What's In A Conference - Yet Another Long-Winded Thought from DCDuck

Fixed that for you.

Honestly, your argument makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If 23-8 Drexel were to win the CAA but lose to 5-22 Towson in the process, they'd still end up with a far better RPI than Towson would. The fact of the matter is that beating Drexel would do more for a team's resume than beating Towson, and losing to Drexel wouldn't hurt a resume numbers-wise as much as losing to Towson. What separates the two teams is the fact that Drexel is capable of beating some of those Power Six teams whereas Towson is not.

It's called the Gary Williams philosophy, because he's the coach who was famous for going on record and saying he didn't want to play against strong mid-major opponents. And yes, it is like you say, many Power Six teams choose to schedule sherbert-soft non-conference opponents with the expectation that the conference slate will provide all of the substance their resumes need for at-large bids.

The real reason non-Power programs don't like losing to mid-majors is because it looks bad to boosters and fans. Never mind how strong Drexel's numbers end up, the fact of the matter is that a Power Six team lost to a mid-major. In the eyes of fans, donors and administrators, it's about level with the New York Yankees losing to a high school JV baseball team. Wins put more fans in seats than losses do, even if those wins are over teams that play in conferences that many fans have never heard of (Great West).

I would just like to politely interject to state that I find DCDuck's arguments to be be very cogent, logical, and sound. Many VCU fans would be wise to consider his statements more seriously. I find myself nodding in agreement with most everything he writes.

Also to my good friend Mike Litos, I hope you're doing well, your coverage of CAA Hoops is appreciated as always! Looking forward to seeing it continue for the next several years!

With tender love and affection,

Tom Yeager

At last check, Xavier was the only team in the A-14 above the proverbial "red line".

And this is where my non-athletic argument surfaces again.

My senior year (last year), I had to defer completion of my degree from the spring to the summer because one of the required courses did not have enough teachers teaching it during the spring. I believe that's a direct result of finances. And from what I've heard from other students, my experience is not unheard of.

While I love VCU basketball and will bleed black and gold until the day I die, I sincerely do not want the athletic program to expand while there are issues to be resolved on the academic side of the table. Although I agree with Chill's theory about basketball prominence leading to more applicants, leading to more selectivity, the fact of the matter is that VCU has to stand on its own two legs as a university first, and that can't happen when tenured staff are being furloughed because the university can't afford to pay them to teach more than two or three classes per term.

We've done just fine by mining 2 and 3 star prospects who get overlooked by bigger name programs and the ratings services. Not sure why we couldn't maintain our existing non-VA pipelines, whatever they may be, while keeping at it on the 804, 757 and 703 fronts. Maybe this is naivety on my part with regard to recruiting, but it seems that only a certain kind of player is even going to be interested in playing, let alone conditioning for, Havoc in the first place. Those generally don't seem like 4+ star type guys to me, so I'm not sure how money opens up any previously closed doors unless NCAA violations are involved.

Wow! That is quite a leap in logic! From you can't get a class you want in a given semester because there are not enough sections running to VCU is furloughing tenured faculty that they can't afford to pay!

Standard load for tenured faculty is generally two classes per semester, in some cases one and in some cases three. In 25 years I've never seen a tenured faculty member teach more than three.

And you have yet to answer Ram4Life. I'd be very interested in reading your response.

Shoulda chosen a better major.

Either way it is consistent with the school not having the resources to hire enough teachers for required classes. I realize that a good number of posters on this board aren't current students or recent graduates, but the fact of the matter is that schedules fill quickly, and there aren't enough sections of required classes for every student to be able to take them for on-time graduation.

As for R4L, I have no idea what the question is that I have to answer.

The class in question was Writing and Rhetoric - a class that every student is required to take, regardless of major.

Sure it does. At least it does in relative terms as a response to you comparing Drexel and their lack of BCS OOC opponents to cupcakes like Towson playing Kansas. Here's what you wrote:

So, yes, "what separates the two teams is the fact that Drexel is capable of beating some of those Power Six teams whereas Towson is not." Kansas had no real chance of losing to Towson. Their chance of losing to a team, a team that has to play Towson twice in a conference that's ranked 15th, but which is projected to be better than Towson? Higher! Playing quality competition (aka teams that you have a chance in hell of losing to) is, as you've said many times, essential for resume building. For teams that have their pick of the lot it's not a rational choice to risk both a loss and unnecessary RPI damage when scheduling a game that's basically a "live" practice session used for experimentation and tuneups. No elite program is scheduling either of the likes of Towson or Drexel for an RPI or OOC SOS boost, so exposing themselves to a lose-lose would be stupid.

Your beef is with the growth of the administrative, management and "business development" side of higher education all across the country. Not VCU basketball.

But that's exactly my point. Power Six programs don't schedule strong mid-majors. They schedule weak mid-majors and low-majors because they figure the chances of losing to those schools is miniscule, and because they can make up for the payment they give to those "fodder" schools with ticket/concession sales.

Nobody is going to pay us to play them. Most Power Six programs want no part of us, whether playing at our place, their place, a neutral place, the moon... wherever. It's a combination of the Gary Williams Effect and our style of play giving coaches headaches. Why would any Power Six program schedule us when they can pay Western Carolina to lose to them by 50 points in front of a packed house of friendly fans?

I was a transfer student, and Records & Admissions fouled up my transcript. I believed I had a transfer credit that covered that requirement, but I found out two semesters before I was scheduled to graduate that I was actually missing that class. Since I had to take certain required classes for my major in order to graduate on time during both semesters, that severely limited the options I had for scheduling.

Convenient. Produce a long-form, non-digital copy or it didn't happen.