Interesting Take onm the Future of the A10

[Lord Elrond]

26 minutes ago, Brighton said:

What choice do we have ? The Big East ? C'mon, we're stuck.

If we are going to be stuck in a one bid league with a bad TV deal, is the A10 the one bid league with the bad TV deal we want to be stuck in?

[Brighton]

30 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

If we are going to be stuck in a one bid league with a bad TV deal, is the A10 the one bid league with the bad TV deal we want to be stuck in?

Who's available to take SLU in ? 

[willie]

29 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

If we are going to be stuck in a one bid league with a bad TV deal, is the A10 the one bid league with the bad TV deal we want to be stuck in?

The only better choice is the Big East and we have no control over that besides winning huge. Second option bring back Larry Albus and let him start a new league. 

[brianstl]

12 hours ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I don't think UCONN is going anywhere as B12 was their likely destination. It seems AZ wants to go to B12 but wants ASU and UU to go with them. As reported by Josh Pate "Late Kick".

However if Clemson, FSU, Miami were to move to SEC then I could see UCONN to ACC. There is no solid talk about that now from what I've heard/read.

I'm not up on the Monmouth program but maybe Iona or Manhattan (Jaspers) are ab better option.  

I think the SEC wish list of ACC schools starts with Virginia, UNC and Duke.  As crazy as it sounds for the SEC, the academic prestige of those schools supposedly puts them higher on the list.

[brianstl]

Remember when SLU left behind programs Xavier, Butler and Dayton to become a founding member of the Great Midwest? Good times. Man, the program the program has fallen so far in prominence since then.

[3star_recruit]

We lost 19 of our first 20 games in the Great Midwest.  Thank God Spoonball rescued the program or we might be La Salle now.  That's the history of our program -- always in search of a savior.

[slu72]

To strengthen the A10: 

1.) Add Belmont to get the Nashville mkt and add to our MW presence

2.) Take a shot at WSU. If it fails Add Drake again to expand MW footprint. 

 

[brianstl]

10 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

We lost 19 of our first 20 games in the Great Midwest.  Thank God Spoonball rescued the program or we might be La Salle now.  That's the history of our program -- always in search of a savior.

For the future of the program in the nationally rapidly changing environment, it would be better to be a DePaul getting pounded in the Big East than being stuck in now irrelevant A10. 

We might have lost 19 of our first 20 games in the Great Midwest, but at least SLU had the institutional prestige to pull off being a founding member of that conference at the time.  SLU was able to pull that off despite not making an NCAA tournament for 34 years at the time.  How did that institution become the program that blew their chance to get in the Big East twice since then, despite far more success on the court and much better facilities?

[3star_recruit]

20 minutes ago, brianstl said:

For the future of the program in the nationally rapidly changing environment, it would be better to be a DePaul getting pounded in the Big East than being stuck in now irrelevant A10. 

We might have lost 19 of our first 20 games in the Great Midwest, but at least SLU had the institutional prestige to pull off being a founding member of that conference at the time.  SLU was able to pull that off despite not making an NCAA tournament for 34 years at the time.  How did that institution become the program that blew their chance to get in the Big East twice since then, despite far more success on the court and much better facilities?

There are mid-majors with even more success that are in the same boat.  It's tough out there.

[brianstl]

55 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

There are mid-majors with even more success that are in the same boat.  It's tough out there.

Truth.

[Compton]

1 hour ago, brianstl said:

For the future of the program in the nationally rapidly changing environment, it would be better to be a DePaul getting pounded in the Big East than being stuck in now irrelevant A10. 

We might have lost 19 of our first 20 games in the Great Midwest, but at least SLU had the institutional prestige to pull off being a founding member of that conference at the time.  SLU was able to pull that off despite not making an NCAA tournament for 34 years at the time.  How did that institution become the program that blew their chance to get in the Big East twice since then, despite far more success on the court and much better facilities?

Remember when the Great Midwest went on to become C-USA and a football-first shadow of its former self? Good thing we got out of that nightmare scenario.

What two chances to join the Big East are you referring to? There was a chance when the Big East basketball teams broke away and plucked Xavier and Butler (and Creighton) in 2013. For the second are you saying the Big East could have taken SLU over UConn in 2020? Because that seems like a stretch given UConn's legacy Big East connections and blue-blood status.

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

There are mid-majors with even more success that are in the same boat.  It's tough out there.

Just look at Memphis.  A founding member of the Metro along with SLU.  Multiple Final Fours in basketball.  Have averaged 8.6 wins a season in football over the last nine years with a Cotton Bowl appearance.  Yet, they along with SLU and Tulane are the only programs from SLU's Metro days not in a power conference.  Cincinnati is now in the Big 12.  GA Tach, Louisville, Florida State and VA Tech are all in the ACC. Memphis got close when they were accepted to the old Big East and then that conference blew up shortly afterwards.  

It is crazy to realize SLU was conference mates of three ACC schools for over a half decade and a fourth for four years.  Hell, SLU was conference mates of Louisville for 28 years total across three conferences.  

[brianstl]

5 hours ago, Compton said:

Remember when the Great Midwest went on to become C-USA and a football-first shadow of its former self? Good thing we got out of that nightmare scenario.

What two chances to join the Big East are you referring to? There was a chance when the Big East basketball teams broke away and plucked Xavier and Butler (and Creighton) in 2013. For the second are you saying the Big East could have taken SLU over UConn in 2020? Because that seems like a stretch given UConn's legacy Big East connections and blue-blood status.

The first time was when SLU got left behind by Louisville, Cincy, Marquette, DePaul and USF in going to the Big East because they had failed to sustain any of the success of the Spoon years hadn't upgraded their facilities.

[Cowboy II]

-brian is a buzz kill on this Friday

-what could have been.....

[Box and Won]

23 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

dont necessarily hate monmouth.   just know nothing about them and i consider myself an above average college basketball nut.   so how good can they be?   how does a relatively unknown college basketball team that has only won one game in their history in the ncaa tourney make the A10 better?   

imo to make the A-10 better we need to go the other way instead of expansion.   delete some of the lesser programs that are doing nothing to make their program better.   go down to 10 teams that can be argued are the 10 best programs instead of expanding.

Okay, well I DO hate Monmouth!  And the A10!

[billiken_roy]

10 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

Okay, well I DO hate Monmouth!  And the A10!

ok if box (the originator of the legendary big country) hates Monmouth.   so do I!

[Cowboy II]

1 hour ago, Box and Won said:

Okay, well I DO hate Monmouth!  And the A10!

-you were basketball country?

[JMM28]

9 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-you were basketball country?

[Soderball]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:45 AM, brianstl said:

Just look at Memphis.  A founding member of the Metro along with SLU.  Multiple Final Fours in basketball.  Have averaged 8.6 wins a season in football over the last nine years with a Cotton Bowl appearance.  Yet, they along with SLU and Tulane are the only programs from SLU's Metro days not in a power conference.  Cincinnati is now in the Big 12.  GA Tach, Louisville, Florida State and VA Tech are all in the ACC. Memphis got close when they were accepted to the old Big East and then that conference blew up shortly afterwards.  

It is crazy to realize SLU was conference mates of three ACC schools for over a half decade and a fourth for four years.  Hell, SLU was conference mates of Louisville for 28 years total across three conferences.  

C-USA and Midwestern Cities were awesome.

The A10 was awesome when we had X and UD. Butler was a good add. Since then the only quality add was VCU and otherwise it's been all rapid deterioration.

It's only nice getting Loyola to be able to make the easy road(train?) Trip to Chicago for a yearly game.

[CenHudDude]

10 hours ago, Soderball said:

C-USA and Midwestern Cities were awesome.

The A10 was awesome when we had X and UD. Butler was a good add. Since then the only quality add was VCU and otherwise it's been all rapid deterioration.

It's only nice getting Loyola to be able to make the easy road(train?) Trip to Chicago for a yearly game.

Davidson hasn’t been a bad addition.  They certainly have had the Billikens number.

[slu72]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:18 AM, 3star_recruit said:

There are mid-majors with even more success that are in the same boat.  It's tough out there.

One way that mid majors may be able to stave off a complete takeover of college hoops by the P5 or P6 is to come up with a coast to coast mid major super conf. Say 3 divisions: Wesr, MidW, and East made up of 8 teams each. Off the top of my head I could see the following make up of each division assuming factors such as tradition, mkt size, faculties. 

West: Zaga, St Mary’s, USF, UNLV, Boise, SDS, NMS, Utah St

Midwest: SLU, UD, Loyola, Belmont, Murray St,, Drake, WSU, Memphis or Tulane

East: UMass, URI, VCU, Davidson, Duquesne, St B’s, Fordham, CofC

This set up would be a good mix of successful mid programs in mostly major TV markets. Actually, a mix of teams that would rival the Beast in quality hoops. 
As for the conf tournament only the top 16 teams based on RPI/Sagarin  or some league devised ranking system get invites. 
Now all we need is an enterprising commissioner to put it together.

[billikenbill]

8 minutes ago, slu72 said:

One way that mid majors may be able to stave off a complete takeover of college hoops by the P5 or P6 is to come up with a coast to coast mid major super conf. Say 3 divisions: Wesr, MidW, and East made up of 8 teams each. Off the top of my head I could see the following make up of each division assuming factors such as tradition, mkt size, faculties. 

West: Zaga, St Mary’s, USF, UNLV, Boise, SDS, NMS, Utah St

Midwest: SLU, UD, Loyola, Belmont, Murray St,, Drake, WSU, Memphis or Tulane

East: UMass, URI, VCU, Davidson, Duquesne, St B’s, Fordham, CofC

This set up would be a good mix of successful mid programs in mostly major TV markets. Actually, a mix of teams that would rival the Beast in quality hoops. 
As for the conf tournament only the top 16 teams based on RPI/Sagarin  or some league devised ranking system get invites. 
Now all we need is an enterprising commissioner to put it together.

There’s bound to be plenty of opinions as to why it won’t work but it makes you think it could.

[Brighton]

I'll just go ahead and say it. SLU needs to seriously call Patty Viverito today. Like right now. This minute. If we're going to be in a one bid league in perpetuity, then why not be in one that's in our own yard.

[CenHudDude]

5 hours ago, slu72 said:

One way that mid majors may be able to stave off a complete takeover of college hoops by the P5 or P6 is to come up with a coast to coast mid major super conf. Say 3 divisions: Wesr, MidW, and East made up of 8 teams each. Off the top of my head I could see the following make up of each division assuming factors such as tradition, mkt size, faculties. 

West: Zaga, St Mary’s, USF, UNLV, Boise, SDS, NMS, Utah St

Midwest: SLU, UD, Loyola, Belmont, Murray St,, Drake, WSU, Memphis or Tulane

East: UMass, URI, VCU, Davidson, Duquesne, St B’s, Fordham, CofC

This set up would be a good mix of successful mid programs in mostly major TV markets. Actually, a mix of teams that would rival the Beast in quality hoops. 
As for the conf tournament only the top 16 teams based on RPI/Sagarin  or some league devised ranking system get invites. 
Now all we need is an enterprising commissioner to put it together.

How about you Commissionerslu72?

[slu72]

11 minutes ago, CenHudDude said:

How about you Commissionerslu72?

Too old too tired. My point was it might be time for a lot of quality mid majors to start thinking outside the box. Geography is out the window with PAC 12 schools joining the B10 and B12. And MW and SW schools going SEC. As the P5’s scoop up schools and go large, ie 20+ teams there’s going to be far fewer chances to get NET points.  The best mids have got to come up with some plan to semi compete in hoops. Forget FB that’s soon gonna be closed to only the biggies. For example, UConn is really left with their BB programs in a basically East Coast league that sees no value in expanding and is relying on it’s strong hoops brand to keep it relevant. What do mid major conference teams have to do to compete with them? Bringing the best teams together from coast to coast might be one way. What’s behind my idea is coming up with a conference that’s on par with the Beast.