Flyer'95

Great thread.There's so many great programs in the A10 and many of them are unsung on the national level. I root for everybody in the non-con and any time their in the post season. But when it comes to A10 play, i root for anything that benefits the flyers. That said, I've always loved the concept of 'the hawk will never die'. Bonnies fans are the real deal. Richmond is a fantastic school and has that great giant-killing history. It's great adding Butler to the conference on that front, and i never understood why UD never really seemed to play the bulldogs til now. So i'm excited to have them join. And i went to grad school at VCU, and i've loved watching them wreak havoc over the past few years. I also really love watching xu. Kidding. I hate xu.

owlfan2272

Of course I root for every A-10 program when I can or I wouldn't waste time on the game threads. Do I have a 2nd though? I don't think I do. I mean this year I may root a little harder for Charlotte only because we are in their pod so it impacts us a little more but for just personal reasons I think I respect every team. Butler and VCU probably have better thoughts in my head because we haven't played them so there is no history to have negative feelings and I also spent time rooting for them in the tournament as the classic underdogs to the big teams. You have to have a little higher respect for Xavier for what they have done for the league with their NCAA wins, I love the way SLU operates and remind me of Temple in that they get the job done in a very low key way without too much added.

I do like the Bonnies and if you had asked this last year I would have picked them as my 2nd because of the quality player/person Andrew Nicholson is and I will fully admit I wanted them to win the A-10 Tourney last year (Outside of Temple) not only for bids but because he deserved to be in the NCAA Tourney with his skill level. La Salle and St Joes have rivalry feelings that are pretty respectful in terms of rivalries. We have our crazy moments but those Big 5 games are fun and we all share our hatred of Villanova.

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Temple Owls have won a lot.

LastMinuteman

Longtime members, but not originals. Well, Duquesne was, but they left the conference for a time without intending to come back, so I consider them an expansion franchise somewhat like the Cleveland Browns. UMass and GW are the only true founding members left. The others (Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, West Virginia, Villanova and the Dukes) left long ago. Figures Duquesne would be the one to come back.

My second favorite A10 team is probably Rhode Island since I spent part of my childhood there, followed by Temple. But typically I turn their games on TV thinking I'm going to support my A10 mates, only to switch sides when there's a shot of the crowd or the coach or the team does something on the court that reminds me of the times they've tormented UMass. They have to be playing some easily hateable team for me to stay focused, like Duke or UNC. It's actually easier to support them in A10 play, because I'll have the same feelings about their opponents.

jpschmack

Well, Bona's an orginal A-10 member, but not an ECBL/EAA original.

DistrictBaller

Guilty. I'm a Toronto Blue Jays fan and therefore a sadist.

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"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

DistrictBaller

You're lucky then. Those same VCU announcers you hate will be calling the game on TV and 7 in Dayton is carrying our feed.

I get the feeling a whole bunch of Dayton fans are going to share your opinion on our announcers after Wednesday, win or lose.

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"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

Medford

If WHIO (local station that carries the flyers) has a similar arrangement as they've had with other media partners (and assuming VCU & UD are still in the A-10 next season) I'll assume you'll get the reverse feed next season w/ the UD broadcast being sold to your local TV partner. I know UD has done this in the past w/ Rhody and another team or 2 in conference.

I'm not familar w/ your announcers, but they can't be any worse than what we're subjected to. Looking forward to the game, hope UD is ready for VCU's press.

BrownIndians85

True, Bonaventure is a charter member of the "Atlantic 10". The only fully contiguous members since inception of the Eastern 8 are UMass and GW. Duquesne left for a year in a head-scratching move. The original Eastern 8 was quite the cast of schools, public, private, large, small - it didn't matter. They got together a bit too soon, because when the Big East was formed every single school in the E8 wished they had gotten into that conference. SBU didn't get an invite and took immediate refuge in the E8 which became the A10. What I find interesting is conference affiliation wasn't a new thing. The south, southwest, midwest, and west had all been "conference-ized" long before the northeast schools even gave it a thought, with all the schools operating as independents with their general cast of opponents.

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http://www.gobonnies.com

bprichard

Next time I watch a VCU broadcast I will play a drinking game in which I have a shot every time the word "havoc" is used. I expect to be dead well before halftime.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using VerticalSports.Com App

Tintin049

My second is our old CUSA pals in St Louis. Charlotte, along with SLU, never got the press that the overrated Cards and Tigers got, but we won the games, won the tourneys, and made the dances.
Watching SLU making Bobby Huggins sweat was always a good time.
My third favorite is Duquesne, as I'm a huge Pirates fan and have always enjoyed my time in Pittsburgh.

The least favorites are Dayton (due exclusively to this board), Fordham and Bonnie.

Kevin Waymire

Temple would probably be mine if they weren't perennial chokers in the NCAA Tournament.

I would say Richmond. I like Mooney and loved Anderson and Harper, although its a borderline joke KA got poy award over Crawford 2009-10 season

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"Miller didn't do anything last year to improve on or surpass Gregory's performance..... In fact it looked just like a Gregory team. Nice start, crappy middle (with every excuse in the book), a decent win or two near the end to get everyone's hopes up, then a dissapointing finish - that is Dayton basketball 2002 - 2012."

-KNOBBY

DistrictBaller

HA! Yeah they've taken branding of that term to a completely new level over there.

You'd be dead by the first media timeout. I totally understand how unbearable they can be if you're not a VCU fan. They're paid by VCU and the production is done for VCU's online video feed. Unfortunately our local CBS affiliate just piggy backs off that feed to reduce production costs and so everyone watching in Central Virginia and now Ohio for this game will get to hear VCU's AD spin on everything that occurs in this game.

Apologies, but take it with a massive grain of salt. Oftentimes I advise opposing fans to simply mute the video feed and listen along with their own program's radio feed. You'll be thankful you did. Our guys can be admittedly frustrating from an opposing fan perspective.

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"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

Bona84

You're going to love R.A. Dickey.

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Bona84

DistrictBaller

I'm ready for anything at this point.

Winning back-to-back World Series in '92 and '93 at 4 and 5 years of age basically set me up for a lifetime of unrealistic expectations and staggering disappointments growing up.

We haven't made the playoffs since I was 5. I think I might have an idea of what being a Fordham fan is like.

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"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

RF1

The original ECBL (popularly known as the Eastern-8) formed in 1976 was as follows:

Pitt
Duquense
Villanova
GW
Rutgers
West Virginia
Penn State
UMass

Membership Breakdown:
Publics 5
Catholic Privates 2
Other Private 1


The league continued to have membership changes as Villanova (replaced by SBU), Penn State (replaced by URI), and Pitt left. The league then changed its name to the Atlantic-10 in 1982 and welcomed back Penn State and added new members Temple and St. Joes.

Atlantic-10 upon new name in 1982
Duquesne
West Virginia
Penn State
GW
Rutgers
UMass
SBU
URI
Temple
St. Joe's

Membership Breakdown:
Publics 6
Catholic Privates 3
Other Private 1


While the A-10's membership may now mainly be Catholic schools, it for most of its first two decades was mostly publics.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_8