CAA Realignment

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:26 pm

Siena and Detroit

Detroit, market, recent success, Siena is a good basketball school. These may not be better than any of the CAA options but are options.

accseahawk · **Posted:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:30 pm

Wouldn't Manhattan or Iona be more attractive than Siena since they are located closer to the heart of NYC? I am not too familiar with the ins and outs of all these northeastern privates so I am just going off of location

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:44 am

accseahawk wrote:

Wouldn't Manhattan or Iona be more attractive than Siena since they are located closer to the heart of NYC? I am not too familiar with the ins and outs of all these northeastern privates so I am just going off of location

Don't they have that covered w/ Fordham?

Quinn and JP are A-10 alums, they'd probably know the most about that.

Quinn · **Joined:** Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:05 am **Posts:** 3763

accseahawk wrote:

Quinn wrote:

Worth noting, that the A10 would invite Boston University before they ever thought of Northeastern. And with the remaining schools in the A10, it's still a much better option than the Patriot. BU has wanted in the A10 for decades, so there's no reason to think the Patriot League would be so superior that BU would no longer be interested.

Siena would be another northeast school considered before NU, since Siena has been on the clock for a decade as well.

why siena?

Albany market, 8000+ average attendance, location, religious affiliation. I'm not saying I put them high on the list, but the A10 has looked in recent years at a number fo schools: Butler, VCU, Boston University, Siena, Detroit. 2 have already joined.

accseahawk · **Posted:** Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:14 am

thanks quinn.

My breakdown of the CAA candidates for A10 expansion:

I don't know if a watered down A10 would be enough to get Boston U out of the Patriot, With Umass a wildcard due to their FBS aspirations, I would bank on the A10 wanting a Boston area team to replace anyone that leaves. So I would think Northeastern would be easier to get and therefore at top candidate to leave.

Hofstra is interesting due to the presence of Fordham. Are they not relatively close? Does Hofstra bring anything that Fordham does not bring? On the other hand, it might not hurt having a 2nd NYC presence. But are there better options for that than Hofstra? I don't see them near the top of an A10 expansion list. If Hofstra leaves it would likely be to the MAAC or America East if the CAA became too undesirable

Drexel would be a third presence in Phily. 2 should be plenty and St Joe's and LaSalle are not a risk to leave so I doubt Drexel gets the invite. With the MAAC saying they would like a Philly School, Drexel would be a nice fit there if the CAA became undesirable

Delaware is a school I just do not see being interested in joining the A10 nor would the A10 be interested in them. Delaware's priority seems to be FCS football and having a stable all sports home. The A10 would require them splitting football from everything else, and after fighting so hard to get the CAA to sponsor FCS football, I don't see Delaware throwing that away. Unless the decide to upgrade to FBS and get a MAC invitation, not a likely occurance, I don't really see Delaware as a flight risk

Towson is another school that just does not make sense going anywhere. Not a FBS upgrade risk either.

JMU is a school like Delaware and I see their interests being aligned. I think they would like to upgrade to FBS more than Delaware, but outside a CUSA invitation, it just might not be worth it. A FBS flight risk, but with no real opportunites to move they should be relatively stable.

W&M is more likely to join the Patriot than the A10 and if VA schools JMU and GMU leave they might very well make that move

George Mason is probably the biggest flight risk of them all right now. If the A10 suffers some defections and VCU is still there, GMU joining VCU would be very nice for both parties as the A10 is a basketball first conference and VCU and GMU are basketball first schools.

CoC and UNCW are not going anywhere.

In order of likelihood of leaving

1. GMU
2. Northeastern
3. Drexel
4. W&M
5. JMU
6. Delaware
7. Hofstra
8. Towson
9. CoC
10. UNCW

accseahawk · **Posted:** Fri Mar 01, 2013 3:27 pm

If GMU and Northeastern or Hofstra both go to the A10, the CAA will take a hit no doubt but I think they will survive. Getting CoC was crucial! That cannot be understated. If the Sunbelt takes App. st and Ga Southern as expected, I could see the CAA and Davidson working out a deal where Davidson gets to bring one or two friends and a true southern division is created.

So assuming GMU and Northeastern/Hofstra leave, the CAA would like shoot for

UNCW, CoC, JMU, W&M as the core of a new CAA south with Davidson a partner of their chosing (we will go with Elon)

A true CAA north would finally be able to be created with Towson, Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra/Northeastern, and more AEast schools, lets say Albany and Stony Brook.

This would preserve the football conference and allow the CAA to remain strong in basketball. Will they be a 2 bid every year, of course not, but that is still a competitive basketball league that could be in the mix for an extra bid on a semi regular basis

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1043

Depending on how the C7 Big East raids shake out I could see the CAA going after Davidson (though the A10 may also come calling).

As far as Southern candidates...Elon is a candidate for the CAA with or without Davidson, and Coastal Carolina is too. I also think they may be looking at Liberty (if they don't upgrade) and VMI too.

Non football candidates besides Davidson is pretty much just UNC-Greensboro.

As far as Northern candidates...I'm not too sure that w/o VCU, Northeastern, Hofstra, and George Mason that the CAA has much appeal to anyone in the MAAC and maybe not even the AE, so their only real candidates come from the NEC and probably just the fb schools that want to play big boy fb Cen Con St, Bryant, and Monmouth.

fighting muskie · **Joined:** Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:47 am **Posts:** 414

The CAA could be in some serious trouble--the A-10 will be gunning for its members, the Patriot League hasn't given up hope on William & Mary, and James Madison is looking towards the SBC for a lifeline. If the CAA is hit hard I could see what's left of the northern wing approaching America East for admission and UNC Wilmington and Charleston having to find a Southern home, possibly the SoCon

accseahawk · **Posted:** Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:10 am

again, if and when the caa loses gmu and either northeastern/hofstra, look for the caa to give davidson what they want in order to land them, i.e. you can bring your buddies.

JPSchmack · **Joined:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:21 pm **Posts:** 851

Personally, I don't think the A-10 is going to be gunning for many of its members.

Mason is 10 games worse with Hewitt than they were with Larranagga, who now has Miami in the top five, so I think we know the secret to GMU's success.

I really don't think the A-10 is going to expand to expansion's sake. They're smarter than that. Let's remember... they saw all this coming a mile away and that's why they had 14 and 16 teams since 2005.

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Tue Mar 05, 2013 3:46 pm

JPSchmack wrote:

Personally, I don't think the A-10 is going to be gunning for many of its members.

Mason is 10 games worse with Hewitt than they were with Larranagga, who now has Miami in the top five, so I think we know the secret to GMU's success.

I really don't think the A-10 is going to expand to expansion's sake. They're smarter than that. Let's remember... they saw all this coming a mile away and that's why they had 14 and 16 teams since 2005.

Is there something in the TV contract that wants them to have more members for content? They gotta go to at least 12, I hope.

accseahawk · **Posted:** Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:12 am

I do think the A10 would be wise to stay at 10. If they don't take a tv pay cut then the money is split 10 ways instead of 14. If they do take a tv paycut then they will have to consider if adding members will result in decreasing the amount they will lose or if it will increase it.

I do think that if both VCU and Richmond are passed over, then GMU will be added for sure and they will make the finances work. They have the potential to create a nice southern division with VCU, Richmond, GMU, GWU, St. Joe's, and LaSalle. The 12 spot could be a number of schools Siena, Stony Brook, Hofstra, Northeastern to be paired in the north with UMass, URI, St. Bony, Fordham, and Duquesne

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 1510

Agree, that's the direction the A-10 needs to go.

12 is a good number. I think going to 14 (and they had offers out there to go to 16) may have been to create a buffer,
as though they knew the day would come when the BE would split and poach some A-10 Catholic schools.

So they should clean up their geographic footprint (assuming they lose entire western flank of St. L, Butler, Dayton, Xavier),
and look at a solid 10-12 member conference in the east.
I think candidates are non-FB CAA schools.
Northeastern and Hofstra are somewhat isolated and gave up on FB, so they should be ripe to leave the CAA.

fighting muskie · **Joined:** Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:47 am **Posts:** 414

I concur with tute. Northeastern and Hofstra to the A-10.

I then would expect America East to step in and try to take of advantage of the panic due to the loss of CAA's northern wing and fear of JMU going to the SBC and Wm & Mary to the Patriot to try to secure a few CAA targets with Drexel and Delaware being major prizes and perhaps Towson and George Mason also getting consideration. These schools would help create a bridge to outlier UMBC, Mason and Drexel have some basketball credibility, and Delaware and Towson would allow America East to take over control of the CAA fb conference or what's left of it.

accseahawk · **Posted:** Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:46 pm

having the a10 take northeastern and hofstra would be a good thing for the caa as it would allow them to really focus south and do what it takes to land davidson. unfortunately I don't think both of them are likely to leave.

CAA Realignment

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