SLU Ranked as the #5 Mid-Major

[majerus mojo]

Lindy's Sports Magazine has us as the #2 mid major and #9 overall.

http://www.insidethe...eason-magazine/

Got damn, that's sick. Pre-Majerus I'm assuming?

[MB73]

Look it up moosebreath.

The A10 will be better this year than the Pac1# for sure. It could be better than the SEC or ACC.

The A10 has been a better conference than the Pac10 for 3 out of the past 6 years. Anything further back than that and the conferences play musical chairs.

If the A10 didn't have the usual suspects dragging down the conference, it would have been the 4th or 5th best conference LAST YEAR, before the addition of Butler and VCU.

So you are predicting big change. Pulling it out of your ass.

The last 25 years or more (50?), the ACC and SEC have been superior to the A-10. National champs galore. No weak teams for an extended period of thim. We have Fordham, RI, GW, etc.

The A-10 is a mid major conference, it is just that simple, though they are climbing to the top of the mid major class. (Pistol, "mid majors" refers to conferences, not individual teams).

AND you cannot really say The A-10 is better than The Pac-12, sure, last couple of yrs Pac 12 has struggled, but for future yrs they have better resouces, still have superior 25 (50) yr record and tradition and facilities and state budgets and famous former player-alumni and superior rich alumni donors. UCLA, AZ, Washington, Oregon, Cal, USC, etc, c'mon, they will be there.

We lose our best program, Temple after this yr, and I say in a few yrs either VCU or Butler will falter, lose their coaches, just like GW did, Drake, SIU-C, etc. Mid majors do not have the deep traditions and deep pockets to recover from coaching losses that the Big 6 have...

We are a mid major but can still do well, make it to the sweet 16 if we stay healthy and some players step up... but we will still be a mid major.

[NH]

So you are predicting big change. Pulling it out of your ass.

The last 25 years or more (50?), the ACC and SEC have been superior to the A-10. National champs galore. No weak teams for an extended period of thim. We have Fordham, RI, GW, etc.

The A-10 is a mid major conference, it is just that simple, though they are climbing to the top of the mid major class. (Pistol, "mid majors" refers to conferences, not individual teams).

AND you cannot really say The A-10 is better than The Pac-12, sure, last couple of yrs Pac 12 has struggled, but for future yrs they have better resouces, still have superior 25 (50) yr record and tradition and facilities and state budgets and famous former player-alumni and superior rich alumni donors. UCLA, AZ, Washington, Oregon, Cal, USC, etc, c'mon, they will be there.

We lose our best program, Temple after this yr, and I say in a few yrs either VCU or Butler will falter, lose their coaches, just like GW did, Drake, SIU-C, etc. Mid majors do not have the deep traditions and deep pockets to recover from coaching losses that the Big 6 have...

We are a mid major but can still do well, make it to the sweet 16 if we stay healthy and some players step up... but we will still be a mid major.

GW and RI had success more recently than Oregon St. did.

[Cowboy]

Lindy's Sports Magazine has us as the #2 mid major and #9 overall.

http://www.insidethe...eason-magazine/

- :wub:

[MB73]

GW and RI had success more recently than Oregon St. did.

I wrote Oregon, not Oregon State but it is no big point..

Point is long term over time Pac 12 has been superior. Though the last few yrs The Pac 12 has dipped, it will likely rebound with the resources, facilites, tradition, alumni support, state money, etc.

[moytoy12]

So you are predicting big change. Pulling it out of your ass.

The last 25 years or more (50?), the ACC and SEC have been superior to the A-10. National champs galore. No weak teams for an extended period of thim. We have Fordham, RI, GW, etc.

The A-10 is a mid major conference, it is just that simple, though they are climbing to the top of the mid major class. (Pistol, "mid majors" refers to conferences, not individual teams).

AND you cannot really say The A-10 is better than The Pac-12, sure, last couple of yrs Pac 12 has struggled, but for future yrs they have better resouces, still have superior 25 (50) yr record and tradition and facilities and state budgets and famous former player-alumni and superior rich alumni donors. UCLA, AZ, Washington, Oregon, Cal, USC, etc, c'mon, they will be there.

We lose our best program, Temple after this yr, and I say in a few yrs either VCU or Butler will falter, lose their coaches, just like GW did, Drake, SIU-C, etc. Mid majors do not have the deep traditions and deep pockets to recover from coaching losses that the Big 6 have...

We are a mid major but can still do well, make it to the sweet 16 if we stay healthy and some players step up... but we will still be a mid major.

So, when comparing the A-10 to the Pac 12/other BCS conferences, you use an extended historical analysis (25+ years). But when it comes to the A-10 v. MVC, you use the last 5-10 years?

[billiken_roy]

mb, there is no reason to include the pac-whatever number in the supposed "super conferences anymore, especially for basketball. lute olsen - gone. john wooden -gone. the oregon's - totally insignificant. usc - riddled with corruption. colorado - i know they cant see the pacific from their living room. az st. - they play basketball? cal - the best of the conference? washington's - it rains too much. the point is, they simply do not stack up and will continue to be less and less significant.

i do agree the a-10 does hold 2-3 programs per year that boat anchor the conference. however beyond that, with the addition of butler and vcu, the conference is deeper than it has been maybe ever. this is the absolute best place for slu to be and imo, the a-10 deserves to be mentioned far more than the pac-whatever number when discussing ncaa D1 significance.

[jbizzle09]

When defining a 'mid-major' I typically use one simple rule anymore: Does that conference participate in ESPN's BracketBusters. If the conference does, then I regard a team competing in that conference as a 'mid-major'. Thus, teams in the Horizon, Valley, CAA, WCC, OVC, etc. are 'mid-major' teams. The non-Big 6 conferences that don't participate (CUSA, A10 and MWC) are not 'mid-major', in my opinion. And when yopu think about it, have you ever really thought of Memphis, Temple, Xavier, New Mexico or UNLV as 'mid-major' teams? I haven't.

However, in the end, I acknowledge that there will never be a true consensus on what the true definition of 'mid-major' is. There will be some that just use the phrase to describe any team not in a Big 6 conference. And that is fine by me. Conference allignments are fluid right now. CUSA has seen its stock plummett since the mid-2000's as it has been raided by the Big East twice. So the definiton of 'mid-major' is probably in a state of flux as well.

[billiken_roy]

mid major is a term coined by the sports media to belittle and separate programs from the supposed big boys. i think the term is nonsense as there are plenty of supposed "major" programs that couldnt finish in the top 8 of the a-10 or even play 500 ball in the mvc, horizon or cusa.

[HusakAttack]

mid major is a term coined by the sports media to belittle and separate programs from the supposed big boys. i think the term is nonsense as there are plenty of supposed "major" programs that couldnt finish in the top 8 of the a-10 or even play 500 ball in the mvc, horizon or cusa.

not to mention the summit league, great west, patriot league and swac

[MB73]

So, when comparing the A-10 to the Pac 12/other BCS conferences, you use an extended historical analysis (25+ years). But when it comes to the A-10 v. MVC, you use the last 5-10 years?

moytoy12: Yes, since (Biondi) SLU decided to join the A-10 in that time period instead of the superior choice, The MVC.

Think.

(It was irrlevant, but fyi a recent 50 yr study posted on this board ranked EVERY MVC team higher than SLU)

All: I think the definition of mid-major is debatable, but basically it is about conferences not individual teams, and so you have the Big 6 power conferences, then mid majors A-10, MVC, MWC, CUSA, West Coast, and WAC. After that, we have minor conferences as it relates to NCAA tourney particiapation. You could argue about this with the demise of The Pac Conference for now... but lets see how they do next 3 yrs before we declare them a mid major. I, myself, do not think so.

Roy I think the A-10 is a good conference (just not the right place long term for SLU), and VCU + Butler are good additions, but we lose Temple. And these leagues teams are cyclical, mid major teams come and go for the most part. A few last through coaching changes. Will we?

The Pac Conference has so much money, so many athletes from CA to choose from, they are state schools with great facilities, so many notable NBA alumni, so many rich alumni, IMO they will be back. Sure, possibly not but I think they will be a top 5-6 hoops conference again in a two yrs or so. We shall see.

[OkieBilliken]

Part of me really hates to see this kind of attention. Anyone remember the old Street & Smith's from the Grawer era when we had Gray, Bonner, and Douglass and how we were sure to win the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and make some noise in the dance? (Not that I didnt enjoy those NIT runs).

[JohnnyJumpUp]

Part of me really hates to see this kind of attention. Anyone remember the old Street & Smith's from the Grawer era when we had Gray, Bonner, and Douglass and how we were sure to win the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and make some noise in the dance? (Not that I didnt enjoy those NIT runs).

Whether we live up to the expectations or not, it feels fu©king awesome having this type of attention for the team.

[billiken_roy]

moytoy12: Yes, since (Biondi) SLU decided to join the A-10 in that time period instead of the superior choice, The MVC.

Think.

(It was irrlevant, but fyi a recent 50 yr study posted on this board ranked EVERY MVC team higher than SLU)

All: I think the definition of mid-major is debatable, but basically it is about conferences not individual teams, and so you have the Big 6 power conferences, then mid majors A-10, MVC, MWC, CUSA, West Coast, and WAC. After that, we have minor conferences as it relates to NCAA tourney particiapation. You could argue about this with the demise of The Pac Conference for now... but lets see how they do next 3 yrs before we declare them a mid major. I, myself, do not think so.

Roy I think the A-10 is a good conference (just not the right place long term for SLU), and VCU + Butler are good additions, but we lose Temple. And these leagues teams are cyclical, mid major teams come and go for the most part. A few last through coaching changes. Will we?

The Pac Conference has so much money, so many athletes from CA to choose from, they are state schools with great facilities, so many notable NBA alumni, so many rich alumni, IMO they will be back. Sure, possibly not but I think they will be a top 5-6 hoops conference again in a two yrs or so. We shall see.

better go back and look at butler and vcu a little closer. they have been pretty good through more than their current head coaches. the a-10 by far is the absolute best league for us to be in at this time. now if something like a midwest papal conference was truly created or some sort of a a-10 and big east shuffle to create a true midwest power league, i am all ears, but otherwise the a-10 now with butler and vcu entering the league, is absolutely the best place to be.

[SLUMedBilliken15]

Lindy's Sports Magazine has us as the #2 mid major and #9 overall.

http://www.insidethe...eason-magazine/

Remember when Rick said, "We're going to be a top ten program in about 3 years.... I did it at Ball State, I did it at Utah, and we're gunna do it here."

[MB73]

better go back and look at butler and vcu a little closer. they have been pretty good through more than their current head coaches. the a-10 by far is the absolute best league for us to be in at this time. now if something like a midwest papal conference was truly created or some sort of a a-10 and big east shuffle to create a true midwest power league, i am all ears, but otherwise the a-10 now with butler and vcu entering the league, is absolutely the best place to be.

But we lose Temple. And Stephens will go to Duke or NC or Cuse or somewhere elite when the time is right.

I agree that last yr and this yr A-10 is a better place to be for SLU hoops, but IMO for the previous yrs and probably after this yr, the MVC is better for us, hoops and other sports.

I do not want to get into extended bs details again, lots of reasons some I would not want to post on this board, some I have ad naseum in the past, but please it is not just geography for the love of god do not say that is the only issue.

No more from me on this. I respect your opinion, roy.