This is something that get's lost in the discussion of the A-10 being a mid-major or not. The strength of the league changes from season to season, but there is almost always at least a pretty good team. It's not like the West Coast Conference, where if Gonzaga is off, the conference is dead.

Davidson, Dayton, and St. Bonaventure may have disappointed so far this year, but maybe St. Joe's will step up and return to being a top team. St. Louis and Richmond have looked good so far too. Last year's bottom feeders UMass and Fordham are undefeated early on as well.

We've had five different tournament champions in the last five years and ten in the last fourteen. There's been three different regular season champs in the last three seasons and seven in the last nine. Only twice in the last seventeen seasons has the regular season champ also won the tournament. We've had four different teams get at-large bids in the last three seasons and fifteen in the last fifteen.

I don't think any conference can match the balance of the A-10. Of course that makes it even more frustrating to see the Dukes in the cellar year after year. Hopefully that is on the way to ending.

Last edited by luckymcd (11/15/2019 7:07 pm)

OK Luckymed....name me a year in this century that Gonzaga has had an off year?  Does the conference have balance.....no.  Do St Mary's and BYU have variable years...sure.   You don't need to falsely put down the Zags to build up your argument about the strength of the A10.  The Zags would win the A10 in the majority of seasons this century.

PS:  Ask Dambrot if he agrees with you.  He has played several games against the West Coast Conference while at Akron.