2024 - 2025 Schedule Thread

[OkieBilliken]

2 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Curiously enough, the Jacksonville Classic website shows only the 2023 games, nothing for 2024. Is this thing not happening, and Rhode Island didn’t get the memo? 

This tournament used to be hosted by the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.   They have a very nice mid-sized arena.   They moved it last year (no idea why) 30 miles south to Saint Augustine and Flagler College Gym.   This is a D2 facility that honestly smaller and less comfortable than most high school gyms.   Its right in old town downtown, so its a terrific tourist destination but a terrible location for an upscale basketball tournament.  No idea the location this year.   I was hoping SLU was coming because I live nearby.

[HoosierPal]

6 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Curiously enough, the Jacksonville Classic website shows only the 2023 games, nothing for 2024. Is this thing not happening, and Rhode Island didn’t get the memo? 

Could the Revive by The VII Group be setting this MTE up? 

Buy your tickets early.  We got your rooms covered.

[Lord Elrond]

13 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Could the Revive by The VII Group be setting this MTE up? 

Maybe???

If I were the Rhody AD, I think I would be asking the Head Coach and the DBO some questions about this…

[slu72]

I notice 4 A10 teams have CoC on their schedules. Is CoC being prepped to replace UMass….. I hope? 

[cheeseman]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:

I notice 4 A10 teams have CoC on their schedules. Is CoC being prepped to replace UMass….. I hope? 

Just what we need another east coast team

[OkieBilliken]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:

I notice 4 A10 teams have CoC on their schedules. Is CoC being prepped to replace UMass….. I hope? 

I would be sooo happy if that happened

[Billiken Rich]

2 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

I would be sooo happy if that happened

Why not just push for Jacksonville State? lol...

[OkieBilliken]

1 hour ago, Billiken Rich said:

Why not just push for Jacksonville State? lol...

For one Jacksonville State is in Alabama.   Unfortunately, no Florida schools would be a good fit for the A10.   

[slufan13]

The A10 has too many teams even with UMass leaving

[BLIKNS]

If we were to expand CoC , Belmont, and Wichita State would be my guess for best options.

With scheduling becoming tougher for mid majors , maybe 16 may help with that

[OkieBilliken]

3 minutes ago, BLIKNS said:

If we were to expand CoC , Belmont, and Wichita State would be my guess for best options.

With scheduling becoming tougher for mid majors , maybe 16 may help with that

Nashville and Charleston are also great places to visit,   Wichita, meh?  

[Billiken Rich]

1 hour ago, OkieBilliken said:

For one Jacksonville State is in Alabama.   Unfortunately, no Florida schools would be a good fit for the A10.   

 

[MusicCityBilliken]

Sure I love for Belmont to join but they usually are not very good, they draw poorly and play in a HS gym.

Grab Bradley. In my day at SLU it was our #1 rival. They are decent team, rich basketball history and they draw well (would be above average for the A10). You can still get from St Louis up to Peoria the same day for a mid-week evening game. I did it plenty of times when they played in the old Robertson Field House. 

[HoosierPal]

3 hours ago, slufan13 said:

The A10 has too many teams even with UMass leaving

 

3 hours ago, BLIKNS said:

If we were to expand CoC , Belmont, and Wichita State would be my guess for best options.

With scheduling becoming tougher for mid majors , maybe 16 may help with that

For me, it's not the number of teams in the A10, it's the number of league games we play.  if you have 15 league members, play each of the other 14 schools once, plus two 'rivals' twice, for a 16 game schedule which is two less than our current 18. 

The problem then, as @BLIKNS suggests, is filling out your OOC schedule with quality games.  It will not get any easier, particularly if you are now looking for an additional 2 games.

[slufan13]

It'll never happen but the A10 needs to trim the fat rather than add more mid type teams

[wgstl]

Just now, slufan13 said:

It'll never happen but the A10 needs to trim the fat rather than add more mid type teams

unless that team is the University of Toronto.  Other than that, yes get rid of Lasalle and one other. 

 

[thetorch]

The A10 needs fewer teams and fewer league games to get better as a conference.

[willie]

9 minutes ago, thetorch said:

The A10 needs fewer teams and fewer league games to get better as a conference.

Not sure I agree about fewer league games. We have trouble scheduling non conference games now. 

[slu72]

With the top 4 P5’s expanding OOC P5 games are gonna be hard to come by for the mids. Not saying the A10 needs to expand but if it does it needs to bring in the best of the mids. CoC by hiring Mack has shown their commitment to being a top mid. Their arena is nice and holds close to 5k. They pack it for every game. We could do worse. Yes, there are some teams we’d all like to see dropped but doubtful that will happen. 

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, thetorch said:

The A10 needs fewer teams and fewer league games to get better as a conference.

I agree fewer annually BAD teams, however as long as the league overall cannot schedule top 100 games we don't need less league games.   If we get rid of the nearly every year bottom feeders our programs and league NET will rise.

I still say the answer is mandated program minimum on program facilities, budgets,  and scheduling.   The weak sisters will voluntarily either step up their game or seek leagues of their strength 

[Billikenbooster]

League wide challenges with like minded leagues would help, IMHO.

Couple that with a good MTE or 2 and your schedule gets much easier

mhg

[slu72]

3 hours ago, Billikenbooster said:

League wide challenges with like minded leagues would help, IMHO.

Couple that with a good MTE or 2 and your schedule gets much easier

mhg

Minus an MTE haven’t u pretty much described this years sched? 

[thetorch]

Problem is we think like minded schools are in the MWC or Big East.

College basketball thinks our like minded schools are in the WCC and Colonial.

 

 

[billiken_roy]

37 minutes ago, thetorch said:

Problem is we think like minded schools are in the MWC or Big East.

College basketball thinks our like minded schools are in the WCC and Colonial.

 

 

Imo this is Bernie's fault.   The perception of the A10 has sunk like a rock since she became commish.  She needs to resign and maybe open a sewing shop or something 

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, thetorch said:

Problem is we think like minded schools are in the MWC or Big East.

College basketball thinks our like minded schools are in the WCC and Colonial.

 

 

The WCC now would be a step up.