American Athletic Conference

[Rlh04d]

Maybe being in Hawaii skews your sense of geography, Rlh, but isn't St. Louis on the WEST coast (of the Mississippi River, that is)?

>=)

My very next post said they were expanding with eastern members and likely losing their western members.

Simply put, Saint Louis and Dayton are pretty much on the outside of the A10. The expansion they've done recently has all been moving further onto the east coast and further marginalizing their western members. If they didn't think those two schools were likely to jump to the Big East, I don't think they'd keep expanding to the east. They would try to even out the geography of the conference more. I think those two are gone, and all recent expansion (George Mason, Davidson, etc.) has been to the east.

I'd be shocked if SLU is in that conference in two years.

[pogo]

I think there will be a lot of pressure for SLU to maintain its program for the next couple of years. They look to be a pretty good target for expansion into the Big Priest if they can maintain their competitive ways.

[WSUwatcher]

The longer we dominate the Valley, the higher the chance is of Gregg Marshall leaving Wichita State for more a more competitive league. Coaches like competition.

Ask Mark Few about that, DP. I'd say coaches like being happy -- well, except for Mr. Perpetually Discontented, a/k/a Larry Brown.

[DPruett2333]

Ask Mark Few about that, DP. I'd say coaches like being happy -- well, except for Mr. Perpetually Discontented, a/k/a Larry Brown.

I'm not saying he isn't happy; but smacking the Valley year after year, if no other school steps up, could become monotonous to him.

And Mark Few is the exception, not the norm.

We need out of the Valley.

[ripemupshocks]

The longer we dominate the Valley, the higher the chance is of Gregg Marshall leaving Wichita State for more a more competitive league. Coaches like competition.

I'm not saying he isn't happy; but smacking the Valley year after year, if no other school steps up, could become monotonous to him.

And Mark Few is the exception, not the norm.

We need out of the Valley.

I partially agree with you DPruett. I think HC3G loves a challenge. Tell the man he can't accomplish something and he'll fight like hell to prove you wrong. But I don't think the MVC being so weak that he wins it every year would drive him away. Rather, I think the idea of the Valley being so weak that if he didn't win it, and finished second or third, and still didn't get an NCAA bid, now that would drive him away. The MVC being a multi-bid conference, and Winthrop being in a one bid conference, is of course, one of the reasons he gave for leaving that job and coming here.

[wu_shizzle]

I partially agree with you DPruett. I think HC3G loves a challenge. Tell the man he can't accomplish something and he'll fight like hell to prove you wrong. But I don't think the MVC being so weak that he wins it every year would drive him away. Rather, I think the idea of the Valley being so weak that if he didn't win it, and finished second or third, and still didn't get an NCAA bid, now that would drive him away. The MVC being a multi-bid conference, and Winthrop being in a one bid conference, is of course, one of the reasons he gave for leaving that job and coming here.

Win big at Winthrop = 16 seed

Win big at Wichita St = 1 seed

Big difference.

[SirShoxAlot]

Winthrop was usually seeded around 12-13. Very respectable program.

[WSUwatcher]

Winthrop was usually seeded around 12-13. Very respectable program.

Actually, guys, Marshall's NCAA teams at Winthrop were seeded 16th three times, 15th once, 14th twice (including 2005, when they set what was then the school record with 27 wins); and (in 2007, his only team to win an NCAA game, the school record 29 game winner that landed him at WSU the following season) 11th once.

So, to fix shizzle's comment:

Set the school record at Winthrop, get seeded 14th or 11th, make a few hundred thousand dollars. Set the school record at WSU, get seeded potentially 1st or maybe 2nd, make a couple million dollars.

As he said, Big difference.

[SirShoxAlot]

Oh, there's that crow. I'm hungry.

[Rambler63]

Butler disagrees with you.

Butler--- you mean the team that is 1-7 in conference, in sole possession of last place in the Big East, with their next three games at Seton Hall, at Marquette, and at Georgetown? I wonder if their third conference in three years is to their liking....

[Ixiah]

I really think that Butler's former head coach saw what was coming and got out before things collapsed ...

[ShockerPrez]

Actually, guys, Marshall's NCAA teams at Winthrop were seeded 16th three times, 15th once, 14th twice (including 2005, when they set what was then the school record with 27 wins); and (in 2007, his only team to win an NCAA game, the school record 29 game winner that landed him at WSU the following season) 11th once.

So, to fix shizzle's comment:

Set the school record at Winthrop, get seeded 14th or 11th, make a few hundred thousand dollars. Set the school record at WSU, get seeded potentially 1st or maybe 2nd, make a couple million dollars.

As he said, Big difference.

Lets not forget that this is possibly the worst Valley conference ever. If the Valley had just 2 or 3 teams that didnt suck. We wouldnt be debating if the Shockers coupd get a 1 seed with an undefeated season.

[molly jabali]

I really think that Butler's former head coach saw what was coming and got out before things collapsed ...

I've thought that recently myself...which is kind of a bad reflection on HIM, because it they slipped, he did not keep them stocked...

[wufan]

Lets not forget that this is possibly the worst Valley conference ever. If the Valley had just 2 or 3 teams that didnt suck. We wouldnt be debating if the Shockers coupd get a 1 seed with an undefeated season.

It's actually not from an RPI perspective. In the last 25 years, there have been 4 or 5 worse years, including one where the best team had an RPI in the 90s.

[ABC]

Lets not forget that this is possibly the worst Valley conference ever. If the Valley had just 2 or 3 teams that didnt suck. We wouldnt be debating if the Shockers coupd get a 1 seed with an undefeated season.

I think we forget how bad the MVC was in the early 1990s. Seems like SIU won it a bunch in a row + the tournament and then would get bounced in an uncompetitive game in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It's been worse.