natetheskate wrote:
Here is an interesting article from a St. Louis point of view.....basically saying the A-10 is on the way down, specifically the bottom portion
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns ... cc2ea.htmlIt's behind a paywall so not able to read the article, but I've been following the A-10 this year and don't really believe that to be the case, unless he is just talking about this year's performance alone. Fordham hired a long-time Villanova assistant this year and has gone from perennial bottom-dweller to middle of the pack. Duquesne is the worst team by NET but has a brand new arena and is 50 spots above Evansville. LaSalle is the one program that seems to be on the decline with financial issues.
At the top, Dayton is basically a Big East team and SLU and VCU are close in terms of facilities and support. All three programs are way ahead of any Valley program out there. We will need to step up recruiting to compete. Davidson, St. Bona, Richmond, and George Mason form a nice 2nd tier and are on par with top Valley programs. Mason in particular has a coach considered a top young coach in the game. URI and UMass are big state schools with big potential if they hire the right coach.
The A-10 did badly underperform in the non-conference at the top, which is why it is looking like a 2-bid league. Dayton's two star players are freshmen, and they had 3 bad losses to start the year before beating Kansas. VCU is a similarly young and talented squad. St. Bona had an injury to their top player and PG that seemed to derail their season.
If we're comparing which conference makes it easier to make the tournament, I will always prefer a conference with higher ranked top teams and then some easy wins over the Valley slog where anyone can beat you even though their NET rankings are terrible.