For what it is worth, I do think the A10 is a quality conference. Given our options it was the best we could do, but we are all kidding ourselves if we see a long term future in this conference. Our fans donât care about this conference, the community doesnât care about this conference and our alumni donât care for it. For a program that is fighting for attention in the middle of ACC land the A10 just will not cut it. We just do not belong here. It is costing us money in tourny revenue, tv revenue and money coming in through alumni and the community. Judy said we left 2.2 mil sitting on the table when we left CUSA that we have not recouped, for a program that struggles with money that is huge! We have no real rival in the A10 and just need to find a better home. The only thing that stops me from railing against the A10 is the knowledge that we really do not have too many options and what is done is done. The prospect of football will determine our future conference affiliation and hopefuly we can find a conference that better fits what we need and our alumni, community and students expect.
Metro, I respectably fail to understand your logic.
I guarantee you itâs easier to recruit GOOD players to play in the A10 than in the Sun Belt.
The A10 has always been ranked as a much better conference than the new or old Sunbelt. As a matter of fact, I believe itâs projected to be the 7th best conference this year behind the âBig-6â. It was usually rated about the same as the OLD-CUSA too.
I promise more folks have heard of Temple, St Joes, UMass, Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island, and even St Bonnie than they have schools like N Texas and S Bama.
Football will hopefully open up some better options, but for now I am opposed to dropping all the back to one of the worst basketball conferences (ex: Southern & Big South).
[QUOTE=WBNiner;262693]Our fans donât care about this conference, the community doesnât care about this conference and our alumni donât care for it.[/QUOTE]
That pretty much describes EVERY conference weâve ever been in. And you need to add the local media to that list.
:lmao:Thats sig material right there!!!
The revisionist history regarding CUSA on this board is an amazing thing!
are you serious? are you stating the old CUSA was not phenomenal for us? ESPN 4 times a year? Huggins, Pitino, Calipari in Halton? Heck the ECU games at Halton rocked even if they were 7-20.
Metro, I respectably fail to understand your logic.I guarantee you itâs easier to recruit GOOD players to play in the A10 than in the Sun Belt.
The A10 has always been ranked as a much better conference than the new or old Sunbelt. As a matter of fact, I believe itâs projected to be the 7th best conference this year behind the âBig-6â. It was usually rated about the same as the OLD-CUSA too.
I promise more folks have heard of Temple, St Joes, UMass, Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island, and even St Bonnie than they have schools like N Texas and S Bama.
Football will hopefully open up some better options, but for now I am opposed to dropping all the back to one of the worst basketball conferences (ex: Southern & Big South).
40, slow down bro. I never said I wanted to be in the Sunblelt. I said the old Sunbelt was funner to watch in the 80âs and had more intensity than the A10 does TODAY. At least the Sunbelt was geographically in line and had rivalriesâŚand more ESPN games :lmao:
[QUOTE=run49er;262700]That pretty much describes EVERY conference weâve ever been in. And you need to add the local media to that list.[/QUOTE]
That is true, even in CUSA we took our lumps, but with the premire programs in CUSA we were able to land some attention that we failed to even come close to now.
[QUOTE=W.H.;262689]Metro, you are like a guy in a sinking boat who tries to save himself by shooting holes in the bottom so he sinks a little faster. And here I was thinking the weather in Charlotte was nice![/QUOTE]
How did I miss this?
I think a few of you need to go back and refresh your memory thru the years:
[QUOTE=metro;262704]40, slow down bro. I never said I wanted to be in the Sunblelt.[/QUOTE]
Fair enough⌠but then what are you tryuing to say? You donât want to go to the SunBelt, so what are you proposing?
I donât disagree that we are worse off than in CUSA, but what at this moment is a better option?
are you serious? are you stating the old CUSA was not phenomenal for us? ESPN 4 times a year? Huggins, Pitino, Calipari in Halton? Heck the ECU games at Halton rocked even if they were 7-20.
Iâm saying CUSA NEVER lived up to its billing on the basketball court. Not until the the last year or 2, and by thenâŚit was in its death rattle stage.
Mempiss and LVille were terrible for the bulk of their stay in the league. Everyone seems to forget that. Depaul entered the league and instantly went into free fall. The leagueâŚas a wholeâŚunderpreformed for 75 percent of its life. But there are some here who refuse to remember this. We roll our eyes at the A10, while speaking about CUSA like it was ACC Lite. Its tiring.
The Final 4s, Tourny appearances, players of the year, ectâŚprove that the leagues were much closer together than any of us care to admit.
I'm saying CUSA NEVER lived up to its billing on the basketball court. Not until the the last year or 2, and by then....it was in its death rattle stage.Mempiss and LVille were terrible for the bulk of their stay in the league. Everyone seems to forget that. Depaul entered the league and instantly went into free fall. The leagueâŚas a wholeâŚunderpreformed for 75 percent of its life. But there are some here who refuse to remember this. We roll our eyes at the A10, while speaking about CUSA like it was ACC Lite. Its tiring.
The Final 4s, Tourny appearances, players of the year, ectâŚprove that the leagues were much closer together than any of us care to admit.
I cant disagree with any of that. CUSA was good for us in a âperception is realityâ sort of way. It had a big time feel and it excited us, and whether you care to admit it, our RPI soared during those years.
Like Run, I am not at all happy about the performance of the A-10 in the past few years. I am hoping we are at the beginning of a new up cycle, but who knows. The fact is, the A-10 will always be a feeder league. Most of our top coaches eventually will move to a BCS conference.
Which is why some of us pin our hopes on football, thinking itâs the ticket to the bigger leagues. As a UMass fan, I actually donât care much if the school move to Division 1 football. If it does, however, I have two prerequisites for me to care as a fan: Will it help get UMass into Big East football, and will that in turn help UMass basketball get into the Big East. If it does, great. I am all for it, so long as the school can afford a Division 1 football team.
Do I think this could happen? Yes. Big East football only has, what, eight teams? All the other BCS leagues have at least 10 teams. If a breakup with the Big East basketball schools occurs, the Big East football teams will need a few more programs. UMass is a 1AA power and could be a good addition.
Interestingly, I think Charlotteâs best shot to get into a Division 1 football conference is with the Big East. With the ACC at 12 teams, that league is not going to expand again, and I donât see any reason why BC would leave. The ACC isnât going to kick out a longstanding member, either.
Ditto for the SEC. Itâs at 12 teams. The SEC is not going to expand further or junk a longtime member.
The only other option, aside from the Big East, is C-USA again.
Whatever the case, all of these potential shuffles and the creation of a Division 1 football team take years. So Charlotte is stuck with the A-10 for quite some time to come.
At this point, all you can do is make the best of it. Get a good coach who wants to be there. Recruit like heck, South, North or wherever, and finish near the top of the A-10 each year. Donât complain about the league forever. Pressure your AD to do something to make it better while Charlotte is a member. And if the Niners win, the fans will come out to watch and the leagueâs rep will also rise.
Thereâs no reason Charlotte cannot be a big part of the solution for what ails the A-10. And I think school officials are beginning to think the same.
Fair enough.... but then what are you tryuing to say? You don't want to go to the SunBelt, so what are you proposing?I donât disagree that we are worse off than in CUSA, but what at this moment is a better option?
The way the A10 has flopped, I would honestly rather be in the CAA at this point. Ga St, UNCW, JMU, WMary, GM, ODU, VCU have much more regional flare, where we could drive to an away game, and the conference tourny would be very doable.
My reference to the Sunbelt was only in terms of âfun to watch.â It was a bunch of smaller schools fighting to be in the spotlight. It was only in argument to this W.H. guy always hyping the A10. I did not mean to infer I wish we were in the existing Sun Belt, but I bet you a $100 you used to be more pumped in 89â for a game than you get this year.
Whatever the case, all of these potential shuffles and the creation of a Division 1 football team take years. So Charlotte is stuck with the A-10 for quite some time to come.At this point, all you can do is make the best of it. Get a good coach who wants to be there. Recruit like heck, South, North or wherever, and finish near the top of the A-10 each year. Donât complain about the league forever. Pressure your AD to do something to make it better while Charlotte is a member. And if the Niners win, the fans will come out to watch and the leagueâs rep will also rise.
.
thats the best point youâve made yet. We are just now getting âused toâ the A10. Like I said, it was a major step backwards for us (in perception) and there was alot of denial to work thru, and its taken us a couple years to get over it. I know the A10 had a nice run with X and St Joes and Umass in the Final 4, and Judy Rose used her bull horn one day to yell at us just after the move to the A10, that the league had the same amount of âcreditsâ that CUSA did in terms of NCAA appearances. It just is a bad marriage.
the A10 could be a respected league again, but its got to shrink, and get a better TV deal.
the A-10 is returning to respectabilityâŚright? maybe?
[QUOTE=metro;262726]thats the best point youâve made yet. We are just now getting âused toâ the A10. Like I said, it was a major step backwards for us (in perception) and there was alot of denial to work thru, and its taken us a couple years to get over it. I know the A10 had a nice run with X and St Joes and Umass in the Final 4, and Judy Rose used her bull horn one day to yell at us just after the move to the A10, that the league had the same amount of âcreditsâ that CUSA did in terms of NCAA appearances. It just is a bad marriage.
the A10 could be a respected league again, but its got to shrink, and get a better TV deal.[/QUOTE]
Really though, when we were joining the A-10, they certainly looked like a powerhouse on the rise.
Theyâd had back to back POYs, the #1 ranked team in America and two teams in the Elite 8.
Xavier still is a national elite, if not a powerhouse, but the rest of the conference has not kept up. And Temple has as much name recognition as any other school in CUSA during its prime.
So the A-10 is not all bad, BUT it is not the conference it looked like it was going to be when we joined.
the A-10 is returning to respectability..right? maybe?
Yes and Yes
The A-10 used to be the king of the hill of all the conferences outside the âPower 6â. The conference received the type of respect you would give to a leage that got 4-5 bids/year. Then Conference USA came along and after a while the title went there (especially the last couple years of existence). A coach generally had no problems recommending a kid to a Conference USA school.
The smart money thinks that the Atlantic 10 will retake the title now that C-USA has replaced many of its best teams with WAC/Atlantic Sun members. Many of the supposed better players in the conference right now were juniors/seniors in high school when the whole shakeup occured. So if the league has a renaissance this year after several sub-par seasons, then it should return to respectibility and recruiting should become easier and easier (and maybe gasp some games on television). Iâm trying not to think too much about what would happen if the conference falls flat on its face this year.
I have hardly been hyping the A-10, metro. Whatâs there been to hype, especially in the past few years? Heck, I am not even convinced the rebound is here.
The only reason I write about the league and talk about it is because ⌠my school is in it! Itâs a good league and has been a good league throughout its history. Itâs not a great league. We all know that.
I donât object to anyone belittling the A-10. Charlotte fans have every right to be upset about the schoolâs situation. I just have three simple rules when I have a problem: ignore it, learn to live with it or fix it. All the complaining in the world doesnât do a damn thing.
In Charlotteâs case, the school canât ignore the problem, so it has to learn to live with it. To making living with it easier, Charlotte also has help to fix it. Push to cut the league to 12 from 14. Push for tougher scheduling. Push for a better TV deal. Do something other than cry in oneâs beer - and ruin a pretty good drink.
[QUOTE=Powerbait;262730]Really though, when we were joining the A-10, they certainly looked like a powerhouse on the rise.
Theyâd had back to back POYs, the #1 ranked team in America and two teams in the Elite 8.
Xavier still is a national elite, if not a powerhouse, but the rest of the conference has not kept up. And Temple has as much name recognition as any other school in CUSA during its prime.
So the A-10 is not all bad, BUT it is not the conference it looked like it was going to be when we joined.[/QUOTE]
Dead On Balls Accurate. 0% revisionist history.