The Future A10 Thread

[ace93]

Originally Posted by antboy

George Mason has a lot going for it, despite what some of the rival VCU fans say, given the choices.

I think what the VCU fans are saying has to be given some serious thought. Attendance is down, the little fan base they have wants to lynch Hewitt and their new president does not seem to value athletics. That is a horrible combo, trust me, I know all too well.

[A10BBall]

Originally Posted by BrownIndians85

@A10BBall - so we should use what? A 1 year sample? LaSalle will be an at-large all the time? Duquesne and Rhody will suck forever? No way. I agree with mm4cc 10 years would probably have been better. I could have just said I used the eye test based on historical performance in the A-10 and I've had come up with the same conclusion. Teams are who they are give or take a good or bad season here or there. And in the diminished A-10 recruiting will be tougher, scheduling good teams will be tougher, and the conference slate will be worse for our RPIs.

And for Christ's sake, Siena, Northeastern, Boston? Seriously? Why? Why would we look at bad teams just to get to 12? Why dilute the product further? You're adding in 3 schools that are A-10 bottom half quality in their best years.

Don't be naive Indian... No obviously.. But you are not looking at the variables used to measure these programs... You can not project long or use long term numbers simply you can't... It is basic statistics..

Taking a historical average that is weighted favorably towards the present would be better and is a metric that is used by statisticians or financial analysts..

But for basketball you can only accurately project for maybe 2 years, safely probably 1 year out... Too many moving variables..

URI is obviously improving dramatically... But looking at their numbers doesn't tell you anything...

Indian to make it simple for you... using historical mathematical numbers and blindly not looking at rosters and coaches to determine whether a team is going to be an at-large threat is illogical and lazy and what was being presented as the only metric used to judge a team's ability to be an at-large bid..

I am sorry if you can't understand that I can not help you...

If you want to point out La Salle as an example this is perfect... 90-91 season.. La Salle has a NCAA tourney and the National Player of the Year.. The 5-years before that they had multiple NCAA bids and top 25 rankings... So by using your metric they would continue to be a top 25-50 team with the expectation of 1-2 NCAA tourney bids at a minimum since they were averaging 3-4 bids per 5 year period...

Regarding next year it is reasonable to project VCU and La Salle into the 2014 NCAA field not based on their historical average but off of their coaching staff and personnel returning. St Joes and Richmond I could see moving forward based on their returning players and recruiting classes.

[z8-Minutemen]

Z8's Top 6 (with reasons why):

1. Northeastern. Top CAA basketball program. Provides and maintains the Boston market once UMass leaves for football. Academic prestige. Plus, joining this league will bring a lot more fans into the Historic Matthews Arena (oldest in the country). Not to mention, Bill Coen will be a top 3 coach in the A-10.

2. Wichita State. Not much more to say. Provides us with the midwest market once STL, X, and Butler leave.

3. Jacksonville. This is a program down in the dumps, but did you know that they have a 15,000 seat arena? The A-10 will give them a much needed recruiting boost, and given it's location in a hotbed of basketball talent, within a few years they could be a quality program. Not to mention it gives the A-10 the Florida marktet, in another metropolitan area. For those who consider Siena a quality option, look here, this is even better. And they jump at the chance to join the A-10.

4. Belmont. Another cog in the midwest market, giving us the Nashville metropolitan area. Program on the rise. Good fan support.

5. Bucknell. Bball team on the rise. Great fan support. Academic prestige. Not a good market though...

6. Iona. Same as Bucknell.

Ideally, we bring in four of these teams and banish La Salle, St Bonaventure, Fordham, and Duquesne, as they have done nothing for us.

That would leave us with a conference of 10 teams, 2 Divisions:

North:
UMass, URI, St. Joseph's, Northeastern, GW.

South:
VCU, Richmond, Belmont, Wichita State, Jacksonville.

[Mik]

Originally Posted by z8-Minutemen

Z8's Top 6 (with reasons why):

1. Northeastern. Top CAA basketball program. Provides and maintains the Boston market once UMass leaves for football. Academic prestige. Plus, joining this league will bring a lot more fans into the Historic Matthews Arena (oldest in the country). Not to mention, Bill Coen will be a top 3 coach in the A-10.

2. Wichita State. Not much more to say. Provides us with the midwest market once STL, X, and Butler leave.

3. Jacksonville. This is a program down in the dumps, but did you know that they have a 15,000 seat arena? The A-10 will give them a much needed recruiting boost, and given it's location in a hotbed of basketball talent, within a few years they could be a quality program. Not to mention it gives the A-10 the Florida marktet, in another metropolitan area. For those who consider Siena a quality option, look here, this is even better. And they jump at the chance to join the A-10.

4. Belmont. Another cog in the midwest market, giving us the Nashville metropolitan area. Program on the rise. Good fan support.

5. Bucknell. Bball team on the rise. Great fan support. Academic prestige. Not a good market though...

6. Iona. Same as Bucknell.

Ideally, we bring in four of these teams and banish La Salle, St Bonaventure, Fordham, and Duquesne, as they have done nothing for us.

That would leave us with a conference of 10 teams, 2 Divisions:

North:
UMass, URI, St. Joseph's, Northeastern, GW.

South:
VCU, Richmond, Belmont, Wichita State, Jacksonville.

IDIOTIC.

[SBUfan]

Don't you have a fictional business trip to go on?

[SDW]

I love Richmond's new division! Road trips to Jacksonville and Wichita! And both my parents are Bucknell alumni, I can't wait to visit the Lewisburg federal penitentiary when the Spiders play there! Plus, the Iona Gaels, the best team that Jeff Ruland ever coached! Can the Spiders play a double header in one day against Fordham and Iona to save money and make it more convenient for me to see both games?

Back to reality...

I agree that an 18 game league schedule sucks, but remember UMass is going to leave too, I'm sure. That is back to 9 and an a classic 16 game round robin.

I wouldn't add 2 teams, just to add 2 teams (and then have to add a 3rd when UMass leaves). Pickings are slim. Force teams to pick up their programs and assess where the A10 is in a few years. GW, SJU, UR, URI, VCU are the core of a good conference and can add LaSalle to that if they can keep the recruiting going, even though their facilites are awful.

[Bill Russell]

Originally Posted by SDW

GW, SJU, UR, URI, VCU are the core of a good conference and can add LaSalle to that if they can keep the recruiting going, even though their facilites are awful.

The defending league champions get no love from SDW. The Bonnies had a horrid six year stretch coming out of the scandal, but have otherwise been quite competitive in the A10. It's just bizarre that you mentioned six out of nine future A10 teams... but not a program that's made strides over the last five seasons.

[Deleo]

Originally Posted by SDW

I love Richmond's new division! Road trips to Jacksonville and Wichita! And both my parents are Bucknell alumni, I can't wait to visit the Lewisburg federal penitentiary when the Spiders play there! Plus, the Iona Gaels, the best team that Jeff Ruland ever coached! Can the Spiders play a double header in one day against Fordham and Iona to save money and make it more convenient for me to see both games?

Back to reality...

I agree that an 18 game league schedule sucks, but remember UMass is going to leave too, I'm sure. That is back to 9 and an a classic 16 game round robin.

I wouldn't add 2 teams, just to add 2 teams (and then have to add a 3rd when UMass leaves). Pickings are slim. Force teams to pick up their programs and assess where the A10 is in a few years. GW, SJU, UR, URI, VCU are the core of a good conference and can add LaSalle to that if they can keep the recruiting going, even though their facilites are awful.

I think the A10 should do nothing this year. SLU and Dayton will still be in the conference. There is a slim chance that one of them doesn't even get a C7 invite. Over the next season the conference should take some time to really look at some teams and coaches who have their programs on the rise. GMU and Siena play in arenas and not gyms and both are good geographic choices with strong community fan bases. I don't even see a third team in the northeast at this poInt beyond those two. Siena is havng a terrrible season but would bring a rivalry to the Bonnie's, while GMU would bring one to GW. All of these names being thrown around - Stony Brook, Iona, Fairfield, Towson, Drexel etc. just don't seem like they are A10 teams.

[Free Quebec]

It would be great to keep SLU for one more year. They will be great again next year but then are due for a big fall, unless they land a monster recruiting class. That team is almost all juniors and seniors (I think glaze is the only underclassman in the regular rotation and he's more of a role player).

Having an interim coach (who is having a brilliant season, but has not been a world-beater in his previous jobs) can't help with recruiting. I suspect crews has earned the job with his brilliance this year, but in two years reality will come crashing down.

[rams3fan]

Wichita St and Murray St would be good additions but added travel costs.
Mason will never leave the CAA because the new president really does not support athletics and they would never cough up the $1MM exit fee. They made that choice last year. Their dwindling boosters may disagree but they will not putup the dough. There are significant other fan issues with the Mason that are very tasteful - been watching college ball from the mid-70s and have never seen things like that.

[Bill Russell]

Originally Posted by rams3fan

There are significant other fan issues with the Mason that are very tasteful - been watching college ball from the mid-70s and have never seen things like that.

Could you expand on this? I'm unaware of any issues with the GMU fans.

[z8-Minutemen]

Two other options which I think should be of interest are Bradley and UNC-Greensboro.

Bradley: Successful MVC program, could help lure in Wichita State, consistent suberb attendance numbers, gives us more teams in the midwest market.

UNCG: Another team like Jacksonville. Not a good program at the moment, but the A-10 will give them a much needed recruiting boost and they will compete within a few years. NC is a hotbed of talent, and the A-10 should try to find a program local to the area. And did you know, their arena holds 23,000?!?! Seems like a great choice to me.

Z8's new conference would look like:

North:
UMass, URI, St Joseph's, George Washington, Northeastern, Bradley

South:
VCU, Richmond, Belmont, Wichita State, Jacksonville, UNC-Greensboro

[El Shaqtus]

Originally Posted by Free Quebec

It would be great to keep SLU for one more year. They will be great again next year but then are due for a big fall, unless they land a monster recruiting class. That team is almost all juniors and seniors (I think glaze is the only underclassman in the regular rotation and he's more of a role player).

Having an interim coach (who is having a brilliant season, but has not been a world-beater in his previous jobs) can't help with recruiting. I suspect crews has earned the job with his brilliance this year, but in two years reality will come crashing down.

You just hit my fears as a SLU fan on the head. We have 2 new players for next year (RS Fr. Jared Drew and Mike Crawford). I don't buy the "future expansion" talk only because we've all heard it before. Even if we make a deep run this year, that specter is still hanging over our heads. We don't know much about Coach Crews' recruiting, since his last job was at maybe the most impossible place to recruit in Division I.

So this year and next year in the A-10 when the Bills are loaded...then what? Giving the Big East that year cannot help, but can hurt.

[Free Quebec]

GW has made 8 NCAAs in 20 years. They are 5 years removed from 3 straight tourneys. How is sky's at-large chance in general average, while GW's is low? Are you a new fan who hasn't been around the league but a couple of years?

I could be wrong but I think GW has more ncaa trips in the last 20 or 21 years than any other remaining team. This downturn is a blip. Lonergan will have them back to competing for a bid again nearly every year within 2-3 years, no matter what league.

[Rambunctious Rowdy]

Originally Posted by Bill Russell

Could you expand on this? I'm unaware of any issues with the GMU fans.

I believe he's referring to the "F*** you VCU" chants they do at the Patriot Center to our fan section(We brought lots of fans there). GMU fans had a extreme hate for us. Mainly because they had no rival(They were jealous of VCU/ODU rivalry being the main one in the conference) and when ever their road to the CAA title went through VCU they loss. They were 0-6 against VCU in the CAA tournament.