MAAC Member Institutions

[rimRocka44]

New AD...maybe
New Coach...probably
New Conference...NO WAY!

I am sickened at the mention of moving to the MAAC. The A10 is slowly gaining more and more respect as a conference. Right now, yeah we might be a doormat but get someone who can coach and 0-10, 6-15 is 4-6, 10-11 and no one is saying a thing. Time heals all wounds, the healing process is strengthened with the right antedote. Go Bonnies!

[sbu79]

MAAC is whack (with a bow to Whitney)!

[Bona3550]

bulldogbrower said:

Our A 10 affiliation is the reason we get some of the talent we occassionally get, that we WILL NOT get if we dilute our situation.

To me anyways, it is exciting having ranked teams coming in here (RC) occassionally. That wont happen in the MAAC. We are very fortunate to be in a league with prestige. It is ludicrous to think we downsize... right our ship... and they will take us back. That is absurd!

Agree 100%....once we leave the A-10, we [glow=red,2,300]NEVER[/glow] get back in.

P.S. Fox, I hope your fever breaks soon...you seem a bit delirious with that post!

[jim62]

Think for just a minute.

What if we left the A-10, went somewhere else (MAAC or elsewhere), and got to the point where we wanted to step back up but the A-10 was not "the place to be?".

What if we were better than the A-10?

There was a time when there was no A-10 and we did very well.

What is there about the A-10 that everyone wants to stay there?

The A-10 that not too long ago was about to throw us out.

The A-10 has been our "comfort zone" and there is always danger in a comfort zone.

Again, just think for a minute.

[sbu79]

The time there was no A-10 and we did very well was when there was an ECAC. The whole reason we are in the A-10 is because the ECAC fell apart. The big schools bolted and formed the Big East and left eveyone else behind. We were able to grab a spot in a decent conference. Those who couldn't formed the MAAC.

Most alumni don't rally around a great Chemistry class. They rally around the sports teams. That translates into donations. Wick knew that. That's what led him to sell his soul for a shot at a marquee basketball program.

Voluntarily moving out of the A-10 for the MAAC is not something we want to do.

[sneakers]

You people are almost laughable. Half of you had us going to the NIT after our first 10 games, now you all run to the other side of the ship and want to deal the death blow to the hoops program (and perhaps to the school). Fox - you disappoint me. I've never met you, but always thought I'd like to considering all the sweat you put in to the program. I know the frustration level is high, but suicide is never the answer.

Tough it out and we will be back in a couple of seasons!

[oldschool23]

I had been thinking that a move to the MAAC was the way to go, but opponenets make good points about recruiting in the MAAC and the effect on students of such a move. It's just hard to watch the last two games on TV - a coach who doesn't get it, players who have given up, and no life in the RC - and not think that it would be better to be a .500 team in the MAAC than a perpertual embarrassment in the A-10.

A .500 team in the MAAC? Ugghh! We want to think Bonas is better than a small Catholic school in upstate New York (like Canisus, Niagara, Siena and Marist), but maybe the welding scandal has changed all that. I don't know that the program or the school ever will recover. Maybe it's time to be realistic.

[TransplantedBonnie]

I hear you out on the post Fox, but can't agree. Yes, several things lead us to say the MAAC, or possibly NEC (St. Francis, Monmouth etc.) would be a bit more logical in the stand point of the other sports and money wise. I'd be willing to be if we competed with those teams (MAAC and NEC) on more of a basis with our current budget, we'd fair better and travel might not be too expensive (IE St. Louis).

However, I think you forget what drives the A-10 and thusly our relationship to it..$ MAAC and NEC schools, on average, get 1 NCAA bid. I am not sure of the numbers, but the A-10 usually has more than one and at most times advance. With that, they earn more $ from the NCAA and gets split up to the member schools.

If we were in teh MAAC or smaller conference we'd possibly get a lesser part of the "prize" diveed up. Yes, our basektabll team might have a better chance to compete, but we were in the A-10 under Decarli and somehow managed, after he left, to re-emerge as one of the top-tier teams in the later 90s early 2000s. And also, it's liekly harder to get bigger name schools to play lesser conference teams as their RPI and SOS are hurt by their weaker conference schedule.

Again, I can see you're point, but hopefully, you can see mine, and others points of why we NEED to stay in the A-10.

[farmer]

Fox: I once had a similar view about the change in affiliation but have changed my mind and I think for some of the good reason mentioned on this board.

I was in St Louis a week ago and had a chance watch an A-10 game on the local TV cable. I think when you realize the potential exposure your school receives via this media connection you become aware of the number of athletes who watch and just maybe might consider and A-10 school (even maybe SBU). When one considers from Umass to St Louis to Charlotte this covers a very large pool of potential recurits....The MACC? just a thought!

[LumsdnA10Academc98]

jim62 said:

We are at a severe disadvantage when it comes to recruiting due in large part to location. Those of us that spent 4 years there know it's not true but to an "outsider" it's a big problem.

I know the Bonas bank account is not overflowing and that local companies are not coming to us to ask for loans.

Maybe it's time to stop dumping money down a rat-hole by trying to maintain a presence in the A-10 and just step down to the next level. One that we can compete in and afford.

I know it isn't a popular idea but it makes sense and cents to me.

Fox has been slammed pretty badly on here for bringing this up, so I'll lay off. But Jim, does that really make cents?

You tried to make a case for us joining the MAAC because of finances? Next time you're at the RC, take a look up at the North wall of the building. It's filled with corporate banners. If we go to the MAAC, they'll all come down.

Nobody - sponsor nor fan - wants to support a small-time basketball program. Not only would we lose all corporate donations, but Bona Backer donations as well.

Forget donations, we'd have no business charging $12 a seat. We'll play before crowds worst than Thursday's 2,900 showing, even at $8 a seat. If we can't draw for a Charlotte how do you expect to put fans in the seat for a Loyola? And don't even give me that playing Canisius and Niagara home and home bit; that would be an awful thing. Any idea what that would do to our RPI, or would that be irrelevant since we were in the MAAC, where it takes 19 wins for even the NIT to draw interest?

I think we're all overlooking the obvious: how fortunate we really are to be in the A-10. The conference is almost 30 years old, and we're still cashing in on our success from the Baron playing era. Furthermore, as one of the longest tenured schools in the A-10, there's nothing anyone can do about it. We honestly bring little to the table for the A-10, as a whole, but we'll be there as long as we want. Why not exploit that fact before conference realignment catches up with us.

Excuse me, Jim, "rathole?" What's that? Last I checked, we've won baseball and tennis championships in the past three years. We have one of the most competitive swim teams in the A-10 trapped in one of the worst pools in the East. If anything we need more money for that rathole of yours.

Let this put the A-10 versus the lowly MAAC in perspective. While trying to motivate myself to go the RC for another scolding Thursday, this one at the hands of Fordham, a team we used to handle, I was on the sofa watching SportsCenter. I wasn't even watching it; I was watching the bottom line matchups, hoping there was something on the tube after the game. They went through the Top 25, then right to the night's ESPN games. The second game and one of two non-Top 25 games ESPN's line showed was Fordham at St. Bona, a part of its Full Court package.

That's when it occurred to me: We still matter. Regardless of how bad we are and even when we're hosting the Fordham Rams, we still matter, and a large part of that has to do with our membership in the Atlantic 10.

I have to run now, No. 8 GW/St. Joe's is on ESPN2, and I think Charlotte-Wake Forest is on ABC later. But Jim62, I must ask. Would we still matter if we were in the MAAC?

[ripreilly755]

I don't think Fox is suggesting we pull up stakes right now and leave the A-10, he seems to be looking at it through the eyes of an accountant, looking at it $$-wise. And money-wise, we are at an extreme disadvantge with other A-10 schools.

From the movie "The Right Stuff" --

"You know what makes this bird go up" ?

"Funding" !! "That's what makes this bird go up" !!

And 'funding' is what is going to make SBU go up again, but where is it going to come from ?

We don't have revenue coming in from a football program, like most A-10 schools.

We don't have 20,000+ students, like most A-10 schools.

We get no financial help from the state, like a lot of A-10 schools get from their respective states.

Why not exploit that fact before conference realignment catches up with us.

This (conference realignment) IS going to happen in the near future - when it does, we had better hope the MAAC will even take us, because the A-10 certainly is not going to keep a doormat.

[heemeehead]

BAD MOVE

WW$D

[Phantom]

Trivia:
When was the last time a team was kicked out of a conference?

[bigdobber]

We are suppose to switch conferences to compensate for a bad hire? Back when we lost to Kentucky in NCAA's, we seemed to put together a competitive program. Let's join the MAAC so Sol might be able to compete better. A full Reilly Center can go a long way towards alleviating higher expenses. I am watching a program in disarray with no direction. Sol has been given a free pass due to difficult circumstances for 2 years and I sense frustation setting in. I believe that an experienced head coach could produce better results from day 1. That is the direction we need to go. If we continue to flounder through the end of season I do not need to see anymore. He has had 3 years and has not shown he is capable of getting the job done. The conference is not the problem here.

[risaint05]

ncbonnie said:

No way, don't even talk about MAAC. What are you people nuts, that is terrible talk. We will be back! You haters that would want to watch MAAC bball should of gone to a MAAC school.

Hey, that's not a bad idea!!