Commissioner "Val"

[Bill Marsh]

MM label just used by laziest of media anymore. It is totally based on FB conferences. Relevant to BB? No. When some announcer uses it, I just figure the guy is ignorant.
Is UCF BB a "high Major" now cuz their FB team won a Bowl Game?

The mid major label was invented by the coach of a Catholic mid major school strictly in reference to college basketball.

I don't follow history all that closely (as you can tell). Catholic University was/is a mid-major? Don't know a whole lot about them.

They were back in the '70's.

[Bill Marsh]

AAC is in a grey area regarding b-ball...they're definitely not a "major", but on the other hand, they're much better than a mid-major (the A-10 for instance).

The AAC members this past year included three of the last four NCAA Champs. If that isn't "major" then there is no "major".

Obviously those 2 schools are not mid major. But college basketball season is over for this year and one of those 2 past NC's is now gone to the ACC, so when we talk about conferences, we're talking about basketball membership going forward, not former conference opponents.

The AAC is really a hybrid of basketball-first schools - UConn, Temple, Cincinnati, & Memphis - who have had a lot of success on the court & who are currently trapped in a Purgatory and a bunch of football schools who don't care much about basketball. So, it's hard to describe the conference as a whole as a major basketball conference.

[Burrito]

Only UConn and Cincinnati are in that purgatory situation. The AAC is a step up for Temple and Memphis. The AAC is a mediocre football conference but is currently a solid basketball league (at least the top half of the conference). That could change in a few years once Larry Brown retires from SMU and if Cincinnati and/or UConn ever gets picked up by a P5 conference.

[Bill Marsh]

Only UConn and Cincinnati are in that purgatory situation. The AAC is a step up for Temple and Memphis. The AAC is a mediocre football conference but is currently a solid basketball league (at least the top half of the conference). That could change in a few years once Larry Brown retires from SMU and if Cincinnati and/or UConn ever gets picked up by a P5 conference.

"A solid basketball league (AT LEAST THE TOP HALF OF THE CONFERENCE) . . ."

And there's the rub - the other half of the story, which is just awful. With Louisville gone and with the conference expanding to 11 basketball members, it's no longer the top half of the conference. It's the top 4 - UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati, & SMU. And SMU really hasn't accomplished anything yet. They're still just potential. Despite their past record, Temple stumbled big time this year in the AAC and there's no indication in their recruiting that they'll be getting better any time soon. Add the loss of transfer Anthony Lee, one of their best players, and they're in real trouble. Since the program declined in Chaney's later years, they simply have never returned to being the big time program that they once were. despite the 6 straight tournament bids before this season, they only had 2 NCAA wins to show for all those appearances. That's a mid major program that didn't have the talent to step up against national competition - and still doesn't.

Here are the 2013-14 RPI rankings from Daily RPI on Selection Sunday of the AAC schools who will be members of the conference next year:

21 - Cincinnati
22 - UConn
36 - Memphis
55 - SMU
70 - Tulsa
143 - Houston
177 - Temple
218 - UCF
220 - Tulane
227 - ECU
230 - USF

I don't see how that can be described as anything close to a solid conference. Despite their #70 ranking, Tulsa still has a lot to prove since that was achieved against mid major competition. They lost by 17 points in the opening round of the tournament and then lost their coach and a bunch of expected recruits. That program is in trouble and will revert to what preceded Manning, which is a decades without a single tournament appearance.

[Burrito]

When they look back at AAC basketball in 20 years, I'm sure this past season will be it's Golden Era. (National Championship and 5 ranked teams at one point during the season). And I agree that Temple has fallen on its face since joining the AAC in both football and basketball. Right now they are just bad. I would assume the goal of the AAC is to get 3-4 teams in the tournament each year going forward. But that's not that different then the goal of the Big East (4-5 teams). Top to bottom, the Big East is much better though. The Big East's major issue is getting more ranked teams. Hopefully Georgetown can get back there next season.

[HoosierPal]

AAC is in a grey area regarding b-ball...they're definitely not a "major", but on the other hand, they're much better than a mid-major (the A-10 for instance).

The AAC members this past year included three of the last four NCAA Champs. If that isn't "major" then there is no "major".

Obviously those 2 schools are not mid major. But college basketball season is over for this year and one of those 2 past NC's is now gone to the ACC, so when we talk about conferences, we're talking about basketball membership going forward, not former conference opponents.

I do not share your opinion. You can't keep trashing conferences that aren't the Big East. The Big East needs to aspire to be as good as the AAC - winning national championships (and I guess to senditjerome that means being a mid-major conference). I won't be surprised if the AAC once again has more bids than the Big East next tourney.

[Bill Marsh]

The AAC members this past year included three of the last four NCAA Champs. If that isn't "major" then there is no "major".

Obviously those 2 schools are not mid major. But college basketball season is over for this year and one of those 2 past NC's is now gone to the ACC, so when we talk about conferences, we're talking about basketball membership going forward, not former conference opponents.

I do not share your opinion. You can't keep trashing conferences that aren't the Big East. The Big East needs to aspire to be as good as the AAC - winning national championships (and I guess to senditjerome that means being a mid-major conference). I won't be surprised if the AAC once again has more bids than the Big East next tourney.

It's not my "opinion" that Louisville has played its last game as a member of the AAC. It's a fact. Citing what they did in 2012 is now as relevant to the future of the AAC is as relevant as claiming that they did it as a member of the Big East - which they did. So, I guess that 2 of the last 4 NC's were won by the Big East, right? I guess that prospects are bright for the Big East going forward because of that fact.

The AAC hasn't won any NC's. UConn has. That's not a conference achievement.

You won't be surprised "if the AAC one again has more bids than the Big East next tourney" because you're delusional. "Once again"??? They didn't have more bids this year. Both conferences had 4 bids.

[Jet915]

"Val" will deserve props for this Big Ten - Big East Challenge.

[NJRedman]

"Val" will deserve props for this Big Ten - Big East Challenge.

I guess this answers the question "What has she been doing?", and this is her less than a year on the job. The season ends and now the results are showing up.

[BEX]

'nother HUGE recruiting tool......