Howdy folks how are things down in Charlotte? Weāve got 3 feet of snow in Massachusetts and more to come by next week! Anyway I just wanted so say that a lot of folks are glad to see you and St Louis joining the Confrence next season. Iāve heard some folks down your way are upset about what the Big East did to C-USA and I donāt blame you. They did the same thing to us about 8 years ago. Rutgers, Virginia Tech, West Virginia all left the A10 for the BE. Penn State had left for the Big Ten a few years earlier. Temple was allowed to bring their Football team but not their Hoops program as Villanova blackballed them. Anyway with no 1A football anymore this Confrence has little chance of being raided anytime soon making it deep and stable!!
Last year: C-usa got 6 of itās 14 teams into the NCAAāsplus 2 Nit bids. The A-10 got 4 of itās 12 teams plus 3 Nit bids. But C-Usa only got 1 team UAB into the sweet sixteen and they lost by 26 to Kansas. The A10 got 2 teams into the round of 16 and both advanced to the elite 8. St Joeās lost by 2 poinst to OK State, Xavier by 3 to Duke. The A10 was 7 points away from getting 2 teams into the final 4! Plus the A10 has gotten back to back Nation players of the year. Nelson from St Joeās last year and David West from Xavier the prior year. As well as national coach of the Year Phil Martelli and John Chaney at Temple is a Hall of Famer.
The A10 is down this year to be sure. But there is a lot of young talent. Temple may be 8-8 but their schedule, as always, is the toughest non-conf in the country. Auburn, Georgetown, S. Carolina, Ariz St, Vilanova, Alabama, Wake F,Duke, Maryland. Richmond, your closet A10 neighbor was a tourny team last year but are much younger and look NIT bound. Also a tough Non-conf sched: Seton Hall, Virginia, Wake Forest, Pitt, Arizona, Colorado. Note they have 2 victories against C-usa (UAB and S.Florida)
The A10 has a lot of good N/C rivalries with the BE. Umass w/Uconn and BC (we beat the defending champs but lost to BC) URI and Providence. Rhody beat Prov. 2 years straight but lost in OT this year. Temple and St Joeās v Villanova. Temple beat "Nova St Joeās gets them in feb. Xavier has beaten Cincy 6 times in 9 years. G. Wash doesnāt play Gātown reqgulary, but they did beat Maryland and Mich St. this year.
I think the A10 will only have 2-3 in the NCAAās this March. Next year 4-6! A10 can replace C-usa as the nationsās 7th power confrence potentially. I know this season is only half over so it is way too early to star looking ahead to next year, so I am only doing this for fun. I am gonna make early prediction for next season based on seniors leaving (sorry I never got to see Badsen or Plavich) and underclassmen output. No idea whoāll bolt early, get a super recuiting class, have a rape scandal(LaSalle) and academic fraud scandal (St. Bonny) or even how the league will be re-aligned. But this makes the most sense to me and will keep the Charlotte and St Louis rivalry going: 2005-2006
Northeast Division: 1.Temple 2.St Joeās 3.UMass 4.Fordham 5.Rhode Island 6.La Salle 7.St Bonaventure
Southwest Division: 1.G.Wash 2.Xavier 3.Charlotte 4.Dayton 5.Richmond 6.Duquesne 7.St Louis
Temple and Xavier start no seniors, Umass,GWU,Dayton and Richmond only start one; this league should be deep next yearā¦what are your thoughts?
PS I canāt wait to see a game at Halton 