Atlantic 10 a 1 bid league?

[HoosierPal]

VCU the only safe team right now.

The thing I notice about their bubble teams is that they all hive ridiculously bad strength of schedules. 150'ish seems to be the norm.

um, no. Dayton is a lock now just about after their win over VCU. Davidson is getting really close as well- their RPI is 43- if they beat VCU they are in.

It's weird, if anything the VCU injury to Weber has helped the A10 more than it hurt them.

I agree that injury in a way did bring down VCU to beatable status. On the A-10 I have 2 observations:

1) They often have difficulty scheduling ranked teams OOC as their risk to benefit quotient is not appealing. Many top programs refuse to play them home and home. Means less quality win chances. Agreed- that's their hill to climb.
2) The A-10 lost X, Temple, (Butler only one year), and not only has avoided falling apart but has maintained a very decent league profile. Gotta give them props. This will remain a multi-invite league for the tournament every year. Not too shabby.

13 of the 15 A-10 All Conference Players from last year's First, Second and Third teams graduated. So you would expect a down year this year, then a steady climb back up.

[MUPanther]

VCU and Dayton are locks and I can see anyone winning the automatic bid.

[Hoopfan]

I do not see VCU winning the A10 AQ (or Dayton for that matter). I see A10 getting 3-4 depending on who wins the A10 AQ spot and how Davidson finishes their last couple of games

[NJRedman]

So looking like a two bid league? I'm not buying Davidson or URI as tourney teams.

I think long term the Atlantic 10 can beat out the Conference of Americans and hang with the Mountain West to be the best of the non-power conferences. I don't root against the Atlantic 10.

I also like seeing Dayton play well. If Dayton can continue to make the dance and start to establish a national brand and reputation then they can become a viable expansion candidate. I don't want to expend, as I,love the round robin, but if we have to expand I would rather have viable candidates than have to go dumpster diving.

I agree with you about a strong A-10, if we ever need to expand its best for us to have strong options. They are a perfect feeder conference for us. They share our footprint and have many private schools who only focus on bball.

[robinreed]

The A-10 has become a meager league. VCU is still good although not so good as many expected, Dayton is decent but 2 is the most they deserve. Perhaps next year they will be back to 3 or 4 bids but I doubt it. The MWC and C-USA are suffering similar problems.

To me it looks like the BE will get 6, the AAC will get 4 the MWC and the A-10 will get 2 and all the others except the P5 will get only 1.

It still looks as if the strongest expansion candidates are VCU, Gonzaga, Wichita St., Dayton and perhaps St. Louis. Unfortunately each of the candidates have weaknesses except perhaps Gonzaga and their weakness is geography.

[stever20]

The A-10 has become a meager league. VCU is still good although not so good as many expected, Dayton is decent but 2 is the most they deserve. Perhaps next year they will be back to 3 or 4 bids but I doubt it. The MWC and C-USA are suffering similar problems.

To me it looks like the BE will get 6, the AAC will get 4 the MWC and the A-10 will get 2 and all the others except the P5 will get only 1.

It still looks as if the strongest expansion candidates are VCU, Gonzaga, Wichita St., Dayton and perhaps St. Louis. Unfortunately each of the candidates have weaknesses except perhaps Gonzaga and their weakness is geography.

Um, the MVC will be getting 2, and the A10 likely gets 3- Davidson has a real good chance- and would be a lock just about with a win over VCU. The real interesting team now is BYU with the WCC.

And thinking about it- MWC could easily get 3- Colorado St, Boise, and San Diego St.

[Flyer75]

A10 is def in a down year this year but it was fantastic last year. Too much graduation and not enough immediate replacements. But 11 bids in the previous 2 years with a S16 and E8 appearance.

Def 2 teams for sure this year as VCU and Dayton are locks. Dayton has to avoid just going 0-3 down the stretch. That would be a disaster.

Ceiling this year is 4 and that will take a perfect scenario (VCU, Dayton, Davidson and someone else winning tourney) . 3 teams is the most likely scenario as I would bet the field against VCU or Dayton in the A10 post season. The team to watch for in "stealing" a bid with winning the A10 tourney is Rhode Island. They can absolutely win this whole thing. Very very physical team who is built for a 3-4 day tourney. They are playing really good in the last 2 months. Just crapped the bed in OOC.

[BEwannabe]

The A-10 has become a meager league. VCU is still good although not so good as many expected, Dayton is decent but 2 is the most they deserve. Perhaps next year they will be back to 3 or 4 bids but I doubt it. The MWC and C-USA are suffering similar problems.

To me it looks like the BE will get 6, the AAC will get 4 the MWC and the A-10 will get 2 and all the others except the P5 will get only 1.

It still looks as if the strongest expansion candidates are VCU, Gonzaga, Wichita St., Dayton and perhaps St. Louis. Unfortunately each of the candidates have weaknesses except perhaps Gonzaga and their weakness is geography.

VCU is a lock, some say UD is a lock (I don't think lock is an appropriate description of UD's position but it's close). So fast forward to A10 tourney, I think it's almost 100% chance someone other than UD or VCU win A10 tourney. For sure VCU isn't going to win it and it's hard to imagine UD winning 3 straight nights with 6 true D1 players on the roster. A single injury to UD would be a crash and burn situation for the Flyers. It's hard to imagine A10 not getting 3 teams for sure. And if Davidson wins 2 this week, home to VCU and away versus Dukes they'll end the season with a 36rpi.

[aughnanure]

New Rule guys...

Stop relishing in the A-10's inferiority to the Big East. Or the MVC's. Or the WCC's. Or the Horizon's. These are not our enemies. The football schools are our enemies. They are the ones threatening the sport. Root for basketball-onlies over all football schools. The best thing that can happen in the next 5 years is for ANY basketball-only program to win the National Championship.

Go VCU, go Gonzaga, go Dayton, St. Louis, St. Mary's, Pepperdine, Drake, Wichita St, BU, GW, and Siena (unless playing a Big East school...of course).

[stever20]

New Rule guys...

Stop relishing in the A-10's inferiority to the Big East. Or the MVC's. Or the WCC's. Or the Horizon's. These are not our enemies. The football schools are our enemies. They are the ones threatening the sport. Root for basketball-onlies over all football schools. The best thing that can happen in the next 5 years is for ANY basketball-only program to win the National Championship.

Go VCU, go Gonzaga, go Dayton, St. Louis, St. Mary's, Pepperdine, Drake, Wichita St, BU, GW, and Siena (unless playing a Big East school...of course).

It's not all football schools. It's the F5 that is the enemy. HUGE difference there.