ADVERTISEMENT

This team deserves 2 NCAA banners

It was on a post in the UR Alumni group right after they won the A-10 championship:

"Congratulations to the team. No one believed we could do it. Very few people understand how hard it is to win at a high academic school competing in a mid major conference. I never lost faith in Chris. He is an amazing coach. Go Spiders!"

And when one person pushed back citing Mooney's overall record, Queally said "You just watched flawless coaching today."

Not sure if he made other posts...I don't follow comments in there that closely, but happened to spot that one.
For starters, the A-10 is not a mid major conference. You would think the guy that is our BOT President and largest athletic backer would know that but apparently not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nathanw19
Queally wasn't shy about expressing his feelings of vindication after the A-10 tourney win. I guess once every ten years is good enough for him.

still did not make it up to Buffalo. Maybe he felt he was too toxic or would get too many questions.
 
For starters, the A-10 is not a mid major conference. You would think the guy that is our BOT President and largest athletic backer would know that but apparently not.
Do high major conferences think the A10 is their peer? I don’t think they do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zeeter
there's really no need to label it high major vs mid-major. we're certainly not comparable to the bottom 20 conferences.
but no, I don't think the A10 is considered high major by the masses. we don't bring in or spend high major money. I think we're pretty consistently ranked between 7-10.
 
Do high major conferences think the A10 is their peer? I don’t think they do.
We are not a mid major conference. Mid major conferences are the one auto bid conferences. Honestly, don't know what we are considered but multi-bid conferences like the A-10, American, MWC are not considered or called mid-majors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nathanw19
So, here is wiki's definition. It starts with a definition of every conference outside the BCS conference but the further down explains how conferences like the A-10, MWC have been viewed differently and above mid major but below the high majors.

Either way, him calling us a mid-major gives us insight into how he views our basketball program. I guarantee not one single person within the athletic department at VCU considers their program a mid-major.

Wiki mid-major definition
 
It all depends on who you ask. Many consider the auto bid conferences to be low majors. If that's the terminology being used, we absolutely fit as a mid-major.

P5 or P6 would be high majors, and then we'd be in the mid-major grouping with MWC, AAC, MVC, WCC, maybe CUSA but they've fallen.
 
Maybe when the A-10 had Xavier, Temple and Butler it was a higher major league. Now, it is mid major for sure. We were lucky to be a two bid league this year. We are a decent NIT league though.
 
Maybe when the A-10 had Xavier, Temple and Butler it was a higher major league. Now, it is mid major for sure. We were lucky to be a two bid league this year. We are a decent NIT league though.
That decade of Butler really helped...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Section9.RowD
Sure would be nice to get back to the days where 3 bids was the minimum expectation with more as gravy. We've been a two-bid conference the past three tournaments, and dangerously close to being one-bid in two of them (though I guess we were ultimately a "safe" two this year considering Dayton was first one out).
 
Maybe when the A-10 had Xavier, Temple and Butler it was a higher major league. Now, it is mid major for sure. We were lucky to be a two bid league this year. We are a decent NIT league though.
A10 had Butler for a year or two. X and Temple were certainly losses, but Temple is not the program it once was. I think you can argue leaving the A10 has hurt Temple basketball. And I think Davidson and now Loyola are very solid additions to the conference. I think the issue with the A10 is the very bottom of league. LaSalle, Fordham, and Duquesne seem consistently finish in the bottom of the conference. We need those schools to improve. Duquesne is spending money to upgrade the program. LaSalle and Fordham need to go. I think all the other schools can be very successful with the right leadership. I think coaching talent is getting better. Archie is a good hire for URI. Hopefully UMass can make a splash.
 
Fordham was almost .500 this year and seems to have made a good hire. LaSalle is starting over and needs to go. Duquesne has run a lot of good players through there under Dambrot but they either transfer out or he gets rid of them. Not sure what's going on there but that program should be better.
 
A10 had Butler for a year or two. X and Temple were certainly losses, but Temple is not the program it once was. I think you can argue leaving the A10 has hurt Temple basketball. And I think Davidson and now Loyola are very solid additions to the conference. I think the issue with the A10 is the very bottom of league. LaSalle, Fordham, and Duquesne seem consistently finish in the bottom of the conference. We need those schools to improve. Duquesne is spending money to upgrade the program. LaSalle and Fordham need to go. I think all the other schools can be very successful with the right leadership. I think coaching talent is getting better. Archie is a good hire for URI. Hopefully UMass can make a splash.
Xavier and Temple are powerhouse programs and we could fully replace them (I don't count Butler, because they were here for a hot minute). But, I think the league has really done well in backfilling the losses, with Davidson, Loyola and certainly VCU.

If there was one thing the league could do to really improve it would be somehow find a way to jettison LaSalle and Fordham. Yeah, I get that people say that will never happen, but it doesn't discount the fact that it should.
 
Fordham has a 4 star PG coming in next year who had some pretty big offers but wanted to stay local. that's huge news for them. now they've got to keep him and build from there.
Yes, Fordham needs to stop having 4 star players for only one season...
 
Haven't you overheard the Fordham players when they play at Robins talking about how the court is named after a former Fordham player? Wouldn't want to miss that!
 
Xavier and Temple are powerhouse programs and we could fully replace them (I don't count Butler, because they were here for a hot minute). But, I think the league has really done well in backfilling the losses, with Davidson, Loyola and certainly VCU.

If there was one thing the league could do to really improve it would be somehow find a way to jettison LaSalle and Fordham. Yeah, I get that people say that will never happen, but it doesn't discount the fact that it should.
I remember when people were saying this about St. Bonaventure over a decade ago, they were a fairly consistent cellar dweller from 2002-2010 with losing or .500 records each season. They're now a good program, so a good hire can turn a program around.
 
I remember when people were saying this about St. Bonaventure over a decade ago, they were a fairly consistent cellar dweller from 2002-2010 with losing or .500 records each season. They're now a good program, so a good hire can turn a program around.
Weren’t they hit with penalties due to some welding incident?
 
It absolutely torpedoed them...the whole staff, AD, and school president lost their jobs, and the NCAA penalized them with probation and loss of scholarships. They had to forfeit games, and the team refused to play the final week of the season.

In the five seasons before the scandal one, they'd gone to an NCAA and three NITs. All of that momentum was lost, Solomon couldn't get things going again, and it fell to Schmidt to get things back on track.
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
So, here is wiki's definition. It starts with a definition of every conference outside the BCS conference but the further down explains how conferences like the A-10, MWC have been viewed differently and above mid major but below the high majors.

Either way, him calling us a mid-major gives us insight into how he views our basketball program. I guarantee not one single person within the athletic department at VCU considers their program a mid-major.

Wiki mid-major definition
This is it exactly. We can debate whether or not the A10 is a mid major or not (for the record, I’m a not), but the team/school/most important can’t think/say that we are. We need to portray confidence that we’re a big deal and people need to respect us.

If we don’t respect ourselves and our standing, then no one else ever will…
 
200.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Is 500 t-shirts a lot? More than the usual bookstore volume, I'm sure, but is this worth an RTD article?

My wife got one of those t-shirts for free at the watch party on campus. They’re typical t-shirt giveaway quality.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT