State of the A10

[Bay Area Billiken]

Most importantly, the A10 is likely still a one bid (Juan Bid) league in 2023.

The only two schools with NET records currently below 100 are (1) VCU at 67 and (2) Dayton at 73.  As of Wednesday's games, the NCAA cut off at NET 48.  That means Juan Bid for the A10.

A10 Conference Rankings:  NET 12.  For comparison, the Mountain West is 5, WCC 8, American Athletic 9, C-USA 10, WAC 11, Ivy 13, Sun Belt 14, MVC 15;  RPI 11.  For comparison, the Mountain West is 4, WCC 8, C-USA 9, American Athletic 10, WAC 12, MVC 13;  Sagarin 11.  For comparison, American Athletic 7, Mountain West 8, WCC 9, C-USA 10, and MVC 12.

Conclusion:  One bid is a failing grade.  In 2005, when SLU moved from C-USA to the A10, SLU did not sign up to be in a one bid league.

The NET is Power 5 skewed, and as of yesterday transferred 4 NCAA at large bids to the Power 5, vis-a-vis the RPI, the former metric used by the NCAA.  But none of those transferred bids come from the A10.  The A10 would be a one bid league under the RPI if VCU with RPI of 32 wins the A10 Tourney.  Guess who still has the second best RPI in the A10- Answer:  Our St. Louis U Billikens at RPI 59.  If the RPI was still used, SLU would be an NIT lock.  I realize the NIT is not the goal.  As of yesterday, SLU (RPI 60 yesterday) would be the 5th team into the NIT, meaning the first in the Next 4 OUT of the NCAA Tourney, again if the RPI was still being used.  As is, SLU's NET is 102.

SLU has among the most radical swings comparing its NET (102) to its RPI (59).  The reason is, expecting to have an NCAA at large team, SLU played a tough non-conference schedule. And evidently SLU has not been as "efficient" as needed, translated in part to mean SLU hasn't blown out enough teams, cupcakes like Mizzou played, or otherwise. 

[Lord Elrond]

We scheduled non-conference games like the RPI was going to be used this year

[billiken_roy]

9 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

We scheduled non-conference games like the RPI was going to be used this year

i agree as strength of schedule isnt as big now as it used to be, however if the Billikens had performed as expected and not blown what seemed to be wins until the last few minutes some of those bigger RPI games like auburn would have definitely transferred to a buzz nationally for the billikens and a glitzy record with maybe only 4-5 losses with that tough schedule would have had the pundits  talking.

[wgstl]

We have no clue about next year.  Everything is year by year. It impossible to even take a half arse prediction until late summer.  Dayton has shown what kind of OOC is needed at this level.  Play a bunch of schools between 150-250 in NET

[cheeseman]

23 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

i agree as strength of schedule isnt as big now as it used to be, however if the Billikens had performed as expected and not blown what seemed to be wins until the last few minutes some of those bigger RPI games like auburn would have definitely transferred to a buzz nationally for the billikens and a glitzy record with maybe only 4-5 losses with that tough schedule would have had the pundits  talking.

... and of course the loss to SIUE was unexplainable.

[Cowboy II]

54 minutes ago, Bay Area Billiken said:

Most importantly, the A10 is likely still a one bid (Juan Bid) league in 2023.

The only two schools with NET records currently below 100 are (1) VCU at 67 and (2) Dayton at 73.  As of Wednesday's games, the NCAA cut off at NET 48.  That means Juan Bid for the A10.

A10 Conference Rankings:  NET 12.  For comparison, the Mountain West is 5, WCC 8, American Athletic 9, C-USA 10, WAC 11, Ivy 13, Sun Belt 14, MVC 15;  RPI 11.  For comparison, the Mountain West is 4, WCC 8, C-USA 9, American Athletic 10, WAC 12, MVC 13;  Sagarin 11.  For comparison, American Athletic 7, Mountain West 8, WCC 9, C-USA 10, and MVC 12.

Conclusion:  One bid is a failing grade.  In 2005, when SLU moved from C-USA to the A10, SLU did not sign up to be in a one bid league.

The NET is Power 5 skewed, and as of yesterday transferred 4 NCAA at large bids to the Power 5, vis-a-vis the RPI, the former metric used by the NCAA.  But none of those transferred bids come from the A10.  The A10 would be a one bid league under the RPI if VCU with RPI of 32 wins the A10 Tourney.  Guess who still has the second best RPI in the A10- Answer:  Our St. Louis U Billikens at RPI 59.  If the RPI was still used, SLU would be an NIT lock.  I realize the NIT is not the goal.  As of yesterday, SLU (RPI 60 yesterday) would be the 5th team into the NIT, meaning the first in the Next 4 OUT of the NCAA Tourney, again if the RPI was still being used.  As is, SLU's NET is 102.

SLU has among the most radical swings comparing its NET (102) to its RPI (59).  The reason is, expecting to have an NCAA at large team, SLU played a tough non-conference schedule. And evidently SLU has not been as "efficient" as needed, translated in part to mean SLU hasn't blown out enough teams, cupcakes like Mizzou played, or otherwise. 

-we played a part in the league having a "failing grade" but we played THE PART in our season having, to this point, not lived up to expectations (which I hope I will use to learn a lesson) 

-you are on this like a dog on a bone, what do you want done about the State of the A10 that can be accomplished?

 

[billiken_roy]

36 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

... and of course the loss to SIUE was unexplainable.

They have a better point guard than us

[willie]

I didn’t think I would ever say this but if we don’t win the tournament I would just as soon pass on the NIT. Put it to bed. 

[Cowboy II]

8 minutes ago, willie said:

I didn’t think I would ever say this but if we don’t win the tournament I would just as soon pass on the NIT. Put it to bed. 

-absolutely, I am with Willie on this one

[Bay Area Billiken]

48 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-we played a part in the league having a "failing grade" but we played THE PART in our season having, to this point, not lived up to expectations (which I hope I will use to learn a lesson) 

-you are on this like a dog on a bone, what do you want done about the State of the A10 that can be accomplished?

 

Perhaps the A10 needs to hire a NET consultant, akin to what I recently read the MVC did some years ago in terms of hiring RPI consultants.

This is like a game of cat and mouse, the Power 5 vs. the Intermediates (Mid-Major remains a verboten word here in the SLU context).  

What I really want is for SLU to receive and accept a Big East invitation, sooner rather than later, but during my lifetime.  Then someone else can fix the A10.

 

 

[Bay Area Billiken]

10 minutes ago, willie said:

I didn’t think I would ever say this but if we don’t win the tournament I would just as soon pass on the NIT. Put it to bed. 

The NCAA now owns the NIT.  I would like to see the NIT dropped, and the 32 team NIT field added to the NCAA to make a field of 100.

But a concern is the NCAA (and its Power 5 overlords) are keeping the NIT to eventually make it the D1-AA Tournament.

[Cowboy II]

1 minute ago, Bay Area Billiken said:

Perhaps the A10 needs to hire a NET consultant, akin to what I recently read the MVC did some years ago in terms of hiring RPI consultants.

This is like a game of cat and mouse, the Power 5 vs. the Intermediates (Mid-Major remains a verboten word here in the SLU context).  

What I really want is for SLU to receive and accept a Big East invitation, sooner than later, but during my lifetime.  Then someone else can fix the A10.

 

 

-sure, dream about an invite to the BEast, that would be great, but it's a dream

-I notice you didn't mention anything about the role we played, to this point, in our own demise

[Bay Area Billiken]

1 minute ago, Cowboy II said:

-sure, dream about an invite to the BEast, that would be great, but it's a dream

-I notice you didn't mention anything about the role we played, to this point, in our own demise

I'm trying to stay positive.  I did mention the non-conference schedule.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Why is VCU's NET only 67, and Dayton's only 73.  Both of them look like NCAA Tourney worthy teams to me.

I've said this since non-conference season- There is no margin for error in the A10, not the way the NET system is set up.  I go back to Creighton, which lost 6 straight games in the non-conference.  An A10 team couldn't lose 6 straight non-conference games and keep any hope of an NCAA at large bid.

[Bizziken]

14 minutes ago, Bay Area Billiken said:

Perhaps the A10 needs to hire a NET consultant, akin to what I recently read the MVC did some years ago in terms of hiring RPI consultants.

This is like a game of cat and mouse, the Power 5 vs. the Intermediates (Mid-Major remains a verboten word here in the SLU context).  

What I really want is for SLU to receive and accept a Big East invitation, sooner rather than later, but during my lifetime.  Then someone else can fix the A10.

 

 

Screw the A-10...we should hire our own NET consultant. I'd love to see multiple data and analytics people on staff, not only for player, team, and in-game insights, but also for player evaluation. The portal is the name of the game now, and one way for us to establish a competitive advantage (even against the bigger schools) is to focus on talent assessment at scale. 

[CenHudDude]

3 hours ago, Bay Area Billiken said:

Most importantly, the A10 is likely still a one bid (Juan Bid) league in 2023.

The only two schools with NET records currently below 100 are (1) VCU at 67 and (2) Dayton at 73.  As of Wednesday's games, the NCAA cut off at NET 48.  That means Juan Bid for the A10.

A10 Conference Rankings:  NET 12.  For comparison, the Mountain West is 5, WCC 8, American Athletic 9, C-USA 10, WAC 11, Ivy 13, Sun Belt 14, MVC 15;  RPI 11.  For comparison, the Mountain West is 4, WCC 8, C-USA 9, American Athletic 10, WAC 12, MVC 13;  Sagarin 11.  For comparison, American Athletic 7, Mountain West 8, WCC 9, C-USA 10, and MVC 12.

Conclusion:  One bid is a failing grade.  In 2005, when SLU moved from C-USA to the A10, SLU did not sign up to be in a one bid league.

The NET is Power 5 skewed, and as of yesterday transferred 4 NCAA at large bids to the Power 5, vis-a-vis the RPI, the former metric used by the NCAA.  But none of those transferred bids come from the A10.  The A10 would be a one bid league under the RPI if VCU with RPI of 32 wins the A10 Tourney.  Guess who still has the second best RPI in the A10- Answer:  Our St. Louis U Billikens at RPI 59.  If the RPI was still used, SLU would be an NIT lock.  I realize the NIT is not the goal.  As of yesterday, SLU (RPI 60 yesterday) would be the 5th team into the NIT, meaning the first in the Next 4 OUT of the NCAA Tourney, again if the RPI was still being used.  As is, SLU's NET is 102.

SLU has among the most radical swings comparing its NET (102) to its RPI (59).  The reason is, expecting to have an NCAA at large team, SLU played a tough non-conference schedule. And evidently SLU has not been as "efficient" as needed, translated in part to mean SLU hasn't blown out enough teams, cupcakes like Mizzou played, or otherwise. 

At least we were stronger than the Ivy League.  WOW!  How far the A-10 has fallen - at least according to the NET.

[dlarry]

3 hours ago, willie said:

I didn’t think I would ever say this but if we don’t win the tournament I would just as soon pass on the NIT. Put it to bed. 

Agree. 
I have not desire to see this team lose in the first round of the NiT and that is exactly what would happen.

[NoCoBillsFan]

Nm

[wgstl]

3 hours ago, willie said:

I didn’t think I would ever say this but if we don’t win the tournament I would just as soon pass on the NIT. Put it to bed. 

1) I’d still want to play in the NIT, with as many minutes for the ones who are returning as possible.

2) we’re as far from making the NIT now as we were the big dance just like 3 games ago. 

[Slowry]

We’ve had a hand in the conference not doing well.  It’s not like we’re winning the league every year.  Right now we aren’t better than this conference like a lot of people think.   I would love to be better.  But this program is what it is for the last several years.

Yes Mizzou scheduled a weak schedule.  I would hate that as a fan.  I’d rather see a tough game and loose than a 30 point blow out of Coppin State.  I’m glad we could have a mix on our schedule.  But Mizzou has beaten ranked teams this year.  Have we?  

[BANGheGOTit]

8 minutes ago, dlarry said:

Agree. 
I have not desire to see this team lose in the first round of the NiT and that is exactly what would happen.

I don’t even have any desire to see the Bills WIN the NIT.    No NIT!

[Fraz]

12 minutes ago, Slowry said:

We’ve had a hand in the conference not doing well.  It’s not like we’re winning the league every year.  Right now we aren’t better than this conference like a lot of people think.   I would love to be better.  But this program is what it is for the last several years.

Yes Mizzou scheduled a weak schedule.  I would hate that as a fan.  I’d rather see a tough game and loose than a 30 point blow out of Coppin State.  I’m glad we could have a mix on our schedule.  But Mizzou has beaten ranked teams this year.  Have we?  

Many picked us to win this league.  It was Sweet 16 or bust in many’s eyes.  It’s not over, but underachieve is what this program does 

[cheeseman]

The A10 problems started when the league loss their better teams to other conferences.  Of course the A10 is not what it was 10 years ago and it will may never be again because they just didn't replace their losses with other quality programs.

[Schasz]

The A-10 looks like a solid 1 team NCAA Tourney for the foreseeable future. 

[GMan Alum]

Is it time for the NCAA to have two separate tournaments...one for Power 5 (or 7) and a different one for the "Mid-Majors"?  The NCAA does it in football with FBS and FCS.  It seems that it is becoming more and more difficult for the non-power conferences to get more than one team into the NCAA Tournament.  The selection committee is more than happy to award 8 or 9 teams from the Big !0 or Big 12.  If I'm watching the tournament I'd much rather see the first or second place team from the MVC or OVC, or the A-10 than the 9th place team from some power conference.  Why can't the NIT become the national tournament for the non-power conferences?