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Post by fan on Sept 10, 2021 21:36:54 GMT -5
The MVC is a good league, with a lot of history, maybe, just maybe if things fall their way, they could be the Big East of the middle of the country. The U of D was in the MVC from 1949 or 1950 to 1956, Maybe the MVC would be a better home than the Horizon.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Sept 17, 2021 11:11:37 GMT -5
You've gotta wonder if Wichita State feels any buyer's remorse for their jump from the MVC to the AAC. With the departure of Cincinnati and Houston (and UCF), Memphis is the only other remaining name brand from a basketball perspective. The pool of potential replacements is not encouraging. It'd be a smart move if BOTH Wichita State and Saint Louis were to return to the Valley. Competitively it would only be a lateral move. But the logistics would be so much easier and old rivalries could be renewed. The Shockers would be back in a basketball-centric conference. And Saint Louis would effectively be the perpetual host of Arch Madness, the conference tournament, and would no longer be the geographic oddity of the A10. Of course it's unlikely to happen, as Saint Louis will continue to wait by the phone for a call from the Big East that will never come. But both schools would be better off if they made this move. And the MVC would once again be a multi-bid league, year in and year out. MidMajorMadness.com asks and answers: “Was Wichita State’s Valley exit still worth it?” www.midmajormadness.com/2021/9/10/22663910/wichita-state-big-12-expansion-shockers-aac-american-realignment-candidate-missouri-valley-mvc?fbclid=IwAR1dia7CdACs0VoiYEmRVI4u1xOWsxfUCgNHCPrnolrDQNUK8ptG4czJWVQ
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Post by motorcitysam on Sept 17, 2021 21:39:22 GMT -5
You've gotta wonder if Wichita State feels any buyer's remorse for their jump from the MVC to the AAC. With the departure of Cincinnati and Houston (and UCF), Memphis is the only other remaining name brand from a basketball perspective. The pool of potential replacements is not encouraging. It'd be a smart move if BOTH Wichita State and Saint Louis were to return to the Valley. Competitively it would only be a lateral move. But the logistics would be so much easier and old rivalries could be renewed. The Shockers would be back in a basketball-centric conference. And Saint Louis would effectively be the perpetual host of Arch Madness, the conference tournament, and would no longer be the geographic oddity of the A10. Of course it's unlikely to happen, as Saint Louis will continue to wait by the phone for a call from the Big East that will never come. But both schools would be better off if they made this move. And the MVC would once again be a multi-bid league, year in and year out. MidMajorMadness.com asks and answers: “Was Wichita State’s Valley exit still worth it?” www.midmajormadness.com/2021/9/10/22663910/wichita-state-big-12-expansion-shockers-aac-american-realignment-candidate-missouri-valley-mvc?fbclid=IwAR1dia7CdACs0VoiYEmRVI4u1xOWsxfUCgNHCPrnolrDQNUK8ptG4czJWVQThat's an interesting read. I agree that Wichita State in the current version of the AAC is in a better place than remaining in the MVC.
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Post by kevinudm on Sept 18, 2021 13:23:05 GMT -5
Good article in MidMajorMadness. Its major argument is that the AAC is a better basketball league than the MVC because the member schools have bigger budgets for men's basketball.
But Cincinnati, Houston and UCF are leaving. Memphis is rumored to be on the way out too. The Big12 doesn't want to go to 16 members for the interim period before Texas and Oklahoma leave. But once their departure date is set, Memphis and USF or Boise (MWC) may get invites to keep the league at 14 members.
The remaining AAC schools haven't bought any great basketball success with their big budgets. SMU's last NCAA tourney win was in 1988. Temple has had two wins since 2001. Tulsa last had a first round win in 2003. Tulane's most recent Tourney appearance was in 1995, when they notched a first round win. USF's only Tourney wins came in 2012 (a first four win followed by a first round win). ECU has not won a game in the NCAA tournament in two appearances (1972 and 1993).
The likely AAC replacements (UAB, FAU et al.) generally have basketball budgets more like the MVC than the departing AAC schools.
Wichita will never be more than a junior (non-football) member of the AAC, getting just a partial revenue distribution. It pays to fly baseball, softball and tennis teams to Tampa, Philadelphia and Greenville NC. It has no meaningful rivalries apart from Tulsa and potentially Memphis (assuming that they remain in the AAC).
I agree that it's still unlikely that Wichita would opt to return to the MVC. But I doubt that they would have left the MVC for the version of the AAC that they will be getting.
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Post by motorcitysam on Sept 18, 2021 13:53:19 GMT -5
Houston is still in the AAC, but they got another Big 12 level recruit yesterday when Terrance Arceneaux committed. Arceneaux is a four star recruit ranked in the top 30 in the class of 2022. The Cougars beat out Baylor, Texas A&M, UNLV, and others for the forward. n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2022/terrance-arceneaux-234727
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Post by ptctitan on Oct 21, 2021 10:07:57 GMT -5
AAC issues press releaseThe six new institutions, whose membership in The American will begin on a date to be determined, will be: The University of Alabama at Birmingham – Birmingham, Alabama Florida Atlantic University – Boca Raton, Florida The University of North Carolina at Charlotte – Charlotte, North Carolina The University of North Texas – Denton, Texas Rice University – Houston, Texas The University of Texas at San Antonio – San Antonio, Texas
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 6, 2021 9:48:35 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 9, 2021 0:03:57 GMT -5
Blue Ribbon AAC preseason prediction:
1. Memphis (Blue Ribbon went to press after the late five star commitments Memphis got, unlike some other publications.) 2. Houston 3. SMU 4. Wichita State 5. University of Central Florida 6. Cincinnati 7. University of South Florida 8. Tulsa 9. Temple 10. Tulane (Tough rebuild for Coach Hunter and Coach Ray in Louisiana) 11. East Carolina
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 7, 2021 16:03:52 GMT -5
Some recent eye raising comments from Penny Hardaway after the Memphis losing streak hit three games:
During his postgame interview with Dave Woloshin, the team’s radio play-by-play announcer, Hardaway offered an example of the kinds of fundamental issues facing his squad.
“We could be up two points and you’ll have three people on the sideline talking negative to teammates and quitting, because they haven’t touched the ball,” he said. “That’s every, single game we’ve had this year. It’s sad, it really is. When adversity hits ... it hasn’t been positive. From the chatter on the bench to what they say to teammates or anything like that.”
“The biggest problem we have at the University of Memphis right now is that our veterans aren’t willing to help the young guys. That’s not how it’s supposed to be,” Hardaway said. “You can’t have your own teammates being the opposition and then having to play against the next team.”
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 17, 2022 14:37:40 GMT -5
Mid January look at the AAC.
Houston was expected to be the class of the league again until Memphis added Larry Brown to the staff and a couple of reclassified five star recruits to the roster. Based on those moves, a lot of prognosticators jumped Memphis ahead of the Cougars. Hasn't quite worked out that way.
Despite losing two starters for the year and currently being without a third, Houston is at the top of the league standings. They are 15-2 and ranked 10th in the nation. The Cougars put up some impressive wins in the non-conference: Virginia, Butler, Oregon, OK State. Lost to Wisconsin by 2 and to Alabama by 1, being victimized by a horrible call at the end of the Bama game. They are 4-0 in league play.
SMU is second in league play at 13-4, 4-1. Tulane is 4-2, but only 7-8 overall. Cincinnati is 3-2, 13-4, but they are lacking in quality wins, outside of a blowout win over the Fighting Illini.
Memphis is 3-3, 9-7, and have struggled after a 5-0 start. They have wins over Virginia Tech and Alabama, but also losses to Murray State, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tulane, UCF, and East Carolina. The East Carolina loss was bad because the Tigers were up by 19 early and up by ten with two minutes to go before folding down the stretch and losing on a buzzer beater. They dodged a likely loss to Tennessee when their game was cancelled. Memphis has a lot of "on paper" talent, bunch of four and five star recruits, and they are actually an older team with several upperclassmen in key roles. They do not play well together, especially on offense. I said before the start of the season that Memphis was going to have a lot of players on the roster hoping to have a good season before heading to the NBA.
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Post by udballer on Jan 17, 2022 17:31:34 GMT -5
Hard to imagine how good Houston would have been last year (and this) if the Titans wouldn't have pulled the trigger on Coach Davis.
Add AD to that roster and who knows. Maybe he goes off with one of those games and they knock off Baylor in the semi.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 9, 2022 13:14:00 GMT -5
AAC Honors:
Player of the Year: Kendric Davis, SMU Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson, Houston
All Conference:
Josh Carlton, Houston Fabian White, Houston Jalen Duren, Memphis Kendric Davis, SMU Jalen Cook, Tulane
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 26, 2022 15:53:12 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on May 16, 2022 18:44:26 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Jun 4, 2022 12:37:05 GMT -5
Blue Ribbon AAC preseason prediction: 1. Memphis (Blue Ribbon went to press after the late five star commitments Memphis got, unlike some other publications.) 2. Houston 3. SMU 4. Wichita State 5. University of Central Florida 6. Cincinnati 7. University of South Florida 8. Tulsa 9. Temple 10. Tulane (Tough rebuild for Coach Hunter and Coach Ray in Louisiana) 11. East Carolina The AAC season was full of drama, with chaos in Memphis, another fantastic season from Kelvin Sampson and Houston, and news that Cincy, Houston, and UCF would be leaving for the Big 12. The Cougars lost two starters early, but exemplified the "next man up" philosophy and once again took the regular season and conference tourney titles. SMU had a strong season in what would be their coach's swan song. Memphis finally got back to the NCAA tournament while awaiting the results of a major NCAA investigation into their program. Coach Hunter and Coach Ray at Tulane took advantage of what most consider a down year in the confernece and finished 10-8 in the league. Cincy and Wichita State both struggled all seaosn. Final 2021-22 standings. 1. Houston 15-3, 32-6 2. SMU 13-4, 24-9 3. Memphis 13-5, 22-11 4. Temple 5. Tulane 6. UCF 7. Wichita State 8. Cincinnati 9. East Carolina 10. Tulsa 11. South Florida
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