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Tough going for AAC

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vtcwbuff

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Both Sagarin and Massey have dropped them below the Big East in their conference rankings following a brutal weekend of games. Counting Friday games the conference was 6-10.
 

DobbsRover2

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Yeah, it's not going to be an easy slog for the AAC teams trying to build stronger programs, but at least now they are playing far stronger schedules and hopefully getting better prepared than they were two years ago. And the Big East teams in general are also finding more of a groove as they start plowing through the third year since the split. Look at 4-3 Tulane and see how much better the results really are than two years when they were also 4-3 after 7 games. Sure, they're expected to lose to FSU, Green Bay, and Rutgers, but they've beaten an LSU team that had four wins over ranked teams last year and a Virginia team that knocked off Louisville last year, and they also have a win over last year Tourney team UArk Little Rock. Two years their early wins were poor and their early losses were to sludgy P5 teams.

Sure it's uneven, and Tulsa especially has had a tougher time, but even they have a road win over an SEC team, Arkansas. Some weekends like the last one were half empty or a bit less, but some in the future will be more than half full. And the AAC still had a better Tourney record than all the other conferences last year.:rolleyes:
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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Yeah, it's not going to be an easy slog for the AAC teams trying to build stronger programs, but at least now they are playing far stronger schedules and hopefully getting better prepared than they were two years ago. And the Big East teams in general are also finding more of a groove as they start plowing through the third year since the split. Look at 4-3 Tulane and see how much better the results really are than two years when they were also 4-3 after 7 games. Sure, they're expected to lose to FSU, Green Bay, and Rutgers, but they've beaten an LSU team that had four wins over ranked teams last year and a Virginia team that knocked off Louisville last year, and they also have a win over last year Tourney team UArk Little Rock. Two years their early wins were poor and their early losses were to sludgy P5 teams.

Sure it's uneven, and Tulsa especially has had a tougher time, but even they have a road win over an SEC team, Arkansas. Some weekends like the last one were half empty or a bit less, but some in the future will be more than half full. And the AAC still had a better Tourney record than all the other conferences last year.:rolleyes:
I always say, eye test. I can't see why Tulane would be automatically expected to loose to Green Bay (in real life) or, conversely, why beating LSU or Virginia this season would be considered particularly good wins.

As I've said before, several American teams, including Tulane, were strong mid-majors when they were in CUSA. At their best, they were probably the level of the mid-oBE teams, many of whom made the tourney due to the benefit of playing in the oBE while the teams in CUSA couldn't do enough to improve their strength of schedule (in conference) by any measure you choose to use.

I have no image of the American making itself into a power conference across all sports. I do see it as the 6th to 8th best conference (even if you don't count UConn) in WBB.
 

DobbsRover2

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Well, if you follow WCBB at all, you may have figured out that many of the top teams tend to maintain a fairly consistent level of play year every year, and Green Bay is one of those teams. Lat year they finished around #27 in the AP poll while Tulane was not generally listed among the top 50 teams. So is there any reason to think the should be likely favored over Tulane this year? Well yeah, I do think so, but possibly you would have been expecting Green Bay to lose.

LSU has been a traditional SEC power but maybe they are crap this year. Still think Tulane is pretty happy to knock off an intrastate rival. Virginia is rated in the top 50 by Massey ahead of both Tulane and Green Bay, so I would think that's a decent enough win. Heck, if teams and fans are getting excited about beating Louisville right now, a T50 win over the Cavs is worth something.

And again, Rutgers fans often see things differently and are quite pleased to be in the hallowed B10, but except for ACC emigre MD the B10 hasn't really done much in the Tourney in recent years when things really count. The AAC did get three teams in the Tourney in only its second season and Temple went to the WNIT FF, so along with the NC for UConn, not bad. Despite some good seeds, the B10 went 8-7, which I guess is good for it, but ....

Some of us over in AAC territory see some nice improvements. In B10 country I'm sure it will be otherwise.
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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My point is that I think you undervalue how good the teams in your conference were, are, or can be. Sorry you believe otherwise.

I'm clueless how to rate conferences specifically - there are many ways and they sometimes conflict - but I'm not thinking the B1G is all that. Not at all, in WBB. That Maryland could be transferred in and become the #1 team is, IMO, just sad and says all you need to know. That RU - and not the RU it once was - could compete at the top of the conference says about the same.

That I am very happy to be in the B1G has nothing to do with WBB success or the quality of the conference for WBB. I'm happy to be there because, in the end, at least as of now, revenue is projected to be better than if we were in the American or BE. That might change some day, but that's the way it is right now.

Your argument about the quality of Green Bay and Virginia (both teams I root for in the abstract, met and liked Borseth and have always respected Boyle) isn't wrong, but it is only one way of looking at it. I would accept that Tulane beating Green Bay might be considered an upset - but, on a neutral court - not, to my mind particularly impossible. It is almost impossible at this stage of the season to really know how good Virginia is, IMO.
 

DobbsRover2

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Sure, many things to work out about all the teams, but I do believe some of these AAC wins are pretty decent. Hey, again, at least Tulsa beat Arkansas on the road. But no, I certainly do not "undervalue" the AAC, and do think it is far better than the 8th place possibility you cite. It is a work in progress, and some teams like SMU last year will have setbacks as top talent graduates, but I think the picture is pretty rosy. And even Rutgers is showing more life recently in the B10 and at least got a Tourney win last year before running up against a tall task in the second round, so who knows there either.
 
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I'm a Virginia WBB season ticket holder. I'd say they have a shot at making the NCAA tournament. Young team and improved from last year. I don't know too much about Tulan's squad this year, but thought UVA would beat them.
 

UcMiami

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I think it isn't just W/L when you looks at the AAC for progress, but also the competitiveness in games. I think a number of the losses this year in competitive games would have been blow outs last year. They are still losses, but it does point to improvement. If you look back to the progression of the BigE in the nineties and early 2000s, it was pretty spotty. It wasn't until the last 5-8 years where the middle of the league truly grew up and started winning close games and building NCAA tournament worthy resumes.
 
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