The Atlantic 10 is discussing the removal of St. Bonaventure from the conference. They could use this as an excuse to purge 2 other schools as well: Fordham and Duquesne.

Could this open the doors for DePaul and Marquette to leave the confines of the football friendly CUSA?

Both schools have had excellent seasons thus far for hoops, especially Marquette. But a quick question:

With the success of Xavier and Dayton in the Atlantic 10, would the fans give any thought to joining the conference if the right scenarios played out? Both schools have gotten a significant increase in media exposure since the confernece is based onthe east coast. This has helped in recruiting and overall success.



If the A10 approached DePaul and Marquette about joining, would the fans find any reason to support it? With all the CUSA football turmoil of finding a 12th member, it's no secret that the hoops schools have felt slighted. Differences have been put aside, but under the right circumstances, DePaul and Marquette could find greener pastures.

Hypothetically...

WEST:
*DePaul
*Marquette
*Butler
Xavier
Dayton
St. Josephs


EAST:
URI
UMass
Temple
LaSalle
George Washington
Richmond



Thoughts?

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Here's the article on St. Bonaventure and the potential action by the A10....




League still angered by Bonnies' refusal to play

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com


The Atlantic 10 might discuss the possibility of dumping St. Bonaventure from the conference at its April meetings after some believe the program embarrassed the league by refusing to finish its season, sources told ESPN.com on Wednesday.

It is unlikely that the Bonnies would be dropped, but the issue will be discussed after the presidents of the Atlantic 10 schools were livid with the Bonnies' decision Tuesday to quit, leaving remaining opponents Massachusetts and Dayton in the lurch. St. Bonaventure was scheduled to play at UMass on Wednesday and at home against Dayton on Saturday.

A discussion to ban St. Bonaventure is not officially on the agenda for the conference's spring meetings.

The Bonnies' 20-years-plus membership in the Atlantic 10 would weigh heavily in their favor, and the school's makeup -- small, private, Catholic -- is a perfect fit for the conference. Among the arguments against removing St. Bonaventure: It is unprecedented for a league to drop a team just because it was found to have committed an NCAA rules violation.

Some in the A-10 have said that this could have occurred in larger conferences like the Big Ten or SEC if a conference wanted to do that based on rules violations.

The A-10 continues to gather information that led to St. Bonaventure bagging its season. Sources described the situation to ESPN.com in this fashion:

On Feb. 24, A-10 athletics directors found out that junior forward Jamil Terrell was ineligible and never should have played for St. Bonaventure. As a result, the ADs spoke to the university presidents about the forfeiture of games. The Bonnies accepted the penalty and forfeited their six A-10 victories, but kept Terrell -- a reserve junior-college transfer -- on the bench during last Saturday's victory over George Washington.

Then the presidents went a step further by banning the Bonnies from the A-10 tournament. This move caught the athletic directors off guard, considering there had been no precedent for barring a team from a tournament because of an ineligible player who was no longer eligible to play.

What unfolded from Monday to Wednesday is still being uncovered but is growing more bizarre each day.

Sources said the Bonnies held a team meeting late Monday night with the coaching staff and some administrators present. The players were then told they were banned from the A-10 tournament. Sources said the players held their own meeting afterward and that four underclassmen decided they didn't want to play, then left school for spring break.

By Tuesday morning, the upperclassmen who wanted to play -- junior Marques Green and seniors Patricio Prato and Robert Cheeks -- were left without enough teammates to play Wednesday. A bus company was put on hold while St. Bonaventure tried to round up enough players to send to Amherst, Mass. By late Tuesday, the school announced it was shutting its season down.

The A-10 is desperately trying to find out why administrators didn't demand that players stay put and where the coaching staff stood on the matter. Calls to the university to speak with the coaching staff have gone unanswered. Sources said players and coaches are under a gag order.

In the conference's eyes, the lack of leadership from St. Bonaventure president Robert Wickenheiser, who was in California, to head coach Jan Van Breda Kolff does not help the Bonnies' case. The words "lack of institutional control" -- which incorporate not just a lack of leadership but the university's admission of a player who didn't meet academic standards -- are being voiced throughout the A-10.

As late as Wednesday, sources said some St. Bonaventure players realized their mistake and were attempting to rectify the situation by asking back on the team to finish the season.

But the damage has been done and there is intense anger throughout the league. Complicating the matter was a report out of Cincinnati that Dayton didn't want to play at St. Bonaventure for fear of their team's safety.

The Cincinnati Enquirer quoted Dayton president Daniel Curran saying that he had "expressed safety concerns to the Atlantic 10." According to the newspaper's report, Curran was concerned that fans would be upset about St. Bonaventure's ban from the tournament. It was suggested that the game be played elsewhere but it wasn't pursued once the players bagged the season Tuesday.

The forfeited win for Dayton forced Xavier to win at Saint Joseph's on Wednesday to gain a first-round bye in the tournament, which the Musketeers did with an 88-80 victory. Xavier finishes with a home game against surging Temple on Saturday

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St.Bon.,Dusquene and Fordham are better fits for the MAC .There are a lot of ties between these MAC schools.Also there is the strong possibilty that Temple will leave the A-10.Could four CUSA teams without football come to the A-10, and join with Dayton and Xavier in a western division.That is Marquette,St.Louis,DePaul,Charlotte with Xavier and Dayton.The other division would be Richmond,GW,St.Joes,La Salle,UMass,URI.

Don't see these three schools fitting with the MAC. Fordham and Duquesne have 1AA football, St.Bona has no football. Why would the MAC want 1AA football schools? Sorry tigershark, no sense here...

The A-10 is a "hodgepodge" conference. If a conference is defined by its football and basketball configuration then the A-10 has no identity. A-10 football could easily be described as CAA football or even America East football. Fordham and Duquesne do not even play A-10 football. Therefore the A-10 needs to decide which way they wish to go. If the A-10 is going to be a "basketball" league then DePaul and Marquette would be great additions. Losing St.Bona though does not make sense under this new league definition, so King Cal's assessment of the next step being the drop of Fordham or Duquesne also doesn't really follow. ???

If St.Bona is to be penalized and dropped they would be a good fit for MAAC (is that what tigershark meant?). This is a collection of Catholic schools (except for Rider...and what they are doing with this group is another thread for basketball/and 1AA football fans). St. Bona is a nice fit.

Fordham is out of its class in the A-10. They could choose to go to the Patriot League, where they already play football, or also the MAAC (Catholic again). I don't necessarily see the league kicking them out, but they are in over their head here. Duquesne plays football in MAAC already. Would the MAAC want three teams from the A-10? They are already at 10 for basketball. They could absorb two of these, but I don't see three.

This seems like a stretch to me, although it does make sense from a competitive standpoint and the competitive value of A-10 basketball, it does not make sense from a probability of occurence standpoint due to the lack of any cohesive formula as exhibited by A-10 football. Do they even have a commisioner with a vision?

MAC I mean the Metro Atlantic Conference,not the Mid American.

daddywags,

You might be the only person in america that thinks of the A10 as a football conference.

Yes, they sponsor football, but only 3 teams, UMass, URI, Richmond, are all sports members. It's a safe ASSUMPTION that any teams that came into the A10 would be for HOOPS not football.

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Kingcal, your hypothetically Atlantic 10 really looks good.

What about Temple football program? No conference will take Temple football without basketball.

What about some modifications.

West: Marquette, Depaul, St Louis (new arena), Xavier, Dayton, Butler (very good idea)

East: Charlotte or Temple, George Washington, Richmond, St Joseph, Rhode Island, UMass

Conf USA is finally free to add Marshall to bring the conf to 12. At least one of the current screwed up 1A format conferences get re aligned.

Temple takes Marshall place in the MAC. The MAC is not a bad basketball conference.

If Temple drops football, they could replace Charlotte in the above example.

I dont personally believe the A10 will kick the Bonnies completely out maybe just the basketball team, keep all the other sports or put them on like a year conference suspension ? This is really inexcusible, I really hated it for the UMASS seniors the Bonnies let their school down and their conference mates especially the players at UMASS. I could see kicking them out but I doubt it will happen.

What about Western Kentucky University coming in to A-10. Rumor was WKU was considered in the early 90s, but our admin at the time didn't go for it (Stupid them!). WKU has a stellar 1-AA (NATIONAL CHAMPS!) football program.

Thoughts?

Get real. No one is leaving the A10. Calmer minds will come up with a suitable resolution. The A10 needs stability - what SBU, the school, did caused the reverse.

The danger though is that some other school could entertain other conference possibilities if this is not clearly, logically and appropriately taken care of.

KingCal,

Perhaps you misinterpreted my post?... ???

I agree with you 100%...the A-10 is currently a hoops conference, but if you go to there website there is this A-10 football link, and a link to A-10 football schools, and it has NOTHING to do with most of the other schools in the A-10 except for the three you mentioned, hence a "hodgepodge" conference.

So, dropping the Bonnies, even for a huge indiscretion makes little sense to a basketball conference. If they want to become an "all-sports" conference that offers true 1AA football at the conference level they should junk their current arrangement, and dropping the Bonnies wouldn't hurt that move. If you are looking at basketball as a your flagship sport, you would benefit with the add/drops you proposed surrounding especially Fordham, and possibly Duquesne, but not St. Bona.

I agree with eyeshurt...cooler heads will prevail and the Bonnies will stay. This just does not change the nature of the conference. Junk the support of the so-called A-10 football or invite your conference membership to join. Do they even have a commisioner with a vision? (Am I repeating myself? ;))