urmite

The first time? Or the 41st?

College Hoops

If you agree that Fox is calling the shots, then I think you have to believe it will be at least a 12 team conference. They need programming, and 12 or more teams is going to fill up more time slots then nine or ten teams will. Second, if you stop at 9 or 10, you run the risk that the A-10 teams left out could band together with other teams e. g. Wichita State, Bradley, BYU, Murray State Gonzaga etc. to form a coast to coast conference that could compete for viewership. The reality is, Seton Hall, St. Johns DePaul and Providence are not drawing SRO. Not saying a competitive conference would result, but if I'm in that group of A-10 schools thats not initially invited then I would see if there is interest.

MudFlap

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...r-new-big-east

Medford

Did you actually read it? I assumed everyone just scrolls past at this point

El Shaqtus

I read it. I don't really know why, but I did. Richmond fans (if they got through it) would have the biggest gripe.

__________________
Mom, thanks for everything.

RIP Coach Rick Majerus 12/1/12. You were the one that said it was OK to think big at SLU. You were right.

KVBL Lexington Kings

ace93

I started reading it, got two colors in and dedided to drink more bourbon.

El Shaqtus

Always a good decision.

__________________
Mom, thanks for everything.

RIP Coach Rick Majerus 12/1/12. You were the one that said it was OK to think big at SLU. You were right.

KVBL Lexington Kings

xudash

It would appear you're having a mellow evening! Well done.

ace93

LOL. This bluetooth keyboard has a mind of its own. And let it be known that the D and the C are the same finger when you know how to type correctly. Camnit.

FlyingElvis

IMO, average RPI over the last decade is a valuable measure of success in terms of how much you won and who you beat. The rankings by that measure seem to rank out the programs as I expected them to in terms of strength over the last 10 years.

__________________
"US Bank Arena can't be that bad"

Bona84

The bourbon was a good decision. I assume there is nothing new in that nearly page long post.

__________________
Bona84

paulxu

A more up-to-date look at the college basketball scene was undertaken by ESPN last year.
They ranked the top 50 teams in the last 50 years, and broke it down by decades.
The A10 teams included were:
18. Temple
34. Xavier
40. St Joes

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...0-in-50-series

For out total conference performance it was:
Atlantic 10
18. Temple
34. Xavier
T-40. Saint Joseph's
53. Virginia Commonwealth
59. Butler
63. Massachusetts
81. Dayton
T-86. Charlotte
96. La Salle
T-126. Richmond
134. Rhode Island
T-159. St. Bonaventure
T-198. George Washington
216. Saint Louis
232. Fordham
233. Duquesne

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...50-50-rankings

__________________
...he went up late, and I was already up there.

xavierhoops

ESPN also ranked teams from 2000 to the present which is a much more relevant time frame than 1962-present. I don't have a link, but it along with the above ranking is in Xavier's media guide this year.

ESPN ranked Xavier as the 17th program in the nation since 2000.

__________________
Chris Mack in 3 years at Xavier has had twice the NCAA wins (4) of the entire Dayton coaching staff in the modern era of NCAA basketball (2).

jdm2000

Muddy actually has some relevant statistics in there. The RPI, etc. does seem to favor Dayton. I would place more value on recent success (especially in the tournament) than he does, but I understand why he hasn't.



The one ranking I really disagree with is his "other factors" or whatever he called it, where he put SLU first, Dayton second, and Richmond third. If you are looking at external factors, I think SLU is far and away the winner because of the size of the city, lack of competition within the city proper (I know there are a lot of Mizzou and Illinois fans, but those aren't St. Louis schools) and the potential of the market.

As an Ohio native, it pains me to say it, but Richmond is a lot sexier than Dayton right now for a lot of reasons. Public perception is that Virginia is a rapidly growing, new-economy state, while Dayton is smack in the middle of Rust Belt Ohio. The Ohio economy is actually doing pretty great right now (compared to everything nationally), but I think the perception is that other places like Virginia are more vibrant.

I think the worst thing is actually a look at the trajectory of the cities themselves. Here are some population numbers for the metro areas of Omaha, Dayton, and Richmond (with Cincinnati thrown in for an Ohio-comparable):

Omaha Metropolitan area:

1990 Population - 618,262
2000 Population - 767,041
2010 Population - 865,350

Richmond Metropolitan Area:

1990 Population - 865,640
2000 Population - 1,100,121
2010 Population - 1,258,251

Cincinnati Metropolitan Area:

1990 Population - 1,844,917
2000 Population - 2,009,632
2010 Population - 2,130,151

Dayton Metropolitan Area:

1990 Population - 843,835
2000 Population - 848,153
2010 Population - 841,502

Long and the short of it, the best part of Dayton's candidacy, IMO, is the basketball program (success, fan support, etc.). I think the proximity to Xavier and Butler are drawbacks, as well as any criteria where the C7 get to play "what region do we want based on public perception." Just my two cents.

ur2k

I don't think anyone can get through it. But one point about Richmond in the RPI ranking - if you take out the 2 statistics that are outliers in that 10 year span (the 2 years cleaning up the Wainwright mess - 202 & 272), UR's avg RPI average in the other 8 years is 91.5.

Should I make that blue or red or just bold? And where should put the quote box?