xu95

Actually ours is correct except for Dec. 23 has been changed to @ Iowa St. (the Texas game fell through, I think they chose to play Duke instead) and the Alabama game is at home. xu95

We have beat UC 5 of the last 7. Temple has won the most recent games as well. I'm not saying that the A-10 is better but there isn't the drop off that most of you have seemed to think. Our top is just as good as their top. xu95

Given that this whole thing does kick off until >2005, I really don't think this Big East monster will stay >together more than a few years before busting apart at the >seams. 2010. The BE has already set up an escape clause for the football teams in 2010. According to one of the articles I read today the football teams can leave after five years (or every five years after that) without paying any penalties. xu95

I wouldn't be surprised if the official announcement comes tomorrow at media day. xu95

Congratulations. Welcome to the A-10. I look forward to Xavier renewing our rivalry with SLU. xu95

The A-10 has a good package with Fox Sports. I am sure that once you join the league whatever local Fox Sports channel you have will pick up the games. Our contract with ESPN isn't quite as good as some other leagues. No team is guaranteed viewership. I don't know if Fordham has any games on ESPN but Xavier has 5. The only team that might have more is Temple. xu95

BU is not getting into the A-10. I'm sure they have exactly one vote. Charlotte and St. Louis will have the votes. Tomorrow it will all be done. Expect an announcement on Thursday. xu95

The offer I'm sure is for all-sports. What I'm telling you is that you don't have to worry about Temple leaving the A-10 for CUSA if they have to take all of their sports. Temple has invested too much in the A-10 to take a "step down" for their basketball program. Now if the BE wanted them to join in all sports than we might have a problem. But that won't happen either. xu95

Temple will not join CUSA in all-sports. If CUSA or MAC is willing to take them for football only they might do that, but they will not join in all-sports. xu95

That east coast influence puts our tournament in half filled arenas while in Philly. In Dayton last year you had more people in the stands for the second round games than you do for the finals in Philly. xu95

I can guarantee you that Xavier fans are looking forward to this as well. The problem you have is some of the schools in the A-10 who are struggling see themselves struggling even more or getting booted when two better schools come in. xu95

The basketball schools don't want to split. They have been riding on the coattails of the football schools for years. The football schools have probably made 75% of that 40 mill sitting in the BE coffers right now. xu95

we should file suit against DePaul and Marquette >citing that some ancient canon law that has been violated. >Jebby's shouldn't be deserting fellow Jebby's it was a law >enacted during the great crusade. Uh, not that I'm angry or anything but that happened when you joined the Great Midwest. xu95

Sorry. I guess I am so used to being the sarcastic ones on messageboards that I don't catch it when someone else does it. xu95

>...at least all of the Missouri Valley teams will be playing >on Bracket Buster Saturday! Too bad some of them will be >playing in a television vacuum. > >The only reason I can think of that the fans of this >conference of minor "state" and directional schools covet >SLU's membership and respect is that "misery loves company." And this is a good thing? Bracket Buster Saturday is set up for MID MAJOR conferences. The A-10 is not considered a mid major conference. It would be an insult to a lot of A-10 teams if they had to play in the Bracket Buster. xu95

According to most preseason rags, the A-10 is predicted to send 4 teams to the NCAA tournament and another 3 to the NIT. That is 7 teams in a twelve team conference. When you compare that to the MVC there really isn't any comparison. xu95

>>But one fact that hasn't been presented is that the MVC has >>has 2 years in a row of when they lost more non-conf games >>than they won. The A-10 has never had that in the past 5 >>(as far as I checked) years. > > >You're right, the MVC has done poorly in the last couple >years in the non coference, but all of the MVC schools are >supposed to have a non-con schedule that ranks in the top >150 in the nation. You don't see that in the A-10. You are wrong. The A-10 has a SOS clause set up that if the schools don't play a certain rank of strength of schedule than they lose money. Why do you think teams like Fordham and Duquesne play a lot of road games in non conference? It is because they can't get anyone good in there and they need to play these teams to make money. xu95

If CUSA dissolves than the schools that earned the money get the money. SLU will only get the remaining money that they have personally earned over the last 6 years. xu95

The Atlantic 10 will invite all four teams if need be. We would be stuck with 16 teams for a short while. The A-10 has just recently instituted athletic standards to the conference. This was mainly done to be able to kick out the "bottom feeders". It will be two to three years before there is any good reason to kick them out. xu95

There is no way BC, Syracuse, Pitt, or West Virginia vote for it. They all have one foot out the door. For someone to say all the schools have recommited to each other is not factual. They have committed to each other just like Miami committed to them a few years ago. xu95

That is until either BC or Syracuse go to the ACC. xu95

Correct and that is one of the things that excites me the most. With the addition of Saint Louis and Charlotte and the deletion of Fordham and Duquesne, I see some years where the A-10 is 6 or even 5 in the RPI ratings. We have been 6 before, I don't see why we can't be there again. xu95

The A-10s TV contract is not as good as it used to be. I don't know how many games are on ESPN totally, but I know Xavier has five this year. We had 10 last year I believe. We have a contract with Fox Sports (which I'm sure would be extended to your Fox Sports if you join). Totally Xavier had all but two games on. xu95

If CUSA is dissolved than each school gets the money they have earned. So unless CUSA goes away, Marquette loses all the money they have earned. I'm sure they will start getting money from day 1 in the BE. Therefore after paying exit fees to CUSA and entrance fees to BE, they will start making more money per year based on TV contracts, NCAA moneys, etc. BTW, I would welcome SLU to the A-10. I personally don't think that CUSA is that much better as a basketball conference. Both have their top tier teams and both have their bottom feeders. We are both typically only one or two points away on the Conference RPI scale. xu95