The AAAAAAAC and Advanced Marketing (or Self-Kidding)

[BEhomer]

He's no guarantee to stay, but at the same time you can't say that he's a guarantee to go either.

This is factually incorrect. We can guarantee there will be a day when Marshall isn't the coach at Wichita...we just don't know if it's sooner or later.

The difference for Wichita now (vs. the 24 years when they only made 1 NCAA tournament) is that they found a very good coach and committed significant resources to make Marshall the highest paid coach at any mid-major school. The downside for him is that he is on the island of misfit athletic departments, the vast majority of which have not made a similar commitment to basketball. They will have better competition than the last few years in the Valley, but he still doesn't get to play Duke, UNC, NC State, etc., twice a year (and I just used ACC as an example...). Marshall seems like a very competitive guy and I think it's very logical to opine that, at some point, he's going to want a different challenge. Game planning for Cincy twice (or 3) times a year may not be enough to fuel his fire.

and with all the success they have had past few years they still can't attract any recruit better than 3 stars. that's gotta frustrate someone as competitive as he is.

[ecasadoSBU]

Well. With the rise of the MVC so far this year... Wichita may not get the RPI/respect boost it was expecting out of the American. lol

[kayako]

The AAC was Wichita's dream destination. If Marshall doesn't bolt after this season, I think it's a safe bet that he stays where he is. He's not exactly spring chicken...

The AAC is Imo terribly overrated this season. When was the last time Wichita actually beat a good opponent? Cinci's schedule mirrors Georgetown so far.

[stever20]

Well. With the rise of the MVC so far this year... Wichita may not get the RPI/respect boost it was expecting out of the American. lol

Actually no.

MVC has only 1 team in the RPI forecast projected to finish better than 50. Only 4 better than 100. 1 of those 4 is Valpo, who replaced Wichita. So Wichita would have had 6 top 100 games.

meanwhile in the AAC, there are 2 in the top 50, another at 50.2(SMU), and 7 in the top 100. Wichita will get 12 top 100 games. Wichita's SOS is projected at #41 this year. Last year, it was #109.

[MullinMayhem]

I saw a stat the other day that stood out to me. Something along the lines of WSU not beating a top 25 team in the past 2 years or so. WSU is the perfect example of a program which feasted on cupcakes to get very impressive W/L records over a period of time. They parlayed that into their AAC membership. As someone else said, the AAC is still not considered a power conference like we are by many people, so Marshall accepting a Big East job can be seen as a step up IMO. You can't tell me for a second that there won't be some F5 school willing to pay him something like 7 million or whatever it takes to get him. He's only making 3 now...wasn't Louisville paying Pitino 7? Not sure how many people could say no to that increase. The Big East is a secure conference that is elite every year. We do not have to worry about any football schools having influence or leaving at the drop of a hat. We have pretty much all of our games on national TV.

Again, WSU has been impressive the past handful of years but remember that their players stay 4 years. I wonder how they'd do with 4 star guys who leave after 2 years and they must rebuild constantly. I also wonder if they can keep finding 3 stars that end up playing like 5 stars by their senior years. Sometimes you just hit the jackpot with a recruiting class and it all comes together. Then they graduate and it can all change quickly. If Wichita State played in the ACC I doubt they'd be ranked. They will still have some cupcakes to feast on in the AAC, but they will actually be challenged by better competition. If they can continue their success class after class and consistently beat ranked teams then I will have to eat my words. So far haven't they only played ND as a top 25 team? They lost.

[stever20]

The AAC was Wichita's dream destination. If Marshall doesn't bolt after this season, I think it's a safe bet that he stays where he is. He's not exactly spring chicken...

The AAC is Imo terribly overrated this season. When was the last time Wichita actually beat a good opponent? Cinci's schedule mirrors Georgetown so far.

The AAC has a real chance in the next 10 days to make their case.
Wichita plays @ Baylor and @ Oklahoma St
Cincy plays @ Xavier and vs Florida
SMU plays USC and @ TCU
Temple plays vs South Carolina and vs Wisconsin
Houston plays Arkansas
UCF plays Missouri and @ Alabama
UConn plays vs Syracuse

that's 12 really good games. Projected to go 6-6.

[stever20]

I saw a stat the other day that stood out to me. Something along the lines of WSU not beating a top 25 team in the past 2 years or so. WSU is the perfect example of a program which feasted on cupcakes to get very impressive W/L records over a period of time. They parlayed that into their AAC membership. As someone else said, the AAC is still not considered a power conference like we are by many people, so Marshall accepting a Big East job can be seen as a step up IMO. You can't tell me for a second that there won't be some F5 school willing to pay him something like 7 million or whatever it takes to get him. He's only making 3 now...wasn't Louisville paying Pitino 7? Not sure how many people could say no to that increase. The Big East is a secure conference that is elite every year. We do not have to worry about any football schools having influence or leaving at the drop of a hat. We have pretty much all of our games on national TV.

Again, WSU has been impressive the past handful of years but remember that their players stay 4 years. I wonder how they'd do with 4 star guys who leave after 2 years and they must rebuild constantly. I also wonder if they can keep finding 3 stars that end up playing like 5 stars by their senior years. Sometimes you just hit the jackpot with a recruiting class and it all comes together. Then they graduate and it can all change quickly. If Wichita State played in the ACC I doubt they'd be ranked. They will still have some cupcakes to feast on in the AAC, but they will actually be challenged by better competition. If they can continue their success class after class and consistently beat ranked teams then I will have to eat my words. So far haven't they only played ND as a top 25 team? They lost.

They played ND without their leading scorer/rebounder from last year and lost by 1 point.

Also, Wichita made the final 4 4 years ago now. So this is not the 1st group for Wichita by a long stretch.

And the thing for Wichita- they can go instead of being like last year 30-4 something like 27-7. But get a much stronger seed in the tourney. Their projected SOS this year is 41, up from 109 last year. They now don't have to win 30 games to get in the tourney like they did in the MVC. If they go 30-4, they're going to get a top 2 or 3 seed, instead of a 10 seed like they got last year.

[kellernr]

WSU will graduate 6 seniors this year. Shamett probably wont stay all 4 years

stats for the 6 seniors
Min ppg rpg

kelly 22.2 6 9
brown 24.2 5.4 3.6
nurger 18.7 9.8 4.3
willis 21.2 11.5 7
morris 22 13.7 5.8
frankamp 24.3 9.8 2.2

If shamett leaves early they would lose another 14.2 ppg and 3 rpg. That could be a loss of 70 ppg and 35 rpg.

[RedStorm]

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.

The thing that will always blow my mind is that despite your constant support and advancement of the American Athletic Conference, you never post in their forum - you only post in the Big East forums and realignment forums. Instead of gravitating towards like-minded thought, you freely choose to debate fans that you know won't agree with you. You say you cannot see why anyone here would not support the AAC getting extra teams into the tournament. To point you in the direction of the answer, why not visit the AAC board. Read the thread entitled "The Big East Church League's Best Days are Behind Them". Read the thread entitled "How to Kill the Big East". Read any thread that drifts any topic towards the Big East, and you will see what your beloved AAC fans think of our conference and our fans. Instead of questioning the posters here, why don't you go across the tracks and ask them why they have so much animosity towards the Big East, its members and fans. Since I am still a poster on the other site as well, I will also offer my support with the endeavor as well, but you and I both know that is fruitless because we know you won't do that.

I know AAC fans aren't the brightest bulbs but I'm perplexed as to why they believe our two conferences are in some sort of competition. The BE and AAC have literally nothing in common as conferences. The AAC is driven by football; the BE is basketball centric. The BE is a top 3 power conference and will never fall below that; the AAC is the #7 conference and will never rise above that. Every team in the BE wants to be here; every team in the AAC wants to be someplace else.

The two conferences exist in totally different realms. Why do these AAC dopes believe that there is an interconference competition btw us ? A better comparison would be the MWC or even the current C-USA.

[ecasadoSBU]

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.

The thing that will always blow my mind is that despite your constant support and advancement of the American Athletic Conference, you never post in their forum - you only post in the Big East forums and realignment forums. Instead of gravitating towards like-minded thought, you freely choose to debate fans that you know won't agree with you. You say you cannot see why anyone here would not support the AAC getting extra teams into the tournament. To point you in the direction of the answer, why not visit the AAC board. Read the thread entitled "The Big East Church League's Best Days are Behind Them". Read the thread entitled "How to Kill the Big East". Read any thread that drifts any topic towards the Big East, and you will see what your beloved AAC fans think of our conference and our fans. Instead of questioning the posters here, why don't you go across the tracks and ask them why they have so much animosity towards the Big East, its members and fans. Since I am still a poster on the other site as well, I will also offer my support with the endeavor as well, but you and I both know that is fruitless because we know you won't do that.

I know AAC fans aren't the brightest bulbs but I'm perplexed as to why they believe our two conferences are in some sort of competition. The BE and AAC have literally nothing in common as conferences. The AAC is driven by football; the BE is basketball centric. The BE is a top 3 power conference and will never fall below that; the AAC is the #7 conference and will never rise above that. Every team in the BE wants to be here; every team in the AAC wants to be someplace else.

The two conferences exist in totally different realms. Why do these AAC dopes believe that there is an interconference competition btw us ? A better comparison would be the MWC or even the current C-USA.

I agree. I don't understand the hate. Totally different conferences and positions