UVM Hoop Cat

I always forget who split from the WAC and is now the Mountain West.

Pretty impressive RPIs on the whole but I can say with pretty much certainty that a lot of those teams are paper tigers.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

iBOsbu

Conference ranking today:
24 AEC
25 CAA

I really wish we have a AEC/CAA challenge next year.. Like they have with ACC/Big Ten Challenge

TerrierNation

Patriot is in good shape at 20 and adding Loyola and BU, two of the top RPI teams from their respective leagues year in and year out. I think the Patriot will be in a fight with the Ivy and MAAC for the third best basketball league in the northeast after the C7 league and the new A10. I think most years they'll win that fight, especially if the new A10 further raids the MAAC.

UVM Hoop Cat

I wouldn't agree Loyola (MD) is a top MAAC team year in and year out. They've only recently started to become a decent team over the last couple seasons. Still should be better than most current PL teams though.

That being said, the Patriot is most likely on average most years going to be a step down for them competitively in hoops, where for BU it can be argued the Patriot will be marginally a step up.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

iBOsbu

IMO in a couple of years we will see C7 > A10 > MAAC > PL,CAA,AEC.

TerrierNation

Yeah, I agree. But the MAAC and CAA appear to have a not so great future so Loyola is downgrading for now, but their current setup won't last anyway (i.e - Fairfield and Siena to the new A10 or Fairfield to the Patriot even). So they are leaving at exactly the right time.

All of this is cyclical and changes each year, but again if the A10 makes somewhat expected moves poaching the MAAC and the CAA, then Patriot will often be the third best hoops conference in the northeast.

TerrierNation

And Loyola is kind of like Stony Brook. Their success is more recent so if one were to count Stony Brook as exhibit A for a strong future RPI for the AE, then one should also count Loyola as at least a solid RPI squad for the PL.

UVM Hoop Cat

I definitely agree Loyola is a solid RPI add for the PL, just disagreeing they have been a solid MAAC team other than literally last couple of seasons. The transition for them to PL will be seamless and will be on balance easier competition.

Like you mentioned, It's good timing for them to make this move.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

uvm4life20

The only reason SB counts towards a good future rpi is because they have the recruiting class needed. SB easily could of fell off but they had a good recruiting class with Warney and Puriefoy and SB is willing to put big bucks in the program.

I'm not sure if Loyola is the same or not. UA had 2 good years and then had a steep fall off.

iBOsbu

PL definitely have the potential.. we will see how it unfolds!

iBOsbu

I sometimes worry about that too in regard to SBU.. right now we have good dedication and support of the school and our AD is doing an excellent job. I hope we keep up this progress. It seems SBU wants to be the flagship public school in the NYC greater metro area. (not staying UA has stopped their support to their athletic department.. they are building a stadium for football!).

TerrierNation

Speaking of NY State, it is literally incredible to see Siena's RPI (near 300 I believe). That was and still probably should be one of the better programs in the MAAC. Incredible how far they've fallen in about 4 years.

UVM Hoop Cat

The Patriot League is also losing CJ McCollum and Mike Muscala from Lehigh and Bucknell, respectively. McCollum is an NBA Draft pick who will be taken in 1st rd maybe as high as lottery, and Muscala is an NBA prospect projected to be taken in the second round.

McCollum is the type of impact player a conference like the Patriot League may have come around every 10 years or so.

Their impacts to that conference can't be minimized.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

TerrierNation

That's true, but other programs like Holy Cross are clearly down. If you look at the average (5-10 years) of what they are and what they are getting, I think the point still holds true.

Bucknell is Bucknell...they will go down for a bit, but they've sustained success much like Vermont. Lehigh still managed to beat Bucknell w/o McCollum. Still a solid squad...I think they'll continue to be good after he leaves.

uvm4life20

SB has the recruiting class to keep themselves at the top. A recruiting class mainly affects 3-4 years down the road when they are juniors and seniors. You can see where a program is headed by the recruits coming in. It's tough to tell how good recruiting classes are but for the most part you have a good clue about it. AD's have a really hard time telling who is bringing it a good class. You could tell Herrion wasn't recruiting well and needed to go 3 years ago. Same goes for Monroe and UMBC.