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A-10 open to adding a 16th member

SFspidur

SFspidur

Spider's Club
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May 5, 2003
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Bernadette says no urgency, but membership is on the agenda at every meeting. No good list of candidates...Rothstein throws out the possibility of Iona. Also mentions Temple as a tempting target, but they're unlikely to leave their football program hanging.

collegehoopstoday.com

Bernadette McGlade: Atlantic 10 open to adding 16th member

The Atlantic 10 will add Loyola Chicago as its 15th member on July 1st and the league would be open to further expansion, Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade told College Hoops Today on Monday. “We would definitely be open to adding a 16th member,” McGlade told College Hoops Today in an...
collegehoopstoday.com collegehoopstoday.com
 
I wish contraction were on the table. It just makes it harder to get bids with that many teams out of the A10 bc I don’t see adding teams getting us any more than we do already.
 
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GKiller said:
I wish contraction were on the table. It just makes it harder to get bids with that many teams out of the A10 bc I don’t see adding teams getting us any more than we do already.
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I think if we add teams that are at-large contenders it makes it easier for us to get at-large bids. Adding more teams definitely makes it harder to get the auto bid though.
 
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First you have to think of the TV market. Iona- nope.
Then you have to think of facilities-only a handful of colleges
with D-1 facilities that aren’t already in solid conferences.
Loyola-Chicago brought both of those things.
Fordham, as bad as bad as they are, probably have TV ratings higher
than Belmont.
Any additions at this point have to reach criteria that improves the league.
 
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Nashville is a decent market, though I don't know how much coverage Belmont gets there. Vandy is obviously the bigger dog in town (though a crappier program), and of course UT is a presence all over.

Perhaps the main stumbling block if we wanted them would be that they're already in the process of moving from the OVC to the MVC. Contracts and exit fees could complicate a change of direction. (Though I do remember Butler's pit stop in the A-10.)
 
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Bring back Charlotte. Give the league a big market down there and they are a better fit back in the A10 than C-USA. Their league is going through a lot of changes so a good time for them to come back.
 
712_VT said:
Bring back Charlotte. Give the league a big market down there and they are a better fit back in the A10 than C-USA. Their league is going through a lot of changes so a good time for them to come back.
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Like the market, not the school.
 
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We need another Southern school. Vandy doesn’t have football do they?
 
712_VT said:
No worse than vcu. I like Charlotte so bring them back. They always should have been a lot better than they were back in the day.
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Yes they are clearly worse than VCU. VCU made it to the final four and has a history of playing in the tournament. Charlotte last played in the tournament in 2005. The only UNC school kids are familiar with up here is Chapel Hill. Most have never heard of Charlotte, Wilmington, or Greensboro. I can’t believe you are making me defend VCU.
 
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PASpider said:
Yes they are clearly worse than VCU. VCU made it to the final four and has a history of playing in the tournament. Charlotte last played in the tournament in 2005. The only UNC school kids are familiar with up here is Chapel Hill. Most have never heard of Charlotte, Wilmington, or Greensboro. I can’t believe you are making me defend VCU.
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100% correct
 
PASpider said:
Yes they are clearly worse than VCU. VCU made it to the final four and has a history of playing in the tournament. Charlotte last played in the tournament in 2005. The only UNC school kids are familiar with up here is Chapel Hill. Most have never heard of Charlotte, Wilmington, or Greensboro. I can’t believe you are making me defend VCU.
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I meant as far as a school they’re no worse than vcu. As a basketball program clearly vcu is better.
 
ODU would of been ideal.

1) Temple. Would need to go indy in football
2) Belmont. Nashville market. Makes A10 contiguous if you count DC as part of MD.
3) Bellarmine. Lville market. Up and coming program. Has lax. Makes A10 contiguous. Plays at freedom hall.

Iona would be an absolutely horrible move.
 
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Ferrum Spider said:
ODU would of been ideal.

1) Temple. Would need to go indy in football
2) Belmont. Nashville market. Makes A10 contiguous if you count DC as part of MD.
3) Bellarmine. Lville market. Up and coming program. Has lax. Makes A10 contiguous. Plays at freedom hall.

Iona would be an absolutely horrible move.
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Nominating College of Charleston as #3 above Bellarmine but agree up and coming program. Again, I am biased since I want to look forward to trips to cool cities for away games.
 
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I’d rather boot one of the bottom feeders like La Salle than add a new school. They’ve only been above .500 twice in the last decade, and one of those was a 17-16 season. The A10 already has a presence in Philly with St. Joe’s. And the facilities at La Salle are comparable, if not worse, than many high schools
 
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Spider2020 said:
I’d rather boot one of the bottom feeders like La Salle than add a new school. They’ve only been above .500 twice in the last decade, and one of those was a 17-16 season. The A10 already has a presence in Philly with St. Joe’s. And the facilities at La Salle are comparable, if not worse, than many high schools
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This is always mentioned and of course would improve the A10 greatly to trim the fat but there are no easy ways to just remove a member institution.
 
8legs1dream said:
This is always mentioned and of course would improve the A10 greatly to trim the fat but there are no easy ways to just remove a member institution.
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You’re right, I’m sure it’s very unlikely. Does anyone know the actual rules about this?
 
Until we get LaSalle and Fordham out of here, the A-10 is not going to be attractive to the type of schools it wants to attract. Temple is a no brainer. Belmont, maybe. Anything else, hard pass.
 
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Call me crazy but Liberty could work. Falwells are gone now so may not be as radical as they used to be. Good basketball program and already in Va with outstanding facilities. We already have super religious schools in the A10 so they should work.
 
Yeah,
Section9.RowD said:
Nominating College of Charleston as #3 above Bellarmine but agree up and coming program. Again, I am biased since I want to look forward to trips to cool cities for away games.
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YES to Charleston. Great city, solid program historically, without looking I think a pretty highly regarded school, helps give Davidson someone else down that way and the rest of us a good excuse to travel somewhere nice once a year. Bring them into the A10 and their recruiting would respond accordingly.
 
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For me, it's get Temple back. Similar to UConn in BE, it just makes sense that this is the league for them. Does their fball program do anything/does anyone care? Oh and work on ditching Lasalle too (keep Fordham bc we always beat them and I can go to games there.)
 
Section9.RowD said:
Nominating College of Charleston as #3 above Bellarmine but agree up and coming program. Again, I am biased since I want to look forward to trips to cool cities for away games.
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I’m ok with them as well. Would help out in a lot of other sports. Temple was legacy and the other two would help solidify the midwest footprint.
 
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712_VT said:
Call me crazy but Liberty could work. Falwells are gone now so may not be as radical as they used to be. Good basketball program and already in Va with outstanding facilities. We already have super religious schools in the A10 so they should work.
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Crazy isn't the exact word I'm thinking of, but in general, your ideas are consistently atrocious.
 
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Say what you want but Liberty would be a great addition from a competitive standpoint. They are better than a good chunk of the a10 already.
 
I agree that I want nothing to do with Liberty, but from a strictly basketball standpoint, he’s not wrong. They draw really well, have a very good coach, win consistently and would recruit even better in a better league.
 
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712_VT said:
Call me crazy but Liberty could work. Falwells are gone now so may not be as radical as they used to be. Good basketball program and already in Va with outstanding facilities. We already have super religious schools in the A10 so they should work.
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We have “super religious” schools in the A10? Liberty’s a school for crazies.
 
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Eight Legger said:
I agree that I want nothing to do with Liberty, but from a strictly basketball standpoint, he’s not wrong. They draw really well, have a very good coach, win consistently and would recruit even better in a better league.
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I am not convinced the "recruit better in a better league" theory has ever played out with a team moving to he A10.

I do not see any benefit at all to any existing A10 member, or the conference itself, in adding Liberty.
 
Davidson moved to the A10, started recruited better and has been a top team in the league since joining.
 
Eight Legger said:
Davidson moved to the A10, started recruited better and has been a top team in the league since joining.
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Davidson's best team since joining the A10 was their first year in the A10, they had no A10 recruits. Their team included multiple all-A10 players already:

Jack Gibbs: 2x first-team all A10, 1x 2nd-team
Tyler Kalinoski: A10 player of the year
Payton Aldridge: A10 player of the year

I don't think their recruiting improve since joining the A10, it was already very good.
 
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I mean, Davidson literally won the A-10 regular season this year and made the NCAA tournament as an at-large team. I'd say they've had some very talented teams. They were not making many at-large appearances in the SoCon.
 
Wood Hall said:
We already have super religious schools in the A10 so they should work.

No church-related A-10 university is anywhere as far removed from mainstream Christianity as Liberty.
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Is this simply a random unsolicited comment on Christianity at Liberty University or the suggestion there should be a litmus religious test for potential A-10 members? Way off the usual considerations for sports conference membership.
 
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