And so it begins...

[xu1990]

Such an odd, odd feeling rooting for my new Big East brethren. I am going to miss keeping an eye on Duquesne v Robert Morris and Fordham v Siena.

Of course, pulling for all 10 teams as the OOC schedule begins. Here's to a great season!

Go X.

[ArmyVet]

Question to the X, BU, and CU fans - are you rooting for or against your former conference mates?

[Jays26]

Question to the X, BU, and CU fans - are you rooting for or against your former conference mates?

As a rule I will still root for MVC teams. The Jays had a great run in the conf and will hope for the best for the MVC.

Now the only exception to that rule is the Shockers, because if you ever had to deal with some of their Dbag message board fans there is no way you could root for them.

[xu1990]

Will be rooting for all the A-10 schools to do well, with the exception of Dayton because their fans simply annoy me.

[bornajay]

Question to the X, BU, and CU fans - are you rooting for or against your former conference mates?

As a rule I will still root for MVC teams. The Jays had a great run in the conf and will hope for the best for the MVC.

Now the only exception to that rule is the Shockers, because if you ever had to deal with some of their Dbag message board fans there is no way you could root for them.

I concur, the best of luck to all of the MVC with the exception of WSU. Their coach and fan base make them impossible to cheer for.

[Bulldog_Muskie]

Personally I don't really care about the A10 just because Butler only played each of them once during the season excluding SLU. I think its best if we just don't mention the horizon league....

[Xudash]

Question to the X, BU, and CU fans - are you rooting for or against your former conference mates?

It depends on the school - in no particular order:

SLU - Classy Jesuit school that is fully capable of sustaining success and a strong program with the right coach. Good luck to the Billikens!

Richmond - Classy heathen school that I perceive in the same way as SLU: fully capable of building a strong hoops program at a strong institution. Go Spiders!

Duquesne, Fordham - How can you not root for them? There is too much to cover here as to why these two schools can't get their acts together. Given their lack of success, it's easy to root for them. Call it pity-rooting.

GW - Excellent school. It had its moments of hoops success. It at least seems to try to come back to relevance. I've always liked GW. I'll root for GW moving forward.

LaSalle - Even with last year's run, I've never thought very highly of LaSalle, simply because LaSalle had contributed nothing to the conference up to that point. It has terrible facilities and other limitations. All its faded glory won't help it from here.

VCU - I like Shaka, and VCU was only in the conference for one year with Xavier, so there was no time to build any kind of animosity towards them. I'm okay with VCU.

SBU - God bless the Bonnies. They got caught being poorly positioned in a modern world. All that proud history. I hope they do well, whatever doing well will mean for a small school from Olean, NY moving forward.

URI - One of the A10's "major" state schools. Certainly invested in facilities. But a yo-yo effect in performance. Nonetheless, I'll cheer for the Rams moving forward.

UMass - Another of the A10's "major" state schools. UMass (along with Temple) was a flagship when Xavier joined the conference. I've always respected UMass and I hope they do well moving forward.

Temple - See UMass response. The added note here is that it was Temple and Xavier towards the end, in terms of leading the A10 conference. Same as with UMass: respect and good luck moving forward.

St. Joe's - SJU is, perhaps, the true tragic figure in all this. They couldn't sustain a key period of remarkable success. They then pumped $15 million into a renovation that was DOA, as far as the business end of the modern game is concerned. I'll cheer for SJU, but I don't believe it's very well positioned for the future, except for being located in Philly.

Dayton - I wonder where this is headed. I've never encountered a more delusional fan base in my life. It's as though they are owed success, based on a strong resume of 5 decades ago and the fact that they own and fill a building that was built the year we landed on the moon. A number of UD fans are dumbfounded that UD didn't land in the Big East. Dumbfounded! Virtually every year for the last number of years, they gave themselves a pre-season #1 ranking for the conference. Then they ended up at no better than .500 in the conference in each of those seasons. They are virtually impeccable when it comes to making excuses. One loss to St. Joe's was blamed on bad Philly Cheesesteaks. Yes, they blamed losing on a famous sandwich. You can't make stuff like that up. Am I rooting for Dayton from here on in? No.

[TrueBlueJay]

It feels strange to get excited for a St. John's or Georgetown basketball game, and to be rooting for them, but I am all in for our league.

I am also rooting for all teams in the Valley to do well (minus the Shuckers). I'm sure that will fade after a while, but I've been going to Valley games since CU rejoined the league back in the mid 70's.

[Omahanian]

I am still rooting for our former MVC foes. In my case, I am even hoping WSU does well. But I have always steered clear of them on the chat boards so they haven't gotten under my skin like they have others.

[PMThor]

I don't root for anyone in the A10, more like I'm just indifferent of them now. Well, that's not exactly true, if I see an A10 team pull off a big upset, I'll be happy. I still haven't gotten over the habit of just gravitating to looking at those schools scores. That might take me awhile to get over that.

All except for dayton, I hope they fail at everything, every time, for ever and ever.