pesik
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ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
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04-14-2014 09:15 AM |
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bearcatfan
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
Well, at least ESPN wrote an article about it the AAC and acknowledged the accomplishments of this year.
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04-14-2014 09:19 AM |
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Juan Tibonya
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
"A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
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04-14-2014 09:22 AM |
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goodknightfl
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
Not a bad read.
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04-14-2014 09:24 AM |
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b0ndsj0ns
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
That's about as close to a homer positive article as I've ever seen from ESPN about the American.
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04-14-2014 09:38 AM |
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mlb
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:22 AM)Juan Tibonya Wrote: "A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
Not usually as deep as the AAC. And next year the bottom only gets deeper, unfortunately.
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04-14-2014 09:46 AM |
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FrancisDrake
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
The encore will need to be just as impressive for the American bc it will be 100% our conference now. Houston, Temple, and Tulsa IMO are the likeliest of heirs to really solidifying the league. The others (ECU, UCF, USF, and Tulane) could surprise too but those three have enough pedigree to get this thing really smoking! We've got work to do, but the future looks good!
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04-14-2014 09:47 AM |
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b0ndsj0ns
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:46 AM)mlb Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:22 AM)Juan Tibonya Wrote: "A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
Not usually as deep as the AAC. And next year the bottom only gets deeper, unfortunately.
Maybe, maybe not. I expect Temple, Houston (even with the transfers), and USF to be much improved, I think Tulsa will be pretty good unless they hire a dog of a coach with the players they have returning, and ECU is going to be better than people are expecting. I predict the overall league RPI ends up being better next year than this past.
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04-14-2014 09:50 AM |
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bearcatlawjd
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:50 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:46 AM)mlb Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:22 AM)Juan Tibonya Wrote: "A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
Not usually as deep as the AAC. And next year the bottom only gets deeper, unfortunately.
Maybe, maybe not. I expect Temple, Houston (even with the transfers), and USF to be much improved, I think Tulsa will be pretty good unless they hire a dog of a coach with the players they have returning, and ECU is going to be better than people are expecting. I predict the overall league RPI ends up being better next year than this past.
Houston, Temple, Tulsa, and South Florida have to provide a solid group that challenges the top of the league. I am not ready to count out ECU, Tulane, and UCF but that group is year or two away from an NIT bid.
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04-14-2014 09:56 AM |
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BigEastHomer
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:19 AM)bearcatfan Wrote: Well, at least ESPN wrote an article about it the AAC and acknowledged the accomplishments of this year.
I just wrote Dana O'Neil about my thoughts on the piece. I urge others to do the same, no matter what your opinion is.
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04-14-2014 09:58 AM |
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Carolina Stang
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
Same here - good article and bullish on UH/Sampson, which was good.
I'm glad SMU keeps getting more and more publicity from being snubbed on selection sunday. it doesn't heal the wound, but helps for next year (in case we are on the fence for some reason)...
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04-14-2014 10:02 AM |
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PirateMarv
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:56 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:50 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:46 AM)mlb Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:22 AM)Juan Tibonya Wrote: "A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
Not usually as deep as the AAC. And next year the bottom only gets deeper, unfortunately.
Maybe, maybe not. I expect Temple, Houston (even with the transfers), and USF to be much improved, I think Tulsa will be pretty good unless they hire a dog of a coach with the players they have returning, and ECU is going to be better than people are expecting. I predict the overall league RPI ends up being better next year than this past.
Houston, Temple, Tulsa, and South Florida have to provide a solid group that challenges the top of the league. I am not ready to count out ECU, Tulane, and UCF but that group is year or two away from an NIT bid.
Probably better to wait to see how many players that ECU loses to transfer or injury before assuming that they will be dragging the bottom. ECU has only lost one player to transfer so far.
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04-14-2014 10:29 AM |
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HP-TBDPITL
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
There are two things that need to happen...
1) Establish a middle...Houston was not quite there this year....if they improve and Tulsa comes in as legit NIT quality teams, then the conference will garner more respect. Temple should be there year in and year out....most did not expect the drop off they had this year. Need a couple of Top 100 teams.
2) Bring the bottom up to top 200 RPI. There should be no member with a sub 200 RPI if you want to call yourself a power conference. This is the goal of the group of 4...USF, UCF, Tulane and ECU...collectively. No bad out of conference losses, a few surprise OOC wins. And compete on your home floor within the conference as your players and program build. Real success is staying out of the sub 200...bonus would be if one or more can get into that middle.
With only 11 programs, I think 4 Top 50, 2 more Top 100 and all Top 200 is achievable and should be the goal going forward.
(This post was last modified: 04-14-2014 10:45 AM by HP-TBDPITL.)
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04-14-2014 10:44 AM |
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TIGERCITY
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:46 AM)mlb Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:22 AM)Juan Tibonya Wrote: "A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
Not usually as deep as the AAC. And next year the bottom only gets deeper, unfortunately.
Article pretty much nailed it --- we have some real worries going forward in the "bottom half" >>
That puts even more onus on the other core four of Connecticut, Cincinnati, Memphis and SMU to carry the league.
The Huskies and Mustangs likely will start in most folks' top 25 thanks to the return of Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels for UConn and the addition of Emmanuel Mudiay for the Mustangs.
But it’s not those four that the conference has to worry about. It’s everyone else. In order for this league to be viable long-term, it needs other teams from the netherworlds of the basement to get better.
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04-14-2014 10:50 AM |
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OkaForPrez
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
The bottom half of the AAC in basketball appeared worse than it really was because of some awful OOC scheduling. That needs to be immediately resolved. Don't play schools in the bottom 100 of the RPI. Beating teams ranked 150-200 instead of teams ranked 300-350 makes a huge difference. That will raise the RPI profiles of the top of the conference and increase national respect. Some of the bottom of this conference needs to game up on gaming the system.
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04-14-2014 01:08 PM |
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Native Georgian
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
O'Neil's article is not exactly "favorable" but not a slam, either. You might say it was (to coin a phrase) "fair and balanced".
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04-14-2014 01:25 PM |
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BigEastHomer
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 01:08 PM)OkaForPrez Wrote: The bottom half of the AAC in basketball appeared worse than it really was because of some awful OOC scheduling. That needs to be immediately resolved. Don't play schools in the bottom 100 of the RPI.
THIS
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04-14-2014 01:33 PM |
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KNIGHTTIME
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 09:56 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:50 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:46 AM)mlb Wrote: (04-14-2014 09:22 AM)Juan Tibonya Wrote: "A top-heavy league that could play with anyone and a bottom-heavy league that could be forgotten by everyone"
Seems to me most conferences have a "bottom heavy" element to them
Not usually as deep as the AAC. And next year the bottom only gets deeper, unfortunately.
Maybe, maybe not. I expect Temple, Houston (even with the transfers), and USF to be much improved, I think Tulsa will be pretty good unless they hire a dog of a coach with the players they have returning, and ECU is going to be better than people are expecting. I predict the overall league RPI ends up being better next year than this past.
Houston, Temple, Tulsa, and South Florida have to provide a solid group that challenges the top of the league. I am not ready to count out ECU, Tulane, and UCF but that group is year or two away from an NIT bid.
UCF is going to surprise you in hoops very soon. We have a parade all American pg coming this year. Might get florida basketball player of the year. We have a SG that decommited from Miami and was a 4 star until recently. UCF also has another major get for 2015 names Chad brown that could play for most elite teams.
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04-14-2014 01:43 PM |
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JHG722
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
Pretty amazing that even a Philly-ish person like Dana O'Neil is counting us out after our first bad year in six years. Then again, she did go to Penn State and was the beat writer for Villanova.
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04-14-2014 01:52 PM |
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mlb
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RE: ESPN:Look back, look ahead: American
(04-14-2014 01:52 PM)JHG722 Wrote: Pretty amazing that even a Philly-ish person like Dana O'Neil is counting us out after our first bad year in six years. Then again, she did go to Penn State and was the beat writer for Villanova.
Or because the writing is on the wall that Temple screwed up the coaching hire last time and they can't afford to fix that situation. Temple is cutting the budget considerably, possibly about to be priced out of its home football stadium with not solution in sight, and the President of the University recent stated that the school intends to be "mid-major."
It screams of a situation in which nobody should have any confidence, IMO. It is bad all around.
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04-14-2014 02:10 PM |
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