The AAAAAAAC and Advanced Marketing (or Self-Kidding)

[MullinMayhem]

Stever, you are making the same argument UConn fans make regarding SMU. Both lost great coaches and had a spillover period of success. SMU is still in that spillover period from Brown. Once his fingerprints are off the program completely just like UConn, they will fade. It's not exactly a top basketball destination for recruits without a stud head coach. They may still be solid but I would expect a downward trend. The AAC is not "great"...as others have said they are at the bottom of the major basketball conferences (even though they are still kind of in between high mid major and major IMO). If your basis for comparison is the MAAC then yes they are "great". Not by major standards at all. I sense lots of jealousy since we are a nice neat 10 member conference focused on basketball, all are private schools, many in major metro areas and have lots of tradition. We are a smart conference...the AAC is a misc. pile that can fall apart at any moment.

[Jet915]

I'm just gonna leave this here.....

AAC went 0-6 today. This included losses to Georgia State, Eastern Michigan and NC A&T. UCONN losing by 35 and Temple losing to LaSalle.

[billyjack]

Wow, 0-6 vs some weak competition (except the Johnnies of course). I'm sure the csnbbs thread on the AAC board will have an honest discussion about their weekend from hell.

So, checking on things this weekend:

Despite our smaller Big East student bodies, and despite it being Thanksgiving weekend, our 2 true BE home games drew a ton of fans Saturday... Creighton drew 15,800 vs SIUE... Providence drew 10,800 vs Boston College (includes 4 BC Eagles fans).

We have explained a ton of times to non-BE people that we draw from our city fanbases, and aren't drawing from just our student bodies. So this weekend we had no drop-off in attendance, and actually exceeded our average at the Dunk. The Big East has a different set of rules that we follow.

Meanwhile, in the American on Saturday, there were 3 true home games in hoops. Memphis drew 5300... Tulane drew 3300... Houston didn't list its attendance though from past recent games it couldn't have gone over 3k. Maybe football interfered? Or maybe fanbases of the Big East come from a different pool in comparison to football conferences.

[Edrick]

Some context on where the A10 is now relative to college basketball: ranked 10th is materially what the Horizon League ranked for years when Butler was in the conference last decade.

[GumbyDamnit!]

If the AAC can maintain how much it's winning OOC, that's going to be a game changer for them in conference play.

Oops. 0-6 sure doesn’t help.

[MullinMayhem]

Wichita State is good but like I said, they can be beaten and they will face more real teams now. They already lost one albeit against a good ND team. They are not world beaters. By the way, isn't this a senior-heavy team? What happens when these guys graduate and what happens when Greg Marshall inevitably accepts a job from some huge state school in the F5? Wichita State is the flavor of the month, but a poor long-term investment IMO. We picked up Butler, Xavier, and Creighton because we knew they were all-in for basketball and have great tradition. WSU has been good for what, 5-6 years? They may end up being a solid team consistently even without Marshall and after their seniors leave, but I don't see them capable of top 10 success consistently like a Villanova has been. The AAC's foundation is a house made out of cards.

[stever20]

Wichita State is good but like I said, they can be beaten and they will face more real teams now. They already lost one albeit against a good ND team. They are not world beaters. By the way, isn't this a senior-heavy team? What happens when these guys graduate and what happens when Greg Marshall inevitably accepts a job from some huge state school in the F5? Wichita State is the flavor of the month, but a poor long-term investment IMO. We picked up Butler, Xavier, and Creighton because we knew they were all-in for basketball and have great tradition. WSU has been good for what, 5-6 years? They may end up being a solid team consistently even without Marshall and after their seniors leave, but I don't see them capable of top 10 success consistently like a Villanova has been. The AAC's foundation is a house made out of cards.

Obviously they aren't going to beat everyone. But the thing is for them going 30-4 last year regular season got them only a 10 seed. They could go 25-9 and get a MUCH better seed. Oh, and their game vs Notre Dame(and every game so far this year)- they were missing their leading scorer/rebounder from last season.

And your crap about how it's inevitable that Marshall will leave Wichita is a joke. There is no guarantee at all whatsoever. NONE. Coaches from outside the P5 conferences stay a lot more in basketball than you think. See Few,Mark as a prime example.....

And you say Creighton had great tradition while Wichita only last 5-6 years.

prior to joining conferences-
Creighton- 11 appearances 11-19
Wichita- 14 appearances 18-15 2 final 4's.

Sure 1 of Wichita's final 4's was in 2013. The other one, 1965. Also had an elite 8 in 1981.
And I think Wichita is all in for basketball....

[Edrick]

Wichita State is the 8th oldest team in college basketball.

https://kenpom.com/height.php?s=ExpRank

Villanova is 58th youngest actually

[stever20]

the thing that absolutely blows my mind is that folks here I think would rather instead of the AAC getting an extra team in the tourney would rather see it go to a P5 school. And for the life of me, I just don't see why anyone here would want that.

[MullinMayhem]

Wichita State is the 8th oldest team in college basketball.

https://kenpom.com/height.php?s=ExpRank

Villanova is 58th youngest actually

Wichita State will only earn my respect if they show they can sustain this high level of play nationally when they graduate everyone. They also better hope a prominent F5 job doesn't open up, because Marshall will be a major target. If Holtmann can be yanked from Butler, Marshall is no guarantee to stay.