The AAC this year

[EricLA]

Someone mentioned in an other thread that our conference isn't all that bad this year. I tend to agree (I'm not saying it's a good conference by any stretch and I still want out ASAP) and offer this up as proof...

ECU is 5-1 with wins over Rhode Island, Charleston, Fairfield and Delaware, and a 9 point loss to a ranked Syracuse team.

Tulane is 4-0 with wins over both LSU and NC State

USF has wins over Chattanooga (who just beat Tennessee), Villanova and Oklahoma. they did get spanked by Maryland by 18. they play St Johns, Kentucky and Illinois in the next few weeks as well.

I won't deny that the rest of the conference outside of UCONN is probably pretty awful, especially disappointing is Temple and Cinci. Both Jamelle and Tonya have been there long enough to have some sort of impact if it was ever going to start happening.

Jamelle is in her 6th season and has yet to even have a single winning year. Tonya has been at Temple 7 years and took over a team with players she did not recruit and let them to the NCAA's 3 years in a row. Since then it's been just awful going 14-18 and 14-16 in her last 2 years.

I'm starting to wonder if either of them are HC material. It's not like much as ever been expected of Cinci, but when Staley coached Temple, they enjoyed quite a bit of success. Tonya has taken that team in the opposite direction...

 

[JellyBean]

I have always said, and still believe, that the AAC will become a pretty solid conference in 4-5 years. It is just a matter of time. We have some pretty decent teams in the conference an in time the AAC will be the toast of the women's game. As for Jamelle and Tonya. I think that they are doing a pretty good job at their schools. Folks forget that, even though coaches are taking over a team from a different coach and players, the new coach has to implement their new offensive and defensive systems with the players. That is hard work. You have to get buy in from the veteran players and hope that the new recruits buy in as well. So Tonya, overall record is something like 121-73 (61-27 conference). Those are not sloppy numbers.

Plus you have to look at each programs history. Temple has always had a decent women's basketball tradition. So when getting recruits, Temple is on the radar. Players are familiar with the history and know what is expected. That is a leg up for Tonya. Jamellle is going to have an up hill battle at Cincinnati. I think their best year was 2005-06 season and it was something like 17-10 and won 7 games in a row. But I think that Jamelle and Tonya are doing well where they are at. It just takes that one really good recruit to spark a huge change.

 

[EricLA]

Jamelle is in her 6th season and Tonya is in her 7th. They aren't implementing anything new except for freshmen. Veteran players have already graduated. Additionally, Temple did much better the first few years with players Tonya did not recruit. They've gotten much worse since she took over.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I doubt the AAC is other than advertised, unfortunately. ECU is beating up the Little Sisters. Tulane has been an intermediate team, the NC State win looks like a good win. LSU win, meh. USF has always been competitive, they would undoubtedly be able to fit into a power 5 conference WBB wise.

The down-side for Temple, actually, is simply put - have you been there??? Dawn had more cachet as a recruiter and that's probably the difference between her and Tonya, rather than only coaching ability.

Jamelle I wouldn't worry about so much, although, like many, there is a point when she needs to get over the hump. But it is ultimately very difficult to build a program that has no particular history of success. And being in the AAC is probably worse for her than having been in the OBE.

 

[HGN]

The AAC can be a good league...in time. Every so called power conference took time to become dominant. With good coaches and top ranked recruits they got where they are. Jamelle and Tonya are both good coaches and if they can reel in a couple of top 75 recruits each their fortunes will change.

Many good recruits will want to know they will be in the same conference as UConn and will be getting to play a UConn twice a year at Temple or Cincinnati. Both Jamelle and Tonya just need a break on the recruiting front to change the landscape at their schools. Lest we forget what Rebecca did for UConn ; and what Riley did for ND; or what Angel did for Louisville. All they need is just a couple of good game changers to sign up.

 

[HuskyNan]

In order for a decent team to be a really good team, the school has to care, to provide money for coaches & staff, to give a substantial recruiting budget (to go to tourneys around the country, etc), market the team, and give access to facilities rather than make the teams wait for the men's team to clear the floor. In too many cases, the schools are not heavily invested in their women's teams, literally and figuratively. Unless someone - alumni, the conference - applies pressure to the school to provide funding and support to the women's teams, these decent teams will never be more than mediocre because schools would rather spend it on the more lucrative mens teams. A lot of women's teams are basically sops to the Federal government and Title IX so they can give more scholarships to the football and men's basketball teams. It's sad, but that's the way it is.