American Athletic Conference

[Shoxfan11]

With 3 consecutive ncaa championships I don't see how Marshall can/will be denied anything

Only 3?

[Rlh04d]

I don't see how you can say the MVC is better than the WCC...having Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary's, and Pacific gives them a better top half of the conference...and saying "our bottom teams are better than yours" isn't saying much.

Going up against ACC, B1G, AAC, Big East, Big 12, Pac 12, MWC, SEC, A-10, WCC, CUSA...I don't see how the MVC could hope to crack the top 10 without Creighton.

You can't seriously think the CUSA is a better conference. CUSA returns two top 100 teams from last season and four top 200. The MVC returns three top 100 teams and eight top 200 teams. CUSA lost FAR more than we did, and we were better last year to start with.

As for not considering bottom teams ... do you understand how RPIs are determined? A conference's RPI is an average of all conference teams. The bottom teams hurt conference RPI just as much as the top teams help it. If the best team in the WCC is the #1 RPI and the worst is a #299, they're averaging out to a pair of #150's. If the MVC's best team is #30 and worst team is #200, that's an average of #115.

Also, Pacific? Are you drunk?

[Rlh04d]

I don't know too much about Pacific...but I believe they have 4 NCAAs, and 2 CIT tourneys the past 9 seasons...good enough to get them an invite to the WCC...they can really flourish there and challenge Gonzaga, BYU, and St Mary's.

Sounds like Evansville. They had four NCAA appearances and two NIT runs in the 13 seasons prior to joining the MVC. Five regular season championships in the MCC/Horizon. They were good enough to get them an invite the MVC, where they have truly flourished and challenged the top teams.

[UofMemphis]

You can't seriously think the CUSA is a better conference. CUSA returns two top 100 teams from last season and four top 200. The MVC returns three top 100 teams and eight top 200 teams. CUSA lost FAR more than we did, and we were better last year to start with.

As for not considering bottom teams ... do you understand how RPIs are determined? A conference's RPI is an average of all conference teams. The bottom teams hurt conference RPI just as much as the top teams help it.

Also, Pacific? Are you drunk?

I would give CUSA the edge, yes...after WSU the valley looks like hot garbage IMHO.

I actually think not having Memphis there to beat up everyone and take the NCAA auto bid every year will be a good think for CUSA...UTEP, UAB, Southern Miss, ODU, Charlotte, MTSU...good parity there.

WSU can do better than the Valley.

[WstateU]

I don't see how you can say the MVC is better than the WCC...having Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary's, and Pacific gives them a better top half of the conference...and saying "our bottom teams are better than yours" isn't saying much.

Going up against ACC, B1G, AAC, Big East, Big 12, Pac 12, MWC, SEC, A-10, WCC, CUSA...I don't see how the MVC could hope to crack the top 10 without Creighton.

You can't seriously think the CUSA is a better conference. CUSA returns two top 100 teams from last season and four top 200. The MVC returns three top 100 teams and eight top 200 teams. CUSA lost FAR more than we did, and we were better last year to start with.

As for not considering bottom teams ... do you understand how RPIs are determined? A conference's RPI is an average of all conference teams. The bottom teams hurt conference RPI just as much as the top teams help it. If the best team in the WCC is the #1 RPI and the worst is a #299, they're averaging out to a pair of #150's. If the MVC's best team is #30 and worst team is #200, that's an average of #115.

Also, Pacific? Are you drunk?

He wants another keg...

[UofMemphis]

I just don't see why WSU wouldn't want to be in a conference with UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, and Tulsa...Memphis, Tulsa, and SMU would make for good travel partners...you would get better money, better exposure, and better competition than the MVC could ever offer.

[Steeleshocker]

I just don't see why WSU wouldn't want to be in a conference with UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, and Tulsa...Memphis, Tulsa, and SMU would make for good travel partners...you would get better money, better exposure, and better competition than the MVC could ever offer.

I believe everyone here would take the AAC, Big East, or MWC over the current Valley. But we don't have that invitation yet. Hoping we get one this season, but there is never a guarantee.

The question is where the Valley is in conference pecking order. I seriously doubt that the current CUSA is better than the current Valley. Parity is only good if the team's are all good. Granted, things are not getting better but I think overall the valley is still better than the WCC and CUSA.

But I'd leave in a heartbeat to get in a more viable conference.

[SubGod22]

Saying CUSA is better than the MVC makes the rest of your post irrelevant. As has been pointed out, we were already better and return more. The MVC may not have flashy names, but there are some solid programs that add strength. As I said, maybe not this year, but next year is when you'll see the MVC show more strength as BU and ISU should make pretty good improvements and both, along with WSU could very well be Top 50 teams. And you can pretty much count on UNI being a Top 100 team along with ISUb and potentially UE. That's a pretty solid conference even if it doesn't have "brand name" schools at the moment.

And we've been pretty consistently better than the WCC even with Gonzaga and SMC. BYU should be better this year and Pacific is an OK school. But I'm pretty sure they had to win their conference tournament every year to get in so the fact that they made it doesn't say a lot for any strength that they bring. They could be committed and improve or they could be Evansville and just be one of those teams that isn't horrible but isn't really all that good. That pretty much defines what Evansville has been in the MVC.

And nobody has said they wouldn't enjoy being in the AAC. Personally, of the three other conferences that we talk about with this realignment stuff, the AAC is my third choice. I'd love to be in the MWC even though it's west. It's better basketball and would also improve our volleyball and baseball and maybe track. I can't speak for the other minor sports. I'd then choose the Big East as they're basketball focused and a solid conference. The AAC still has some awfully weak programs but as long as it has Cinci and UConn, it's a solid conference as well. It may help with baseball, but I'm not sure about the others. One other good thing about it is that it would put us in areas that 3G and company recruit pretty hard. Would probably help with recruiting when we could promise them that they'd be able to play in front of family some.

To recap, the MVC is down this year but may still have a better RPI than the WCC and/or CUSA.

[wufan]

I would give CUSA the edge, yes...after WSU the valley looks like hot garbage IMHO.

I actually think not having Memphis there to beat up everyone and take the NCAA auto bid every year will be a good think for CUSA...UTEP, UAB, Southern Miss, ODU, Charlotte, MTSU...good parity there.

WSU can do better than the Valley.

UTEP RPI = 97.
UAB RPI = 142
Southern Miss RPI = 27
ODU RPI = 318!!!
Charlotte = 81
MTSU = Don't even know what that is.

WSU RPI = 18
Indiana State = 72
UNI = 80
Evansville = 89
Illinois State = 106…do you even follow basketball?

[tropicalshox]

MTSU = Middle Tennessee State.

[wufan]

MTSU = Middle Tennessee State.

Well they were pretty good in the Sun Belt. I'm sure they'll dominate what is left of CUSA.

[Rlh04d]

I just don't see why WSU wouldn't want to be in a conference with UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, and Tulsa...Memphis, Tulsa, and SMU would make for good travel partners...you would get better money, better exposure, and better competition than the MVC could ever offer.

Everyone here would rather be in the AAC than the MVC. Keep up.

[Rlh04d]

I would give CUSA the edge, yes...after WSU the valley looks like hot garbage IMHO.

I actually think not having Memphis there to beat up everyone and take the NCAA auto bid every year will be a good think for CUSA...UTEP, UAB, Southern Miss, ODU, Charlotte, MTSU...good parity there.

WSU can do better than the Valley.

Absolutely CUSA has parity. It's just not GOOD parity. If everyone is mediocre, that's parity.

You've lost your mind if you think CUSA is going to be a better conference. After WSU we have Indiana State, which was a top 50 RPI for nearly the entire season before collapsing near the end, but returns four of five starters. It's not a great conference, but it's likely a conference with three top 100 RPIs next season and five others in the 100-200 range. That's significantly better than what CUSA will have, where losing Memphis will lower the RPIs of every other team.

As for all of the teams you listed, only MTSU isn't "hot garbage."

[UofMemphis]

UTEP RPI = 97.
UAB RPI = 142
Southern Miss RPI = 27
ODU RPI = 318!!!
Charlotte = 81
MTSU = Don't even know what that is.

WSU RPI = 18
Indiana State = 72
UNI = 80
Evansville = 89
Illinois State = 106…do you even follow basketball?

That team you've never heard of went 28-5 with an RPI of 28 and an NCAA appearance.

Southern Miss = 27
MTSU = 28
La Tech = 53
Charlotte = 81
UTEP = 97

ODU is a very tradition rich program that had a down season and fired its coach...

going up against the WCC and CUSA for that #10 spot doesn't fare well for the MVC IMHO.

But I do admit spending 15 years in CUSA gives me a sweet spot for them.

[wufan]

I am very familiar with ODU. They have had good recent tradition...but 300+. Take a look at SIU. They have had higher highs, but havent been a 318! 318 and then one year wonder Middle Tennessee State. They aren't even a directional school...they're "middle".