Post by hawaii bill on Nov 7, 2014 10:05:41 GMT -5
Well that's another really good point '83. A watered down A-10 doesn't give us anymore than the MAAC and I can certainly see schools like UMASS, Rhody, VCU et al (large public institutions) leaving or joining new conferences with similar constituents. Then you have the smaller Catholic schools and that's pretty much the MAAC, ableit more spread out. That would also leave St. Louis and Dayton with the short end of the stick and I'm sure they'd be aiming for the Big East. It seems a 4-5k seat arena probably best positions us under either scenario.
I can't foresee any way that we'd allow a Fordham type of program. Going back to the days of Brother Driscoll, Iona has known that the success of the BB, in fact the entire sports program, was instrumental to the well being of the College. There have been bumps along the way, but I don't believe that the belief at the top ever did change.
So I agree 59 and there are a few moments in the life of an entity or an individual where you can truly point to and say this is/was a defining moment. And Dr. Nyre and other stakeholders are faced with one of those moments right now, not to be too dramatic about it. I thought stepping up to retain Cluess was one of those moments for the basketball program. Now I get there is more at stake here than basketball and athletics, and as an alumnus I fully support that. But now is a defining moment. Very exciting. What will the legacy be?
Agreed. MAAC is perfect for us right now. If things change with endowment, enrollment, etc. might make sense to reassess at that point, but until then it's a moot point.
BTW, don't underestimate the A-10. It would be a huge jump from the MAAC. If you ranked the programs right now the A-10 can go blow for blow with the BE:
Nova (BE) Gtown (BE) VCU (A10) Dayton (A10) GW (A10) Xavier (BE) UMass (A10) Butler (BE) SJU (BE) Marquette (BE)
Agreed. MAAC is perfect for us right now. If things change with endowment, enrollment, etc. might make sense to reassess at that point, but until then it's a moot point.
BTW, don't underestimate the A-10. It would be a huge jump from the MAAC. If you ranked the programs right now the A-10 can go blow for blow with the BE:
Nova (BE) Gtown (BE) VCU (A10) Dayton (A10) GW (A10) Xavier (BE) UMass (A10) Butler (BE) SJU (BE) Marquette (BE)
Everybody else...
Yes I agree it would be a huge jump, especially considering all the olympic sports. And I have no idea of our current financial/ fund-raising situation. Food for thought though and 83 makes an excellent point. The fault lines in the A-10 are pretty evident. There are big public universities, big private universities, and small private universities. One could argue they on paper are the Balkans and may fracture at any stress point. So the question becomes do you roll the dice a bit, or play it more closely to the vest if I can mix metaphors?
Last Edit: Nov 7, 2014 10:48:08 GMT -5 by hawaii bill
Agreed. MAAC is perfect for us right now. If things change with endowment, enrollment, etc. might make sense to reassess at that point, but until then it's a moot point.
BTW, don't underestimate the A-10. It would be a huge jump from the MAAC. If you ranked the programs right now the A-10 can go blow for blow with the BE:
Nova (BE) Gtown (BE) VCU (A10) Dayton (A10) GW (A10) Xavier (BE) UMass (A10) Butler (BE) SJU (BE) Marquette (BE)
Everybody else...
Yes I agree it would be a huge jump, especially considering all the olympic sports. And I have no idea of our current financial/ fund-raising situation. Food for thought though and 83 makes an excellent point. The fault lines in the A-10 are pretty evident. There are big public universities, big private universities, and small private universities. One could argue they on paper are the Balkans and may fracture at any stress point. So the question becomes do you roll the dice a bit, or play it more closely to the vest if I can mix metaphors?
Does the Pope poop in the woods? Is the bear catholic? I don't know, this is all just too much rocket surgery for me!
Agreed. MAAC is perfect for us right now. If things change with endowment, enrollment, etc. might make sense to reassess at that point, but until then it's a moot point.
BTW, don't underestimate the A-10. It would be a huge jump from the MAAC. If you ranked the programs right now the A-10 can go blow for blow with the BE:
Nova (BE) Gtown (BE) VCU (A10) Dayton (A10) GW (A10) Xavier (BE) UMass (A10) Butler (BE) SJU (BE) Marquette (BE)
Everybody else...
Yes I agree it would be a huge jump, especially considering all the olympic sports. And I have no idea of our current financial/ fund-raising situation. Food for thought though and 83 makes an excellent point. The fault lines in the A-10 are pretty evident. There are big public universities, big private universities, and small private universities. One could argue they on paper are the Balkans and may fracture at any stress point. So the question becomes do you roll the dice a bit, or play it more closely to the vest if I can mix metaphors?
Best to improve our conf and continue to improve our facilities. Then wait for the fallout that is sure to come in other confs.
Post by hawaii bill on Nov 7, 2014 11:39:22 GMT -5
Yeah I guess that makes sense. Here's how I can see things shaking out.
VCU, Rhody, UMASS to the AAS Dayton, St. Louis to the BE. St. Bonas, St. Joe's, Duquesne to a league with us, Manhattan, Siena, Fairfield, and Saint Peter's. Ricmond to the Patriot. Fordham to the Patriot.
Anyone with at least a half of a brain can see that Fordham's fit is the Patriot League. That guy Rambacker who has too much personally at stake because he orchestrated Fordham's move to the A-10 will never admit it and will continue to advocate for the A-10 in the face of 20 years of compelling evidence that it doesn't work. And other alums won't like it, but it is what it is.
Two things need to happen for Iona to move to a bigger conference:
1. Larger, updated arena, which thankfully is in the cards.
2. Keep Cluess AND Grasso. I have to think this is unlikely by the time any invite would actually come.
Maybe Cluess and Grasso will enjoy recruiting to a bigger/better arena? I have to think the new scoreboards are a welcome addition. I'm assuming they can run game video on them during practice.
If Iona wins the MAAC this year, we could easily lose one or both of them. We need to be able to tell them that the arena is definitely coming and that we are definitely going to entertain offers from bigger conferences. This is the only way both would stay on board.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
My concern is Iona may not have the luxury of choice - it could be completely out of their hands.
If the BCS schools get their way, mid-major basketball could go the way of NCAA football with D1 an D1-AA.
The economics of mid-major basketball could be radically changed and not in a favorable way.
My whole point is that the school needs to keep a keen eye on what might transpire outside its control.
I want the Stony Brook arena as much as everyone else, but unfortunately there is a risk that can't be ignored.
Even if we are in a 1-A Conference, a better facility will be needed to compete with other colleges to attract students, IMO. The question then becomes how much do you invest? A 4000 seat arena can be used for more things than just athletics and can be used to host events for the greater community as well. It seems like its needed either way, if you ask me. But of course so are other things.
If Iona wins the MAAC this year, we could easily lose one or both of them. We need to be able to tell them that the arena is definitely coming and that we are definitely going to entertain offers from bigger conferences. This is the only way both would stay on board.
Yeah, although I'm going back and forth a bit here, put me down in the camp that says we should entertain any offers from higher rated conferences. I'd rather be pro-active than re-active.
No one wants to keep TC and JG more than I do, but if they leave, they leave. There are a lot of very good coaches waiting in the wings. And probably due to my age, and being a BB junkie, I was probably in the minority (or is it majority?) of those who had heard of TC when Kevin Willard left for SH. I remembered that all the Cleuss family played for St. John's, but I couldn't pick any out of a lineup. And look how TC turned out. The sky won't fall, and let's not call for crutches before they even diagnose a leg issue.