The Bishin Cutter wrote:
Again, the presidents of other schools voted to preclude these institutions from conference titles. So, when he says "consequences," he means that the schools in his conference have the right to act like d-bags and take out their frustrations on the student athletes at both these schools.
And if it's unanimous, that means W&M is either staying put, or are the biggest ***** of them all. No wonder VCU made the departure immediate.
Funny that as heated the B12 and Big East defections were, the fallout didn't touch the kids. Nice folk down there in the mid-majors.
I understand why they do it: They don't want their lone NCAA rep to be on TV and the story to be "Richmond/VCU/ODU/GSU won the Colonial in their final season in the league, as they're moving on to the A-10/CUSA/SunBelt next year." Basically, implying to a national audience that the CAA isn't as good as the A-10, CUSA, Sun Belt, etc.
But…
A - Guess what? It will be the story anyway! "George Mason, #86 in the RPI, won the Colonial tournament (in 2001). Of course, Richmond, #43 in the RPI, was ineligible for the CAA tourney as they're moving to the Atlantic-10 next year." ****
B - You get the money if they go, so who cares.
C - "The CAA is a league which allows programs to grow into the big time" is a positive media message that gets out there if you let the departing participate. Far better than "The de facto winner of the league due to vindictive rules"
D - That response validates the idea that your conference is inferior! You're basically saying "we're a one-big league, and we can't let our rep be _______, because it looks bad!" You know what looks good? Getting multiple bids. And keeping someone outs deprives your league of the best chance to get multiple bids.
E - It hurts your chances of getting multiple bids.
Let's say VCU couldn't play in last year's CAA tourney:
FIRST ROUND
5 Delaware becomes a 4 seed - bye, loses a win vs 12)
6 Georgia St becomes a 5 seed - bye, loses win vs 11)
7 Northeastern becomes a 6 seed - plays 3 ODU (20-13) instead of 2 VCU (28-6)
QUARTERS
5 Delaware becomes a 4 seed - plays 5 GSU (20-11) instead of 4 ODU (20-13)
4 ODU becomes a 3 seed - plays 6 NE (14-17) instead of 5 Delaware (18-13)
3 GMU becomes a 2 seed - plays 7 JMU (12-20) instead of 6 GSU (21-11)
1 Drexel - no change, assuming 8/9 UNCW beats 9 W&M instead of 8 JMU
SEMIS
1 Drexel - plays 4 Delaware (17-13) instead of 4 ODU (20-13)
2 GMU plays 3 ODU (20-13) instead of 2 VCU (28-6)
1 Drexel plays 2 GMU (24-9) instead of VCU (28-6).
If Drexel loses, they go from a team that should be in over BYU, USF, etc, to a team that's definitely out if the lose to #82 (actual, but more like #86 after the SOS adjustments of the format without VCU) GMU in the final.
If you get GMU instead of VCU in the NCAA's and a 12-5 game (that VCU WON), you're looking at a 14 or 15 seed and a team like Florida State or Marquette or Kansas you're probably not winning.**
So you cost your conference a unit.
accseahawk wrote:
There was precedent that needed to be followed. The CAA excluded a really good Richmond team from the CAA tournament (along with ECU and American), despite the fact that Richmond team was the most likely to make a run that year. That could have cost the CAA money, but they felt it was important to abide by the rule and so they did. To not apply the same rules in the same situation would be hypocritical. Again, it may cost the CAA money, but apparently it is an important rule to the CAA schools, or they would have changed it after Richmond, ECU and American left.
It is my understanding that the teams are automatically banned from postseason conference play but the ban can be overriden by the vote of conference members. It is obvious by the vote that the ban is important to the CAA.
Why does it NEED to be followed? All it does is make schools bolt early, like VCU negotiated.*** Because they knew the Ban Hammer was coming their way, they waited till their latest NCAA check from the CAA cleared and hit the road; the A-10 probably used some of Temple's money to pay Butler's exit fee and get them out a year early so they'd have 16 next year.
The rule made some sense BEFORE, when the conference realignment hadn't trickled down to the CAA much yet. Sure, you lost ECU and American… but Richmond was the first sign of things to come.
Now, all the rule does is leave you with little time to plan, a small tournament with sponsors probably reconsidering their support, etc.
You wave the rule, hope VCU wins yet another NCAA game (money you'll withhold from them) and you're financially FAR better off because you'll sell more CAA Tourney tickets and sponsorships their last year. And you'll have time to plan and not have a lame duck season AFTER they're gone before you can re-load with Davidson, App St, etc.
accseahawk wrote:
davidson is a small southern private in the mold of furman, wofford, elon, and samford and military school the citadel. the fit in well there in that aspect. they emphasize basketball as oppossed to football which is very caa like, but in all other aspects they are a good, natural fit for the socon.
St. Bonaventure is a small, private northeastern school that's a good natural fit in the MAAC. They don't have much in common with Dayton, Xavier (bigger, midwest) Temple, URI and UMass (much bigger, non-private). But I think they're quite happy to have at-large potential in the A-10, collect a bigger check from NCAA revenues and TV contracts, and have higher attendance by hosting bigger names instead of Marist, Iona and Loyola MD.
And yes, I know that in 2001, George Mason nearly upset Maryland before losing at the buzzer in the first round.
**** - I actually met a life-long friend who's helped me out a lot over the years, solely because Richmond got boned by CAA and ended up in the NIT. Actually, Richmond went to the NCAAs in 2001. They just bought tickets and watched the Second Round at Dayton before playing the Flyers the next day.
*** - Which worked out quite well for the A-10, so who am I to complain?
** - Yes, I know 15 Lehigh and 14 Norfolk State beat two seeds. And that might have bumped my Bonnies from the #14 seed vs Florida State to the #12 seed vs Wichita State and into the second round.
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