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Well we knew for sure that moving to the AAC would provide a much tougher competitive landscape overall for Shocker Athletics after having pretty much dominated the All-Sports Trophy in the MVC for the final 10 to 15 years of the Shocks' time in the MVC.
While the AAC doesn't have an All-Sports Trophy competition it Is pretty obvious that things are much tougher in the AAC pretty much across the board.
In the Shocks first 2 years in the AAC they captured 3 AAC Championships, all by Shocker Women's programs. Volleyball in year 1 and XC and Outdoor T&F last year.
At this point I am kind of hard pressed to see where a Championship will come from this year. Perhaps the Shocks best chance this year may be softball. The Lady Shocks are picked to finish 2nd. Otherwise, I don't see any of our other programs being serious contenders this year. Men's tennis is playing pretty well this season but not sure they have the juice to win an AAC title.
Winning AAC Championships is clearly a prize that is much harder to come by than Valley Championships.
Of course, the key performance is always men's basketball. That has at best been a mixed bag of ups and downs so far during the Shocks time in the AAC. This year has certainly had its ups and downs. Hopefully, the guys finish this season on an upswing although right now they seem to be grinding.
As far as men's basketball goes I think the standard for success perhaps should be NCAA appearances and not necessarily winning League Championships.
Perhaps the same thing for Volleyball, Baseball and Softball.
Outside of UConn, who is leaving the conference, AAC women's basketball is not very good. Even with UConn in the league this year the AAC is only ranked 9th in conference RPI behind the Valley at 7th and the Ivy League at 8th. UConn is the only top 50 RPI program in the AAC this year. So going forward this may be a 1 bid league requiring a Conference Championship or a Conference Tournament Championship to make the NCAA.
While the AAC doesn't have an All-Sports Trophy competition it Is pretty obvious that things are much tougher in the AAC pretty much across the board.
In the Shocks first 2 years in the AAC they captured 3 AAC Championships, all by Shocker Women's programs. Volleyball in year 1 and XC and Outdoor T&F last year.
At this point I am kind of hard pressed to see where a Championship will come from this year. Perhaps the Shocks best chance this year may be softball. The Lady Shocks are picked to finish 2nd. Otherwise, I don't see any of our other programs being serious contenders this year. Men's tennis is playing pretty well this season but not sure they have the juice to win an AAC title.
Winning AAC Championships is clearly a prize that is much harder to come by than Valley Championships.
Of course, the key performance is always men's basketball. That has at best been a mixed bag of ups and downs so far during the Shocks time in the AAC. This year has certainly had its ups and downs. Hopefully, the guys finish this season on an upswing although right now they seem to be grinding.
As far as men's basketball goes I think the standard for success perhaps should be NCAA appearances and not necessarily winning League Championships.
Perhaps the same thing for Volleyball, Baseball and Softball.
Outside of UConn, who is leaving the conference, AAC women's basketball is not very good. Even with UConn in the league this year the AAC is only ranked 9th in conference RPI behind the Valley at 7th and the Ivy League at 8th. UConn is the only top 50 RPI program in the AAC this year. So going forward this may be a 1 bid league requiring a Conference Championship or a Conference Tournament Championship to make the NCAA.
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