ace93

Creighton would not in a million years join a decimated A10.

No need for Drexel, 2 Philly schools is enough.

Bill Russell

Go South. GMU, Davidson, and Charleston make sense to me. Good-to-decent facilities and pretty solid programs. The league would certainly lose some of its prestige, but there would be potential for solid growth.

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Deleo

I think this is a pretty likely scenario. I could see the A10 giving up on the Midwest and going south. But I would think those 3 schools would only be interested if either VCU or Richmond remains in the conference. There is a decent chance that one of them will go to the C7. G'town has been pushing for Richmond, but VCU is the team of the moment, so I imagine that is a tough call for them. If they both get taken then these Southern schools may say no thanks.

I do hope that the A10 doesn't feel the need to replace every school that leaves. The conference can go smaller. There are a lot of teams from smaller conferences that would like to be in the A10, but that doesn't mean they should be. I think Northeastern, Boston U, and Siena will be in the potential mix as well.
I could see URI, SBU etc. pushing for these northeast schools, while Richmond, VCU, and GW would push for the southern schools.

Bill Russell

I doubt you'll see SBU pushing for Siena to join the A10. They're very similar as Franciscan schools and Bona won't want the competition from an upstate rival (especially one in the capital region). If the rest of the league is in favor of SC, though, then it will obviously happen. I echo your point about the league replacing every departing team. That would be nuts. The A10 should not go beyond 12 if/when these shifts take place. For me, I'd rank potential additions in the following order:

1. George Mason
2. Davidson
3. College of Charleston
4. Boston U
5. Detroit
6. Northeastern
7. Siena
8. Cleveland State
9. Hofstra
10. Fairfield

Wildcard: Towson

That isn't overly sexy, but if the A10 could get the top three or four, things could develop nicely over time.

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ace93

Funny that you mention Towson. I was going to mention them mostly in jest earlier b/c I live about 15 minutes from that campus and I would not mind catching more A10 games in person more easily. On a serious note, they are opening a new athletic facility for next season and I think that is going to help them out a lot long term.

Bill Russell

Exactly. I'm not saying Towson should be a top priority, but if things fall through in other areas, the Tigers could provide a program with long term potential. The new facility would help in justifying their candidacy. That's down on my list of ideal outcomes, though.

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Gormin71

Here is a question I've long wondered. How do people truly feel the A10 schools should measure up in Men's Basketball? Let me explain...

There is talk regularly about kicking out those that don't perform. Well, what would the expectation be in a general sense? Everyone can't finish 1st, so do you want everyone to finish 8-8? Do you expect the standings to be some type of ebb and flow over years, where you might have teams up for 2 years, then down for 2 years, while others ebb and flow in the opposite 2 year cycle?

You'd assume there will be 2-4 schools that are always on top, so then you have 12-14 schools vying for the rest of the spots, but again, they can't all come in 5th.

Of is it about putting more money into the program? How good of a recruit you bring in? How much money the coach is getting paid? Minimum seats in an arena?

ace93

Schools should set up their OOC schedules so that in most years they have a very good shot of finishing at least 8-4. The schedules should also be set up relative to the program's projected strength.

If Fordham had finished 8-4 in the OOC during every season they have been in the A10, I think there would be a lot less grumbling about us.

Then there is minimum seats in an arena, I think that is a big part of program perception. I think it is going to be interesting to see if the C7 that rent out large arenas will continue to be able to do so.

ExplorerSteve

No, definitely don't see Drexel being invited as they can't even get into the Big 5. If we see the Western A10 schools go then it will help us with travel costs... we can add more geographically friendly schools and the drop in TV revenue would only be temporary. With all of these new sports channels, they all need to find live programming other then women's curling. The best rivalries would still be intact. We should probably raise the exit fee to at least $2.5million effective immediately (it only takes a majority I believe) to curb any enthusiasm to leave the A10 conference.

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Eight Legger

Good question. We talk about this on the UR boards too, in terms of what we "should" expect of our team year in and year out.

My answer is simple. I'd like to feel like you can't ever pencil in a team or teams at the bottom of the conference year in and year out. That would be success to me.

Unfortunately, it seems that Fordham and Duquesne are usually down there. The Dukes had a nice run for a few years and admittedly have dealt with a ton of unforeseeable problems in the past decade. Fordham just never seems to get it going, despite a window a few years ago that looked promising.

It would be nice if every team could threaten a top-4 finish and conference title every three years.

Knobby

Good news for Dayton fans - you will have to schedule another OOC home game with P.o.S. State to make up that $200k!

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BmoreX

Towson does play football, though.

Bill Russell

Good call, BmoreX. Scratch them.

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res

I've actually attended a couple of games at Johnny Unitas Stadium. I don't remember much about the games, but the funniest damn halftime show I've ever seen. The student-run production was hilarious, and I was even sober at the time.

Eight Legger

Towson and Richmond (and URI for that matter) play in the CAA for football, so we've faced them a bunch. They got better in recent years but I don't think they are harboring FBS dreams, though I could be wrong. So I don't think football would preclude them from being considered for the new A-10.