Future of the A-10

footballgod · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2003 2:52 am

Quote:

Footballgod, A-10 ranks as either 7th, 8th, or 9th league depending on the year. If that is minor to you, that is your opinion and so be it. They had three top ranked teams who received tournament bids last year. Recent years, they have had as many as five. They had national player of the year, David West last year. St. Joe. will have perhaps the best backcourt in the country this year.

Yes, the A-10 is usually a little behind the Big East, but a big part of that is the perennial bottom feeders Fordham and Duquense who simply do not invest in their programs.

But the discussion is not really about where we have been, but where we are going. When you add St. Louis, Charlotte, Marquette, DePaul, and perhaps Memphis to that group and subtract anywhere from two to five of the lower teams which will happen, then you have a powerful league.

There still second tier.

SBU98 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 24, 2003 9:37 am

"daddywags, Don't even mention Duquense, LaSalle, or St. Bonaventure. They are examples of the problem with the current A-10. They are not willing to make a committment to compete at the highest level. By the way, there is nothing wrong with that, but other schools are making the committment. The A-10 had five bids just a few years ago, but now the Fordhams of the world are dragging it down."

I love how you include SBU in that list. You mention that a few years ago, the A10 had five bids, SBU was one of those five bids. We have had 5 post season bids in the past 9 years, have upgraded our arena over the last few years, and have cleaned up our mess from last year. We have been and will be competitive again.

michaelr · **Joined:** Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:03 am **Posts:** 78

Sorry SBU98, but I'll be blunt.

I'm a fan of Bob Lanier, who took the Bonnies to the Final Four in 1970, and the philosopher and writer Thomas Merton, but SBU would be among the first schools I would jettison from the A-10 to streamline the league and make it more competitive.

St. Bonaventure is a tiny school not located anywhere near a major market. It is only occasionally competitive in basketball.

Just last year, it cheated by bringing on board an athlete without the academic qualifications to be in any college. Then, when the cheating was found out, the Bonnies quit -- refusing to show up to play games they were committed to take part in. They should have been thrown out of the league immediately.

This isn't a school that is bringing enough to the table -- marketwise, or NCAA tourney credit-wise -- to be cut much slack. They have been to one (1) NCAA tournament since 1978, their 2000 appearance where the Bonnies took Kentucky to double overtime.

Since the A-10 is about to come into a huge opportunity to strengthen itself, it needs to make room for the Charlottes or Big East basketball refugees by cutting the dead wood. Along with Duquesne, Fordham and LaSalle, St. Bona is definitely part of the dead wood.

SBU98 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 24, 2003 1:00 pm

Again, I have to disagree. First, as far as getting kicked out of the league for last year, no school has been kicked out of a conference for an offense. A lot of schools have done a lot worse and have remaind in their conferences.

Second, we have been competitive for the past decade, despite our small size and small budget.

Third, Buffalo and Rochester are SBU's market. Theie radio network goes to both those cities, thier newspapers cover them, their tv stations cover them. Those two cities along with the NY Southern Tier are about 2.25 million people. That is a decent sized market.

SBU has been a part of the A10 for more than 20 years. They did screw up last year, but all parties invloved in that are gone, they have paid those that they screwed out of money, and have taken a lot of other actions to make things right.

SBU will be competitive once again as they have been for the last 10 years.

Publius · **Posted:** Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:32 pm

Duquesne, LaSalle, and Saint Bonaventure are all "MAAC" schools that somehow landed themselves in the A-10 (actually, LaSalle was a MAAC member from 1983-1991, and both Duquesne and LaSalle are members of the MAAC for football). Saint Bonaventure became a member of the A-10 (then "Eastern 8") in 1979, when Penn State left (returning after three years) to further explore the formation of a an all-sports "Eastern" conference and/or BIG EAST membership. The MAAC was founded in 1980, and other similar schools in upstate New York (Canisius, Niagra, Siena) joined the MAAC around 1989.

As for schools being "expelled" from a conference the only definite examples I can think of are Temple (BIG EAST Football) and Marshall (originally membership in the MAC was from 1953-1969). Was Centenary kicked out of the TAAC (now Atlantic Sun) and/or was Texas-Pan American kicked out of the Sun Belt or were these departures voluntary (esp. Pan American's)? SMU remained in the Southwest Conference even though the football program received the "Death Penalty" from the NCAA...

footballgod · **Posted:** Thu Sep 25, 2003 1:26 am

hey all anything is up for grabs now. As soon as the Big East, CUSA, WAC and MWC make their moves its going to be cut throat at its best.

Future of the A-10

Who is online