That's probably where Duquesne belongs...

Hire Frank Martin if he wants out of that blah conference.

scduke wrote:

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

FAM wrote:

That's probably where Duquesne belongs...

That would require a full commitment to DIV-1 Football - not going to happen.

This is true but I've been wondering what being in the A-10 has done for us lately. We still have a season to finish and there has been a lot of discussion about KD's tenure plue the Women's team looks like they have a shot at a post-season tournamnet so the board is already busy. I wouldn't mind discussing this after the season is over or even now if folks are inclined.

I don’t know the finances of the A-10 so I can’t speak to those benefits.  And, honestly, I don’t care to know. That side of college and even pro sports holds zero interest for me. I’ll say the only benefit for being in the A-10, at this point, is maintaining the tradition and rivalries.  I look forward to the Richmond, St Bonaventure, Dayton, LaSalle games each year because I know those teams/programs and the familiarity is attractive. And that’s about it.  Now that the Power 5 conferences are bloated the A-10 is basically a one bid league just like the rest of the non power 5s. Only with better competition and a better tv deal (meaning they get on tv - not the money).  If getting to the tourney is the main goal then the Dukes are better off going to a less competitive conference.  When I started following Duquesne hoops the conf looked a lot different and now another of the old guard is leaving.  5 years from now I wonder how much more different it will be. They should find a league willing to take The Bonnies, Dayton, and maybe LaSalle and Fordham and just move on out.  I don’t want to see more and more teams leave each year and be replaced by teams I don’t care about

Didn't some genius move Duquesne to some other conference in the distant past? I forget how that turned out...

I understand why UMASS would leave the A10 to strengthen their football program.  But the MAC is not the A10.  This could negatively impact their basketball program.  Ask Temple how that is working out.  As a practical matter, Bernadette should be reaching out now to Temple to explore their interest in returning.

NapaDuke wrote:

If UMASS does leave, how does that change the A-10? Do we get another team in to replace them?
 

I don’t think so. 14 is a better number than 15. I thought it was weird when we only took Loyola, but perhaps the conference saw this coming.

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

The A-10 is the 2nd strongest basketball only conference, trailing the Big East. The A-10 is in seven of the top 30 media markets, including New York (1), Chicago (2), Philadelphia (4), Washington (9), Charlotte (22), St. Louis (23) and Pittsburgh (26). Every single conference game is available to view via national broadcast (79) games, regional and streaming.  The conference tournament from the 2nd round on is broadcast on national TV.

Note: women's basketball also benefits strongly from the A10 conference affiliation.  Every single conference game is available to view via national broadcast games, regional and streaming.

Lower level conferences do not have this luxury.  For example, take the Colonial Athletic Association (Charleston, Hofstra, UNCW, Drexel, etc.) - their major streaming partner is FloHoops (with some schools picking up the production costs for some regional and ESPN+ streaming games).  Including their conference championship, they only have 27 men's games nationally televised on CBSSN. 

The A10 is where the Dukes belong; there really is no better alternative.  That being said, there are a couple of disturbing trends in process that the A10 must correct quickly.
1) Not getting multiple NCAA bids
2) Inability to schedule Power 6 / Top 50 teams as part of the non-conference schedules.
These somewhat go hand in hand.  It has been very tough for most A10 teams to schedule top 50 games.  This year, the A10 has played 25 top 50 teams, compiling a 5-20 record.  Dayton alone had 5 games, finishing 3-2.  The rest of the conference was 2-18 versus top 50 competition.  It's just not a Duquesne problem, but a league wide issue (excepting Dayton) to both schedule and then win a big game.  The NET has Dayton at 20; then the Bonnies at 71, with the next eight (8!) teams bunched between 72 and 108.  Those numbers would have skewed significantly downward if there were 4 or 5 more non conference wins against top 50 teams. Out of the 11 top conferences, the A10 is the only one without 2 top 50 teams.

If I was the A10 commish, I would look at reviving the concept of the conference showdown with the Mountain West or another similar conference.  Secondly, I would explore sponsoring a couple of multi team events/tournaments providing some big paychecks to Top 50/Power 6 schools for them to play a couple of A10 schools (invites for A10 schools perhaps go to only the top 4 projected finishers).  This conference needs to figure out how to get good games on the non-conf schedule and then win a few of them.

Finally, the way the NET is set up, it's better for a Power 6 to pay for a home game against a 250th ranked team, beat them by 40 and get rewarded for that win (as compared to an 8 point win over the 100th ranked team).  Please see what the Big 12 has done this year.  Scheduling has become almost as difficult as recruiting in the NIL world.  It's going to continue to be tough for the A10 and Duquesne.




 

Great post!

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

The A-10 is the 2nd strongest basketball only conference, trailing the Big East. The A-10 is in seven of the top 30 media markets, including New York (1), Chicago (2), Philadelphia (4), Washington (9), Charlotte (22), St. Louis (23) and Pittsburgh (26). Every single conference game is available to view via national broadcast (79) games, regional and streaming.  The conference tournament from the 2nd round on is broadcast on national TV.

Note: women's basketball also benefits strongly from the A10 conference affiliation.  Every single conference game is available to view via national broadcast games, regional and streaming.

Very insightful comments!
Lower level conferences do not have this luxury.  For example, take the Colonial Athletic Association (Charleston, Hofstra, UNCW, Drexel, etc.) - their major streaming partner is FloHoops (with some schools picking up the production costs for some regional and ESPN+ streaming games).  Including their conference championship, they only have 27 men's games nationally televised on CBSSN. 

The A10 is where the Dukes belong; there really is no better alternative.  That being said, there are a couple of disturbing trends in process that the A10 must correct quickly.
1) Not getting multiple NCAA bids
2) Inability to schedule Power 6 / Top 50 teams as part of the non-conference schedules.
These somewhat go hand in hand.  It has been very tough for most A10 teams to schedule top 50 games.  This year, the A10 has played 25 top 50 teams, compiling a 5-20 record.  Dayton alone had 5 games, finishing 3-2.  The rest of the conference was 2-18 versus top 50 competition.  It's just not a Duquesne problem, but a league wide issue (excepting Dayton) to both schedule and then win a big game.  The NET has Dayton at 20; then the Bonnies at 71, with the next eight (8!) teams bunched between 72 and 108.  Those numbers would have skewed significantly downward if there were 4 or 5 more non conference wins against top 50 teams. Out of the 11 top conferences, the A10 is the only one without 2 top 50 teams.

If I was the A10 commish, I would look at reviving the concept of the conference showdown with the Mountain West or another similar conference.  Secondly, I would explore sponsoring a couple of multi team events/tournaments providing some big paychecks to Top 50/Power 6 schools for them to play a couple of A10 schools (invites for A10 schools perhaps go to only the top 4 projected finishers).  This conference needs to figure out how to get good games on the non-conf schedule and then win a few of them.

Finally, the way the NET is set up, it's better for a Power 6 to pay for a home game against a 250th ranked team, beat them by 40 and get rewarded for that win (as compared to an 8 point win over the 100th ranked team).  Please see what the Big 12 has done this year.  Scheduling has become almost as difficult as recruiting in the NIL world.  It's going to continue to be tough for the A10 and Duquesne.




 

scduke wrote:

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

I'm surprised that UMass has thrown all of their eggs into FBS Football.  UMass turned down a similar offer from the MAC in 2015; they were in the MAC as a football only school and the MAC forced them to make a decision to commit to an all sports membership.

UConn tried the same thing when they left the Big East to go to the AAC for football.  After the wheels came off their basketball program, they came crawling back to the Big East 4 or 5 years later and UConn football is a D-1 Independent.

 

It is true that UMass was told to join in all sports or leave in 2015. However the A-10 was not a one-bid league then. Could it be that they think this move solves their football scheduling problem and makes an automatic NCAA bid more likely in a more winnable baskeball conference?

Will definitely solve their football scheduling issue.  If things stayed as they are right now for UMass in basketball, they would likely be one of the top teams in the MAC.  But they won't.  The MAC is the 24th rated conference (A10 is 8th).  Would Frank Martin have come to coach a MAC school with only 3 of their 12 teams in the top 200?  Do you think Josh Cohen would have transferred to UMass and lesser NIL monies?  Good move for football; terrible move for UMass basketball.

scduke, fwiw, the Dukes had a decent non conference schedule - they just didn't win the games they needed to (the loss to Santa Clara on a neutral site and the home loss to Princeton cost them).  As a point of reference, the Dukes had the 4th toughest non conference schedule in the A10. Here's the KenPom rankings:
Dayton 37th
Saint Louis 104th
Davidson 155th
Duquesne 160th
Rhode Island 180th
VCU 199th
George Mason 276th
Richmond 278th
Loyola Chicago 281st
St. Bonaventure 302nd
UMass 329th
St. Joseph's 332nd
Fordham 339th
La Salle 353rd
George Washington 361st

I assume UMASS will have to pay the exit fee before leaving.  Anyone know the fee?  UMASS hasn’t done much in basketball since the Marcus Camby teams, but they were a charter member of the league, so that’s unfortunate.
I don’t think the League needs to rush adding another team.  14 teams is plenty.  If there is an opportunity to bring in a geographical partner for URI, maybe that is an option.

Dambrot’s opinion on the move:

https://x.com/a10talk/status/1763200976964493447?s=46