A-10 on ESPN.com

[XUdenver]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/notebook? ... atlantic10

A-10 discussion all over the place today!

Great pic of BJ to start the article. Enjoy

[Mr. Neutral]

Very nice pub for the A10. Now, the conf. has to seize this moment and build on it, and not let it dissipate like 4 years ago, when the A10 seemed like it was on the verge of breaking through.

[muskieman]

I agree with Gary. The flagship program can not do all the hard work. Schools like Charlotte, SLU, dayton, Temple, GW and St Joes can not take 3 steps forward only to take three steps backward. We also need the bottom teams to stop playing like they are buy in game opponents.

[Mr. Neutral]

Andy Katz's comments at the end of the article-

If I were commish …
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com


The television contract is not good. The A-10 has no regular home on television where you know you'll find a game. The conference has to do a much better job of promoting the elite teams in this conference, especially Xavier, Saint Joseph's, Temple and UMass in the near future.

Also, the A-10 also moved its tournament to Atlantic City. It should stay there. The conference needs to find a permanent home to start building a tradition in its event.

Scheduling teams' three repeat opponents should be done without any subjectivity. It should be done by a computer so there is no bias.

And don't get me going on whether St. Bonaventure should be in the league.

[madness31]

While I agree that the rest of the league needs to continue excelling and not slide back, last year was a true group effort. Without big non conference wins by UD, UMASS, RI, Charlotte, etc XU would not have been a 3 seed and might have had a tougher path to the elite 8. Those wins truly helped our RPI.

If some of the teams slide a bit this year because they are rebuilding that is understandable as it does happen and could happen to X this year if the freshman guards don't step up early and Crawford doesn't get the exemption. The bottom dwellers need to step up or get removed from the league. Those that make the tourney need to start winning games in the tourney. Luckily UMASS and UD did well in the NIT or the talk could have been about X being the only legitimate team in the conference. Considering UD and UMASS had similar resumes as St Joe and Temple their success in the NIT was crucial to keeping talk about the league positive.

This year should be interesting for Xavier as the team could be incredible if the guard situation works out but could struggle if it doesn't. The team appears to be more athletic than usual and obviously has more height. The guards shouldn't have to score much but will need to take care of the ball and play strong D to make another run.

If the league does slide a bit from last year, it will be a must that we bounce back the following year to keep the recruits coming. A couple down years in a row could damage the brand.