Atlantic10.com: Eight Atlantic 10 Teams Earn Postseason Tournament Bids
NCAA bids
#14 St. Bonaventure vs. #3 Florida St @ Nashville, TN
#9 Saint Louis vs. #8 Memphis @ Columbus, OH
#5 Temple vs. #12 California/USF 1st round winner @ Nashville, TN
#10 Xavier vs. #7 Notre Dame @ Greensboro, NC
NIT bids
#2 Dayton @ #7 Iowa [NOTE: road game for Flyers due to NCAA 1st Round @ UD Arena]
#6 Minnesota @ #3 La Salle
#5 UMass @ #4 Mississippi St
#7 Northern Iowa @ #2 St. Joe’s
But wait… I specifically read on THIS BOARD the A10 is awful. I hope everyone understands we get a percentage of revenue for every A10 school playing in the big dance.
Run, I think you should move this thread to the basketball forum.
I don’t think anyone on this board will say the Atlantic-10 is a bad basketball conference. I think the general sentiment is that it is a horrible conference for us to be in. While we do make money on these teams in postseason play, I would rather be in a conference in which we are capable of being successful, than make money on other teams ventures in postseason tournaments.
Gotta get all the traffic I can to this forum! Thanks!!!
Clayton, do you think Duke should start playing football in the Southern Conference so they can be competitive? Yeah, I know that’s a far fetched example of my point, but my preference is to improve to the point where we can be competitive in
a 4 bid league (unless we join the football alliance).
Ok Run, I’m trying to help get you some traffic.
I understand what you are saying, but I think the problem is a little different. Duke is not in a separate geographical region than the rest of the ACC. This is negative for us in a few ways. Fans can’t travel, there are no natural rivalries, and it has hurt our recruiting. I’d hate to see Duke’s football program if they were located in Indiana or something of the sort.
Also, I’m not even sure if the a10 has a TV deal. If they do, I sure haven’t been able to watch the games. Those big time TV deals bring a lot more money to a program than playing in tournaments. The a10 conference is not marketable in the southeast. People in this part of the country MIGHT watch our games, but there’s no way they would watch St. Joseph’s vs. St. Bonaventure.
While I do believe in our better CUSA days, we could have competed for, and won the a10 multiple times, I do not believe our program is capable of getting back to the level it was then as long as we are in the a10.
We can be competitive in the A10, no reason for us not to be. Hopefully Major can turn the tide, if not, hopefully the next guy can. A10 is a great basketball conference, simply doesn’t offer anything else of quality for our other athletic programs.
The A10 is a terrific conference. I just don’t feel at home in it. I wish the quality of A10 basketball could also have the geography of the CAA. 
To me, the worst thing about the A10 is that at least 3 of its better schools are leaving. I have read from an excellent source that Temple, UMASS, and Charlotte are leaving the A10 soon. 
And this, dear friends, is why we’re not going Colonial in all sports
If we get shot down by the Alliance, we’ll jump at the CAA, IMO. Then we’d wait for the next round of changes.
BAM! Sucks to be in the a10 right now, but pick your poison. I’ll take the chance to improve in a proven conference over the chance to run a lackluster conference.
Be real, is the CAA easier to recruit to than the A10? Come play the northeastern schools in a conference that gets no fewer than 3 bids over the last 5 years! (OR) Come play in this conference thats got regional rivalries! We can get to the big dance if we WIN THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT.
A10 it is.
And its not like we can beef up our OOC schedule either. We’re (historically) a giant killer as it is… a huge threat to high RPI BCS schools willing to play us. That won’t change… And knowing we play a decent RPI conference sched helps with all of that IMO.
Unless of course the Alliance works out. And I’m going to be the number one supporter of the name “The Alliance Conference” from here on out… it’s very “eat this, BCS”
I haven’t heard anyone argue that the Atlantic 10 is a bad basketball conference. I love playing in the Atlantic 10. You have to realize, though, that football is king in revenue and will dictate a lot about where we go. For instance, some FCS school revenue (grabbed from the William & Mary board):
For the year ending 6/30/06, JMU football revenues were $3,407,463 and hoops revenues were $1,506,493.
For the year ending 6/30/07, W&M football revenues were $2,903,726 (apparently this was $3,825,469 in 2010), and hoops revenues were $935,798.
For the year ending 6/30/10, ODU football revenues were $5,705,271, and hoops revenues were $1,499,363.
So I can see that dictating our conference affiliation when and if push comes to shove. I think that we, obviously, shoot for the Alliance Conference and, should we miss, will look to the CAA as a good option. When football brings in 3+ times the revenue as basketball and the CAA has a nice new TV deal, it wouldn’t shock me at all to see us go that direction. While CAA basketball is not on par with Atlantic 10 basketball (and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone argue that it is), it does offer us a really nice fallback option.
The A10 would be fine if we had a TV deal that let fans watch our games locally.
I was pissed about the league to end the season, but I have been thinking about it, and that really is the biggest problem. TV makes all the difference.
PS - If we go CAA all sports, my fandom is done for the duration of our stay. I have said it numerous times: I am not interested in being in a league with Towson and UNCW.
I agree. I’d much rather stay in the A10 for all sports with football in the Sun Belt or MAC until the next opportunity presents itself.
We could definitely be competitive in the A10, but it may require eventually recruiting the northeast and atlantic coast better (e.g. DC, Philly, NYC, etc.). That said, I like the players Major has brought in so far to compete in the A10, and they are primarily southern in origin.
The t.v. deal is the single worst thing about the conference, worse than having Fordham and LaSalle in it even. Whoever decided to sign on for that CBS sports deal royally screwed up. It’s not just Charlotte games that don’t get on anywhere, even games like Temple-SLU were online only I believe. I hope they can negotiate something radically different soon, because it’s ridiculous to keep having to hope for a link to show up somewhere to watch big conference games.
IIRC some people were actually excited about the CBS tv deal.
How many games were on MASN this year? we do advertise for them every game but seems our games are rarely on there.
How many games were on MASN this year? we do advertise for them every game but seems our games are rarely on there.[/quote]
We wouldn’t know. TWC HATES MASN!
[quote=“NinerAdvocate, post:14, topic:26522”]The A10 would be fine if we had a TV deal that let fans watch our games locally.
I was pissed about the league to end the season, but I have been thinking about it, and that really is the biggest problem. TV makes all the difference.[/quote]
I agree 100% but with that said, I still think the A-10 lacks the “buzz” needed to really spike fan interest. For the casual fan, it’s a pretty boring league. For most of us, we realize the history and calibre of play within it (4 teams to the Big Dance says it all). Yes, winning can cure a lot of that but I still find it hard to get uber-excited for our conference opponents. Even Temple, as good as they were all year, doesn’t really do much for me as far as excitement goes.
At the risk of living in the past and needing to move on, it’s just really hard to replicate the coaching star power and personalities we had in Huggins, Pitino, Calipari and Crean. There are some very good coaches in the A-10 but they just don’t command the draw that these other guys did.