Thursday, August 13, 2009
The A-10's move to Virginia is now official, although the migration ceased to be a secret earlier this week.
On a personal note, I'm sorry that the move means that associate commisioner Ray Cella is leaving the conference. He's a lifelong Jersey guy and didn't want to move south.
Ray is as good a guy as there is in college athletics and coaches, administrators and media are going to miss seeing him at league events. I know I sure will.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
to 
The Atlantic 10 is moving from Philadelphia to Newport News, Va.
There's an announcement coming Thursday.
It seems like an odd move. I want to say up front there's potentially a good reason that I'm not aware of, but...
I get that rent on office space in downtown Philadelphia probably isn't cheap, but wouldn't it make more sense to move somewhere more centralized. Philly does have some suburbs in Pennsyvania and Jersey.
The move could very likely create a turnover in the staff of the league as the league's employees will have to decide whether to uproot themselves and their families to a location almost 300 miles away. As someone who thinks highly of the people I know who work in the league, that would be a shame.
What does this mean to the league, I'm not really sure. I can't imagine it would affect things that much in terms of competition. I would guess that it would become more expensive for the league administrators to fly places. Although a quick scan of Expedia shows reasonable (under $300) flights to A-10 airports (Hartford, Saint Louis, Buffalo, Charlotte, Pittsburgh and Cincinatti) from Newport News International Airport on a random November weekend.
For fans, athletes and for that matter media, there's not a ton of reasons to be at the league office. So it won't change much.
But there's certainly something so be said for being among your league's fans, for living in a place that gets your league's games on normal cable TV. It seems like a certain amount of how your conference is being received gets lost when you aren't.
End of rant.
...542 miles to Newport News...
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
One of the features I'd like to have on this blog for the summer is a regular day for links to stories about A-10/CAA Football/Hockey East notes. I'm not working from June 11-24, but after that I'm going to pick a day that will feature the links and notes.
Every Monday or maybe every other Monday depending on how often other outlets are putting out news.
Some of these will be a little dated, but since nobody plays a game again until August at the soonest.
Back when the Atlantic 10 was the Eastern 8, the league had a short-lived mascot called the Hoopster Rooster. It needs to be resurrected if only so I can buy a T-Shirt with the logo on it. I'm naming the summer conference notes blog after the HoopRoost.
Enjoy:
Men's basketball
Dayton's Doug Harris looks at the further decay of Fordham.
The always interesting Tom Timmerman takes a look how Atlantic 10 schools rank across the board in 2008-09 athletic department performance.
There's a handful of good college hoops nuggets in this Charlotte Observer notebook. Among the most noteworthy is that Comcast is adding ESPNU a move that will impact quite a few western Massachusetts and New England residents::
Comcast will add ESPNU to its lineup before the college basketball season, more
than doubling the number of homes in which the college-focused sports
station will be available. Comcast, which will now also carry ESPN360.
Duquesne gave productive walk-on Jason Duty a scholarship.
This is old, but still relevant. New Xavier coach Chris Mack figures to add some intensity to the Xavier-Dayton rivarly.
Oregon State is likely playing at George Washington this season which means the Colonials could get another visit from President Barack Obama, whose brother-in-law Craig Robinson is the coach at OSU:
"Do the five new players realize what's in store for them early next season? ... a trip to the D.C. area to play George Washington U., and if schedules work out perhaps a chance to meet President Obama and the First Lady, who just happens to be coach Rob's little sister."
Dionte Christmas is preparing for the NBA.
Jim Baron is being inducted into the St. Bonaventure Hall of Fame.
Football
Delaware added a linemen from West Virginia.
...three months til football season...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The A-10 is staying on the Jersey shore.
"The decision to return to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City provides a great opportunity to grow our marquee event and truly brand the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship," states McGlade. "The facility is well-suited for this Championship, Atlantic City is a historic seashore resort, and the city has welcomed the Atlantic 10 and committed to host three more great years."
...one year til A-10 in A.C...
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Atlantic 10 is staying in Atlantic City.
According to a league source, the conference is expected to announce Tuesday that its men’s basketball tournament is staying at Boardwalk Hall for the next three seasons.
Atlantic City, which has hosted the event since 2007, was selected over Springfield, Pittsburgh, Dayton, and Cincinnati.
The format will change slightly next season as first round games will be held at campus sites. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be held in Atlantic City on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Those games were held on Thursday Friday and Saturday this year.
The league is hoping that adding one more weekend day to the tournament will increase attendance.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Tony Gaffney was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, and was named to the second team all-conference and all defensive teams.
Ricky Harris was named to the all-conference third team and Chris Lowe was an honorable mention.
Luke Bonner was named to the all-academic team.
Most surprising was that Gaffney wasn't the league's most improved player, which I thought was the most obvious award. That award went to Aaron Jackson, who was a good player last year that became a great player this year, as opposed to Gaffney, who went from non factor to one of the best players in the conference.
I think Jim Baron is a worthy pick for coach of the year, but Ron Everhart was worthier. URI was picked ninth in the preseason poll. Baron has been there a while. URI shouldn't be ninth. So the voters basically thought he'd done a lousy job having his program ready for this year. Instead he did a good job with a team that was clearly better than people thought.
Nobody has ever expected good things at Duquesne. The Dukes lost two players to early departure and we expected to fall back. Instead they got better. This is the best Duquesne has been in at least 15 years. Everhart got them there.
2008-09 ATLANTIC 10
MEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS First-Team School Cl. Pos. Ht. Hometown PPG RPG Asts Stls Blks
First-Team
Jimmy Baron Rhode Island Sr. G. 6-3 East Grennwich, R.I. 16.8 2.7 60 22 2
Dionte Christmas Temple Sr. G 6-5 Philadelphia, Pa. 19.2 6.1 88 41 5
Aaron Jackson Duquesne Sr. G 6-4 Hartford, Conn. 18.3 5.7 168 50 3
Ahmad Nivins Saint Joseph’s Sr. F 6-9 Jersey City, N.J. 19.2 11.7 32 19 55
B.J. Raymond Xavier Sr. G/F 6-6 Toledo, Ohio 13.8 4.2 46 17 12
Second-Team
Kevin Anderson Richmond So. G 5-11 Duluth, Ga. 16.2 2.9 82 44 2
Derrick Brown Xavier Jr. F 6-8 Dayton, Ohio 13.8 6.1 61 21 28
Tony Gaffney Massachusetts Sr. F 6-8 Berkley, Mass. 11.5 10.2 49 59 113
Rodney Green La Salle Jr. G 6-5 Philadelphia, Pa. 17.6 4.9 105 56 5
Chris Wright Dayton So. F 6-8 Trotwood, Ohio 13.1 6.5 29 28 37
Third-Team
Lavoy Allen Temple So. F 6-9 Morrisville, Pa. 11.1 8.6 62 13 48
Ricky Harris Massachusetts Jr. G 6-2 Baltimore, Md. 18.2 2.9 44 37 5
Kevin Lisch Saint Louis Sr. G 6-2 Belleville, Ill. 14.2 3.4 75 37 1
Lamont Mack Charlotte Sr. F 6-7 Chicago, Ill. 15.1 5.6 27 24 10
Kahiem Seawright Rhode Island Sr. F 6-8 Uniondale, N.Y. 13.8 7.4 68 25 31
Honorable
Mention
C.J. Anderson Xavier Sr. G/F 6-6 Cincinnati, Ohio 10.2 5.6 68 19 17
David Gonzalvez Richmond Jr. G 6-4 Marietta, Ga. 15.6 4.6 59 39 14
Marcus Johnson Dayton Jr. G 6-3 Cleveland, Ohio 12.1 3.2 50 26 15
Chris
Lowe Massachusetts Sr. G 6-0 Mount Vernon, N.Y. 12.1 3.0 190 22 2
Damian
Saunders Duquesne So. F 6-7 Waterbury, Conn. 13.3 7.9 66 66 66
Rookie Team
Melquan Bolding Duquesne Fr. G/F 6-4 Mount
Vernon, N.Y. 9.0 4.1 34 28 6
Jio Fontan Fordham Fr. G 5-11 Patterson,
N.J. 15.3 2.7 132 33 3
Chris Johnson Dayton Fr. G/F 6-5 Columbus,
Ohio 6.5 5.4 18 17 5
Kwamain Mitchell Saint Louis Fr. G 5-10 Milwaukee,
Wis. 10.0 3.2 106 35 1
Andrew Nicholson St. Bonaventure Fr. F 6-9 Mississauga,
Ontario 12.5 6.0 7 79 16
Defensive Team
Lavoy Allen Temple So. F 6-9 Morrisville, Pa. 11.1 8.6 62 13 48
Tony Gaffney Massachusetts Sr. F 6-8 Berkley,
Mass. 11.5 10.2 49 59 113
Ahmad Nivins Saint Joseph’s Sr. F 6-9 Jersey City, N.J. 19.2 11.7 32 19 55
London Warren Dayton Jr. G 6-0 Jacksonville,
Fla. 4.2 2.7 126 48 4
Garrett Williamson Saint Joseph’s Jr. G 6-5 Lower
Merion, Pa. 5.9 3.7 135 43 36
Academic
Team School Cl. Pos. Ht. Hometown Major
Jimmy Baron Rhode Island Sr. G 6-3 East Greenwich,
R.I. Communication Studies
Luke Bonner Massachusetts Gr. C 7-1 Concord,
N.H. Sports Management
Jason Duty Duquesne Jr. G 6-1 Cranberry
Township, Pa. Accounting
Kevin Lisch Saint
Louis Sr. G 6-2 Belleville, Ill. Business Administration
Yves Mekongo Mbala La Salle Jr. F 6-7 Elizabeth,
N.J. Integrated Science & Business Technology
Player of the Year: Ahmad Nivins,
Saint Joseph’s
Rookie of the Year: Andrew Nicholson,
St. Bonaventure
Defensive Player of the Year:
Tony Gaffney, Massachusetts
Chris Daniels Most Improved Player
of the Year: Aaron Jackson, Duquesne
Sixth Man of the Year:
Delroy James, Rhode Island
Student-Athlete of the Year: Kevin
Lisch, Saint Louis
Coach of the
Year: Jim Baron, Rhode Island
...two days til UMass-Duquesne...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Skip Prosser was always one of my favorite guys in coaching. I like that Xavier and Wake Forest are going to play an annual game in his honor.
...one day til UMass-Richmond...
Friday, January 9, 2009
Springfield is competing with four other cities to host the Atlantic 10 Tournament in 2010:
Atlantic City, Dayton, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The Steel City is the only one, which hasn't host the tourney before.I'm not sure what building Pittsburgh would use.I'm assuming it's not the Igloo.
I got this from two sources within the conference.
Philadelphia did not bid although if the league is willing to go to Springfield (capacity 6,679) then the Palestra (8,700) should be back in play as a possibility.
...two days til Springfield auditions...
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Atlantic 10 released its national TV games, Monday, here are games involving the Minutemen and Minutewomen.
Men's games:
CBS College Sports
Sat. Dec. 6 Boston College at Massachusetts, 8:30
Sat. Jan. 3 Vanderbilt at Massachusetts, 5
Sun. Feb. 8 Saint Joseph’s at Massachusetts, 3
ESPN
Tue. Nov. 18 Massachusetts at Memphis, 12 ESPN
Sat. Dec. 13 Massachusetts at Kansas, 2
ESPN2
Sat. Jan. 17 Temple at Massachusetts, 7
ESPNU
Sat. Jan. 31 Massachusetts at Xavier Noon
Women's games:
CBS College Sports
Sun. Feb. 22 Rhode Island at Massachusetts, 1
...11 days til hoop practice...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The NBA draft hasn't been that kind to the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year over the years. Lasme became the first A-10 POY since Jameer Nelson to be picked. Here's a look at the how the league's players of the year have done since Marcus Camby was taken in 1996.
2007 - Stephane Lasme, UMass, second round Golden State
2006 Steven Smith, La Salle undrafted
2005 Pat Caroll, St. Joe's and Smith undrafted
2004 Jameer Nelson, Saint Joseph's - First round Orlando
2003, 2002, 2001 David West, Xavier, - First round New Orleans
2000 - Pepe Sanchez, Temple, - undrafted*
1999- Shawnta Rogers, George Washington - undrafted
1998 - Cuttino Mobley, Rhode Island - Houston second round
1997- Marc Jackson, Temple - Golden State, second round
* despite not being picked did play briefly in the NBA
In the same time period, other players, who didn't win the award, were drafted.
2006 - The New York Knicks took Mardy Collins in the first round, and the Dallas Mavericks took Danilo Pinnock in the second.
2004 - In addition to Nelson, Delonte West (first round, Celtics), Lionel Chalmers (second, Clippers), Dave Young (second, Sonics) and Romain Sato (second, Spurs) were all taken
2002 - Rasual Butler was taken by the Heat in the second round
2000 - Mark Karcher was selected by the Sixers in the second round
1999 - While 5-foot-3 Shawnta Rogers was never taken, some of his taller rivals were that year - Lamar Odom (Clippers, first round), James Posey (Nuggets, first round), Lari Ketner (Bulls, first round) and Eddie Lucas (Jazz, second)
1998 - In addition to Mobley, Tyson Wheeler (Raptors, second round) and Torraye Braggs (Jazz, second) were also picked.
...one hour til the draft...
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Atlantic 10 officially has a new commissioner as Bernadette McGlade the associate commissioner of the ACC was introduced Monday at a press conference in Philadelphia.
I'm not sure how recent this bio is, but it should give you a general idea of who she is.
...less than three months til football season...
Friday, May 9, 2008
Hilary Haley and Matt Morgan, two young guys with some potential are transferring out of St. Bonaventure as Mark Schmidt's quest to turn around the Bonnies gets that much tougher.
...five months til Midnight Madness...
Monday, March 10, 2008
Xavier's Stanley Burrell, the A-10's defensive player of the year and
third team all-conference player didn't like the Atlantic 10's
postseason awards. This from Dustin Dow at the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Stanley Burrell just ripped the A-10 coaches for their all-conference
selections. Here's most of his comments regarding the selections that
included no Xavier players on the A-10 First Team. Sean Miller was
named Coach of the Year; Burrell was named Defensive Player of the Year
and Josh Duncan received the Sixth Man award. Duncan and Drew Lavender
were voted onto the Second Team, and Burrell was a Third Team
selection. No other Xavier player was honored.
Burrell:
"I've never been so upset. You'd think after getting
the awards I got, I'd be happy right now. I'm really upset about how
things turned out. I called this after the Dayton game, and no
disrespect to Brian Roberts, but I said things like this are going to
happen; we're going to be left out. I've got champions in that locker
room. B.J., C.J., Derrick. Those guys shouldn't have been left out like
that. No way. Those guys are champs. Where would we be without them.
I'm so upset."
"It's ridiculous. This league is pathetic.
We went 14-2, top 10 in the nation. Forget first team, Josh is probably
the player of the year. You've got the best team and nobody on the
first-team all-conference team? It's ridiculous. You talk about not
having motivation? We got plenty now. I'm really looking forward to
Atlantic City now."
"I should be happy right now. I got a good award and that's great. But my teammates got left out. No way. I'm the leader of this team, and I'm not going to sit here and say it's OK.
I know how I'd feel if I got left out like that if I gave for the good
of the team; if I sacrificed and was all about doing what's best for
the team. I'm so upset, so upset."
"You see the teams and you're
like, put B.J. in place of a Darnell Harris or somebody who went .500
or below. Put Derrick in place of a Bryant Dunston. You don't leave
C.J. out. You don't leave guys out who just won a championship. Those
guys could easily go to other teams and easily be getting 14, 15, 16
points a game. They decided to be here and play team ball. And they get
left out for that? For being unselfish? It's not right, man. I don't
care what I got. That Defensive Player of the Year? That's my team's award."
"I
can't believe my team got left out like that. I'm happy for Coach;
hell, he should have been Coach of the Year last year too. We won the
league last year too. It's ridiculous. I'm sick of people overlooking us. I'm
sick of us being labeled as a mid-major; we don't get no respect, man.
And we're going to keep winning. We're going to stay together and keep
doing what we do. We're going to stay focused, and we're not going to
let people take us off our path. I feel bad for my teammate [nudging
Raymond who was sitting next to him] because he deserved it. He bought
out this year. He deserved to be recognized for his play this year.
Where would we be without B.J.? Where would we be without C.J.? Where
would we be without Derrick? Thost guys should be recognized, and I'm
trying to hold myself together, but I love those guys to death. They
did everything for us this year. They sacrificed like crazy. And they
don't get nothing to show for it. I don't even want to answer no
questions, man"
And with that, Burrell got up; walked off the
dais and out of the room to the locker room. I caught up with him
before practice, and he said everything he said in the media room was
genuine.
Gary Forbes didn't quite reach Burrell's outrage, but he thought Chris Lowe should have been on an all-conference team.
“I was shocked. To me he’s the best point guard in this league and one
of the best in the country,” Forbes said. “To have a 174 assists in 28
games and not make one of the teams when you’re the leader in assists
two years in a row... the words I’d have for that can’t get into the
newspaper.”
Lowe said he’d be motivated by the perceived slight.
“It’s very motivating. If the coaches think there are 15 better players
in the conference than me, that’s what they think,” Lowe said. “I’m
going to go out and show them that I’m the best point guard in the
conference now and in the country.”
...three days til UMass vs. Charisland...
Friday, March 7, 2008
The Hawks beating the Musketeers helped UMass' RPI, which jumped up to
37 from 39. I suppose it could be another game or games affecting it, but
that'd be the big one.
Saint Joseph's may have just put itself back into the NCAA at-large
picture with the win, which is a little scary for UMass if its
competing for a spot with the Hawks, who swept them.
St. Joe's vs. Dayton is now a huge game.
...two days til St. Joe's at Dayton...
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A quick look at the ramifications of each game for UMass:
Charlotte (6-6) at Temple (7-5) - If Charlotte wins both the 49ers and
Owls will join UMass in a three way tie for fifth place at 7-6.
Temple owns any tie-breaker over the Minutemen, so they'll be rooting
for Temple to keep losing. UMass has the tie-breakers over Charlotte.
Richmond (7-5) at St. Bonaventure (1-11) - Two schools of thought on
this one for UMass. Rooting for the Spiders to lose helps the Minutemen
move up in the league, but it hurts them in other ways. If SBU upsets
Richmond, the Spiders RPI drops and thus means a win over UR would be
less beneficial to UMass' NCAA resume and a loss would be much more
damaging. Besides if UMass beats Richmond Saturday, the Minutemen would
move ahead to the Spiders in the standings either way. A loss would
knock SBU out of Atlantic City.
URI (6-7) at George Washington (4-8) - I think UMass is better off
having URI win here and keeping last week's win looking better,
although a GW win would make that game more valuable.
La Salle (7-5) at Fordham (5-7) - UMass is chasing a bye and the
Explorers are ahead of them. The Minutemen will be rooting for the Rams.
Saint Louis (6-7) at Saint Joseph's (8-4) (Thursday) - A SLU win could bring the
Billikens back near the top 100 in the RPI which would help UMass'
record vs. top 100 and eliminate a loss outside the top 100. The Hawks
are two games ahead of UMass in the standings and have the tie-breaker,
so it's unlikely the Minutemen can catch them.
Other noteworthy Wednesday games for bubble teams:
UMass should root for App State to beat Davidson - Davidson will be
hard to ignore on Selection Sunday if they lost in the Southern
Conference finals after a perfect regular season. A loss hurts the
Wildcats' at-large hopes.
Georgia beating Florida would help UMass too. The Gators' RPI is 61,
but as the defending champs they're going to get the benefit of some
doubts.
Nebraska is on a bit of a roll. Still don't see them getting in with an
RPI of 102, but if they upset Oklahoma, they're getting closer.
Texas Tech (55) is at Texas A&M (46) The Red Raiders are getting
close to sneaking into consideration, while the Aggies are fading. This
is a big one.
Mississippi (45) at Kentucky (64) - I think both teams would be out if
selections ere today. The Rebels are fading at 4-8 in conference, while
the Wildcats are surging.
West Virginia (35) at DePaul (155) - The Mountaineers aren't being
discussed much, but their RPI has them in the discussion at least for
now.
...Seven hours til they start tipping off...
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The Atlantic 10 is staying at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for at least another year. This is clearly a good thing. Everyone involved (except people from Dayton) wants to keep the
event in A.C. as a permanent home.
...14 days til A.C....
