Unlike a number of your poasts no trolling here, Counselor. And I think you refuted your own argument when you stated "When I think of basketball in the Northeast, I think of Syracuse, UConn, Villanova, etc. Rutgers is a joke. The mid-Atlantic is Georgetown." Yeah. That's sort of the problem. So why not invade that turf? Why not drink their milkshake? There's no reason a top baller in the Northeast or mid-Atlantic SHOULDN'T consider attending and playing for a B1G school. Except for many of them their world has been the Big East (realigned), the Atlantic 10, the ACC, America East even the Ivy League, and generally anything between the 'Cuse and Georgetown.
As Sally Mason told me at a dinner more than a year ago, it's all about TV footprint and eyeballs. The athletic and academic footprint is changing; those are among the reasons why Rutgers and Maryland were invited to join the B1G, and why other schools are under consideration. The conference needs to be aggressive in marketing to new audiences.
Holding the tournament in the nation's capital once in a while is a good move, bud. And I guarantee tourney attendees will have a much better time than they will in Indy.
Ima betting even the newly-inaugurated President Clinton will attend.