What we need from the America 12

[nelsonmuntz]

Assuming we are in this league for a while, and I think we are, what do we need from this league?

1) A succession plan for O'Leary. He is old and pretty much the only reason UCF has been successful. We NEED UCF and USF to be good for a lot of reasons. First, I think that those schools competing on a national level enables them to steal depth from the Big 3. Leavitt used to do it all the time, where he would turn a few FSU and especially Miami commits right before signing day because they didn't want to ride the pine. Two schools doing this further undermines the ACC, and IMO the only way the ACC will add UConn is if it feels vulnerable again.

2) Houston needs to be a power in both sports. Houston is probably the best city for hoops talent in the south, and there is no excuse for Houston to not be Top 30-40 in football. I think Levine sucks, and I am not crazy about the hoops coach either. Houston is the one program outside of UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati and Temple that I think could make a big jump in basketball. They have the history and they have the local talent base.

3) Pastner needs to learn how to game coach. UConn needs top level rivals in the league for basketball. Memphis has a great local talent base and Pastner has shown that he can recruit, but they look like a pickup game when they play. He has to mature as a coach.

4) Dunphy needs to learn how to recruit. No one questions Dunphy's X's and O's, but his squad looks like a mediocre rec league team from a talent standpoint. He needs to step up his game.

5) We can't have national bottom 10 football teams in the A12. I don't expect Memphis or Tulane to be good, but they can't be terrible. We can't have them getting blown out by Sun Belt and CUSA squads if we want to be the best mid-major. A big reason why the MWC will be tough for the A-12 to top is that the MWC's bottom teams don't completely suck.

Thoughts?

 

[noeynox]

I say we make Temple and Memphis swap hoop coaches for the good of the league. Or at the least, make Dunphy coach for Memphis, and Pastner recruit for Temple.

Kidding aside, I really want to see this exposure to AResco keeps talking about. I just listen to podcast where he said the exposure will allow us to recruit nationally. I can I get the feeling that this exposure he talks about will be great for the incoming schools a terrible for schools like Cincy UConn and south Florida.

I most agree with your point about the bottom of the league not sucking. this league needs to look top to bottom like the old big east football, where the last place team in the league could beat winning a team from the ACC.

 

[freescooter]

I generally agree with you, nelson, and that doesn't always happen...But I'm not so sure that USF/UCF needs to be good. I do think though that we need 2 teams to be good on a regular basis. Perfect world we're one and another one is in the western division (assuming it is an E-W split.) But we need two teams that regularly finish with 10 wins, and earn spots in the rankings. And as you say, Memphis and Tulane can't suck. On the basketball side, I think we need one more team to step up and compete. And it would be awfully helpful if somebody or a couple of teams made a serious NCAA run in the early years. UConn and Memphis in next year's Elite 8 would be a big big deal. In my mind, that would establish the A-12 as a real player on the basketball side.

 

[Drumguy]

I generally agree with you, nelson, and that doesn't always happen...But I'm not so sure that USF/UCF needs to be good. I do think though that we need 2 teams to be good on a regular basis. Perfect world we're one and another one is in the western division (assuming it is an E-W split.) But we need two teams that regularly finish with 10 wins, and earn spots in the rankings. And as you say, Memphis and Tulane can't suck. On the basketball side, I think we need one more team to step up and compete. And it would be awfully helpful if somebody or a couple of teams made a serious NCAA run in the early years. UConn and Memphis in next year's Elite 8 would be a big big deal. In my mind, that would establish the A-12 as a real player on the basketball side.

If this is to be our lot, I agree. We must make the best out of it while we're here and while I don't really understand the bowl impact, if we can be a Boise in Football and maintain the rest of our olympic sports at the top level and add lacrosse, with our emphasis on improving academics as well, we will have done the best we can due to circumstances well beyond our control.

 

[Husky25]

If this is to be our lot, I agree. We must make the best out of it while we're here and while I don't really understand the bowl impact, if we can be a Boise in Football and maintain the rest of our olympic sports at the top level and add lacrosse, with our emphasis on improving academics as well, we will have done the best we can due to circumstances well beyond our control.

If improvements/additions occur in the areas you mention, UConn will not be long for the A12.

 

[SubbaBub]

Be Boise? Boise's lot isn't any better than our own right now. Nothing to aspire to. I'd rather continue to be UConn, a former ag-school from the Yankee Conference than became a top public university with a dominant athletic program.

We just need to do it in FB or at least come close.

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