xudash

I haven't visited here in forever and stopped by to see how you guys are doing as a result of the announcement concerning UCONN. Some very good observations and thoughts are coming out of this thread. One thing I can share with you - and it is no surprise - is that Xavier will have no part of accepting UD into the BE. This is a strategic matter for Xavier, not a sports matter. Can Xavier, voting by itself in a meeting, make that happen? No. Does this issue for Xavier carry any weight with fellow BE members. Absolutely. What might be hard for you guys to appreciate - understandably so, given your experience with A10 members - is just how strongly the BE members have bonded with one another. Additionally, there are other BE members who have their own short lists of "no can do". This isn't only a Xavier versus UD issue. Overall, and this is the real thing: a prospective school that a particular member does not like would have to be so off the charts worthy for membership, assuming a new member is necessary, that the BE leadership would delicately navigate themselves to the required majority vote to make it happen. No such school that is otherwise disliked or frowned upon by an existing member exists under that scenario today. Any university administration or BoT that does not otherwise understand the value of a successful Athletic Department to a school that is not an Ivy League school or one of similar ilk shouldn't be allowed to remain in their positions. Look at it historically as some of you have. Notre Dame in South Bend, IN without Knute Rockne and football? Perhaps a different place than what it is today. My opinion of the truly luckiest Catholic university in the United States: its luck changed forever on the night of 11/23/1984 in one moment: FLUTIE. Our fellow Jesuit friends in Chestnut Hill moved forward from that to eventually navigate themselves into the ACC. The sports fan might say: "well, yeah, but they're buried in the ACC and finding it hard to win in football or hoops". The fan is saying that while BC's CFO is counting all the money and their admissions department casts away application after application to arrive at their annual selective student body yield. Xavier woke-up - barely - in 1979. It took a damn long time, a lot of hard work, a solid string of luck in replacing departing coaches, and the extraordinary events involving the C7, Big East and Fox to arrive at where it is now. Xavier is unrecognizable from almost 20 years ago when the Cintas Center first opened. Xavier used basketball just as Notre Dame used football, though obviously on a relative basis with respect to outcomes. You guys have the bones in place, you need the focus and spirit to push forward. How on God's earth did the Chaifetz Arena come to be without the rest of a strong AD infrastructure in place, or put into place to navigate the entire show from there? It's not too late, but it's getting very late. P5 developments - the money they make, the 20-game conference schedules, et al - are tightening the noose. Your immediate push should be to renegotiate the by-laws of the A10 Conference. You should insist upon performance standards along the lines of what some of you have suggested in here: minimum requirements for home facilities, recruiting budgets, etc. - - an overall commitment to resourcing a basketball program properly. And to be truly blunt about it in SLU's case: it isn't about guiding certain woeful A10 programs to improve; it's about guiding them towards the conference exit door. Less is more, particularly in this case. Particularly in light of certain programs that should be expelled. The A10 has some good programs in it, but the bottom of that conference is killing it. That reality certainly bothered the hell out of me while Xavier was part of the A10. If you're wondering about the BE's next move - - whether or not it will now stay at 11 or move to 12 - - I think it is very safe to say that the BE intends to stand pat at 11 for now in order to protect the round robin. That has proven to be a major selling point and success driver for the conference. Word has it from an internal media source that the BE was and is exceeding FOX's media measurement goals. That news coupled with the UCONN addition - not only the fact that it is UCONN, but that the act of adding a new team triggers the ability to reset the existing 12-year deal - - has everyone expecting that the dollars per school are about to go up significantly. Dodd tweated $6 million per school per year, but then pulled that dollar figure back out of his tweat. We're standing by for any news about that while we otherwise watch in fascination as some relatively small number of UCONN football fans continue to melt down over all this. I've probably visited long enough. Good luck. I'll end with this: I believe SLU is the Big East's #12 if 3 things happen: 1. Even more content demand drives FOX to eventually want a 12th member. 2. If you guys position yourselves better via performance and on court success, including consistency in nabbing NCAAT bids. 3. If the P5 doesn't change so dramatically that a Wake Forest or other lessor existing P5 school falls out of that club and into the BE (unlikely).

Pistol, My pleasure. I respect SLU a great deal and believe both SLU and Richmond would be excellent additions to the BE. Time will tell, but, either way, winning big in the meantime will make life pleasant for you. CT, it's as kshoe described it about Dayton. Otherwise, I believe bostonspider is spot on with his comments: UR, with its institutional appeal, eastern support, the balance that it would bring, and beautifully renovated facility, should help the BE move towards expansion if and when the BE finds that to be in its best interests. Will/can the BE get half its teams into the Dance? Easier said than done, but will begin to learn more about that soon enough. Assuming expected performance comes through, GU, CU, and Marquette will make it. Then I believe 2 will come from Xavier, St. John's and nova, with Providence now knocking on the door, too.

CT: 1. It appears as though it was a combination of your administration hurting you, and Creighton's administration definitely helping them. Creighton's board connection with Marquette was no small matter. 2. As for UD, this is my opinion based upon what I've heard: their chances are pretty low at this point. You can basically kiss all of the traditional rivalry stuff goodbye. We've already seen that happen across the board in both football and basketball, and it certainly seems likely now to happen here. More to the point, this isn't about Xavier never playing UD again, because they'll most likely crank it back up again on an annual basis once per year OOC, going back and forth. The point is that the XU/UD rivalry itself appears to carry little to no weight with the BE in terms of being a strategic reason for favoring UD's inclusion. That certainly pales in comparison to the 50 mile'ish proximity between the campuses, coupled with the ability to grab the St. Louis television market at some point. Finally, what really may be driving the bus on this one? Perceived strategic advantage. It is what it is, and any strategist worth his or her salt would not easily give up such an advantage. The stakes are simply different than when Xavier saved UD before by helping them get into the A10. Last of all, I doubt it would ever get to a so-called deciding Xavier vote, UD simply is located at a bad address for purposes of this discussion. 3. I have no good information on Richmond's position in all this. I know what you know: very attractive and well funded institution, highly respected by the BE members, Richmond actually is considered a separate market, GU has no problem with them, and they would provide east/west balance, but their resume and ability (perceived) to sustain success and fan support are primary concerns. 4. Absolutely no idea. I don't think much is coming out on that topic because they have settled into a ten team format for now. In the abstract, I doubt we would be having this "conversation" had your President navigated this deal more effectively, especially had Rick not passed.

Not that you're looking for a response out of left field, but I can share some info with you that does not directly come from the inner-sanctum, but is reliable: If expansion were pursued, St. Louis presently is absolutely deemed to be target #1. Your recent track record, proven ability to draw fan support with a winning program, your facilities investments, St. Louis as a television market, and the fact that you tie Creighton closer to the midwestern schools all rest strongly in your favor. SLU as an institution is regarded as a major plus as well. The BE was never going to go to 12 immediately. SLU's problem was that SLU was solid, but #12 was not obvious; there was not a 12th candidate that warranted inclusion. Would the BE have gone to 12 immediately if #12 had been obvious. Probably, simply because the Fox deal is structured to provide the same money per school whether the conference is comprised of 10 or 12 schools. Here are your biggest problems: Fox absolutely is not dictating terms and conditions to the Presidents; the Presidents are calling all the shots; and There is a singular desire to digest what has been created - they have a lot of work to do to flesh out and smooth out their operations. And they want to see how the round robin dynamic plays out. They know they have time, because this entire thing has been put together with a long-term strategic view to build the brand and make it a part of a successful FS1 portfolio. What could cause the President's to expand outside of what's on the table now? A 12-mix that would be perceived to be better position to garner more NCAA Units. The only other thing that could hurt SLU at this point is if you slide in performance; if something nuts happens in further football expansion, causing, say, a UCONN to emphasize hoops (no one is waiting for that to happen); if Gonzaga buys a G6, or some combination of them. I tend to think that the BE will stick with 10 teams for probably at least 3 seasons, especially if NCAA bids come in at least 5 per season.

I believe three things have to trigger in order for the A10 to feel a direct impact: 1. A&M actually has to jump to the SEC - that now appears to be a done deal; CBS even reported on it during the PBA's coverage today. 2. The SEC then has to raid the ACC for a school. Rumors are that the SEC is going to 16 now, adding A&M and having them joined by FSU, Mizzou and Clemson. 3. With the ACC down one and maybe two teams, it looks back to its old friend's pantry, the BE, for its replacements, but this time it's about replace-plus-grow. That probably means Syracuse, Pitt, UConn and Rutgers (or WVU instead of Rutgers if academics aren't a big deal). Those three dominos essentially blow up the BE. If the Big XII does find a way to hold together - and I doubt it holds together for long anyway, given what Texas has been able to pull off with its own network and with the rev share arrangement in the conference itself - the old C-USA schools, USF and one of WVU or somebody are left holding the bag. The "more gasoline on the fire" scenario is the Pac10 Commish's announcement that he has solved for a 14 or 16 program platform for television, thereby enabling people to plant palm trees in Norman and Stillwater, which probably would blow up the Big XII. Texas, if that happens? Laughing hysterically, as it probably was and is navigating towards independence anyway. So much for a boring summer.

Taj79, Tu has had the nickname "Tu" since he was a very young boy. He grew up answering to "Tu." Before this season, he asked Chris Mack if he could change references to him - how he was addressed, how he was presented in print media, etc. - to "Tu" instead of his formal name of Terrell. They worked out something where Holloway had to do something to earn it; probably academic and athletic in nature, but I don't recall the details. Holloway earned it and Mack honored the deal. Otherwise, congratulations to you guys for playing a great game and for making noise in the Cintas Center. Fellow Jesuit fans taking advantage of their close proximity to abundant alcohol. I could clearly hear the airball chant on TV. I wish the cameras would have zoomed in on JR at that point for his reaction - something like "I thought this was a home game" or something to that effect.

That Xavier number isn't right, but maybe because of when the table was generated. X's endowment, prior to whatever will go into it from an existing capital campaign that is about fully subscribed (minus dollars for construction projects) is about $130mm. BTW, it is too small, but it is a key area that Xavier has been properly focused on since 1990 when Hoff came on board as President. Otherwise, X is very strongly positioned financially. Kudos to St. Louis for having managed the E side of academia.

Back to the matter at hand. Whether Memphis ultimately makes it to the BE or not obviously is a function of its perceived value on the football side. Memphis has a respected basketball program - at least for winning if not for sending its student-athletes to med school or law school, etc. It probably is fully capable of remaining attractive as a basketball program because it still seems to 'own' C-USA in hoops, much like Gonzaga uses the WCC to launch its almost annual tournament efforts. At least I'll assume the new coach will work out. As was mentioned above, they're still recruiting at a high level and the institutional pressure from the academic side of the house has never seemed to interfere with that reality. As for the football end of it, where it really is going to matter, the Liberty Bowl is, in essence, a 'disaster' as I understand it. It's long in the tooth and, more importantly, apparently in a bad part of town. So suffice it to say that Memphis may have a facilities issue. On the other hand, perhaps it's one they can address (see link). For one thing, though he's a Yale grad, Fred Smith of FedEx sees the value of having a strong UM in town; I believe he provides the school a lot of support. Between him, other well-healed boosters and FT being on contract now, don't be surprised if Memphis takes a strong run at the BE. And though the stadium may have some issues, it isn't all that bad, in the sense that it has a solid capacity number: 62k. It may not be perfect, but consider UC: Nippert Stadium is nicely rennovated and is an on-campus facility, but it seats less than 40k. Almost every football member in the BE has some program warts at this point. At any rate, I see X and SLU and Dayton sticking together from here on in. Frankly, though you certainly want to get to a winning pattern as soon as possible, SLU is so attractive institutionally and in its hoops program in particular - for the investments that it has made - that I believe it is 'safe' should realignment occur again in the next few years of so. Liberty Bowl Stadium Info

There you go! Baby steps. Building a successful rivalry one insult at a time. Please contact the following to have your left thing sucked (asked to be connected to the ghetto): University of Dayton 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469 Phone: 937-229-1000 E-mail: [email protected]

I'll second the notion that Xavier and St. Louis should migrate to having a much closer relationship in hoops. You guys add significant value to this league. Too bad it is offset by the likes of LosSalle. I believe it isn't about "IF" another realignment is coming, but "WHEN" it will come. Two classy Jesuit schools should stick together and learn to hate each other two days a year, while otherwise relieving themselves on UD's mascot.

DU's Palumbo Center isn't the worst there is; in fact, it isn't all that bad and could be a "cozy" solid place with about 6k or so in capacity if they put the money into it. Pittsburgh also will be tearing down the old Mellon Arena and putting up a new one next to DU. They have a little more history than you appear to be giving them credit for, but it certainly is dormant. Of the 4 so-called deadwood schools, they seem to have the most potential simply because Fordham's leadership is so completely clueless. As far as SLU is concerned, you guys are at the top of the list with me - in terms of attractiveness. Excellent Jesuit school that has made a BCS-level commitment to its program. Who would not want what you have done? More to the point, LossSalle and SBU, in particular, couldn't even dream of doing what you've done. Fordham and Duquesne can't touch you either. Putting on-court success aside for the moment, there can be no question, NO QUESTION about SLU being one of the drivers of what could become the new, or revived A10. Xavier, SLU and Dayton - as the driving Catholic schools - combined with Temple (if this MAC business isn't true) UMass and URI on the public side, and Richmond and UNC Charlotte are a formidable block that is well positioned to force positive change.

In actuality, I feel more like Billiken Rich about our ongoing relationship: more about mutual respect than one poisoned by jealousy or complete lack of similarity/common interest (i.e. UC). I was trying to inject a little humor into the post. I always try to give credit where credit is due. I regard UD as a rival. However, I do believe it probably is a little more intense on UD's side. UD hasn't beaten X in Cincinnati since the Carter administration (1981). As you guys know, UD enjoyed a long facilities advantage when UD Arena went up about the same year that Laugh-In originally aired. It had to kill them when the Cintas Center came on line. Your new place will remind them yet again that the UD Arena is long in the tooth and another major Catholic program has positioned itself for the national stage. Combine all that with our resume versus their resume for the last two decades and you get the picture. Nonetheless, UD is an excellent school with a basketball program that has a proud history. If the glass is half full, the A(n) could be headed for good times. Along with other games like UMass/Temple, Temple/St. Joe's, etc., the Catholic rivalry games involving X/SLU, SLU/UD, X/UD and X/St. Joe's could increase the curb appeal of the league. It's up to us to make the most of what we have right now. The league is headed for a new commissioner. Your inclusion and the inclusion of Charlotte tipped the balance of power to those programs in the league who care and who have made the investment. It should only get better from here, especially now that the league is improving its ability to bounce back. Who knows what happens from there, except that Xavier and SLU will have made the necessary investments to protect and strengthen their respective programs.

Folks, I know it was a tough loss for you and I'm not here to gloat. On the contrary, last night provided potent, clear evidence that our respective programs are headed for full boat rivalry status. Who knows what may happen with the A10 or with conference realignment should it trigger again, but it seems to me that the stars are clearly aligned for us to have a beautiful despise-hate relationship with each other. It will be similar to Xavier v. UC, except you guys have teeth and substantial cerebral firepower, which is nice. Perhaps it will involve a love-hate relationship along the lines of Xavier v. UD, except you guys have better hygiene to go along with your teeth and cerebral fire power. In all seriousness, it will become Xavier v. St. Louis: Jesuits v. Jesuits. Excellent schools with the ability to commit to top-shelf programs. It will become its own thing. Each and every game will be an experience each time we tee it up. You have certainly gotten even with us as of late since joining the conference. We owed you this one (yes, I discount what happened in the MCC days; too long ago). Beyond this rivalry in the making stands the reality that SLU, by any measure, is poised to break back onto the national scene in a major way. Personally, I look forward to admiring and hating you. SLU is a breath of fresh air after having had to suffer through an association teams like LossSalle for this long. As I noted above, good luck the rest of the way, unless we run into you again. Lisch. Geezus!

>You could make money with: >Filling the basketball arena >>Ticket sales are generally a very small portion of total revenue > >Selling merchandise >>Only if you win > >A shoe contract >>How much would the school get > >More student admissions >>In the case of SLU, they already have more applications than they do spots > >Boosters making more contributions >>Again, if you win. > >TV deals >>Your TV deal is predicated on your conference. > >I would guess that most private schools and most schools >without an existing athletic tradition would have a really >hard time getting a multimillion-dollar coaching contract >past their boards of trustees. Good reply except for the TV part. Conference affiliation is only a factor in the event there is a relevant conference TV package, or not (we all know where that stands with Bruno and the A10). The point is that Xavier has its own TV deal with FoxSports Ohio, as many of you know. Thank God, too. We will not leave our fate in the hands of those idiots in Philly. Interesting thread though. A little "out of the box" thinking. I like it. Imagine a sufficiently wealthy school with a known strong fan base - a fan base that would react quickly and strongly to victories - taking this direction. It is a "prime the pump" kind of approach. Media attention and immediate fan interest - curiosity - would come into play right out of the gate if the right guy were brought into the mix.

>wow - Marquette couldn't even field a club team at least 2 >of the years I was there, and when they did they were BAD. > >I-AA non-scholarship is glorified HS football. I am a huge >sports fan, travel all over to different colleges and pro >games just to take in the atmosphere. I have zero interest >in a I-AA game. Little more than a money drain. BLaw, I hear you. There are a lot of people that agree with you. But, there are a lot of DIII schools -- small, liberal arts schools mainly -- that offer a nice fall weekend experience around football. They aren't on television and there may be no more than 3,000 to 5,000 to maybe 10,000 people milling around, but the atmosphere is still there, tailgaiting and all. Imagine an athletic department with big time bball, solid olympic sports and a DIII-feel football program to round out the collegiate experience (this assumes an eventual move to DI-AA in some form). I wouldn't mind that at all. It beats having nothing, and none of us are going to pull off what BC pulled off: the last Catholic school to establish a strong foundation for ongoing DI-A football. My hope is that, with Marquette already there (you will hear below that they have the longest running club football team in the nation) and Xavier now coming on-line, SLU may work to bring it back. Travel would be expensive, but it could start a great tradition if people give it a chance. Please feel free to listen to the following radio interview from a Cincinnati station, featuring Joe Moreman, who I mentioned in my last post: http://www.getsportsinfo.com/lance/xfootball.mp3

As I understand it, Xavier's newly elected student leadership ran on a platform last year that included bringing football back to campus at the club level. Joe Moreman, one of the elected students, will actually be on Cincy radio today, discussing the effort. They recently gained approval from Xavier's administration to move forward. A Villanova grad, who played football for Nova and who presently is enrolled in one of X's graduate school programs, is the new head coach of Xavier's club program. If I recall correctly, approximately 100 men are pursuing joining the new team and they are not without talent and size. The coach has had an ongoing update session on Musketeer Madness about progress, etc. and has noted that he can put together an offensive line with good skills that averages about 260 to 270 lbs. At any rate, this deal is moving forward. I have read that they have put together a schedule of three games for this first year: Marquette, College of Mt. Saint Josephs (Cincinnati) and another small Ohio liberal arts school. So the Milwaukee and Cincy Jebbies get to bump hats this fall! I cannot think of a more appropriate opponent than a fellow Jesuit school to kick-off football's return to Victory Parkway since it left in 1973. As most of you know, the issue isn't about heavy funding due to Title IX matching, because it is being brought back at the club level. Who knows where it goes from here, but it is being brought back at the lowest risk level possible. The debate you may get into is the debate we got into - and some remain in: does this effort detract from fund raising efforts for the University (Xavier is about to announce a kick off of a big capital campaign on this, its 175th anniversary) OR is this additive; do alumni that normally don't give or give much begin to give or give more, and/or do existing contributors continue to give plus give a little extra, because that "autumn football environment" is back in town. Personally, I believe that New York Times article is a wake up call. I see Marquette, SLU and Xavier, in particular, as three schools that would benefit greatly from having big time basketball programs augmented by successful "Division III Like" football programs (i.e. about 5k to 10k in the stands of a cozy stadium, tailgating, etc.). Excellent academic schools with great athletic programs that now include that purer form of college football, so to type. We'll see where this takes us. IF, let's say in five years, Xavier has established the ability to move it to D1-AA (Non-Scholly) who knows what may happen. From there, a Xavier marching band, performing script X (similar to Ohio State's Script Ohio) is possible. It is likely that the band will have had warm up cocktails prior to taking the field, but all they'll have to do is pivot correctly to knock out one letter! BTW, your thread about sustained top 25 programs in basketball is interesting. I noticed a couple of references to Xavier as being in the "crawl phase" and being a mid-major. No recognition of the E8 run (just one S16 reference), national player of the year (West), our contributions to the NBA (think Posey for purposes of this year's one example), our top 40ish attendance figures in one of the finest on-campus venues around (I can't imagine I'll get any argument about that here), and our post season track record FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS. Creighton? I love them and great school. Great recent success. But they do not hold a candle to X in the last two decades. Frankly, same for Gonzaga, though Gonzaga has achieved more noteriety, especially for winning some big time games. With all due respect, if we are in the crawl phase, then SLU's program was just conceived. At any rate, have your student leadership contact Xavier's leadership (Joe Moreman) and for that matter Marquette's people. Take some notes and see if it something you guys can move on. And be nice to us this year. Winning two from us last year was bad form. Learn to share in the Jesuit tradition.

Allow me to offer a little perspective if I may, understanding that I am very pleased to have Xavier affiliated with SLU again: 1. On Campus Arena - I believe it makes a material difference, because it obviously makes any campus more complete. Students who can literally role out of their dorms and stumble next door to a major sporting event have an advantage over students who must shuttle off campus to attend such an event. It's your school's place - it is your place as an alumnus or student - you always get to attend events on the same property where you received an education while cocktailing and committing multiple "crimes" against humanity, mainly women. Plus we belong to private schools: the private sky boxes and the club level bar and the concession stands all serve alcoholic beverages. 2. The Right On Campus Arena - going into the year 2000, excluding the Cintas Center, Xavier had all the right program elements in place to sustain its success in basketball: total administrative support, strong tradition resulting from a winning culture, sustained strong coaching staff (Prosser at the helm at the time), strong fan support and at least a "reasonable" conference affiliation (more on that some other time). Once the Cintas Center came on-line, recruits were shown that, instead of the Cincinnati Gardens. The long point made short is that we recruit at the level we recruit at now because of the Cintas Center. I doubt that I need to describe it here, though I will point out two things that should be of interest here: [1] it has a beautiful practice facility and [2] it is a revenue engine for Xavier. It has a conference center and banquet facility built into it, along with student dining. The place hosts many events outside of athletic events. Your new place looks almost exactly like the CC looks on the inside, but with more seats (13k vs 10,250). I don't know what else is included in your place, but, if it only is an arena, I would question that move. The CC was billed as the Xavier campus' living room when it came on-line. It was designed to contribute to the fiscal well being of the school. 3. Admin support - this must exist - with talent - at three levels: the board of trustees, the President and the Athletic Director. If they all "get it" in unison, then your school's chances of achieving athletic success increase dramatically. And, as you know, if your school achieves athletic success - especially in this society - it will see its fund raising efforts succeed, its student application pool increase, the quality of that application pool rise, etc., etc. 4. St. Louis as a sports town - St. Louis is a great town and obviously loves its baseball, but Cincinnati has a little history there as well. You seem to be the big fish in the pond there, whereas X must deal with UC here. The point? It isn't a criticism, but I would think that with the program properly managed, getting back to 13k fans or even 17k fans would be achievable for SLU. Personally, I assume you guys will be fine in the long run, but I am giving Biondi the benefit of the doubt. I simply believe that SLU has too much institutional "elasticity" for it not to succeed. I'll leave you with this: Xavier had to rise from the ashes in the late 70's to get to where it is today. Gonzaga probably had as many liabilities as assets in building its program. But both schools took a disciplined focused course of action that got them where they are today. SLU CAN get there. It has the resources to do so, period, end of story. The question is will its leadership guide it there, or allow someone on board to guide it there. Good luck. Look forward to our approaching games.

Xavier receives "reasonable" coverage in the Cincy papers. It's a business: many more UC fans in Cincinnati so UC will always be perceived to receive better coverage. Xavier has its own web page at the Enquirer site and Duston Dow - reporter - is doing a good job. Radio is split between Cincinnati's flagship station - WLW - and another local station, with Internet access available, as well. Xavier also has its own television package with FoxSports Ohio. A game with SLU probably will make that package, so you'll have access to it if you have the right service. Couple of other comments, having read this entire string: [1] WH knows what he is talking about and is always reasonable and balanced. He has no hidden agendas. He'll come to learn more about SLU and you will benefit from his analysis. [2] With tongue in cheek, you should have come into the league last year. The youth movement, of which you have already heard, being the reason. Xavier missed post season play for the first time in years last year and broke an 8 year string of 20+ win seasons. That won't happen again.

ATLANTIC 10 ANNOUNCES 2005-06 AND 2006-07 SCHEDULING MODELS BOCA RATON, FL - With the additions of Charlotte and Saint Louis for the 2005-06 season, the Atlantic 10 directors of athletics have adopted a revised scheduling model as it pertains to men's and women's basketball. The directors also adopted scheduling models in each sport in which regular season competition is conducted. The directors, at their annual meeting at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, voted to maintain a 16-game Conference basketball schedule, while eliminating divisional play in favor of one 14-team division. "We compiled a number of scheduling models so the directors would have many options from which to choose," says Atlantic 10 commissioner Linda Bruno. "The directors were emphatic in their desire to play every team at least once. The model they adopted best meets that goal." Under the new regular season basketball scheduling model, each team will play three opponents twice and the remaining 10 opponents once, creating a 16-game league schedule. After the 2005-06 season, the sites of the games will change with those played at home being played on the road in 2006-07 and vice versa. Below is a list of which men's basketball teams will face each other in a home-and-home series in 2005-06 and 2006-07: Charlotte - UD, GW, UR Dayton - CHA, SLU, XU Duquesne - FOR, LAS, SBU Fordham - DUQ, URI SBU George Washington - CHA, UR, SJU La Salle - DUQ, UM, TU Massachusetts - LAS, URI, TU Rhode Island - FOR, UM, SLU Richmond - CHA, GW, SBU St. Bonaventure - DUQ, FOR, UR Saint Joseph's - GW, TU, XU Saint Louis - UD, URI, XU Temple - LAS, UM, SJU Xavier - UD, SJU, SLU Below is a list of which women's basketball teams will face each other in a home-and-home series in 2005-06 and 2006-07: Charlotte - UR, SLU, XU Dayton - DUQ, SLU, XU Duquesne - UD, SBU, SLU Fordham - URI, SBU, SJU George Washington - UR, TU, XU La Salle - UM, URI, SJU Massachusetts - LAS, URI, SBU Rhode Island - FOR, LAS, UM Richmond - CHA, GW, TU St. Bonaventure - DUQ, FOR, UM Saint Joseph's - FOR, LAS, TU Saint Louis - CHA, UD, DUQ Temple - GW, UR, SJU Xavier - UD, CHA, GW The format of the 2006 Atlantic 10 basketball championships will be discussed at further length when the directors of athletics meet in September. The directors also adopted a nine-game schedule in men's and women's soccer and a full round-robin schedule in softball. Previously, the directors adopted nine three-game series in baseball with each game being nine innings, full round-robin schedules in women's lacrosse and field hockey, and divisional play in women's volleyball with each team facing its divisional opponents in a home-and-home series and its non-divisional opponents once. Ah, Muskies and Billikens, Jesuits all, going at it again!!

A few observations: Charlotte and SLU should enter the A10 as upper echelon members. Charlotte appears to be more familiar to most A10 fans than SLU, but you know and I know that SLU's program firepower will be felt soon enough in the league, especially once you bring your new building online. With that said, it's clear that some of you are underestimating what it's like to get through the A10 regular season. So, paraphrasing, it sounds like it's down to getting " a couple outstanding players" and we'll mop the thing up? The A10 put four into the tournament and should have gone 4-0 in the first round. After getting its act together, Xavier ran Louisville off the court in the first round when Louisville was allegedly back to full strength. At any rate, the A10 had two teams make it to the round of 8, and both combined were within 5 points of the Final 4. I'm not here to flame, so please don't take these comments in that vain, it's more about providing some perspective because some of you only appear to be thinking about SLU and what SLU has coming in from a recruiting standpoint and how hard it was for SLU to bang heads with Louisville, UC, Memphis, etc. So Sato and Chalmers are gone at X. So what? Brian Thornton, an all SEC Freshman transfer from Vanderbilt, Josh Duncan, who Xavier outrecruited Kentucky - yes you read it right, Kentucky - for and Churchill Odia (if the Visa mess gets cleared up) are on their way in with 3 returning starters (one Junior to be (Finn) and two Sophs to be (Cage and Doellman), joining Boubacar Coly, Stanley Burrell and others. Xavier is at the reload level, not the rebuild level. And as long as Martelli stays at St. Joe's, Hawk Hill will rock on. Dayton under Gregory will be solid. Richmond, URI and GW are getting stronger. The A10 continues to come back, held down only be dead wood like LaSalle, Duquesne, Fordham and SBU, all of which happen to be trying to get better. UMass and Temple are the two programs that are in a steep dive and not too far from crashing, especially on the eve of Charlotte and SLU's entry.

Box and Won is right. Actually, the Cintas Center isn't an "arena." It is a convocation center. Primary components include: [1] The 10,250 seat arena [2] Student dining facilities [3] Banquet and conference facilities In Father Hoff's master plan for the school, the Cintas Center became referred to as the campus living room. In essence, it was set up as a revenue generating engine for the school, as it hosts many events unrelated to Xavier athletics. Your other specific questions, regarding practice facilities and coaches offices, carry "yes" answers as well. There is an integrated practice facility, state-of-the-art training rooms and locker rooms and athletic department offices all within the confines of the building. Thad Matta's office actually has a balcony that looks out over the arena. I truly mean this in the most humble way possible, but the CC has proven to be a grand slam for the school. Other schools, including Virginia and Southern Cal as examples, have visited Xavier to study the Cintas Center to gain ideas for their new on campus facilities. You have a lot to look forward to once you open the doors to your new place.

I'll amplify what Butch noted. In Xavier's case, there was a quiet period for fund raising, during which time all the high-end money was being pinned down, including the $20 million that came from the Chairman and the CEO of the Cintas Corporation personally (to gain naming rights for the Cintas Corporation). All that was part of a larger capital campaign that Xavier had well in the bag during the quiet period: they launched the capital campaign knowing that it would be a success. That was a smaller campaign at $100 million, but that's the way they ran it. Note that Hoff (Xavier's president at the time) had brought it ND's former fund raiser to design Xavier's fund raising strategy and process. There were three key aspects to the Cintas project, looking back on the information that was made available. Firstly, the fund raising campaign was well managed. Secondly, the design firm and the construction firm had substantial expertise in these types of facilities. Finally, there were no material design or construction surprises to contend with once the final design was settled upon; the due diligence process was very thorough and did not expose the project to eyebrow-raising surprises. I would hope that you guys are simply in your quiet phase. Perhaps it hasn't been managed as effectively as it should, but I hope, for your benefit, that they're still working on the large donations. What alarms me from what I read here from time to time are the number of issues that seem to come up with site limitations or other physical challenges to the project. Who is running this show? Your design is gorgeous. Who screwed up in terms of not making sure it could be plopped onto the most optimal site available for SLU? Good luck and looking forward to rekindling a fond rivalry with a fellow Jesuit school.