brianstl Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I think you should only be interested in teams that might contribute to a better TV deal. I know we have some teams that are second fiddle in big markets (Duquense, St. Joe, GW), or even 3rd or 4th fiddle (LaSalle, Fordham), but Loyola and Detroit are pretty far removed from the spotlight. Valpo has had good teams, but I'm not sure what kind of following they have. Butler is a team that could help. Otherwise, I'd rather see fewer teams in the A10 and get the chance to play home & home against the teams that I care about every year (like Dayton and X). Belmont would be a better option than Detriot, Loyola, and Valpo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 SLU, Dayton, X and Butler would form a nice midwestern bloc and hopefully give us future conference negotiating power. If there was any chance to add Creighton, that would be ideal (given where we stand now). Agreed. If we get Butler there is abslutely no need for further expansion unless UMass or Charlotte leave for football reasons. Creighton would be a great add but it seems unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyDawg Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 -i hope butler did not catch lightening in a bottle, granted for two years, and go away, come to the a10 and replace or exceed temple is my hopeButler has won 20 games in a year 15 of the last 17 years and have four Sweet 16s in the last 8 = geologic lightning. It will have the most tournament wins in this century in the conference the moment it arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 The only Chicago team I would want is DePaul, and that is a stretch. They haven't made a serious commitment to high level basketball since Ray Ray left campus. While everyone wants to call them a sleeping giant, the fact is that they have dwindling fan support and a terrible home court. Notre Dame football was last relevant before DePaul basketball was. The rest of the Chicago schools have never made a serious commitment to basketball. Hiring Porter Moser and Felonious Jimmy Collins don't really count. Being the 10th or 12th banana on the Chicago sports landscape is not appealing. Also - I hope that Fordham decides that the Patriot League is a better fit for them. That would help the conference more than adding any team mentioned in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrslu Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Agreed. If we get Butler there is abslutely no need for further expansion unless UMass or Charlotte leave for football reasons. Creighton would be a great add but it seems unlikely. Butler is a good travel partner for SLU, X, and Dayton. Again, I'm not in favor of expansion unless it brings in teams that really add something. 12 is a good number, or even 10. If you look at teams that may realistically want to join and teams that the league could/should consider, there aren't all that many. I'd have Butler and Creighton on the list, and nothing else really jumps to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Agreed. If we get Butler there is abslutely no need for further expansion unless UMass or Charlotte leave for football reasons. Creighton would be a great add but it seems unlikely. Agreed on Creighton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbizzle09 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Agreed. If we get Butler there is abslutely no need for further expansion unless UMass or Charlotte leave for football reasons. Creighton would be a great add but it seems unlikely. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clock_Tower Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Agreed. If we get Butler there is abslutely no need for further expansion unless UMass or Charlotte leave for football reasons. Creighton would be a great add but it seems unlikely. Does Creighton to the A10 really sound more unlikely than Butler to the A10 did last week? Wasn't there consensus on this Board last week that Butler was content in the Horizon and was not interested in leaving? What a difference a week makes. I really don't think ANY school would refuse to seriously consider a new conference. For instance, we all know the Duke v. UNC rivalry (especially in basketball) but either school would surely listen if their football team/school were offered the chance to leave the ACC and join the Big 10 or SEC. See MU and KU for actual example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Good point. Sounds like Drew is one of the top players in Indy, plus we've been recruiting others from there recently, including Patrick Ingram who signed with Iowa. sounds like we could use Drew's size on Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Does Creighton to the A10 really sound more unlikely than Butler to the A10 did last week? Wasn't there consensus on this Board last week that Butler was content in the Horizon and was not interested in leaving? What a difference a week makes. No. I always thought Butler was a strong possibility largely because they are soooo much better than the rest of their conference and are a decent geographical fit in the westward expanding A-10. if the money terms are right it makes all the sense in the world for them to upgrade. Creighton is in a pretty darn good basketball conference (as much as people on hear love to rip the Valley, it is far superior to the Horizon) and they are not much at all of a geographical fit in the A-10. Yes, geography is just one factor but it is a factor nevertheless. Hopefully this doesn't degenerate into another bashing MVC thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 sounds like we could use Drew's size on Friday. Agreed. Drew should fill a need. Looking forward to having him join the program. RM recently talked about upgrading the athleticism. The one guy who we had who is kind of forgotten now is Femi. He would have been an athlete with good size who was a lockdown defender. He could take care of big guards or small forwards. The kind of guy who would have helped against a team like Temple. How about both Femi and Willie on the team. Our athleticism would be giving opponents fits... wow, ok, I'm done dreaming. There's still plenty to like about our current team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Maybe we could trade Butler for Fordham and a crappy school to be named later or cash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo027 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Drop Fordham, add Butler and Belmont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drkelsey55 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 UNCC next???? http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...s-for-sun-belt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clock_Tower Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Drop Fordham, add Butler and Belmont. I do like the presence in New York City (not St. Bona). Maybe we take Iona over Fordham!! Belmont?? Just because someone has recently had a good basketball team does not mean they should be brought into your conference (academics and other sports programs need to be factored in). Bottom line is that Fordham (and other current A10 schools) do share SLU's academics, etc. The problem, though, is that they need to be challenged to increase their commitment to basketball and the other sports. SLU need only look in the mirror to see a school which has talked a good good game but, until recently, has not put its money where its mouth is. If the A10 is serious, it needs to bring up the topic of contraction to its current members yet give them a reasonable time period to make the needed improvements. Also, because of its location in Chicago, Loyola Chicago should be invited to the A10 on the condition they first increase their commitment (arena, training facilities, coach). See Memphis and their improvements prior to their BE invite. Otherwise, just wait a few years and take DePaul and Marquette they are pushed out of the BE b/c of football. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouisSportsStream Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Drop Fordham, add Butler and Belmont. Belmont is already moving to the Ohio Valley next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 belmont is not the program to replace temple let alone upgrade the conference. has to be higher than that or just let the conference shrink. adding a belmont or lower only makes the conference weaker. i seriously would take butler and/or creighton, and beyond that i am not too interested in any non bcs school. shrink the conference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Shrinking the conference is not as easy as you guys make it sound. You need a strong case to kick someone out, and most of the programs we could do without are A10 founding members. I don't know the contract situation for each- it isn't easy, though. It's also not easy just to pluck whatever team we want from other conferences. Temple left, the A10 pursued Butler, and hopefully they join. If someone else leaves, they'll pursue the best possible replacement; otherwise, no one's getting booted and no one's getting recruited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbizzle09 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 belmont is not the program to replace temple let alone upgrade the conference. has to be higher than that or just let the conference shrink. adding a belmont or lower only makes the conference weaker. i seriously would take butler and/or creighton, and beyond that i am not too interested in any non bcs school. shrink the conference. Good post. It looks like it is a good possibility that Charlotte could leave soon for the Sun Belt, and you have to think UMass is thinking along the same lines (maybe the MAC?) to support its fledgling football program. If we add Butler and let those two schools leave, then we will be at 12 teams, which is a perfect number, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLIKNS Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 VCU. Don`t know if Richmond would fight to keep them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I do like the presence in New York City (not St. Bona). Maybe we take Iona over Fordham!! Belmont?? Just because someone has recently had a good basketball team does not mean they should be brought into your conference (academics and other sports programs need to be factored in). Bottom line is that Fordham (and other current A10 schools) do share SLU's academics, etc. The problem, though, is that they need to be challenged to increase their commitment to basketball and the other sports. SLU need only look in the mirror to see a school which has talked a good good game but, until recently, has not put its money where its mouth is. If the A10 is serious, it needs to bring up the topic of contraction to its current members yet give them a reasonable time period to make the needed improvements. Also, because of its location in Chicago, Loyola Chicago should be invited to the A10 on the condition they first increase their commitment (arena, training facilities, coach). See Memphis and their improvements prior to their BE invite. Otherwise, just wait a few years and take DePaul and Marquette they are pushed out of the BE b/c of football. Belmont has been to five of the last seven NCAAs, recently built a new on campus basketball arena, has an acedemic profile similar to X, has a endowment similar to X, and is located in one of the fastest growing metro areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 And ... they have Drew Hanlon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo027 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Did not know Belmont was joining the OVC. I mentioned Belmont because it's a private, non-football school in the eastern US, with an at-large caliber basketball team the past 2 years. Clock, you would really rather invite Loyola Chicago over Belmont? Not sure how to respond to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 -glad it appears the a10 is moving on this, and i will add at a speed i did not think it had -just think what our new tv contract will be!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clock_Tower Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Did not know Belmont was joining the OVC. I mentioned Belmont because it's a private, non-football school in the eastern US, with an at-large caliber basketball team the past 2 years. Clock, you would really rather invite Loyola Chicago over Belmont? Not sure how to respond to that. First, after reading a little about Belmont today, I am more impressed by Belmont. Still, Belmont is clearly overshadowed by Vanderbilt down the street. 25 ACT score for Belmont. Found this link of A10 schools interesting.http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theact/a/atlantic-10-conference-act-scores.htm Second, Eastern US?? Maybe. I just don't think of Nashville being Eastern US. Third. Chosing a conference should involve alot more than how their men's basketball team did these past 2 years. Fourth. Chicago has SO MUCH to offer with respect to national exposure for both the school and the sports programs, for students (future students and past students - us alums), for recruiting (men's basketball and all the sports), for relative close geography, natural rival between cities and professional sports teams and generally for the sports fan who wants to follow the team. My wife would much rather go to a Billiken game in Chicago if it meant a day on Michigan Ave, a day at the museums/aquarium for the kids and post-game meal at one of the hundreds of awesome restaurants. Not quite the same attraction with other cites. Fifth. I'd only accept Chicago Loyola IF it built a new arena, added traing facilities and (sorry fans of Porter) hired a top coach -- if it did what SLU did. Northwestern and DePaul really aren't that much better. All three are remain "sleeping giants" - each with the potential to wake up and stop being the dormats of their respective conferences. Specifically, what makes SLU, X, Gonzaga, Seton Hall or GTown inherently more "big time" than Loyola? Nothing. A desire to become a Top 50 program is what the better basketball schools each have in common. Had Majerus gone to Loyola (he would not have b/c of their lack of facilities, budget, etc.), Loyola would be the best team in Chicago right now. Loyola over Northwestern and DePaul? Sure, just looke at Butler with much more recent NCAA success/Final Fours than the Indiana Hosiers!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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