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Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
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hoops22 Offline
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Post: #41
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 01:32 AM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  Regardless of how the A-10 chooses to expand it needs to seriously consider dropping the dead weight at the bottom of the conference - definitely LaSalle and St. Bonaventure's and maybe 2 more schools

If the conference wants to grab schools that actually put fans in the stands NOW, it should go for Mason, Davidson, Siena, and C of C - the risk of course is that today's Mason turns into today's Fordham in 20 years and you're stuck schools that are either too small (Davidson has 1700 students), relatively poor (Mason's endowment is <60 million which is tiny compared to A-10 schools), and/or academically weak relative to the conference.

Long term, the growth of the A-10 hinges on its ability to produce basketball rivalries and its presence in major TV markets on the East Coast. It should gamble on large, non-football playing schools (>10000 undergrads) with big endowments (>200 million) in major cities. If the school has a solid bball tradition and/or academic reputation, that's a bonus - these are the type of schools that you can build the core of a conference around

For example, in the long run I think this would make more sense for the A-10

A-10 drops LaSalle (MAAC), Duquesne (Horizon/AE), St. Bonaventure (MAAC), Rhode Island (AE)
Adds schools from CAA (Mason, Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel)

Rivalries:

Boston: UMass - Northeastern
NYC: Fordham - Hofstra (considered replacing Fordham w/Siena here, but it's way too far north)
Philly: St. Joe's - Drexel
DC: GW - Mason
Richmond: VCU - Richmond

It could be expanded further if 12/14 teams are desired

Carolinas - Davidson - C of C
Virginia - JMU / W&M

Makes travel easier for other sports and gives each team a competitor for its "turf", encouraging each member to be on top of their game
The point is that it would make sense for the A-10 to have some vision and do what's best for the long term as opposed to choosing what's hot now and being back in the same boat in 15 years



LaSalle is the dead weight at the bottom of the conference, and should be kicked out? Dude, check the standings, they're in 3rd place ahead ahead of Butler, Temple, UMass, Xavier and Dayton. This year they've beaten Butler, VCU, Villanova, Northeastern (who you want to see added to the league) and were leading Miami at the half earlier this season in a game down there. Saying St Joes/Drexel would be a better rivalry is crazy. LaSalle played St Joes at a sold out Palestra earlier this year where LaSalle won easily. They are better than Drexel year in and year out for the most part. Lunardi has had them in his NCAA brackets from the beginning all season long. And yeah it's ancient history, but they not only have been to a final four, they've won an NCAA championship before and been runner up another time. Seems like their resume is good enough to me, to stay put in the A10.
03-05-2013 10:00 AM
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billyjack Offline
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Post: #42
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 01:32 AM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  Regardless of how the A-10 chooses to expand it needs to seriously consider dropping the dead weight at the bottom of the conference - definitely LaSalle and St. Bonaventure's and maybe 2 more schools

If the conference wants to grab schools that actually put fans in the stands NOW, it should go for Mason, Davidson, Siena, and C of C - the risk of course is that today's Mason turns into today's Fordham in 20 years and you're stuck schools that are either too small (Davidson has 1700 students), relatively poor (Mason's endowment is <60 million which is tiny compared to A-10 schools), and/or academically weak relative to the conference.

Long term, the growth of the A-10 hinges on its ability to produce basketball rivalries and its presence in major TV markets on the East Coast. It should gamble on large, non-football playing schools (>10000 undergrads) with big endowments (>200 million) in major cities. If the school has a solid bball tradition and/or academic reputation, that's a bonus - these are the type of schools that you can build the core of a conference around

For example, in the long run I think this would make more sense for the A-10

A-10 drops LaSalle (MAAC), Duquesne (Horizon/AE), St. Bonaventure (MAAC), Rhode Island (AE)
Adds schools from CAA (Mason, Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel)

Rivalries:

Boston: UMass - Northeastern
NYC: Fordham - Hofstra (considered replacing Fordham w/Siena here, but it's way too far north)
Philly: St. Joe's - Drexel
DC: GW - Mason
Richmond: VCU - Richmond

It could be expanded further if 12/14 teams are desired

Carolinas - Davidson - C of C
Virginia - JMU / W&M

Makes travel easier for other sports and gives each team a competitor for its "turf", encouraging each member to be on top of their game
The point is that it would make sense for the A-10 to have some vision and do what's best for the long term as opposed to choosing what's hot now and being back in the same boat in 15 years

I know you're just brainstorming, but URI has a new 7600 seat on-campus arena, and just hired Dan Hurley as head coach. Rhody has won 19+ games in like 7 out of the last 10 years. I could probably take the teams your booting out, add St Joe's, and put together a more appealing conference that what you've proposed.
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2013 10:02 AM by billyjack.)
03-05-2013 10:01 AM
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esayem Offline
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Post: #43
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
At this point does the A10 even need to expand, especially the footprint? Look at all the schools that bolted. They were all outliers, sans Temple. I would think a short list would include Siena, GMU, Holy Cross, and Northeastern.
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2013 10:55 AM by esayem.)
03-05-2013 10:54 AM
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Louis Kitton Offline
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Post: #44
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 10:54 AM)esayem Wrote:  At this point does the A10 even need to expand, especially the footprint? Look at all the schools that bolted. They were all outliers, sans Temple. I would think a short list would include Siena, GMU, Holy Cross, and Northeastern.

Stay in the footprint. I highly agree on that point.
03-05-2013 11:14 AM
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billyjack Offline
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Post: #45
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
The A-10 has a core of 6 schools that will not be poached by the C-7, because the C-7 will avoid doubling up their markets.

These schools are:
1 VCU (assuming Richmond gets call)
2 Rhode Island
3 St Joe's
4 LaSalle
5 George Washington
6 Fordham
They also have a school that the C-7 considers too remote:
7 St Bonaventure
They also have a football school, which they could lose to Aresco:
8 UMass
Plus a school that could be poached if they get good:
9 Duquesne (for Pittsburgh).

The first 7 listed above should be the core moving forward. Besides Fordham, each of the other schools has had some decent or great success over the last 10 to 15 years. So it's a very solid core that I think is way better than the CAA or the MAAC.

The add-ons ideally should be schools that double-up a C-7 market, so that the A-10 can avoid becoming a feeder league for the C-7.

Like it's been mentioned, George Mason would be a good school to invite. Northeastern is a safe from the C-7 because Boston isn't a big college sports town, and it may open some good recruiting grounds. If another NYC school improves, like Manhattan or Iona, they could join and would be safe from poaching.

Meanwhile, Detroit Mercy gets low attendance and would be a project school, but if they do improve, they'll likely be poached... so the A-10 in that case would be doing the grunt work for the C-7. Same with Siena or Niagara or Fairfield.

[EDIT: to clarify... Siena or Niagara or Detroit Mercy, etc, all would be good additions to the A-10. But each may be vulnerable to future poaching.]
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2013 11:43 AM by billyjack.)
03-05-2013 11:30 AM
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CPslograd Offline
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Post: #46
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 11:14 AM)Louis Kitton Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 10:54 AM)esayem Wrote:  At this point does the A10 even need to expand, especially the footprint? Look at all the schools that bolted. They were all outliers, sans Temple. I would think a short list would include Siena, GMU, Holy Cross, and Northeastern.

Stay in the footprint. I highly agree on that point.

They're going to have to add who TV tells them to add or their TV contract will suffer. Footprint schmootprint. Add the best schools (as determined by TV revenue) available from the neighboring conferences.
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2013 11:42 AM by CPslograd.)
03-05-2013 11:42 AM
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SloMoLikePaulPierce Offline
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Post: #47
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 10:00 AM)hoops22 Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 01:32 AM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  Regardless of how the A-10 chooses to expand it needs to seriously consider dropping the dead weight at the bottom of the conference - definitely LaSalle and St. Bonaventure's and maybe 2 more schools

If the conference wants to grab schools that actually put fans in the stands NOW, it should go for Mason, Davidson, Siena, and C of C - the risk of course is that today's Mason turns into today's Fordham in 20 years and you're stuck schools that are either too small (Davidson has 1700 students), relatively poor (Mason's endowment is <60 million which is tiny compared to A-10 schools), and/or academically weak relative to the conference.

Long term, the growth of the A-10 hinges on its ability to produce basketball rivalries and its presence in major TV markets on the East Coast. It should gamble on large, non-football playing schools (>10000 undergrads) with big endowments (>200 million) in major cities. If the school has a solid bball tradition and/or academic reputation, that's a bonus - these are the type of schools that you can build the core of a conference around

For example, in the long run I think this would make more sense for the A-10

A-10 drops LaSalle (MAAC), Duquesne (Horizon/AE), St. Bonaventure (MAAC), Rhode Island (AE)
Adds schools from CAA (Mason, Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel)

Rivalries:

Boston: UMass - Northeastern
NYC: Fordham - Hofstra (considered replacing Fordham w/Siena here, but it's way too far north)
Philly: St. Joe's - Drexel
DC: GW - Mason
Richmond: VCU - Richmond

It could be expanded further if 12/14 teams are desired

Carolinas - Davidson - C of C
Virginia - JMU / W&M

Makes travel easier for other sports and gives each team a competitor for its "turf", encouraging each member to be on top of their game
The point is that it would make sense for the A-10 to have some vision and do what's best for the long term as opposed to choosing what's hot now and being back in the same boat in 15 years



LaSalle is the dead weight at the bottom of the conference, and should be kicked out? Dude, check the standings, they're in 3rd place ahead ahead of Butler, Temple, UMass, Xavier and Dayton. This year they've beaten Butler, VCU, Villanova, Northeastern (who you want to see added to the league) and were leading Miami at the half earlier this season in a game down there. Saying St Joes/Drexel would be a better rivalry is crazy. LaSalle played St Joes at a sold out Palestra earlier this year where LaSalle won easily. They are better than Drexel year in and year out for the most part. Lunardi has had them in his NCAA brackets from the beginning all season long. And yeah it's ancient history, but they not only have been to a final four, they've won an NCAA championship before and been runner up another time. Seems like their resume is good enough to me, to stay put in the A10.

This will be LaSalle's 18th season in the A-10; they're gonna finish above .500 in the league for the THIRD time. On the other 2 occasions, LaSalle went 9-7. They've had at least 10 A-10 losses 9 times in the last 15 years. I appreciate that LaSalle has had 2 decent years, but the most compelling argument that LaSalle will be a doormat in the A10 going forward is the fact that it has been a doormat for over 80% of its A-10 existence Claiming LaSalle's been better than Drexel year in and year out is confusing - Drexel most likely was the first team out last year and has made the NIT 5 times in the last decade. In contrast, LaSalle NIT bid last year was its first-ever postseason bid as an A-10 member.

Add in the fact that Drexel has 3x the undergrads, an endowment an order of magnitude larger and is a nationally ranked school academically and it's really a no-brainer in terms of which Philly school I'd rather have GOING FORWARD (which is the point of this thought exercise)

The fact that LaSalle is in the Big 5 and Drexel isn't is minor to me, and the 1950s title really doesn't matter to me unless Tom Gola or L-Train plan on suiting up.
03-05-2013 12:22 PM
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SloMoLikePaulPierce Offline
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Post: #48
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 10:01 AM)billyjack Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 01:32 AM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  Regardless of how the A-10 chooses to expand it needs to seriously consider dropping the dead weight at the bottom of the conference - definitely LaSalle and St. Bonaventure's and maybe 2 more schools

If the conference wants to grab schools that actually put fans in the stands NOW, it should go for Mason, Davidson, Siena, and C of C - the risk of course is that today's Mason turns into today's Fordham in 20 years and you're stuck schools that are either too small (Davidson has 1700 students), relatively poor (Mason's endowment is <60 million which is tiny compared to A-10 schools), and/or academically weak relative to the conference.

Long term, the growth of the A-10 hinges on its ability to produce basketball rivalries and its presence in major TV markets on the East Coast. It should gamble on large, non-football playing schools (>10000 undergrads) with big endowments (>200 million) in major cities. If the school has a solid bball tradition and/or academic reputation, that's a bonus - these are the type of schools that you can build the core of a conference around

For example, in the long run I think this would make more sense for the A-10

A-10 drops LaSalle (MAAC), Duquesne (Horizon/AE), St. Bonaventure (MAAC), Rhode Island (AE)
Adds schools from CAA (Mason, Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel)

Rivalries:

Boston: UMass - Northeastern
NYC: Fordham - Hofstra (considered replacing Fordham w/Siena here, but it's way too far north)
Philly: St. Joe's - Drexel
DC: GW - Mason
Richmond: VCU - Richmond

It could be expanded further if 12/14 teams are desired

Carolinas - Davidson - C of C
Virginia - JMU / W&M

Makes travel easier for other sports and gives each team a competitor for its "turf", encouraging each member to be on top of their game
The point is that it would make sense for the A-10 to have some vision and do what's best for the long term as opposed to choosing what's hot now and being back in the same boat in 15 years

I know you're just brainstorming, but URI has a new 7600 seat on-campus arena, and just hired Dan Hurley as head coach. Rhody has won 19+ games in like 7 out of the last 10 years. I could probably take the teams your booting out, add St Joe's, and put together a more appealing conference that what you've proposed.

I don't even think I agree with that statement right now, much less in 15 years. First, I want to be clear - I don't consider either URI to be dead weight (unlike LaSalle or SBU which I called out specifically - on the fence about Duquesne), I mean, if the ref actually blows the whistle when Cuttino Mobley got mugged URI makes a Final 4 and maybe things are different

But even if I agree with your argument right now - that was never the point of this exercise. The goal is for the A-10 to come up with a core for the future.

SBU and LaSalle - are in one class - extra poor performers over their A-10 life, small, lower-tier academically, with tiny endowments, and SBU is in the middle of nowhere to boot. Yes, they've had recent success, but if I were forced to answer the question of what I expect from them going forward, I'd say status quo

Duquesne and URI are bigger, national universities with larger endowments. Duquesne even brings in the Pittsburgh market which is nice. URI has performed reasonably well as an A-10 member, Duquesne not so much. It's not that you can't build around these schools, I just felt that for what the A-10 needs from future member institutions (metropolitan, large student body, wealthy, some basketball tradition/performance, solid academically is a bonus) that Mason and Northeastern met the overall needs better than Duquesne and URI (plus it made it easier to develop a paradigm for the league).
So I guess I'm saying there are schools out there that I think are more attractive than current members in terms of their growth potential. I understand if people disagree, but I think the A-10 should be expanding with a clear vision of its future in mind instead of "let's cobble together what works right now and rebuild every 5-10 years"
03-05-2013 12:52 PM
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Louis Kitton Offline
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Post: #49
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 11:42 AM)CPslograd Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 11:14 AM)Louis Kitton Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 10:54 AM)esayem Wrote:  At this point does the A10 even need to expand, especially the footprint? Look at all the schools that bolted. They were all outliers, sans Temple. I would think a short list would include Siena, GMU, Holy Cross, and Northeastern.

Stay in the footprint. I highly agree on that point.

They're going to have to add who TV tells them to add or their TV contract will suffer. Footprint schmootprint. Add the best schools (as determined by TV revenue) available from the neighboring conferences.

George Mason, Northeastern...that is who you add for the TV contract. Double down in the region with large institutions.

Davidson? They aren't going to the A10. They may be alright in more of a Carolinas conference like the CAA with a few additions.

Detroit-Mercy? Why would the A10 dip back into the Midwest for a marginal school like that. They may as well be looking at Valpo at that point. Hardly a standout candidate.
03-05-2013 01:59 PM
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Post: #50
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
There aren't any standout candidates for the A10. That's what differentiates this, the fourth time the BE has raided the A10, from previous raids. There have been good candidiates, Temple, Xavier, VCU etc. each previous instance. The A10 is SOL this time. It sucks but there isn't anything they can do about it. The ridiculous suggestions (Drexel, Northeastern WTF?) being thrown around in this thread show how lousy the A10's options are.
03-05-2013 02:13 PM
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Post: #51
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
I don't see A10 taking teams to groom them for the C7. I think like Detroit and Siena thus have no chance at all to get in.
03-05-2013 02:28 PM
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hoops22 Offline
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Post: #52
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 12:22 PM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 10:00 AM)hoops22 Wrote:  [quote='SloMoLikePaulPierce' pid='9044859' dateline='1362465125']
Regardless of how the A-10 chooses to expand it needs to seriously consider dropping the dead weight at the bottom of the conference - definitely LaSalle and St. Bonaventure's and maybe 2 more schools

If the conference wants to grab schools that actually put fans in the stands NOW, it should go for Mason, Davidson, Siena, and C of C - the risk of course is that today's Mason turns into today's Fordham in 20 years and you're stuck schools that are either too small (Davidson has 1700 students), relatively poor (Mason's endowment is <60 million which is tiny compared to A-10 schools), and/or academically weak relative to the conference.

Long term, the growth of the A-10 hinges on its ability to produce basketball rivalries and its presence in major TV markets on the East Coast. It should gamble on large, non-football playing schools (>10000 undergrads) with big endowments (>200 million) in major cities. If the school has a solid bball tradition and/or academic reputation, that's a bonus - these are the type of schools that you can build the core of a conference around

For example, in the long run I think this would make more sense for the A-10

A-10 drops LaSalle (MAAC), Duquesne (Horizon/AE), St. Bonaventure (MAAC), Rhode Island (AE)
Adds schools from CAA (Mason, Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel)

Rivalries:

Boston: UMass - Northeastern
NYC: Fordham - Hofstra (considered replacing Fordham w/Siena here, but it's way too far north)
Philly: St. Joe's - Drexel
DC: GW - Mason
Richmond: VCU - Richmond

It could be expanded further if 12/14 teams are desired

Carolinas - Davidson - C of C
Virginia - JMU / W&M

Makes travel easier for other sports and gives each team a competitor for its "turf", encouraging each member to be on top of their game
The point is that it would make sense for the A-10 to have some vision and do what's best for the long term as opposed to choosing what's hot now and being back in the same boat in 15 years



LaSalle is the dead weight at the bottom of the conference, and should be kicked out? Dude, check the standings, they're in 3rd place ahead ahead of Butler, Temple, UMass, Xavier and Dayton. This year they've beaten Butler, VCU, Villanova, Northeastern (who you want to see added to the league) and were leading Miami at the half earlier this season in a game down there. Saying St Joes/Drexel would be a better rivalry is crazy. LaSalle played St Joes at a sold out Palestra earlier this year where LaSalle won easily. They are better than Drexel year in and year out for the most part. Lunardi has had them in his NCAA brackets from the beginning all season long. And yeah it's ancient history, but they not only have been to a final four, they've won an NCAA championship before and been runner up another time. Seems like their resume is good enough to me, to stay put in the A10.

This will be LaSalle's 18th season in the A-10; they're gonna finish above .500 in the league for the THIRD time. On the other 2 occasions, LaSalle went 9-7. They've had at least 10 A-10 losses 9 times in the last 15 years. I appreciate that LaSalle has had 2 decent years, but the most compelling argument that LaSalle will be a doormat in the A10 going forward is the fact that it has been a doormat for over 80% of its A-10 existence Claiming LaSalle's been better than Drexel year in and year out is confusing - Drexel most likely was the first team out last year and has made the NIT 5 times in the last decade. In contrast, LaSalle NIT bid last year was its first-ever postseason bid as an A-10 member.

Add in the fact that Drexel has 3x the undergrads, an endowment an order of magnitude larger and is a nationally ranked school academically and it's really a no-brainer in terms of which Philly school I'd rather have GOING FORWARD (which is the point of this thought exercise)

The fact that LaSalle is in the Big 5 and Drexel isn't is minor to me, and the 1950s title really doesn't matter to me unless Tom Gola or L-Train plan on suiting up.


First of all your statistics are wrong. This year will mark the fifth time in the past eight years LaSalle has finished .500 or better in the A10. Four times above .500, one time at .500. Also you start your statistics sample at the worst period in program history. A few years before that 1987-1991 they won 139 games in six years. Drexel and lasalle have only played twice since 2000 (as far back as I looked) with Lasalle winning by double digits each time. Look I'm not a LaSalle fan, but anybody living in Philly will tell you there's no comparison between the two teams pedigree. LaSalle is way ahead of them. Drexel has feasted in a one bid CAA for years. Thats why VCU bolted the first chance they got.
03-05-2013 03:05 PM
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SloMoLikePaulPierce Offline
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Post: #53
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 03:05 PM)hoops22 Wrote:  
(03-05-2013 12:22 PM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  [quote='hoops22' pid='9045461' dateline='1362495613']


LaSalle is the dead weight at the bottom of the conference, and should be kicked out? Dude, check the standings, they're in 3rd place ahead ahead of Butler, Temple, UMass, Xavier and Dayton. This year they've beaten Butler, VCU, Villanova, Northeastern (who you want to see added to the league) and were leading Miami at the half earlier this season in a game down there. Saying St Joes/Drexel would be a better rivalry is crazy. LaSalle played St Joes at a sold out Palestra earlier this year where LaSalle won easily. They are better than Drexel year in and year out for the most part. Lunardi has had them in his NCAA brackets from the beginning all season long. And yeah it's ancient history, but they not only have been to a final four, they've won an NCAA championship before and been runner up another time. Seems like their resume is good enough to me, to stay put in the A10.

This will be LaSalle's 18th season in the A-10; they're gonna finish above .500 in the league for the THIRD time. On the other 2 occasions, LaSalle went 9-7. They've had at least 10 A-10 losses 9 times in the last 15 years. I appreciate that LaSalle has had 2 decent years, but the most compelling argument that LaSalle will be a doormat in the A10 going forward is the fact that it has been a doormat for over 80% of its A-10 existence Claiming LaSalle's been better than Drexel year in and year out is confusing - Drexel most likely was the first team out last year and has made the NIT 5 times in the last decade. In contrast, LaSalle NIT bid last year was its first-ever postseason bid as an A-10 member.

Add in the fact that Drexel has 3x the undergrads, an endowment an order of magnitude larger and is a nationally ranked school academically and it's really a no-brainer in terms of which Philly school I'd rather have GOING FORWARD (which is the point of this thought exercise)

The fact that LaSalle is in the Big 5 and Drexel isn't is minor to me, and the 1950s title really doesn't matter to me unless Tom Gola or L-Train plan on suiting up.


First of all your statistics are wrong. This year will mark the fifth time in the past eight years LaSalle has finished .500 or better in the A10. Four times above .500, one time at .500. Also you start your statistics sample at the worst period in program history. A few years before that 1987-1991 they won 139 games in six years. Drexel and lasalle have only played twice since 2000 (as far back as I looked) with Lasalle winning by double digits each time. Look I'm not a LaSalle fan, but anybody living in Philly will tell you there's no comparison between the two teams pedigree. LaSalle is way ahead of them. Drexel has feasted in a one bid CAA for years. Thats why VCU bolted the first chance they got.

No one's wrong statistically - we're using different metrics, you're counting .500 or better, I wrote ABOVE .500 - but still, let's work with your way of doing things:

LaSalle will finish .500 or better 5 of the last 8 years once this one ends, the problem is that they'll finish .500 or better 5 of the entire 18 years they've been in the conference! This means for the first 10 years of their A-10 existence, they were a doormat - and they're 59-67 in the A-10 over these last 8 "good" years.

Side note: I picked a time period that comprises the LaSalle's entire time as an A-10 member - not an arbitrary time frame . If that's not a fair way to evaluate their ability to succeed as a member of the A-10, I don't know what is

Yet you note that prior to their league entrance in 1995 they had a stretch where they won like 140 games in 6 years -this is precisely the situation the A-10 needs to avoid going forward There's no magic formula, a mistake could be the next LaSalle (good before, but flops in A-10) or another Fordham (bigger school, never does anything), but whatever the A-10 does I hope it takes all things into consideration and has a vision for what it needs from its members to be a vialbe conference - and then chooses schools that best fit that

I can't speak for LaSalle vs. Drexel's pedigree in Philly but let's be honest, neither one is getting top billing against other Big 5 schools - St. Joe's is more crucial to the A-10 for bball purposes. I'd still rather have Drexel for the reason I outlined in the last response.
03-05-2013 05:09 PM
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LostInSpace Offline
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Post: #54
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 05:09 PM)SloMoLikePaulPierce Wrote:  I can't speak for LaSalle vs. Drexel's pedigree in Philly but let's be honest, neither one is getting top billing against other Big 5 schools - St. Joe's is more crucial to the A-10 for bball purposes. I'd still rather have Drexel for the reason I outlined in the last response.

LaSalle was invited to the A10 *despite* being in major decline at that time. They were invited because they needed to be rescued from the collapsing MCC and John Chaney wanted the conference to help his friend LaSalle coach Speedy Morris not because the A10 thought they were getting a great addition. That said, I doubt they anticipated just how bad LaSalle would become between Speedy's decsion to largely stop recruiting and the Hahn fiasco.

In this pillow fight, the A10 will take LaSalle thanks. No one at Drexel cares about Drexel basketball, let alone the rest of the city. As awful as LaSalle has been for most of the last twenty years they have a better pedigree and generate more interest and media attention in Philly when they are a decent team than Drexel ever will. Of course, the A10 isn't going to expel LaSalle anyway.
03-05-2013 06:55 PM
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Lolly Popp Offline
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Post: #55
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
If the main idea of a post is that a conference should kick out a school, which simply will not happen, there is no point in reading any further.
03-05-2013 07:00 PM
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RUScarlets Online
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Post: #56
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
Can someone tell me who has officially left for the C-7? Even if it is not official, official... which schools have basically confirmed or strongly intimated they are joining that league?
03-05-2013 07:20 PM
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Tintin Offline
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Post: #57
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
I'd kick Fordham out first. Rose Hill is a high school gym. they don't carry the NY market and they don't spend money on athletics despite what we've heard from them.

I do think Fordham is a great school. They just don't take the sports thing seriously (and by sports I mean men's basketball).
03-05-2013 08:27 PM
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gosports1 Offline
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Post: #58
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
Fordham probably belongs back in the Patriot league. their plan to become more competitive athletically hasnt really developed
03-05-2013 08:47 PM
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bmorex Offline
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Post: #59
RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
(03-05-2013 07:20 PM)RUScarlets Wrote:  Can someone tell me who has officially left for the C-7? Even if it is not official, official... which schools have basically confirmed or strongly intimated they are joining that league?

Xavier and Butler are locks.
03-05-2013 09:46 PM
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Lolly Popp Offline
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RE: Atlantic 10 becomes 10 schools again
No school is getting kicked out of any conference. Not LaSalle. Not Fordham. Not any others. Stop posting useless drivel which will never happen.
03-06-2013 01:25 PM
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