Katz: Will an A-10 team break away from the pack?

Per his participation in A-10 Media Day…

ESPN.com: Andy Katz Blog: Will an A-10 team break away from the pack?

there is only one obvious break away front runner in my opinion, [B][COLOR=DarkGreen]CHARLOTTE[/COLOR][/B].

i found this part about new recruiting guidelines interesting.

A conference commissioners board, led by the SEC's Mike Slive, was quoted on the NCAA's Web site as saying "it has become evident that more individuals have inserted themselves into the recruiting process other than families of the prospects in a way that is contrary to the spirit of the legislation." That means college coaches would only be allowed to contact a person who maintains contact with the prospect, which includes relatives, guardians or coaches. So that means the NCAA would look deeply into who are the guardians, the handlers, athletic trainers and coaches. This gets back to the pre-existing relationship, a slippery slope the NCAA has been on before, making it harder to see who has truly been associated with the prospect. Seton Hall's Bobby Gonzalez said the idea is great, but policing it will be another matter. Yet the proposal apparently will include harsh sanctions for those that violate the proposal, including missing games for coaches who contact people that are loosely associated with the prospect.

The proposal also looks at non-coaching staff hiring practices. This is a way to get out of package deals. The rule would state that any non-coaching personnel hire would have to come two years before or two years after the prospect the hire is associated with would be on campus. So if you want to hire an assistant to the head coach, as some have done to get a player, that coach had better arrive two years before the recruit. Camps and clinics at schools would only be able to employ their own staff members or students to work at the camp. This would eliminate AAU or summer league coaches from coaching at clinics to help pay for unofficial visits or gain a recruiting advantage.

I disagree with Katz. What the league needs more than a 16-0 or 15-1 regular season champion, is to win a lot of non conference games. It wont matter if we beat each other up if the league has a good nonconference mark.

What would kick ass is if we had 6-7 teams with 10 nonconference wins, and 4-5 more with 8 or 9. That’s what locks a league at the top of the RPI.

[QUOTE=NinerAdvocate;437908]
What would kick ass is if we had 6-7 teams with 10 nonconference wins, and 4-5 more with 8 or 9. That’s what locks a league at the top of the RPI.[/QUOTE]

Yes. And this means Charlotte can’t have its classic slow start.