hoopjunkie
Associate Head Coach
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Post by hoopjunkie on Oct 23, 2012 0:51:24 GMT -5
I think UA has the potential to overtake Siena because of a much larger enrollment and funding for all its sports. Siena men's basketball is the meal ticket for the school and how it gets all its exposure. Like gorvy said in another thread about the womens team all other sports at the school need to be supported. You cant be a one trick pony. Can't be a one trick pony? Why not? Seems to work for Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, etc..... We do just fine for small private school in upstate NY.
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gorvy
Associate Head Coach
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Post by gorvy on Oct 23, 2012 6:11:01 GMT -5
Well, look at Xavier in Cincinnati, OH. The University of Cincinnati has been in the Big East since 2005 and is no slouch in NCAA Tournament performance, and yet Xavier (an A-10 member) is quite successful on their own and actually outdraws UC in attendance. A strong program is strong regardless of conference. I'm not convinced that the CAA is a great conference without VCU or ODU, and also without Davidson who told them no. I'll be interested in seeing what the MAAC does with expansion. It's possible there could be another opening in the A-10 soon. Evansville is flirting with leaving the tough Missouri Valley Conference for the more geographically compact Horizon League. If they go through with it, they would be taking Butler's spot as the 10th Horizon member. Their departure would leave the Valley with 9 members... and St. Louis has basically been homeless since C-USA dropped their non-football members in 2005. They followed Charlotte to the A-10, but Charlotte is now adding football and going back to C-USA. I'm sure they're happy that the A-10 added Butler, but it's still a lot of travel and they're competing among a pool of 14 teams for tourney slots. A 10-team MVC which is still strong and is often a multi-bid conference might be appealing. If they left, the A-10 would be down to 13 members and would need to add one again. George Mason would probably be their first pick, but that $1 million CAA exit fee is a bitter pill. If Siena can win some games again, there's still room to get on the A-10's radar. Sure, Xavier is good, but Cincinatti has the better program-- I don't think you are disputing that. I'm not saying that Siena will suffer because of Albany's prominence, just that Albany will become the better program over time in terms of basketball success. The first thing they will do is upgrade their coach, and then they will start grabbing recruits they never sniffed before, and then they will start winning games, a lot of them. Hey, Siena has to decide what they want. There's nothing wrong with being a slightly above average mid major in an average conference, mostly focusing on basketball. Albany has top 25 programs in multiple sports, and CAA is positioning itself to be heads apart from the MAAC --- heck Albany could BE like an ODU or a VCU. The MAAC could have competed with the CAA, but its Presidents were more focused on equality than making sound decisions. No matter what happens, I'll still be more pleased with how Siena was able to build its program and make noise on the strength of its own people, instead of how Albany did it with an appropriation (or their donors which were also mostly funded by taxpayer funds).
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Post by DelmartianEd on Oct 23, 2012 7:16:10 GMT -5
Cincy also had a longer history in the Metro and C-USA, so the analogy isn't perfect.
Don't kid yourself. The CAA is no Big East, and UAlbany doesn't even have an invite. I just meant to say that one program's success isn't to the detriment of any neighboring programs.
I must have missed those times when Northeastern and Hofstra became powerhouse programs out of the CAA. Heh.
The CAA is still a mess of a conference. Big and small, public and private, north and south. There's a reason Davidson told them no. UA would be wise to do the same. Just try to grab like a Quinnipiac for America East membership and call it a day. Stony Brook, UNH, and Maine are peer institutions who are also CAA Football/America East all-sports.
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siena77
Sophomore
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Post by siena77 on Oct 23, 2012 10:16:58 GMT -5
I agree with Gorvy's perspective. UAlbany is a sleeping giant. If we want to stay the big dog in Albany-area sports, we'll need to leave the MAAC.
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Sienafan
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Post by Sienafan on Oct 23, 2012 11:03:33 GMT -5
I wouldn't worry about Albany goin gto the CAA for all sports. First, few of the northern schools have succeeded there, though Drexel has come alive of late. I don't see Albany doing any better than Hofstra and Northeastern have in that league. Second, the CAA is a shell of its former self. Imagine the MAAC losing 2 out of 3 of the group of Manhattan, Siena, or Iona. What's left ain't pretty. Losing ODU and VCU is basically that doomsday scenario for the CAA. That league could be annually hovering in the 20s in the next few seasons. How's the Big West's annual power rating been since the likes of UNLV, Nevada, and Utah State left?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2012 23:30:20 GMT -5
I think UA has the potential to overtake Siena because of a much larger enrollment and funding for all its sports. Siena men's basketball is the meal ticket for the school and how it gets all its exposure. Like gorvy said in another thread about the womens team all other sports at the school need to be supported. You cant be a one trick pony. Can't be a one trick pony? Why not? Seems to work for Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, etc..... We do just fine for small private school in upstate NY. I think Siena has done better than ''fine''. My only point was in today's musical chairs of conference alignment Siena may not be looked upon as the strongest candidate to move up to a bigger perch. If we could only be grandfathered into the BE for basketball.......
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