The AAC is a VERY good conference. | Page 3 | The Boneyard

The AAC is a VERY good conference.

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AZHuskiePop said:
I got a tie that old. Fortunately ties are forbidden in AZ ,bolos excepted.

If you listen to guys like JC or even PJ ( Seaton Hall was very good by the late. 80's.)
Their best recruiting tool was playing against schools like Georgetown.
Memphis, Cinn, and UConn,have to play that Georgetown role.
What we accomplish in the tourney will help recruiting in the rest of the league.

If one of those schools makes a run it helps recruiting through-out the league.
Women's is no exception. Schools in the AAC can go after a higher caliber of player simply by saying you will be playing against the best. In WBB especially a dozen recruits who wouldn't have come increase the quality of the league exponentially.
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Remember SH's C Luther Wright? What an imposing kid he was.
 
Husky25 said:
All due respect, Nicky (and I mean that. After thinking you were a troll, I've really come around on you), I stopped reading after this. How young do you think Geno is? Don't let his Grecian formula fool you, he turns 60 in less than a month. He is absolutely in rarified air, but he is rounding Amen Corner. Who come in behind him? Who replaces Chris Dailey? As recruiting coordinator, she is just as instrumental in the Women's success as Geno.

Ollie is about to put Napier in the NBA, with potentially Boatright, Daniels, and Brimah to follow and has good/great recruiting classes (by the rankings) coming up in for the 2014/15 and 15/16 seasons.

When it comes to rating a conference like the AAC, fans cannot miss the forest for the trees like what is going on above. Individual teams, as they currently are playing, mean exactly zero. What matters is the quality of the programs that make up the league. Temple is down, but they are a good program. Memphis has had some recent success and Pastner seems like he has them on an upward trajectory. SMU will be good for as long as Brown is there. Cinci is quality, and UConn at this point is the Crème de la Crème in terms of the overall program.

For a comparison, look at the Big 12. Only 2 teams are shoe-ins for the Tournament. The AAC has four by my count.
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Reading you're post with a fresh mind this morning I see the point and when I think of it you're spot on....the program's can make the conference esp in hoop's(better than most) but the downside is due to the instability(CR) can people wait for it to brand itself before say a UConn moves on? Not many conferences are deeper with even the bottom filled w/potential. I've always had a ton of respect for a school like Temple but what bad fortune they've had after moving back up to the BE from the MAC only to see it disintegrate and everytime they find a good FB coach(Golden,Adazzio) they move on. Thats another school I wish the best for ! I don't understand these guys who take good cheer in others misfortune !?!
 
This year it is a very good conference. Next year, it will be an average conference. Louisville's departure is huge and cannot be underestimated. Without Louisville, we get 2-3 less Top 25 games a year. So does Memphis and Temple and Cincinnati. Hurts everything about rankings, scheduling, and people's perception of the league. And we're replacing them with Tulane, ECU, and Tulsa.

As much as I want to believe it'll be a good conference and we'll be fine, I can't.
 
CTBasketball said:
This year it is a very good conference. Next year, it will be an average conference. Louisville's departure is huge and cannot be underestimated. Without Louisville, we get 2-3 less Top 25 games a year. So does Memphis and Temple and Cincinnati. Hurts everything about rankings, scheduling, and people's perception of the league. And we're replacing them with Tulane, ECU, and Tulsa.

As much as I want to believe it'll be a good conference and we'll be fine, I can't.
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I think we have to be patient. Years ago Uconn was a weak team in almost all sports. We couldn't even compete with the top schools in New England. In basketball, we were dominated by Holy Cross and Providence. In fact Providence usually wouldn't play us. In football, it was years before we were able to beat Yale.

The key is the coaches and almost nothing else. We are blessed to have Kevin Ollie and Geno and I am optimistic about the new football coach. If the other teams decide they are going to hire good coaches (SMU already did), they will get better and so will the conference. It is not going to happen overnight, however. Currently the conference is ranked 8th (according to the Sagarin poll) but we will most likely drop one or two places next year when Louisville leaves. Remember, it is a marathon and not a sprint.
 
This season the AAC was far better than anyone projected.

Next year the conference should be significantly worse than this season with the loss of Louisville. UConn, Memphis and Cinci lose multiple players that play significant roles for their respective teams. They should have down years. There should be an improvement with SMU, Houston and Temple. "The sky is falling" people will have their moment next year.

It's hard to project further than that. Relative to the old BE this conference is pathetic. But so was/is every other conference. The BE was special. Maybe the ACC pimped their way into a comparable conference. Time will tell. From a relative standpoint (compared to the old BE) UConn and its basketball fans have taken a significant hit.

All of us know it. Some of us will cry about it year in and year out. Others of us will move on and make the best of the hand being dealt. UConn can still be relevant on the national scene with this conference. DePaul and Rutgers had limited success in the best bb conference of all time. Kentucky has a history of success in one of the worst bb conferences. I root for UConn not the conference. The BE was about bragging rights, some icing to a cake. But UConn was successful on it's own merit. It got some help by being associated with that conference. But people are kidding themselves if they think the major reason for UConn's success was the BE. My feeling is JC was the major reason for UConn's success and he would have accomplished this in most of the other conferences as well.
 
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husky91 said:
I don't think PP determined our conference fate. The AD and President play a much larger role. It was just bad timing hiring 2 incompetent faces of the University during this time. Jurich had a vision and could articulate it, Warde can't and didn't. People give him credit for Ollie, maybe, not sure that was some huge coup.
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Most of these failures fall on the old regime. Insofar as conference realignment is predicated on football success and marketing, this is principally a failure of Hathaway's for (1) hiring a boring, retread coach to try to consolidate our meager headway in the national football landscape, rather than making a bold hire that proclaimed we wanted to be bigger, and (2) failing to market UConn as NYC's and/or New England's college team. UConn is the dominant sports entity in something like the 30th largest (not to mention among the wealthiest) TV market in the country. However, most of the country perceives UConn territory as sleepy suburbia/cow-country, rather than one of the most fertile regions for attracting television viewers and dollars.

The groundwork for these debacles was laid well before Herbst and Manuel got here.
 
CTBasketball said:
This year it is a very good conference. Next year, it will be an average conference. Louisville's departure is huge and cannot be underestimated. Without Louisville, we get 2-3 less Top 25 games a year. So does Memphis and Temple and Cincinnati. Hurts everything about rankings, scheduling, and people's perception of the league. And we're replacing them with Tulane, ECU, and Tulsa.

As much as I want to believe it'll be a good conference and we'll be fine, I can't.
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It doesn't seem like you want to believe at all...I want to add schools like WSU and VCU to the basketball side but everyone's scared ****less of being a hybrid.
 
NickyNewark said:
I've always had a ton of respect for a school like Temple but what bad fortune they've had after moving back up to the BE from the MAC only to see it disintegrate and everytime they find a good FB coach(Golden,Adazzio) they move on. Thats another school I wish the best for ! I don't understand these guys who take good cheer in others misfortune !?!
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No, to date the conference has had very bad luck with Temple not the other way around.

Their basketball team has been good for years then they finally get upgraded and they deliver a crap team. Thanks Temple! The next good thing Temple does for this conference will be the first good thing, ever. To date they have been dead weight.
 
UofMemphis said:
It doesn't seem like you want to believe at all...I want to add schools like WSU and VCU to the basketball side but everyone's scared *less of being a hybrid.
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I'm pretty sure everybody wants to believe it but after what happened to the BE and in turn a big state school like UConn can you blame them? Poor Temple fans after just getting called up from the MAC only to find the BE disintegrate in front of them are probably just as wary of another hybrid? Everyones waiting for the next CR move IMO !?!
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Most of these failures fall on the old regime. Insofar as conference realignment is predicated on football success and marketing, this is principally a failure of Hathaway's for (1) hiring a boring, retread coach to try to consolidate our meager headway in the national football landscape, rather than making a bold hire that proclaimed we wanted to be bigger, and (2) failing to market UConn as NYC's and/or New England's college team. UConn is the dominant sports entity in something like the 30th largest (not to mention among the wealthiest) TV market in the country. However, most of the country perceives UConn territory as sleepy suburbia/cow-country, rather than one of the most fertile regions for attracting television viewers and dollars.

The groundwork for these debacles was laid well before Herbst and Manuel got here.
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I know this is not the CR board! but thanks Tenspro for at least responding to the complete and utter nonsense that continues in every thread that this is Warde's fault. The book on WM is still completely unwritten. He had been on the job for 9 months at the time. Jurich - 15 YEARS! Our football program was backsliding because of a poorly conceived coaching hire by an AD who was over his head, wanted to stay in good with the NCAA (yes some blame falls to Calhoun and the NCAA problems), and could not figure out how to hire a coach that could win and not make the NCAA more angry.
To blame WM for this is similar to being a employee at a company where the management failed and gets replaced. The new manager has a setback early in his career and all of the problems the company built up over the years suddenly become the new guy's fault. Not fair; not accurate.
CanWM turn out to be a great AD? Absolutely. Is it too early to tell. Absolutely. Is it realistic to think he could have moved the needle fast enough to stop the CR train. Absolutely not.
 
UofMemphis said:
It doesn't seem like you want to believe at all...I want to add schools like WSU and VCU to the basketball side but everyone's scared *less of being a hybrid.
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The hybrid BE conference probably was the single greatest reason for the disintegration of the BE conference. The two groups had needs that were too dissimilar.
 
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UofMemphis said:
This conference is so much fun...Louisville, Cincy, UConn, Memphis and SMU all NCAA locks at this point...the Fightin' Larry Brown's are a very good basketball team.

With all the hemming and hawing, this has become a most impressive conference.
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It is a good conference for Memphis. It is not a good conference for UConn.
 
UofMemphis said:
Coming from CUSA, 5 teams out of 10 are NCAA locks...the other 5 are quality teams like Temple and Rutgers...not one member has an RPI over 200.

Perspective.
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Rutgers is a quality team!?!? Compared to who? Don't talk to us about Rutgers. We've played in a league with them for 25+ years and not one year of those 25+ were they even decent.

Leave this board.
 
MattMang23 said:
Rutgers is a quality team!?!? Compared to who? Don't talk to us about Rutgers. We've played in a league with them for 25+ years and not one year of those 25+ were they even decent.

Leave this board.
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No.
 
UofMemphis said:
It doesn't seem like you want to believe at all...I want to add schools like WSU and VCU to the basketball side but everyone's scared *less of being a hybrid.
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Gee, I wonder why.
 
fleudslipcon said:
The hybrid BE conference probably was the single greatest reason for the disintegration of the BE conference. The two groups had needs that were too dissimilar.
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Which is why you take one...one vote can't achieve anything alone.
 
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MattMang23 said:
Ok don't. But don't ever call Rutgers quality. I didn't even know they had a basketball team until about 2004. And I'm not kidding.
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when your other option is looking down to find programs like Rice and FAU...Rutgers and Temple don't seem so bad.

Just sayin'
 
UofMemphis said:
Which is why you take one...one vote can't achieve anything alone.
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Not true.

Situation with the former BE would have been resolved with the conference dividing between bb on lies and bb/football schools but that required a majority vote. Since the bb on lies and the bb/football schools were equal in number the decision ended up being in the hands of the one university which was different from all the others. ND which was in the conference in everything but football sided with the bb on lies. So one can achieve something alone.
 
UofMemphis said:
when your other option is looking down to find programs like Rice and FAU...Rutgers and Temple don't seem so bad.

Just sayin'
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Temple, for basketball, not bad. Rutgers for basketball? Consistently finished next to DePaul in standings year in and year out. (For the CUSA fans in the audience, that would be either 15th or 16th in a 16 team league) I'd rather have Providence on the schedule.
 
UofMemphis said:
Which is why you take one...one vote can't achieve anything alone.
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Says the guy whose team never played in a hybrid league...

Where were you all those years? We could have really used you running the Big East.

Trust us, you don't wanna go there.
 
husky91 said:
Nothing better than last Thurs having UConn-Temple on ESPN2 playing in front of 3k (max) and flip over to ESpN with UNC-Duke. Wow.

This league blows. Thx Warde!
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Does Temple always draw poorly like that? I was a litte surpised to see so few people there on TV.
 
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UofMemphis said:
It doesn't seem like you want to believe at all...I want to add schools like WSU and VCU to the basketball side but everyone's scared *less of being a hybrid.
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Why are Memphis fans obsessed with adding more schools to the conference? You realize the TV contract is already set so we'll just be adding more mouths to feed. I don't care if you think they'll make the NCAA tournament every year, those NCAA credits are not guaranteed...

Wichita State is better off joining the A-10, they don't have to worry about the other school's football priorities and they are currently on pace to get 5 or 6 bids...plus Davidson is coming in next year. That would be a better fit.
 
Marty Jackson said:
you have to realize that there is a large contingent on this board that are simply downers. Nothing you say will convince them otherwise.

The league isn't that bad. Yes, the bottom is weak, but that includes Houston and Temple, both of which have history. Temple is simply rebuilding. Getting 5 into the tourney will make a statement. Getting 3 or 4 into the 16 would be awesome.
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Marty, that's all true, but I think it is easy to see the differences in perspective from UConn and Memphis. Memphis is in a much better league, which is a good league. For UConn, we lost a league that in recent years was not just good, but amazingly so, in an unprecedented way. It was number 1 with no other league even close. So yes, there is a clear drop off from that level of play, especially the lack of depth.

While we can expect Houston and Temple to be better, we lose Louiville, and I think Cinci is playing far above their historic level. They are often a top 40-50 team, rarely top 25, and very, very rarely top 10. There is no chance that this league approaches what the Big East was, but that doesn't mean it stinks. I hope UofMemphis and others can at least appreciate why we see it as a significant downgrade.
 
kobe said:
Why are Memphis fans obsessed with adding more schools to the conference? You realize the TV contract is already set so we'll just be adding more mouths to feed. I don't care if you think they'll make the NCAA tournament every year, those NCAA credits are not guaranteed...

Wichita State is better off joining the A-10, they don't have to worry about the other school's football priorities and they are currently on pace to get 5 or 6 bids...plus Davidson is coming in next year. That would be a better fit.
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Or they can stay in the MVC. It doesn't seem to be hurtng them any. WSU has no money for travel in a league like the A10, let alone the AAC. On top of that, their best sport historically is actually baseball, where the A10 would be a step down. Next best would be non-football in CUSA.
 
MattMang23 said:
Says the guy whose team never played in a hybrid league...

Where were you all those years? We could have really used you running the Big East.

Trust us, you don't wanna go there.
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the Metro and CUSA were both hybrids...

CUSA 1.0 had: Louisville, Cincy, Memphis, Marquette (non-football), St. Louis (non-football), Charlotte (non-football)
 
HuskyHawk said:
Or they can stay in the MVC. It doesn't seem to be hurtng them any. WSU has no money for travel in a league like the A10, let alone the AAC. On top of that, their best sport historically is actually baseball, where the A10 would be a step down. Next best would be non-football in CUSA.
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the combination of WSU and Navy football would make for a great addition to the AAC IMHO.

I don't see how 1 non-football member could out vote 11 all-sports members...and they wouldn't even be allowed to vote on football matters.
 
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