t form leagues so that they can compete with each other in terms of USN&WR rankings or perceived prestige or for cross-admits. In fact, they form leagues so they can compete in sports.</p>
<p>Shouldn’t this be in the CC Cafe or something? This doesn’t seem to have anything to do with a student college search. What would be the point of this league anyways? If you make something to go against the Ivy League, you basically acknowledge its superiority.</p>
<p>di,
If you find national rankings in the 200s to be evidence of teams that are legit, then I guess we have different standards. Also, do you realize that only 1 Ivy mens basketball team even had a winning record last year? </p>
<p>Anyway, in the realm that I most care about, which is the scene that surrounds the athletic events and how that positively impacts the college’s campus, I think that the gap is even larger between the Ivies and most of the colleges in my Dream Conference. </p>
<p>Corbett,
I think you’re right that the so-called Magnolia League makes for a much more realistic scenario even if we know it will never happen. </p>
<p>One more creative alternative might be to take out the schools furthest away (Stanford, USC, Rice, Northwestern) and replace them with Army, Navy, Georgetown and a one more to be named to complete an 8-team conference. Then you’d be left with:</p>
<p>Duke
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Georgetown
Wake Forest
Army
Navy </p>
<p>Possibilities for the eighth spot: Boston College, Tulane, Davidson</p>
<p>The folks in academia may not like such a grouping compared to the Ivies, but for those in the business world, I would argue that this is an equally attractive grouping of colleges. </p>
<p>RML,
I guess prestige is in the eye of the beholder. Remember, prestige is mostly a regional thing where the local State U often has a higher regard in its region than more highly ranked, faraway competitors. For many folks who live in the South, Vanderbilt has more attraction than the non-HYP Ivies. And with the sharp improvements at that school over the last decade, their student quality is now at/near the same level. Same could be said about USC. </p>
<p>confusedboy,
I think you make a good argument for schools that would mostly be appropriate athletic matches for the Ivies, although I think that Stanford and Duke would run roughshod over the Ivies and the others, particularly in the major sports of football, mens and womens basketball, and baseball.</p>
<p>When I look at the question I want to make one that is top tier academically, amazing basketball, amazing football, and also hits major media markets for the biggest TV contract. So here goes:</p>
<p>UNC
Duke
Wake
UVA (DC)
GT (Atlanta)
BC (Boston)
Rice (Houston)
Michigan (Detroit)
Notre Dame (Midwest)
Northwestern (Chicago)
USC (LA)
Stanford (San Fran)
UCLA
Vanderbilt (Nashville)</p>
<p>This conference would be amazing. USC, Notre Dame, and Michigan are top 5 most prestigious football programs in the country. UNC, Duke, and UCLA are top 5 basketball programs. All these schools dominate the Directors Cup for all around athletics. The big thing it’s missing is a Florida school for football recruiting but there isn’t an academic school there.</p>
<p>This is inane. The ACC already has an excellent reputation academically and most certainly athletically. As does the SEC and most of the Big10. Most of those schools dont wish to replicate ANYTHING about the Ivy League and are just as glad they are stuck up there in snow country all to themselves. I will leave it at that.</p>
<p>Magnolia League:</p>
<p>College of William and Mary
Davidson College
Duke University
Emory University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Rice University
Southern Methodist University
Tulane University
Wake Forest University
Vanderbilt University
University of Virginia</p>
<p>
The Big 10 can not even compete in the Big 10/ACC Challenge. I would love to see the results of an ACC/Ivy League challenge.</p>
<p>Geographic proximity is overrated in a college sports league. Back in the day when teams traveled by train, it mattered a lot. Now you have the Big Ten stretching 1000 miles from University Park to Minneapolis; the Big East (basketball only) reaching almost 1100 miles from Providence to Milwaukee; the ACC spanning 1500 miles from Boston to Miami; and Conference USA reaching 1,900 miles from Greenville, NC to El Paso.</p>
<p>ghostbuster,
We know that the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, etc. are great. No one’s arguing that. We’re just having a little fun trying to group the colleges with the strongest academic reputations and which also compete at the highest levels in athletics (not to mention providing the funnest environment imaginable for many top college students).</p>
<p>
Hi hawkette! Welcome back!..been awhile. I hope you’ve had a restful summer. Does the above statement imply your endorsement of the PA score? 
I hope to have you onboard and can count on your support this year.</p>
<p>Sincerely,
UCBChemEGrad</p>
<p>Criteria: FBS football, academic reputation, included conference rivals.</p>
<p>Two leagues of 10 schools, divided into North and South divisions (in no particular order).</p>
<p>North:
<p>South:
<p>
</p>
<p>The University of Florida is a great academic school for intelligent students who enjoy things other than spending their entire lives studying.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I dont see a point; I never argued that the Ivies are ACC quality…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>BC, Clemson, Tulane, UGA</p>
<p>
The point is simply that the Ivy League’s cannot compete on a legitimate D1 level. Out of mainstream sports they have a few good ice hockey programs, but that is about it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What does that even mean?</p>
<p>Conference central mean simple average teams</p>
<p>1 big ten = 84.00 83.50 ( 2) 11
2 big 12 = 83.72 83.17 ( 5) 12
3 pacific-10 = 83.69 83.18 ( 3) 10
4 big east = 83.39 83.17 ( 4) 16
5 atlantic coast = 83.31 83.73 ( 1) 12
6 southeastern = 79.72 79.34 ( 6) 12
7 mountain west = 78.13 77.58 ( 7) 9
8 atlantic 10 = 75.79 75.66 ( 8) 14
9 conference usa = 74.95 75.59 ( 9) 12
10 missouri valley = 74.45 74.59 ( 10) 10
11 horizon = 73.50 73.70 ( 11) 10
12 west coast = 72.61 73.00 ( 13) 8
13 western athletic = 72.57 73.09 ( 12) 9
14 colonial = 72.50 72.42 ( 14) 12
15 metro atlantic = 70.79 71.45 ( 15) 10
16 big west = 70.33 70.32 ( 16) 9
17 big sky = 69.33 69.00 ( 20) 9
18 mid-american = 69.20 69.16 ( 18) 12
19 southland = 69.20 68.86 ( 21) 12
20 sun belt = 69.15 69.33 ( 17) 13
21 summit league = 68.60 69.05 ( 19) 10
22 america east = 68.42 68.51 ( 22) 9
23 ohio valley = 68.31 67.82 ( 23) 10
24 southern = 67.00 67.23 ( 24) 12
25 atlantic sun = 66.65 66.50 ( 25) 11
26 big south = 66.47 66.49 ( 26) 10
27 patriot = 65.71 66.29 ( 27) 8
** 28 ivy league = 65.25 65.54 ( 28) 8**
29 northeast = 64.82 64.99 ( 29) 11
30 independents = 62.61 62.34 ( 31) 14
31 mid-eastern = 62.35 62.36 ( 30) 12
32 southwestern = 57.70 58.15 ( 32) 10</p>
<p>Dont give me silly data, use words.</p>
<p>UCB why doesn’t your south have Emory… is it because it isnt D1</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think that’s pretty obviously why…</p>
<p>You’re just feeding the Ivy League glory machine with lists like this.</p>
<p>So by all means, keep it up. I love it!</p>
<p>If we really want to narrow this list to universities that have Ivy League-type prestige (since the lowest Ivy League Peer Assessment score is 4.3, I will only include schools with Peer Assessment scores of 4.2+) and high-level athletics, I would go with the following schools:</p>
<p>Duke University
Northwestern University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Virginia</p>
<p>Schools that would make the honor roll would include:
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Rice University
University of Illinois-Urbana Champain
University of North Carlina-Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Vanderbilt University</p>