A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

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LS71
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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by LS71 » Sat Oct 19, 2019 5:49 am

It’s spelled like Inspector Clouseau might pronounce it. :lol:
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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by MikeUMA » Tue Oct 22, 2019 5:19 pm

Per Walfish:
McCall said he's not disappointed about not being included in inaugural A10/MW challenge. He said it's unique challenge to fly out West for one game and prefers to schedule H/H games that can bring quality opponents (like Rutgers/South Carolina) to Mullins.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by bobolink » Tue Oct 22, 2019 5:44 pm

^
gotta agree with Coach here. Is it worth practically wrecking an important week in December traveling to Boise, just to maybe get a home game vs. Wyoming in the following year? You might get lucky and get the home game first and then the series ends, but odds of such a desirable outcome don't seem good.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by vanmeter » Tue Oct 22, 2019 6:40 pm

I do not think it is good the be excluded. If it was such a bad thing others in the conference could have opted out.
It only shows where we fit on any stage when Duquesne gets invited and we do not.
I would suspect these games will be on television and revenue and exposure from that beats playing some crappy team at home

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by bobolink » Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:21 pm

^
might be better to be included. But I wouldn't sign up to change places with Duquense, who gets to visit Wyoming (potentially awful trip) and probably play at the same time as Dayton plays at Nevada. Maybe Duquense-Wyoming will be televised, who knows. I don't think I'd want any of the road games on the schedule:

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020
San Diego State at Saint Louis
George Mason at Fresno State
Boise State at Rhode Island
Air Force at Saint Joseph’s
Richmond at Colorado State
Duquesne at Wyoming

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by bobolink » Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:23 pm

^
oops. just realized Dayton is the next day, so forget what I said

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by 69MG » Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:33 pm

I think we have an adequate replacement for the MW Challenge next year.
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Also, not sure if this has been reported before, but McCall said #UMass is headed to Jamaica for the MTE next season. Already planning a 2020 budget around that trip.

This year, the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic features Rhody, LSU, Eastern Michigan, UMBC, Utah State, NC A&T, Nicholls State and North Texas. Georgetown played in event last year and Florida State played in 2017.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by LS71 » Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:16 am

Let UMass get this season under its belt. If they surprise like some have predicted, it’ll be hard to exclude them in the future.
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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by MJatUM » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:30 am

69MG wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:33 pm I think we have an adequate replacement for the MW Challenge next year.
These are 2 different things. Being in the Jamaica classic next year is the same thing as the Mohegan tournament this year - neither of which preclude us from being in the MW/A10 challenge. These "challenges" are just agreements between the conferences to schedule non conference games with each other within a few days. We could do both, I guess, is my point.

There are certain advantages to not being included that McCall mentions but I'd imagine most of these games will be on some type of national TV and I would say any opportunity to be on TV is a good one. There is no chance that if we were selected to be in this challenge McCall or Bamford would opt out because of travel difficulties.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by 69MG » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:43 am

^ I get that. I was just making a point that our guys are going to Jamaica, which is nicer than most (all) of the MW locations. Good chance we are in the MW Challenge in 2021 after an improved season this year.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by thecaptain » Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:28 am

super bummed we got left out of the field. was really hoping we got SDSU. not a whole lot of opportunities to see umass play out west. would have traveled if they were close

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by vanmeter » Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:27 pm

My ‘guess’ is that all four Atlantic 10 teams left out in 2020 would automatically be in for 2021. I do think the A10 is intent in giving every member an opportunity to participate and tried, in the inaugural, year to pick their best 10 representatives based on recent history.
Hopefully we will have a successful 19/20 season where me be able to get a ‘marquee’ match up in 2021

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by MJatUM » Fri Oct 25, 2019 10:16 am

I wouldn't doubt if it was a 2 year deal... To McCall's point about travel, I wouldn't want to travel 2000 miles in either direction without getting a return game in the next season.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by MikeUMA » Fri Oct 25, 2019 10:54 am

vanmeter wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:27 pmMy ‘guess’ is that all four Atlantic 10 teams left out in 2020 would automatically be in for 2021. I do think the A10 is intent in giving every member an opportunity to participate
I'm not so sure about that. These matchups are about increasing the visibility of both conferences and giving each other a better RPI game than they might otherwise get from a low-major regional school. A Fordham / San Jose State (hypothetical) game doesn't really do that.

I'd bet the bottom feeders get left out again in 2021, and as we've said, given the travel costs, they'd probably be fine with that.

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Re: A-10 / Mountain West Challenge

Post by MikeUMA » Fri Oct 25, 2019 10:55 am

MJatUM wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2019 10:16 amI wouldn't doubt if it was a 2 year deal
It is currently a 2-year deal, with an option to extend games into 2022 and 2023.

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