xfactor9600

Though i enjoy his predictions from a conference and personal standpoint. The bracketology this early means nothing. It's no better than the one he releases a couple of days after the championship game. That said. I hope SLU is one of the last four in because that would put X, St. Joe's, and SLU in the tourney. Thank god the season is here.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2989775 Discusses the MVC versus the Horizon League briefly.

Agree... but look at the commitment the newer schools are making versus some of the older ones. Xavier has a new arena (5-6 years old), SLU is building a new arena, I believe UNC-Charlotte is toying with the idea. If some of the newer admission schools are willing to upgrade their facilities and give their coaches contract extensions to keep them, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask some of the other conference members to shape up their own programs.

True Big Men in the A-10 are rare. Sure everyone has a guy that's 6-10 (at least that's what they list them as) on their roster, but most of them aren't the next coming of Marcus Camby/David West (who wasn't that tall) or Tyrone Hill (who wasn't that tall either). If SLU (or X, or anyone else) can get a true Pivot Man that can bang in the post, you'll win in this conference consistently.

This is true. The teams that most would think about dumping are generally the "traditional" A-10 members such as Fordham. The general consensus is that the other older member schools wouldn't go along with it. While I like the new scheduling mandates, they'll do little until everyone in the league is forced to schedule better.

Link The Billikens review/overview starts around page 30. I haven't compared the info in this to the one the Billikens released this past week.

Well... all i know is that i typically have my x season tickets paid for by the time they release the exact dates for even the OOC schedule. For instance, I'd like to go to Arizona St/ Xavier Game, but i can't book a hotel/plane tickt until they release the date. At least you guys know who and when you're playing.

If that's even his coach.

I didn't like Brand when he was at IU (and I was a Grad Student), and I don't care for his generally "Higher than Thou" attitude. BUT, this is one area where I respect and support his stance. Too many student-athletes are falling through the cracks (you could say that about students in general), and if this causes schools to stop letting their athletes take basket-weaving or sandbox construction, then i'm all for it.

Where hasn't Majerus been successful? He brings instant credibility with him to the sidelines at SLU, and he's in the Top 3 of A-10 Coaches without coaching a game in conference yet. I've never understood the Majerus haters.

It opened for me... but now won't . Edit*** now it downloads.

It'd be nice if more teams were like SLU in terms of getting out their media guides and schedules to the fans.

For all of the money Knight gives to the Athletic Program at Oregon, what do they have to show for it really? I mean sure their football team has 25,000 different alternate uniforms, but at some point I'd want more of a return on my investment.

Very Nice so far.

The key, as some have pointed out, is to win these OOC games, now that they're scheduled. X has a pretty good team coming back, and they don't have to play SLU more than once during the conference season (which by the way is a travesty). It's too early to project how many wins, but I'm hopeful of a good OOC record.

HOME: Tennessee, Cincinnati, Creighton, Belmont, Deleware State ROAD: Miami (OH), Arizona State, Virginia, Auburn NEUTRAL: K-State (U.S. Bank), Kent State (Chicago tourney), and then with a win Indiana (Chicago tourney) I realize most won't care, but I know I've had a discussion with a few people about A-10 OOC scheduling. What do you guys think? I think it will definitely help the conference RPI and SOS.

I'm not sure SLU fans should have "no" expectations for next season. When RM was at Ball St., he did some very good work with, from what I can remember, poor teams in the beginning.

>SLU's move to the A10 was beyond simply MBB reasons >but also for east coast exposure for the school and as a >temporary spot till the next round of conference shuffling >happens. Exactly! Xavier joined the A-10 because of two things. They wanted out of their previous league AND wanted East coast exposure in not only the recruiting trails, but also for the student body as a whole. More TV time out east (when we're on the freakin TV)is good for Both SLU and Xavier in this regard. As a side note. I don't believe the A-10 will ever force out one of the older members. They could have easily kicked the Bonnies to the curb a few years back when they had all that coaching induced turmoil. The A-10 will get better when LB isn't making the final decisions.

I didn't say G-Town played football in the Big East. They were two separate thoughts.

Some of those schools have football... where are they going to play? I just can't envision some of the schools listed leaving their conferences. Georgetown out of the Big East? Does this scenario assume that the Big East has exploded?

While Xavier fans also want out of the A-10, I've never heard the MVC mentioned as an option. Many X fans hold out hope that the Big East will implode or that some sort of Conference comprised of schools like Marquette and SLU can be formed.

When Xavier opened the Cintas Center we played Miami of Ohio (they're a rival). In my experience in the A-10, the elite programs have a hard time getting the bigger conference teams to play true home and homes. Off the top of my head only Purdue, ASU, and perhaps Wisconsin have played a true home and home with Xavier at Cintas. When Illinois came to Cincy they played at an off-campus site. That said, I hope SLU can get some true home and home's with the bigger programs. It will definitely help with the Conference RPI and help SLU's tournament resume. EDIT*** just read some other posts about the teams you guys have had come into St. Louis in the past. Were those played on your home floor? or at a neutral site? If on your home floor, that's impressive!

Karl Hobbs drives me crazy. His whole program strikes me as shady and underhanded. Anyone else get that vibe from him?

Why not just mandate that each A-10 team has to follow these rules? I guess it's a step in the right direction, but besides GW... who in the Top Tier hasn't already been generally playing or attempting to schedule teams who fit this criteria. Also what happens in this scenario. Xavier scheduled a home and home with Tenn. Xavier played the road portion at Tenn one season. When Pearl came aboard he canceled the end of the contract, right before the season. X was left to pick up another team on short notice (i believe it was Siena). How does that situation work with what Linda has mandated...

My gut is that he ends up at WKU. He had a so-so visit with X, and supposedly wasn't thrilled about the minutes he could get there. WKU has been after him the longest.