Atlantic 10 RPI

[GMUSig03]

It's a shame, there have been a lot of really close, or at least competitive, games that would have been signature wins for the teams at the top of the conference, but most have been lost.

Davidson (71) - consecutive losses to Temple and Wake by a combined 6 pts, but without Grady (UNC on deck, a win there could get them into at large contention)

St. Louis (52) - Pitt by 2, Houston by 4 (FSU still to come, probably in best position for at large)

f**k vcu (41) but they have a win at Texas and vs Temple, with only bad loss to ODU

URI (50) - sneakily hanging around with only bad loss to Stony Brook, and a win vs WVU

Dayton (105) - UVA by 7, Oklahoma by 11 (was competitive), Miss St. by 7, Auburn by 10 (no bad losses, losing only 1 or 2 in A10 could conceivably get them to an at large position, but probably too far out of it)

Duquesne (109) - ND by 11, blown out by Pitt (similar to Dayton, no real bad losses, but no good wins either)

So, a few teams with the potential to still earn at larges, but all face up hill climbs. Best case scenario is probably 3, with two earning at large and an upset in the tournament - just like last year.

2 games to focus on right now are Davidson at UNC (who they seem to play regularly, hopefully Grady is back for that) and St. Louis at FSU.

Will at least give us something to watch and root for outside of Mason's games.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

There are a bunch of reasons why the A10 isnt what it used to be, but I'm curious as to how the creation of the AAC is what destroyed the conference.

It didn't.

So as far basketball goes, here is a brief statistical history:

AAC was created in 2013. Below is a list of NCAA bids with only the CURRENT MEMBERS of the A10 since 2012:

2012: 2 bids
2013: 3 bids
2014: 6 bids
2015: 3 bids
2016: 3 bids
2017: 3 bids
2018: 3 bids

The banner year for the A10 recently was in 2014 when the conference got 6 bids. Not one future AAC team had one of those bids. This is a down year for sure but his comment is nonsense.

A10 has been pretty consistent but when a down year happens, it happens daramatically as the lower teams are very bad. When you have 5 teams rankded below 300, it anchors down the entire conference. A10 will be back. This year is an anomaly.

 

[Falco]

There are a bunch of reasons why the A10 isnt what it used to be, but I'm curious as to how the creation of the AAC is what destroyed the conference. The AAC's creation was a result of the Big East dropping football and those football schools coming together.
Temple left the A10 for the AAC; no other current AAC school used be in the A10. Butler and Xavier left the A10 for the new Big East. Could SLU and Dayton make the same jump when the Big East's tv contracts are up for renewal? Maybe, maybe not. But I would say the Big East has been more of a factor than the AAC.

You’re right I should have said the splitting up of the Big East hurt the A10. Obviously losing Butler and Xavier to the Big East was a big loss.

When the Big East became a basketball only conference, the multisport schools had to go somewhere. They joined half of Conference USA and created the AAC. Historically most of the AAC teams don’t have a rich basketball history. However, UConn and Cincinnati and now Wichita provide instant credibility to the conference. So prospective recruits choose the AAC over the A10.

 

[Falco]

It didn't.

So as far basketball goes, here is a brief statistical history:

AAC was created in 2013. Below is a list of NCAA bids with only the CURRENT MEMBERS of the A10 since 2012:

2012: 2 bids
2013: 3 bids
2014: 6 bids
2015: 3 bids
2016: 3 bids
2017: 3 bids
2018: 3 bids

The banner year for the A10 recently was in 2014 when the conference got 6 bids. Not one future AAC team had one of those bids. This is a down year for sure but his comment is nonsense.

A10 has been pretty consistent but when a down year happens, it happens daramatically as the lower teams are very bad. When you have 5 teams rankded below 300, it anchors down the entire conference. A10 will be back. This year is an anomaly.

I hope you are right. But I think you are proving my point. Ripple effects take time. Before the Spilt of the Big East the A10 was known to be a very good basketball conference. We actually still remained very good the year after the spilt. But now there is a new wave of recruits and they have to decide what conference to join.

18-19 1 bid league
17-18- 3 teams. (lucky to have 3 btw)
16-17- 3 teams
15-16- 3 teams

I have to imagine recruits today would prefer to play in the AAC over the A10.

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t think you can back up those statements with hard data.

I also don’t consider losing Butler to be a big loss as they were only in the conference for a single season. Xavier and Temple, yes, but the A10 got Davidson to mitigate some of that loss. They also got vcu to replace Charlotte, which was a net positive for the conference.

 

[GMUgemini]

Conference RPI rank is a little misleading in and of itself. The MAC is ranked 9th, but has Buffalo as a huge outlier in that conference. No other team would get an at-large right now in that conference.

The Ivy is ranked 10th but their highest rated team is Yale at 60. They are benefiting from having only 10 members.

11th is CUSA and the only reason they are ranked ahead of the A10 is because they have no truly crappy teams (we have 4 this season). No at-large is coming out of the CUSA

12th is the MVC, which is a combination of the Ivy’s 10 members and USA’s no one utterly sucks (Missouri State is pretty close though). No at/large coming out of the MVC.

13th is Southern which has The Citadel sitting at a 35, which I can’t figure out because they haven’t beaten a top 100 team. Furman is undefeated but has an SOS rank of 332. This is a hard conference to figure out but they seem to be a huge outlier this season.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Conference RPI rank is a little misleading in and of itself. The MAC is ranked 9th, but has Buffalo as a huge outlier in that conference. No other team would get an at-large right now in that conference.

The Ivy is ranked 10th but their highest rated team is Yale at 60. They are benefiting from having only 10 members.

11th is CUSA and the only reason they are ranked ahead of the A10 is because they have no truly crappy teams (we have 4 this season). No at-large is coming out of the CUSA

12th is the MVC, which is a combination of the Ivy’s 10 members and USA’s no one utterly sucks (Missouri State is pretty close though). No at/large coming out of the MVC.

13th is Southern which has The Citadel sitting at a 35, which I can’t figure out because they haven’t beaten a top 100 team. Furman is undefeated but has an SOS rank of 332. This is a hard conference to figure out but they seem to be a huge outlier this season.

Good points but I think you may be underestimating how much the bottom feeders are going to bring down the top teams in the A10 this year RPI wise. After the OOC, there isn't much room for anyone to improve their standing ....unless we turn it around the last part of the remaining OOC.

 

[GMUgemini]

Good points but I think you may be underestimating how much the bottom feeders are going to bring down the top teams in the A10 this year RPI wise. After the OOC, there isn't much room for anyone to improve their standing. Unless we turn it around the last part of the remaining OOC.

This is true. It will be interesting to see how dominant the top three teams are. We had bottom-dweller issue in the CAA even in the best years, but the top teams always beat the crap out of them.

 

[gmujim92]

This is true. It will be interesting to see how dominant the top three teams are. We had bottom-dweller issue in the CAA even in the best years, but the top teams always beat the crap out of them.

There are no dominant teams in the A-10 this season. Everyone has at least one glaring weakness. Gonna be a lot of tiebreakers for tournament seeding.

 

[GMUgemini]

There are no dominant teams in the A-10 this season. Everyone has at least one glaring weakness. Gonna be a lot of tiebreakers for tournament seeding.

That may be true, but that doesn’t mean any of the top three need to lose a game to the bottom 5.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Absolutely and we start tonight with the Bonnies against Vermont. Tip off is at 7PM. A road win over a top 50 RPI team will help alot.

Watching this game on ESPN+. Bonnies up by 9 31-22 at the half. This Stockard kid for the Bonnies is nice.

 

[gmujim92]

That may be true, but that doesn’t mean any of the top three need to lose a game to the bottom 5.

If Richmond and St. Bona finish in the bottom 5, I will bet you $100 both will beat one top-4 team.

There are 3 clearly terrible teams in the A-10 this season: LaSalle, GW and Fordham. Beyond them, there is not nearly as much difference between 1 and 11 as usual.

A decent basketball team is going to finish 11th and play on Wednesday next March. Hopefully it isn’t Mason.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

....annndddd the Bonnies blow a 14 point lead to lose in double OT to Vermont missing a great opportunity for a top 50 RPI win.

We'll just have to beat KSU now.

 

[GMUSig03]

Was just looking at Duquesne's roster and saw that all but 1 of their top 9 scorers this year are sophomores or freshmen (and that 1 is a junior0 - so they are primed to be a force the next two years.

With that in mind and combined with vcu, Dayton, St. Louis and Davidson currently being in positions (program-wise) to consistently be in at large contention, I think we have reason to be optimistic about getting back to having more than 3 teams in the tournament.

To me it seems like this year is the lowest we should reasonably expect to get as a conference, and that's mostly due to: URI/SBU's loss of star players, majorly disappointing seasons from Saint Joes and us so far, and LaSalle, richmond and GW being the worst they have been in recent memory.

 

[patriot2000]

I am no longer at the point where other teams' success make me optimistic. No interest in being in a multi-bid league if we do not consistently compete for one of those bids.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[GMUgemini]

I am no longer at the point where other teams' success make me optimistic. No interest in being in a multi-bid league if we do not consistently compete for one of those bids.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

I kind of agree. Considering our payout agreement the other teams can screw themselves until we are in a position to take advantage and then I want half the conference in the dance.

 

[GMUgemini]

Decent last two days for the A10. Sucks SLU couldn’t get the upset over FSU, but that’s to be expected. Otherwise, the bottom of the conference is at least getting a few wins under their belt. The middle of the conference are winning the games they should win. vcu with a decent win against Wichita State.

 

[mkaufman1]

Decent last two days for the A10. Sucks SLU couldn’t get the upset over FSU, but that’s to be expected. Otherwise, the bottom of the conference is at least getting a few wins under their belt. The middle of the conference are winning the games they should win. vcu with a decent win against Wichita State.

The league has definitely improved the last 2-3 weeks with some better wins. I can see the league getting 2 bids, and maybe a 3rd depending on how the standings shake out. Possibly a first four situation for the third team.

 

[GMUgemini]

The league has definitely improved the last 2-3 weeks with some better wins. I can see the league getting 2 bids, and maybe a 3rd depending on how the standings shake out. Possibly a first four situation for the third team.

I don't know, vcu (unfortunately) and Davidson are the only two candidates right now (especially if Davidson pulls off the upset of UNC).

Best case scenario for me is if GMU knocks vcu out of the at-large conversation in the tournament and goes on to beat Davidson in the final (thereby keeping the multi-bid tag alive, while also screwing over vcu at the same time -- I don't care if we miss out on 3 bids if one of those bids might have gone to vcu in the first place).

 

[psyclone]

Davidson (minus Grady) loses to UNC by 22. Bonaventure losing at Syracuse by 27 with 10 minutes left in the second half.

Looks like it's up to us to get a signature win!