I think VCU might have been the last team in had Mason won today giving the league two bids, but yeah the path moving forward for the A10 is tough. Dayton did what they had to OOC but still had little room for error in conference play. All the WCC/MW teams benefit from having fewer opponents to choose from out west during the OOC schedule + their conferences are less bloated. We'll see if the MW lays an egg in the first round again.

The A10 needs to start a conference challenge with the AAC or similar conference during OOC play. Even mid-major conferences like the MAC and Sun Belt are doing it! Other quality mid-majors I'm sure would be willing to face a top A10 team on a neutral as well. Gotta get creative - schools like SLU and VCU who were supposedly expected to be at-large hopefuls at the start of the season had subpar schedules. Maybe find a way to get the best teams to play each other a third time or something at the end of the regular season. The weak scheduling for the expected bad teams in the league made sense (GW executed this fairly well to make them a Q2 road game for some teams at least), but the top of the league needed to do more.

Seeing North Carolina make the field is outrageous. The ACC is awful and they had 1 Q1 win. No words. Moving forward, complaining about seeding in the NCAA tournament will basically be a waste of time if leagues like the SEC are going to get 14 teams in. It becomes very hard to get these teams to avoid playing each other in the early rounds when there's so many of them. I thought VCU as an 11 was crazy while Memphis was a 5 but I think the committee was trying to avoid repeat conference matchups rather than care about who was what seed.

dmvpiranha wrote:

I think VCU might have been the last team in had Mason won today giving the league two bids, but yeah the path moving forward for the A10 is tough. Dayton did what they had to OOC but still had little room for error in conference play. All the WCC/MW teams benefit from having fewer opponents to choose from out west during the OOC schedule + their conferences are less bloated. We'll see if the MW lays an egg in the first round again.

The A10 needs to start a conference challenge with the AAC or similar conference during OOC play. Even mid-major conferences like the MAC and Sun Belt are doing it! Other quality mid-majors I'm sure would be willing to face a top A10 team on a neutral as well. Gotta get creative - schools like SLU and VCU who were supposedly expected to be at-large hopefuls at the start of the season had subpar schedules. Maybe find a way to get the best teams to play each other a third time or something at the end of the regular season. The weak scheduling for the expected bad teams in the league made sense (GW executed this fairly well to make them a Q2 road game for some teams at least), but the top of the league needed to do more.

Seeing North Carolina make the field is outrageous. The ACC is awful and they had 1 Q1 win. No words. Moving forward, complaining about seeding in the NCAA tournament will basically be a waste of time if leagues like the SEC are going to get 14 teams in. It becomes very hard to get these teams to avoid playing each other in the early rounds when there's so many of them. I thought VCU as an 11 was crazy while Memphis was a 5 but I think the committee was trying to avoid repeat conference matchups rather than care about who was what seed.

Pretty sure VCU would have been out.  In the interview, the vice chair of the committee said they had a contingency bracket voted on last night that would have UNC out if UAB upset Memphis.  That would mean their inclusion wasn’t contingent on the A10 title game, meaning they were only taking the champ regardless.

And I agree UNC in is outrageous.  No question their AD being chair (despite recusal when UNC comes up) is a factor and their brand name matters.

If an A10 team went 1-12 vs Q1, they wouldn’t even be on the bubble. Not even close

As an old fuddy duddy from the 70's I remember when GW played Georgetown, Maryland, Virginia, American, West Virginia, Pitt, Penn and many more.  It was a blast. 
Fast forward to todays product and you get a seventh year effing student with teammates who have a combined 17 other schools under their belt and coaching carousels, nil $$, endorsements, betting websites and it becomes tainted everywhere you turn.  SEC ought to be ashamed.  
As a fan of the game it has become nearly unwatchable.  I had to make an effort to complete VCU/Mason game today.  It was boring as hell, dirty ball, stoppages every 4 seconds, crappy sportsmanship and quite the psychotic crowd.  Contrast that to Yale/Cornell which was a great game with mutual respect and great coaches. Give me that any day of the week. 
There are too many fingers in too many pies.  I agree there needs to be in season regional tourneys.  The national picture is out of control and getting worse.  

As an old fuddy duddy from the 60's I remember playing The Hoya's, Md. home and home every year. W. Va was a big rival. Jerry West .Usually at Fort Mayer. If it was a big game it would be at some ice arena. Went to the first game at the Smith center.
Not making much of a point here but things are certainly different now. Not necessary better.
Lets hope we can keep Castro.
 

Over the last 15 years, the Atlantic 10 has been incredibly stable, with an average ranking (2011-2020 RPI, 2021-25 NET) of 8.3125. We've been ranked 7th-9th 10 times, 6th twice, and 10-12th 4 times.

I think we've been pretty incredibly stable as a conference despite a lot of membership changes. VCU was a dynamite addition. Mason has been inconsistent, but has the pieces to thrive. Davidson is probably a toss-up in the post-McKillop the Elder era. Losing UMass sucks from a historical perspective, but they aren't what they used to be anyway. These have been very, very choppy waters, but the conference has stayed upright throughout.

Whether McGlade has negotiated the TV deals the conference needs I can't say, but I'm not sure what more we'd be asking from a commissioner. Would you rather be like the WCC and have Gonzaga and Saint Mary's go to a million tournaments while the rest of the conference languishes? No thanks. 

Other Average Rankings:
BIG EAST: 3.1875
American: 7.833
Mountain West: 8.5
Missouri Valley 10.625
 

creeksandzeeks wrote:

Over the last 15 years, the Atlantic 10 has been incredibly stable, with an average ranking (2011-2020 RPI, 2021-25 NET) of 8.3125. We've been ranked 7th-9th 10 times, 6th twice, and 10-12th 4 times.

I think we've been pretty incredibly stable as a conference despite a lot of membership changes. VCU was a dynamite addition. Mason has been inconsistent, but has the pieces to thrive. Davidson is probably a toss-up in the post-McKillop the Elder era. Losing UMass sucks from a historical perspective, but they aren't what they used to be anyway. These have been very, very choppy waters, but the conference has stayed upright throughout.

Whether McGlade has negotiated the TV deals the conference needs I can't say, but I'm not sure what more we'd be asking from a commissioner. Would you rather be like the WCC and have Gonzaga and Saint Mary's go to a million tournaments while the rest of the conference languishes? No thanks. 

Other Average Rankings:
BIG EAST: 3.1875
American: 7.833
Mountain West: 8.5
Missouri Valley 10.625
 

The Mountain West seems to be the only non power conference to figure out how to get multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament. They got 6 teams in last year and 4 teams in this year, including 3 of the 4 at large bids that went to non power conferences. Does anyone on here know what they have done that the A10 and other mid majors haven’t?

Worth noting that in the Mountain West, there are 5 teams that are top 75 (which means playing them on the road is a Q1 game), and the A10 had three. Saint Joe's was #76. 

Also worth noting that Air Force had the fewest Q1 games in the Mountain West with 5. Utah State had 6. The rest had 7 or more.

Dayton played 6 Q1 games (going 3-3, incredibly). Mason, Davidson, and La Salle each played 5 (winning just one game between them), and the rest played 4 or fewer. GW, Rhody and Duquesne all went 0-1 in Q1 games.

SCHEDULE. SCHEDULE. SCHEDULE.

creeksandzeeks wrote:

Worth noting that in the Mountain West, there are 5 teams that are top 75 (which means playing them on the road is a Q1 game), and the A10 had three. Saint Joe's was #76. 

Also worth noting that Air Force had the fewest Q1 games in the Mountain West with 5. Utah State had 6. The rest had 7 or more.

Dayton played 6 Q1 games (going 3-3, incredibly). Mason, Davidson, and La Salle each played 5 (winning just one game between them), and the rest played 4 or fewer. GW, Rhody and Duquesne all went 0-1 in Q1 games.

SCHEDULE. SCHEDULE. SCHEDULE.

I quickly compared the OOC SOS for A10 vs. MWC teams on KenPom and it was very eye opening. The A10 average OOC SOS ranking was 271 compared to 156 for the MWC. Here is a breakdown:

OOC SOS Ranking Range  - # A10 Teams - # MWC Teams
001-100 - 1 A10 - 3 MWC
100-200 - 1 A10 - 4 MWC
200-300 - 8 A10 - 4 MWC
300-364 - 5 A10 - 0 MWC

There has been a lot of discussion on here about how A10 schools can't schedule quality teams in the OOC, but the Mountain West teams seem to be able to do it.

Well, we can control our own schedule, if not the league's.
And while acknowledging it and appreciate the point brought our attention by 0509, just as a general principle, the idea of having to beat up on lesser teams to manipulate your rankings is just a bad thing. 
  It may be the reality of what you need to do these days, but it's a pretty evil idea.