League A10 Basketball: news and discourse around the league

theyaintwantit said:
That I agree with. *If* the BE only wanted to add one more team (which I don't think will end up being the case), Gonzaga is the #1 non-football school in the nation that would move the needle for the BE. With its location in the NW, I've just never seen that as feasible, but with 2 Bay Area schools and a school in Dallas joining the ACC next season.... who the f knows?

If the BE expands, I believe it will be by 3 teams to get to an even number of 14. I imagine VCU, Wichita State, Dayton, Saint Louis, and potentially others would be on the short list.
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If Gonzaga goes anywhere, it's going to be to the Big 12. Those discussions have already taken place.
 
theyaintwantit said:
BE has 11 teams and everyone plays each other twice so its a 20 game conference schedule.
Adding a team would make it a 22 game schedule if they wanted to keep the round robin that you mention.

Maybeeeee conferences are heading in that direction, but I have a hard time believing it.
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With expansion in the Big 12, Big 10 & the ACC those conferences either have or will expand their # of conference games. Matchups, like the Gavitt games, with the BE will be the first ones to go.
 
Wolfpack Ram said:
If Gonzaga goes anywhere, it's going to be to the Big 12. Those discussions have already taken place.
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That's true, there have been reports of the B12 and Gonzaga. The B12 has 14 teams now, loses Texas & Oklahoma, and then adds Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, & Utah to get to 16 teams starting next season, I can't picture the B12 adding just 1 team after this change since 16 is a square number.

I was more so saying that the only absolute slam dunk non-football school that would theoretically fit the BE mold is Gonzaga. Location is a killer though.
 
Mercury said:
With expansion in the Big 12, Big 10 & the ACC those conferences either have or will expand their # of conference games. Matchups, like the Gavitt games, with the BE will be the first ones to go.
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That's a fair point. 20 game schedule is too much, but what are we going to do? I wish football operated separately.
 
There seems to be a local western MA media consensus that a move to the MAC will be bad for the UMass Men's Basketball program:

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour
www.masslive.com

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour

The Mid-American conference is one of the worst basketball conferences in Division I.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC
www.gazettenet.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC

News that’s been imminent for months finally broke Monday afternoon — UMass is leaving the Atlantic 10 Conference and joining the MAC.And while finding a conference home for the school’s football program has been at the forefront of conversation for...
www.gazettenet.com www.gazettenet.com
 
rf1 said:
There seems to be a local western MA media consensus that a move to the MAC will be bad for the UMass Men's Basketball program:

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour
www.masslive.com

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour

The Mid-American conference is one of the worst basketball conferences in Division I.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC
www.gazettenet.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC

News that’s been imminent for months finally broke Monday afternoon — UMass is leaving the Atlantic 10 Conference and joining the MAC.And while finding a conference home for the school’s football program has been at the forefront of conversation for...
www.gazettenet.com www.gazettenet.com
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Thanks for sharing....first writer did a heckuva job. I liked this little nugget. (btw---the Group of Five are the 5 NON Power 5 conferences)

Group of Five football is a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but it’s not big-time football in any traditional sense. The gap between the power conferences and everyone else is widening by design. The SEC and B1G schools don’t want to share the pie. Scholarship limits and the rules on the field might be the same, but between NIL and other resources, Group of Five is essentially the new Division I-AA. The costs and challenges are only going to get steeper as the NCAA explores new methods for expanded athlete compensation.
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and this
he Atlantic 10 has had two or more bids in 17 of the last 18 seasons and three or more in 11 of the last 15. If an A-10 program schedules smartly and plays well it can make the field of 68 even if it has an off day in the conference tournament.



The MAC, which has cratered, hasn’t gotten multiple bids to the tournament since 1999.



On Monday, the A-10 was ranked as the nation’s eighth-best conference by KenPom.com, which is generally considered the gold standard of college basketball analytics. The MAC was 24th.



Twenty-fourth.



That’s three spots below America East. Yes, UMass Lowell will be in a better basketball conference than UMass.
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definitely worth the read and echoes EVERYTHING we've been saying about UMass, and odu
 
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rf1 said:
There seems to be a local western MA media consensus that a move to the MAC will be bad for the UMass Men's Basketball program:

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour
www.masslive.com

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour

The Mid-American conference is one of the worst basketball conferences in Division I.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC
www.gazettenet.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC

News that’s been imminent for months finally broke Monday afternoon — UMass is leaving the Atlantic 10 Conference and joining the MAC.And while finding a conference home for the school’s football program has been at the forefront of conversation for...
www.gazettenet.com www.gazettenet.com
Click to expand...
The general attitude among UMass basketball fans I follow is basically pure despair and that this move is a mistake. I agree.
 
TAEKWONDO said:
It was reported this past summer that Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman contacted several universities about their possible interest in the Big East. If I was a betting man I'd bet that VCU was one of those universities contacted. The Big East Conference had a low viewership rating for the Big East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament championship game this past year. I'm sure Fox Sports would like to see a bump in viewership, and I believe VCU would help with that. The Big East needs a few more large state universities with a large student, and alumni base like VCU. VCU now offers the Big East the Richmond metro with the 44th largest national metropolitan population, the state of Virginia with a population over 8.5 million people, great on campus basketball arena with a great fan base, and coming soon a 17,000 arena that VCU will have access to in Henrico County. Plus, VCU has a good overall athletic program in the non revenue sports with major improvements coming with the Athletic Village. From a business point of view I think VCU would have a lot to offer the Big East Conference, and Fox Sports.
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Dude, send that to Fox, you sold me!
 
Any UMass fans acting like this isn't going to hurt their programs outside of football and that they're somehow going to weather this downgrade move to the MAC with their heaps of basketball NIL (where's that been guys?) are coping. You're going from a top ten conference to #24, that's insanity.
 
6TH MAN said:
Dude, send that to Fox, you sold me!
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I'm fairly certain that Fox and Val already know this. From Val's comments, it seems the university presidents (unsurprisingly) are a bit snobbish and want elite level bball, religious private schools, and they place a value on a smaller conference that has a round robin. Something will have to give. Either the Big East will expand to I crease their payday and secure their conference viability, or the media deal will fall short and a few member schools may be willing to listen to the B12s pitch.
 
rf1 said:
There seems to be a local western MA media consensus that a move to the MAC will be bad for the UMass Men's Basketball program:

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour
www.masslive.com

UMass move to MAC is brutal blow to its men’s basketball program | Vautour

The Mid-American conference is one of the worst basketball conferences in Division I.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC
www.gazettenet.com

Fan base conflicted on UMass’ decision to leave Atlantic 10, move to the MAC

News that’s been imminent for months finally broke Monday afternoon — UMass is leaving the Atlantic 10 Conference and joining the MAC.And while finding a conference home for the school’s football program has been at the forefront of conversation for...
www.gazettenet.com www.gazettenet.com
Click to expand...
they made their bed on and now have to lay in it
 
3 Bid League Podcast had quite the monologue at the top of the show this week, explaining why the UMass decision is a horrible one.

 


About what you'd expect.
Anger
Delusion
Indifference

too bad for them....

Apparently UMass Hockey will stay in Hockey East....which sounds like something from Slapshot or Shorsey

Here's my final UMass point....The Minutemen athletics program may ACTUALLY have a chance to be the Flagship of the MAC....now, WHY you would need any kind of ship in the Rust Belt is beyond me
 
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