Ha, I thought you were going to be talking about specific games for "what if"

What if...

1. Pops doesn't hurt his knee vs. La Salle?
2. The 15-16 team doesn't lose by 21 versus DePaul after being ranked #20?

To answer your question, I will still root for GW and buy season tickets, but my expectations for what is possible will diminish (to be fair, the A10 has basically become a 2-bid conference at best already with the NIL stuff, super conferences, and the NET screwing up scheduling).  

Those scenarios are completely different, as far as I am concerned. The first scenario involves actions that are outside of GW's control - we cannot control if other teams decide to leave the A10, as has happened many times over the years. As a result, this would have no impact at all on my interest in the team or willingness to continue to purchase season tickets. Under the second scenario, GW would be CHOOSING to leave the conference for a lesser conference. To me that makes no sense whatsoever, from a competitive or economic point of view. It would signal to me that the university no longer cares about our BB program, so why would I continue to care? In other words, that scenario would significantly diminish my interest in the program, and would probably lead me to stop purchasing season tickets.

I thought the "what if" was going to be something along the lines of "what if you had the ability to form a 12-team A10 ignoring current realignment trends"

My thoughts are pretty much aligned with DC Native. No change in support or commitment for scenario #1, although I have to say any scenario that has St. Joe's and GMU leaving for "greener pastures" and not GW is a level of doom and gloom I didn't think was possible. None of the replacement options sound intriguing outside of Charleston. I don't think Vermont will be as relevant nationally in the rev share era. Siena may have been interesting 10-15 years ago but not now. Agree with GWRising that an MVC school like Drake or Belmont would make sense to pair with Charleston since the league is looking at sizable markets to tap into. I do also wonder whether Wichita State would be interested in a basketball-first league, especially since the American is trending down. Heck, if the Big Ten and ACC are going coast-to-coast, maybe adding a western division with WCC teams isn't as insane of a proposition as it used to be (even sans Gonzaga).

Also, the talks about Dayton, SLU, and VCU moving up feels questionable right now. The Big East media deal was redone last year, so nothing is happening until like 2030 at the earliest. Even then, I think the league is waiting to see what happens with the ACC if they are expanding. X will/has blocked Dayton from entering (much like DePaul with Loyola). SLU I think makes sense for the BE in a lot of ways, but let's be honest - the level of success just hasn't been there despite checking a lot of boxes. VCU would be #1 based on success, but doesn't fit the BE culturally (although I guess that is mattering less with realignment nowadays).

As for scenario 2...just no. I know this thread is purely hypothetical, but is there a requirement every offseason to entertain the idea of GW moving to the Patriot League? I have never understood this position. Maybe it's a hot take, but at that point I'd rather go D3 because the PL would be trying to stay D1 just for the sake of it. There would be no commitment to athletics, as all the schools have opted out of rev share and it would probably give the school an excuse to just cut the athletic budget. I'm not sure the chances of winning the conference tournament would be a given every year either. GW has benefitted from transfers in for a while now, that wouldn't exist in the PL and there would be more transfers out. Also, given Fordham and Richmond are or will be members of the PL for football I would imagine they are ahead of GW on the list if we were to entertain that idea.

Going back to the original question, for #2 the support would be less and honestly I'd be checked out during the first half of the season until conference play starts. I respect low-major fans so much and am thankful to be in the A10 where there is still a chance against anyone during OOC play.
 

dmvpiranha wrote:

As for scenario 2...just no. I know this thread is purely hypothetical, but is there a requirement every offseason to entertain the idea of GW moving to the Patriot League? I have never understood this position. M
 

Given the very apparent increase in financial support from the school to pay our roster it would seem a bit odd to think the school has any interest in dropping to a lower conference.

This is obviously, as advertised, a hypothetical placeholder to keep us awake preseason.
Nonetheless, anything is plausible. We've learned that with geographically bizarre league hopping, the the transfer revolution and NIL, all within recent years.
   I think we tend to support the name on the jersey, at the least the GW part, though the old team name
was fine. But now the players are in effect, professional. So far, because of the level we're at, and CC'S
values, we still have players who appear to be legitimate students, as opposed to some other teams.
    Personally, would be thrilled in a world with no scholarships and whoever happened to be in school
played for GW. But the Patriot League is most likely far from pure. Even top high school teams aren't based
on who's coming to the school normally.
   It's human nature to find a workaround. But to be honest, the players are now pros, with what seems like
less of a guaranteed roster than the NBA.
    As pointed out by several posters above, we have undergone close to a decade of abysmal or at least
underperforming play and even the big turnaround last year was still .500 in team play. Now things look
good, but we'll see when the ball is thrown up in league play or against equivalent or higher-rated opponents.
    CC may be leading us there--and kudos to him for his efforts, along with AD Lipitz, etc.
    But in the end, it is us, the fans who have suffered a variety of GW Basketball indignities-- and still stayed with the team. And especially those running these boards, past and present, during the long time in the
college basketball wilderness.
     While we appreciate the coaching staff, administration and players, many are generally pretty well paid. We're not--and we're still here.
  So, while I wouldn't encourage any more avoidable craziness that GW can control, it would likely take
a real lot for the hardcore here to lose our loyalty to the Buff and Blue.

Villanova, Rutgers, Xavier, Pitt, Penn State, Temple, West Virginia, Virginia Tech...off the top of my head.   These are former members of the Eastern 8/Atlantic 10 that have bolted for greener pastures, yet the conference still managed to stay afloat and competitive, always ranking among the top of the non power conferences.   We can survive further changes.

NCAA College Basketball RPI Rankings (updated today)

take a look

Dayton and VCU are the only A10 teams with any potential to move up to a Top 5 Conference

A-10 is the 6th ranked basketball conference after the Big East and the P4
with no major football programs there is little chance of any A-10 school moving to a P4 conference

Big East has a preponderance of Catholic and Private Universities, which may hinder Dayton and VCU.
Not sure of the media Richmond/VCU market size and does it conflict with Georgetown/Washington, DC?
I believe the arena size also hurts VCU so they may need to move multiple conference games to a larger arena.
i.e., what else does VCU bring to the BE besides an A10 dominant BBall team?

For sure Xavier would vote against Dayton joining as they are somewhat close to one another.

If A10 were to lose anyone, but especially Dayton and/or VCU,
There will be candidates from the best teams of the lower ranked basketball conferences that the A-10 would be an upgrade.  The only additional concerns would be location/travel times and media market size/value and no D1 FB programs.

I'd be willing to bet that Gonzaga or any program in the Western USA would never join the A10 (although we should have a few series with/against them).

Top teams in key media markets, without a D1 football program and in a certain geographical footprint from conferences ranked 7-15 (except the Ivy League) should be considered for the next A-10 opening.
 

Alum1 wrote:

The problem with any comparison to the “Eastern 8” days is that the model is so fundamentally different now that it makes that comparison useless.

The A10 was in trouble during the NIL wild west days, but I think the new rules that allow schools to pay athletes directly will help the A10. The P4 and most of the mid major conferences have football and will waste most of their money on that. Conferences without football, like the A10 and Big East, will be able to invest more in BB. Things will get even better for the A10 if they start to clamp down on NIL, which is coming. I for one am feeling a lot better about both GW and the A10 these days.

AT Hiker wrote:

From what I hear the current A-10 schools are not looking to leave. And the new rules that have D-1 universities compensate players really helps GW as DC Native points out. The good news is all A-10 athletic programs are relying exclusively on university funding including Dayton and VCU.

 
Interesting perspectives. Hope you and Native are right!