Conference realignment

[69MG]

^ My guess is that this is a stepping stone. There is so much shuffling that the landscape will look totally different in 5 years and the AAC is a possibility.

[chapter 11]

Cant imagine coach is thrilled with this one.

[e_parade]

This sucks for all sports other than football, IMHO.

So next season is last in A10?

Let's hope we can start winning in the MAC. Northern Ill, Buffalo, Ohio, OMG.

How are we going to sell seats in the Mullins Center for games against that crowd???

It's actually probably an upgrade for Soccer as well.

So Football and Football.

[PreecherJenkins]

This sucks for all sports other than football, IMHO.

So next season is last in A10?

Let's hope we can start winning in the MAC. Northern Ill, Buffalo, Ohio, OMG.

How are we going to sell seats in the Mullins Center for games against that crowd???

It's actually probably an upgrade for Soccer as well.

So Football and Football.

men's soccer? MACdoesnt support men's soccer

[bunkerhill87]

This sucks for all sports other than football, IMHO.

So next season is last in A10?

Let's hope we can start winning in the MAC. Northern Ill, Buffalo, Ohio, OMG.

How are we going to sell seats in the Mullins Center for games against that crowd???

might as well move back to the cage or completely close off upper tier at the mullins. gonna be hard to muster any excitment

[Floyd]

Well, be easier to get in & out

[PreecherJenkins]

who is excited besides Steve83 for our basketball season to be

3 games in Cleveland for a 12 seed???

Feel bad for Pat MacWilliams and his hard work

[Steve81]

who is excited besides Steve83 for our basketball season to be

3 games in Cleveland for a 12 seed???

Feel bad for Pat MacWilliams and his hard work

Don't feel bad for PAT, he did not want CUSA #nocusa.

[PreecherJenkins]

who is excited besides Steve83 for our basketball season to be

3 games in Cleveland for a 12 seed???

Feel bad for Pat MacWilliams and his hard work

Don't feel bad for PAT, he did not want CUSA #nocusa.

Pat can speak for himself

[Ajmal]

Tough pill to swallow for the sake of advancing football. The only consolation is that the CUSA route wasn't better/might have been worse. Mullins Center is going to be a ghost town. Imagine trying to get the students fired up to play Ball State or Miami (Ohio), never mind a team we have years of history with. I'm guessing Buffalo was the last ranked team from the MAC. Who before that?

KenPom rankings: A-10 8th; MAC 24th

[Old Cage]

My question concerning hoops is how do we recruit? Kids from the Northeast (usually the majority of our scholarship guys) know the A-10 schools, have friends there, have played against their guys in prep school and/or AAU, live near a school their folks can get to, etc.

You play who? South East Central Michigan? What? The job for Frank - if he sticks, and I really hope he does - just got a lot harder.

[vanmeter]

Football needed a home and this (i would guess) was the best option.

When we decided to leave MAC in 2015 it was because they wanted us for all sports and A10 was a 3-5 bid league in Basketball. There were even multiple bid in Women's basketball some years. Now strictly a 1 bid league (except this year if Dayton loses A10 tournament.

I also think that the A10 is destined to lose Dayton and possibly VCU if and when Big East decides to expand. Based on our attendance the bast 8 or so years, I'm not sure we would be filling up the Cage. Also, with regards to academics, this is a much better fit than CUSA.

MAC is a stable league. They have TV games nationally in Football - albeit mid week. A good chance to get bowl bids! While I can understand some disappointment for basketball fans (i am more basketball fan than football) , I think in the long run this will enable us to position ourselves with a better conference.

[bunkerhill87]

it will be hard to recruit to this level and expect any success. I guess that's less of concern when you can reload your team each year with the portal

[CrazyLegs]

Woof.

As an alum and someone not tied into the inner workings of the AD office, this certainly seems like a downgrade. Maybe, as a previous poster mentioned, this a "stepping stone" and will help the program overall with a stronger affiliation for football — but this is going to be brutal for the basketball team until then.

We're going from a league that almost always send 2-3 teams to a league where you 100% have to win their tournament to get an invite. Heck in 2014, the A-10 sent 6 teams to the tourney. I know the A-10 has been on a downward spiral since then. But the MAC flat-out sucks at bball. The most mid of mid-majors.

[Sheck]

Way easier path to getting the autobid and getting into the dance.

If the collective continues to be supported + Frank sticks around, we can still recruit at the level that we do now.

Still have an opportunity to schedule our fellow A10 teams in the non-conference. So maybe the scheduling philosophy needs to change. Instead of loading up the non-con with Albany, CCSU, whoever, it's URI, VCU, Dayton, etc.

If we're good the fans will come out. I don't think we got 7100 on Saturday cause of the opponent. It's cause UMass basketball felt relevant again.