The Future A10 Thread

[moss2k]

My guess is Davidson isn't going anywhere. They have it made with almost automatic NCAA bids in their terrible conference. They can stand to lose their competitive OOC games and roll through conference play.

[2nd Fal]

Originally Posted by AdamtheFlyer

First calls I make would be to George Mason, Murray State, and Wichita State. Make Wichita State say no. Frankly, I don't know if they will. The MVC minus Creighton is a TV wasteland. The A10 already has TV. I know this, if they don't call Murray State they are nuts. That program poops out 20 win seasons like Jamie Lee Curtis on that yogurt.

I know a lot of fans want to swing the conference back the East Coast with most, if not all, of the western schools leaving, but there's just nothing here. Wichita State and Murray State would be great additions IMO.

Adding some of the schools being bandied about is just asking for multiple Fordhams.

[AdamtheFlyer]

Originally Posted by 2nd Fal

I know a lot of fans want to swing the conference back the East Coast with most, if not all, of the western schools leaving, but there's just nothing here. Wichita State and Murray State would be great additions IMO.

Adding some of the schools being bandied about is just asking for multiple Fordhams.

Yeah. The A10 may end up with another Fordham, but that shouldn't happen until the 10th, 11th, or 12th option. The A10 is at a bar right now with no 9s or 10s among the female patrons. Don't run home with the first chubby 3 who bats an eye, shoot for the 7s and 8s first.

Make Murray and Wichita say no. I'm guessing Murray would say yes, and Wichita would do their homework before answering (probably a no, but maybe not). I'd even look at schools like Evansville, Indiana State, Illinois State. The Valley is a nice league that might be ripe for the picking without Creighton. Test the waters.

George Mason is a no-brainer. The other Eastern options all seem like plan Bs.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Originally Posted by AdamtheFlyer

I'd even look at schools like Evansville, Indiana State, Illinois State. The Valley is a nice league that might be ripe for the picking without Creighton. Test the waters.

If Creighton is indeed gone, Bradley is the MVC school that the A10 should take a look at. Very good attendance, tremendous tradition and located on the outskirts of Chicago. Frankly, if Creighton is gone, all of the private schools in the MVC will be looking around.

[bobo]

With Dayton, XU, Butler and SLU joining the C7 and Temple and Charlotte already out the door the A10 would be down to "only" 10.

Likely, the A10 will be looking for new schools to replace the departing ones. George Mason is probably the most obvious choice: good recent success, good size of school and fan attendence. Sticking in the CAA, Old Dominion is really struggling this year but you get the Tidewater market. Unfortunately, they're going to the CUSA. Barring them, UNC-Wimington has good attendence and a decent size market. Also consider JMU and Delaware from the CAA.

If Creighton is available, the A10 could go that route but I don't know if Creighton would want to travel that far and, with XU, Butler, DU and SLU gone, I don't know if the A10 would want to go west. If so, throw in Wichita St or Bradley from the Valley Creighton to team up with. These programs play in front of larger arenas with loyal fans - kind of like Dayton (but better). This would essentially replace SLU and Dayton.

Staying out in the midwest, the A10 could steal Detroit and/or Valpo from the Horizon. Maybe even Cleveland State.

If the A10 wants to stay East: Siena is a good choice. 15k areana with strong amont of success over the last 15 years and Albany market (ok, maybe the capital of NY State is not all that desirable). BU and Northeastern are also options (especially if you like college hockey).

Heading south, Davidson has been running an excellent program for a long time and is a basketball crazed state. Also in the Southern conf, Charleston is a beatiful school in a gorgious town with tons of hot women. Their baskeball team is pretty good too.

I'd add GMU, Siena, Davidson and either Northeastern (if you want another northern school) or Charleston (if you want the best option).

[Blakely4Prez]

Originally Posted by bobo

With Dayton, XU, Butler and SLU joining the C7 and Temple and Charlotte already out the door the A10 would be down to "only" 10.

Likely, the A10 will be looking for new schools to replace the departing ones. George Mason is probably the most obvious choice: good recent success, good size of school and fan attendence. Sticking in the CAA, Old Dominion is really struggling this year but you get the Tidewater market. Unfortunately, they're going to the CUSA. Barring them, UNC-Wimington has good attendence and a decent size market. Also consider JMU and Delaware from the CAA.

If Creighton is available, the A10 could go that route but I don't know if Creighton would want to travel that far and, with XU, Butler, DU and SLU gone, I don't know if the A10 would want to go west. If so, throw in Wichita St or Bradley from the Valley Creighton to team up with. These programs play in front of larger arenas with loyal fans - kind of like Dayton (but better). This would essentially replace SLU and Dayton.

Staying out in the midwest, the A10 could steal Detroit and/or Valpo from the Horizon. Maybe even Cleveland State.

If the A10 wants to stay East: Siena is a good choice. 15k areana with strong amont of success over the last 15 years and Albany market (ok, maybe the capital of NY State is not all that desirable). BU and Northeastern are also options (especially if you like college hockey).

Heading south, Davidson has been running an excellent program for a long time and is a basketball crazed state. Also in the Southern conf, Charleston is a beatiful school in a gorgious town with tons of hot women. Their baskeball team is pretty good too.

I'd add GMU, Siena, Davidson and either Northeastern (if you want another northern school) or Charleston (if you want the best option).

Charleston is headed to the CAA

[bobo]

Originally Posted by Blakely4Prez

Charleston is headed to the CAA

Unless the A10 makes them a better offer.

[Ninerballin]

Originally Posted by 2nd Fal

Davidson is a nice program (and their gym is indeed fine), but I have to wonder about their budget. Considering all the shit St. Bonaventure gets around here, what would happen with a 1,700 undergrad school in the conference?

Davidson has money and always will have money. The school is one of the top academic institutions in the country. Davidson and Charlotte will always have a rivalry due to proximity, but I respect their program and McKillop. McKillop is one of those throw back coaches who teaches his kids the little things of basketball. They've always been a well-coached team despite the overall lack of talent compared to their level of success (of course they had Curry and both of McKillop's sons were solid players).

I think it would be a great add by the league, since Davidson will always be committed to hoops. Success in college basketball is more about stability rather than the idea of who's putting in the most money. Yea money is great, but look at UVA, that's a school for years that has invested as much or more than anyone financially into hoops, but they haven't been really relevant since Gillen was there (certainly more relevant this year).

[Deleo]

What if Cinci, UConn, and Memphis all find their way to other conferences and Temple gets left behind? Would they come back to the A10?

Also, I agree that there are some prospects in the Midwest but I like the idea of eventually going south with Davidson, and maybe Belmont and Charleston too. For next season maybe do nothing or add GMU and Siena. Those are the two most obvious schools to add imo.

[ktabz16]

Originally Posted by ur2k

I am not sure where people get this Sienna sells out an NBA Arena idea from. This is from their website:

This past season, Siena established a new regular-season program attendance record with 114,383 fans, an average of 7,626, attending the 15 home contests. The Saints game with UAlbany became the 29th game to draw over 10,000 fans at Times Union Center, and the matchup with National Runner-Up Butler reached the set capacity of 8,444.

the knickerbocker arena (i will never call it the TUC) has 2 levels. they generally close off the top section for games that won't draw much but there is plenty of capacity for them to expand into.

[BrownIndians85]

If what ESPN writes is true, and in the interest of keeping this a muddy-free zone, let's assume X, BUT, STL, ud are gone. We know TEM, CHAR are gone. That leaves UMASS, URI, FORD, LAS, SJU, VCU, RICH, GW, DUQ, SBU. 10 teams. I don't see a reason to expand to 12 unless we could get either of the following combos: Detroit/Valpo, Detroit/GMU, GMU/Davidson. I don't like Siena, Boston, NE, Hofstra, Drexel for various reasons, but mainly because they're flash in the pan types. I'd consider Belmont but only if the conference goes south instead of midwest.

Now, we have to presume UMASS pursues FBS football and has 1.5 feet out the door already. My preference would be to get back to 10 with Detroit, but I'd take a Detroit/Valpo/GMU trifecta if it was available and we could have an E/W 12 team league. I guess RICH/VCU would be in the "west".. wow. Otherwise my pecking order for single team expansion onlywould be Detroit, Valpo, Davidson, GMU, then <TBD> - Cleveland St, Belmont come to mind but aren't very attractive. With or wihtout UMASS, this is a 1+ bid league. I can't see us getting more than one at-large, sometimes 0 if the reg/tourn champ are the same.

My final option would be for SBU to join the Horizon League, hopefully (?) along with DUQ. That is less perferable to staying in the A-10. The conference still has a good brand. It won't fall to Horizon levels. Yet. We have to face it, our flagship - Temple - was a big hit. Our flagship-in-waiting - X - is another big hit. Butler wasn't around long enough for us to reap their benefits. St. Louis is really looking good but as an A-10 member never lived up to potential. I will miss them though. Charlotte? What to say.. keep dominating non-revenue sports? And dayton had a few good seasons, but is replaceable by any of those expansion schools indicated. They're X's tag-along little brother anyway. As long as they remain in X's conference they'll never have top billing. Good luck with that.

[xu95]

I can honestly say I have enjoyed my teams time in the A10. The conference did us a huge favor by getting us out of the piss poor MCC. I hope for the sake of the conference you still get multiple bids in the NCAA tournament.

[BrownIndians85]

Originally Posted by xu95

I can honestly say I have enjoyed my teams time in the A10. The conference did us a huge favor by getting us out of the piss poor MCC. I hope for the sake of the conference you still get multiple bids in the NCAA tournament.

Thank YOU, xu95, and I believe most X fans feel the same way. That's why we all appreciate X, and root for X. Clearly ud suffers from inferiority complex and have taken to a "bash the A-10 on our way out the door" mentality, and the backlash from us posters is warranted. Ingrates, almost all of them. Coming from a team that is far more known for the court they play on than the product they put on it. Continue to enjoy hosting the NCAA "First Four" flyers. Maybe someday you'll get to play in it as well.

[RF1]

As a fan of the northeastern most member of the league (URI), I don't like some of the names beng thrown around for reasons of geography. If GMU was added, we would have FOUR schools in the DC to Richmond corridor and two more just up the road in Philly. That is a very high concentration of schools in such a small area. Talk of Umass possibly leaving and replacing them with a midwest or southern school also makes me uneasy as the league center moves further away.

With URI as one of the three remaining publics, I also have reservations about adding more small Catholic schools and giving that faction more power in league matters. Furthermore, if the A-10 became more Catholic school based, it makes it harder to differentiate itself from the Big East Catholic CYO league as the A-10 would merely be the CYO Junior Varsity.

A lot of factors will need to be considered in selecting new members - program success, past atendance, facilities, tv market, geography, and school type are just a few that come to mind.

[vcurams05]

I would avoid George Mason like the plague. Their leadership has no vision as they have wasted every opportunity given to them after their Final Four run. They now have an overpaid coach who couldn't get it done with All-Americans let alone mid major talent. They have horrible fan support. They are 10-7 in a miserable CAA.