Air Force to valley? WTH

[SubGod22]

Not sure how I feel about this. They had a nice run a while back, but lately......it hasn't been pretty. Looks like they'd be a candidate for the play-in round....

RPI - SOS
110 - 62
245 - 104
270 - 139
176 - 151
29 - 75
49 - 158
116 - 236
82 - 229

I'm not sure what there is attractive. If we add anybody, it should be someone with a good reputation that could compete in the upper half if not at the very top. AFA doesn't appear to be that candidate.

[shockar25]

The problem is, the Valley isn't attractive to that type of school--a top tier basketball school unfortunately. Air Force might be the best the Valley can do given our recent 'success' in the NCAA tourney and with the selection committee.

I wish it weren't true....

[DoubleJayAlum]

The problem is, the Valley isn't attractive to that type of school--a top tier basketball school unfortunately. Air Force might be the best the Valley can do given our recent 'success' in the NCAA tourney and with the selection committee.

I wish it weren't true....

That doesn't sound like a reason to add them though, even assuming that everything you've said is true. In essence what we are really looking at here is adding a school simply to add a school. Quantity doesn't make the MVC any better; quality makes the MVC better.

One other thing to consider -- How would adding AFA make the MWC feel? We are in the midst of a MVC-MWC challenge that has given our schools some very quality opponents. Is there a possibility that if we add AFA, the MWC gets pissed and doesn't renew the challenge? If that is even a remote possibility, I'd be against adding AFA for that reason alone.

[Ta town]

The problem is, the Valley isn't attractive to that type of school--a top tier basketball school unfortunately. Air Force might be the best the Valley can do given our recent 'success' in the NCAA tourney and with the selection committee.

I wish it weren't true....

Like I said when I started this post no thanks, unless with them you can bring in a 12th member that offsets AFA's horrible basketball, i.e. a Butler for instance. We all know that isn't going to happen so I don't see this as a positive.

I wasn't really paying attention in the early to mid 90's to league stuff but I wonder why in the world the Valley felt compelled to grow past 8 teams after Tulsa left.

If the option to add is a team that brings longterm value to the league then sure you add, but the thing about adding when you don't have to is that you CAN'T start kicking people out.

[_kai_]

The problem is, the Valley isn't attractive to that type of school--a top tier basketball school unfortunately. Air Force might be the best the Valley can do given our recent 'success' in the NCAA tourney and with the selection committee.

I wish it weren't true....

That doesn't sound like a reason to add them though, even assuming that everything you've said is true. In essence what we are really looking at here is adding a school simply to add a school. Quantity doesn't make the MVC any better; quality makes the MVC better.

One other thing to consider -- How would adding AFA make the MWC feel? We are in the midst of a MVC-MWC challenge that has given our schools some very quality opponents. Is there a possibility that if we add AFA, the MWC gets pissed and doesn't renew the challenge? If that is even a remote possibility, I'd be against adding AFA for that reason alone.

In all reality I don't think it would piss the MWC off to lose AFA. They'd probably upgrade.

[Ta town]

What we really need to happen is for the CUSA to fall apart due to the BEAST and MWC, and Tulsa parking their sports here and playing football in some expanded MWC. That would be good stuff right there.

[DoubleJayAlum]

The problem is, the Valley isn't attractive to that type of school--a top tier basketball school unfortunately. Air Force might be the best the Valley can do given our recent 'success' in the NCAA tourney and with the selection committee.

I wish it weren't true....

That doesn't sound like a reason to add them though, even assuming that everything you've said is true. In essence what we are really looking at here is adding a school simply to add a school. Quantity doesn't make the MVC any better; quality makes the MVC better.

One other thing to consider -- How would adding AFA make the MWC feel? We are in the midst of a MVC-MWC challenge that has given our schools some very quality opponents. Is there a possibility that if we add AFA, the MWC gets pissed and doesn't renew the challenge? If that is even a remote possibility, I'd be against adding AFA for that reason alone.

In all reality I don't think it would piss the MWC off to lose AFA. They'd probably upgrade.

So we should take a team that the MWC would be happy about losing?

[SubGod22]

The problem is, the Valley isn't attractive to that type of school--a top tier basketball school unfortunately. Air Force might be the best the Valley can do given our recent 'success' in the NCAA tourney and with the selection committee.

I wish it weren't true....

That doesn't sound like a reason to add them though, even assuming that everything you've said is true. In essence what we are really looking at here is adding a school simply to add a school. Quantity doesn't make the MVC any better; quality makes the MVC better.

One other thing to consider -- How would adding AFA make the MWC feel? We are in the midst of a MVC-MWC challenge that has given our schools some very quality opponents. Is there a possibility that if we add AFA, the MWC gets pissed and doesn't renew the challenge? If that is even a remote possibility, I'd be against adding AFA for that reason alone.

In all reality I don't think it would piss the MWC off to lose AFA. They'd probably upgrade.

So we should take a team that the MWC would be happy about losing?

Exactly. We all respect the AFA for what it is, but it isn't a basketball school that's going to offer much help to the Valley. Looking only at RPI, they're a bottom tier team that'd be destined for Thursday night. If we're going to expand, we need to at the very worst find somebody that could be a mid to upper finish and not drag down RPIs. That is NOT AFA.

[ABC]

I don't get it.

They want to leave the MWC b/c they aren't competitive in Olympic Sports? Maybe they underestimate how difficult many of our sports are.

[1972Shocker]

I don't get it.

They want to leave the MWC b/c they aren't competitive in Olympic Sports? Maybe they underestimate how difficult many of our sports are.

They have about 12 OLY sports (9 men's and 3 women's) the MVC does not even participate in so I guess they win those by default and having no one else to play does save tremendously on travel costs.

[Aargh]

The only good years AFA has had in BB were under Bzdelik. In 4 years, Reynolds has had kenpom ratings around 130 twice and around 250 twice.

Reynolds' average kenpom rating is around 190. The Valley's average kenpom rating last year was around 140. We all consider last year to have been a down year for the Valley.

A lot of the schools brought into the Valley were reasonably new to D1 and had some success, but they had the advantage of moving to a conference with more prestige than the conference they left. That improved their ability to attract coaches and players. AFA doesn't get that, so they would likely remain what they are - a weak BB program.

A basketball coach at AFA can't recruit anybody taller than 6'8" and the highest weight allowed at that height is 250.

[BOBB]

The only good years AFA has had in BB were under Bzdelik. In 4 years, Reynolds has had kenpom ratings around 130 twice and around 250 twice.

Reynolds' average kenpom rating is around 190. The Valley's average kenpom rating last year was around 140. We all consider last year to have been a down year for the Valley.

A lot of the schools brought into the Valley were reasonably new to D1 and had some success, but they had the advantage of moving to a conference with more prestige than the conference they left. That improved their ability to attract coaches and players. AFA doesn't get that, so they would likely remain what they are - a weak BB program.

A basketball coach at AFA can't recruit anybody taller than 6'8" and the highest weight allowed at that height is 250.

Are there different rules for the Navy? How did David Robinson get in?

[DoubleJayAlum]

The only good years AFA has had in BB were under Bzdelik. In 4 years, Reynolds has had kenpom ratings around 130 twice and around 250 twice.

Reynolds' average kenpom rating is around 190. The Valley's average kenpom rating last year was around 140. We all consider last year to have been a down year for the Valley.

A lot of the schools brought into the Valley were reasonably new to D1 and had some success, but they had the advantage of moving to a conference with more prestige than the conference they left. That improved their ability to attract coaches and players. AFA doesn't get that, so they would likely remain what they are - a weak BB program.

A basketball coach at AFA can't recruit anybody taller than 6'8" and the highest weight allowed at that height is 250.

Are there different rules for the Navy? How did David Robinson get in?

IIRC, Robinson actually did a majority of his growing AFTER he had already been admitted to the Naval Academy. They also gave him the option of getting out of the academy because it was a touch inconvenient to both parties. Robinson, being a top quality kid, said that he had given his word and planned on honoring that, even though it would require him to commit a few more years of service after college.

[_kai_]

After talking about it with some guys over on a Colorado board, it really is a horrible team to bring in to The Valley.

Their arena is only 5,000 people. and their baseball team is traditionally one of the worst teams in the country. It really isn't a good move :-\

[wufan]

The only good years AFA has had in BB were under Bzdelik. In 4 years, Reynolds has had kenpom ratings around 130 twice and around 250 twice.

Reynolds' average kenpom rating is around 190. The Valley's average kenpom rating last year was around 140. We all consider last year to have been a down year for the Valley.

A lot of the schools brought into the Valley were reasonably new to D1 and had some success, but they had the advantage of moving to a conference with more prestige than the conference they left. That improved their ability to attract coaches and players. AFA doesn't get that, so they would likely remain what they are - a weak BB program.

A basketball coach at AFA can't recruit anybody taller than 6'8" and the highest weight allowed at that height is 250.

Are there different rules for the Navy? How did David Robinson get in?

IIRC, Robinson actually did a majority of his growing AFTER he had already been admitted to the Naval Academy. They also gave him the option of getting out of the academy because it was a touch inconvenient to both parties. Robinson, being a top quality kid, said that he had given his word and planned on honoring that, even though it would require him to commit a few more years of service after college.

I believe the max height for enlistment in the Navy is 6-8. I think David grew like 5-6 inches between his "enlistment date" and the NBA draft.