Xavier Has Outgrown A-10

28. January 2009  - Published by Greg Shoemaker
Comments (5)
It has been 14 years since Xavier began play as a member of the Atlantic 10.  The Musketeers left now defunct Midwestern Collegiate Conference after 16 seasons.  The thought was that XU needed to play in a higher profile conference, one that was more competitive night in and night out.  The RPI was becoming a major factor in determining at-large bids for the NCAA tournament.  In the MCC it was rare that teams who did not win the conference tournament made it into the big dance.
 
The A-10 had a marquis coach and program in Jon Chaney and his Temple Owls as well as John Calipari and UMass.  The Musketeers were attracted to the idea of being able to recruit along the east coast.  After all, the league had teams in New York City, Philadelphia and Boston.  The league was at its height and was adding Xavier and Dayton in 1995-96.
 
Things have since changed for the once prolific A-10.  Temple and UMass have struggled to win consistently since the departures of their coaches.  The Musketeers and Flyers are now the elite of the A-10.
 
Xavier has compiled 154-59 record in A-10 play.  They have gone 21-9 in the league tournament.  Championships have piled up for Xavier since its inception winning six league titles and four tournament titles.  Their league winning percentage trails only Temple by .005 percent.  The Musketeers should be top dog by seasons end.
 
So has Xavier outgrown the A-10, absolutely not.  A major part of the Musketeers success has been able to recruit along the east coast.  The current roster includes Jason Love (Philadelphia), Terrell Holloway (NYC) and Jamel McLean (Hampton, VA).  There has been a steady flow of talent coming from their opponent’s own backyards.
 
Gonzaga has feasted and flourished playing in the weak West Coast Conference.  The Musketeers have taken a page out of the Zags book by playing a very challenging non-conference schedule.  The day the Musketeers can no longer play home and home series with the likes of a Virginia, Tennessee or Wisconsin then it may be time to move on.
 
Where would the Musketeers go?  There is no room for them, in the 16 team Big East Conference.  Chances are they would have to form a new league with teams from other conferences that are disgruntled with their current league situations.  Schools like Butler, Dayton, St. Louis and Valpo could be likely candidates to break away from their conferences.  That would mean a year or two without an automatic NCAA bid, a tough proposition for those schools defecting.

For the time being there should be no debate about where the Musketeers call home.  There are two adages that Xavier should adhere to if they were to contemplate a move.  One is you don’t mess with success and two the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the tracks.  The A-10 is what it is and XU has found the right recipe for winning within the league.

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Comments

Jeff Gentil
Jeff Gentil
1/28/2009 12:23:08 PM #
A conference with Butler, St. Louis, Dayton, Valpo, and X isn't going to be that much better than the A-10.  What's Dayton, Valpo, or St. Louis done recently?  Zero.  So it'd be Butler and X battling it out.  Yeah, I guess it's better than not having anyone to challenge them like the A-10, but Butler isn't exactly a contender for a Final Four.  

X is stuck until/if the Big East decides to break off into a football-only league.  Then you could have a conference with Villanova, St. John's, Marquette, DePaul, X, Georgetown, etc.  But, I'm still betting some of the traditional Big East schools won't vote for that either.  

Conclusion:  X is stuck and their conference will not ever help them get better prepared for NCAA play.  
Adam Bartel
Adam Bartel
1/28/2009 4:27:12 PM #
I think eventually teams are going to start breaking away from the Big East.  The biggest problem with that conference is that someone has to finish 10th, and it's usually a pretty solid team.  If I had to guess, I think DePaul would be the first to break off.  I don't think Georgetown/Villanova would leave, but they might be able to grab another couple schools out of that.  Throw in the Butler/USL/Dayton troika, maybe that entices an MVC squad to break ranks (Southern Illinois?), you could have something.  Hopefully in the next few years the Big East will shake out and we'll see where everything stands.
cuocthiseo
cuocthiseo
1/29/2009 6:38:47 AM #
The other thing that I think we're all missing here is that I don't think that X's other athletics are going to compete in a larger conference.  Other than vb and women's bb, they really aren't as competitive as they could be
Adam Bartel
Adam Bartel
1/29/2009 8:01:26 PM #
Coucthiseo, not being familiar with X's non-revenue sport competitiveness, you do raise a good point that we often overlook in discussions like these.  I would think, however, that travel costs would be diminished by competing against Butler et al, as opposed to the New England based A-10 squads (or Charlotte, yuck).  Did they ever get the riflery team back?
jimmy d
jimmy d
1/29/2009 10:58:27 PM #
any talk of X in the Big East is laughable. The schools that were added were added for a reason (they opened up untapped markets). So why would the Big East take ANOTHER school from Cincinnati? They wouldn't. If Depaul left, then Memphis would jump in. It should've been Memphis over S. Florida in my opinion anyway. So X can just forget about going to the Big East. That isn't going to happen. There isn't room for such a small school, who is second fiddle in a mid-market town like Cincinnati. They fit perfectly in the A-10. Just glad to finally here some people saying that the A-10 sucks because it does. It's a joke. Now if I can get some Buckeye fans to admit that the Big 10 (especially in football) sucks as well, then I'd feel like we're making progress.
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