Atlantic 10 Adds Davidson To Conference For 2014-15

Davidson College will join the Atlantic 10 conference in 2014-15. (sbnation.com)

The NCAA's conference realignment is basically musical chairs at this point as everyone waits for the music to stop. But the beats continue, and with it are more moves, the latest being by the Atlantic 10.

The conference announced Davidson will be the newest member of the conference in 2014-15, a move that helps fill a void for the A-10 left by the departures of Xavier and Butler (Butler played in the conference for a whopping one year).

The A-10 may have lost some of the big names that made it a great mid-major basketball conference, but it is still a huge upgrade for Davidson coming out of the Southern Conference. Coming with Davidson is George Mason, who leaves the Colonial Athletic Association, the same conference Davidson turned down last year. Yet unlike Davidson, George Mason will start its participation in the A-10 this season.

The Wildcats basketball team is coming off a 26-8 season in which they lost in the second (the former first) round of the NCAA Tournament on a last-second layup to Marquette. Davidson has reached the big dance in consecutive years, which hadn't happened since Stephen Curry (he's doing quite well for himself now) led the Wildcats to an Elite 8 appearance in 2008.

As of now, the teams that will compete against Davidson in the conference are: Rhode Island, UMass, Dayton, George Mason, George Washington, La Salle, Saint Joseph's, Duquesne, Fordham, St. Bonaventure, Richmond, Saint Louis, and VCU.


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Living with the Catholic 7's New Big East

The new Big East is not unsettling until you think about it. (holylandofhoops.com)

Has anyone properly addressed how odd the new Big East is going to be if Creighton joins the Catholic 7's 2.0 version with Butler and Xavier? Not according to Google because there were no appropriate results when I searched for "weird Big East Creighton." In fact, the most out-of-the-norm headline was a rumor about the Big 12 dropping all football programs and adding Creighton as well as Missouri Valley competitors Wichita State and Missouri State.

While the Big 12 getting rid of the biggest money-making sport would have been a surprise even at the conference's lowest point in realignment, it will not be a shock if the Bluejays defect from the MVC to take a place in college athletics' newest old conference.

What will make this conference so unique, if the Bluejays end up as a member, is the roster of teams that will be gunning for the same regular season championship. The grouping will encompass some of college basketball's historic cornerstones playing alongside programs that have surged more recently in a league that stretches across nearly half of the contiguous United States, although geography is less of an issue than ever in the realignment game.

Mid-major darlings like Creighton and Butler will mix with contenders like Georgetown and Villanova in a conference that, although it will be a conglomeration of solid teams, lacks a true powerhouse program. Despite the majority of schools coming from a (former) Power Six conference, the new Big East will more closely resemble a mega mid-major -- a conference that is at the top of it's class, but not quite on par with what remains of the NCAA's top Division I basketball leagues.

The Hoyas, along with Providence and St. John's, were founding members of the original Big East with 'Nova joining slightly later. History is on their side, but recent years have seen the programs post decent-to-good records, while rarely being legitimate threats to win their conference championship. (Georgetown's very strong season in progress is more of an outlier than a standard.) The other side of the coin sees the Bluejays, Butler and Xavier being marquee teams in their own less heralded conferences and either winning outright or sharing titles year in and year out in their respective spheres.

This would seemingly put the best of the Catholic 7 on the level with the mid-major imports. The sentiment is furthered with the speculative inclusion of programs such as Saint Louis, Dayton, Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth as soon as 2013-14 or 2014-15. These purported additions draw heavily from the Atlantic 10, often seen as the class of mid-major conferences, especially after sending eight teams to the NCAA Tournament just a few years ago.

Of Creighton and the nine schools already committed to joining this iteration of the Big East, four are locks to hear their names announced on Selection Sunday (Georgetown, Marquette, Butler and the Bluejays) in under two weeks and ESPN's Joe Lunardi is projecting Villanova as a play-in team. VCU and SLU are the only two prospective teams expected to make the NCAA tourney at this point, although that could change depending on the outcomes of conference tournaments.

Since only nine teams are committed to the new Big East at this point, this is merely one idea of what could happen. But if things shake out the way they are expected to, there needs to be a new term for such a unique conference; one that encompasses the strength of nouveau riche programs and those that could compete what was once the stacked Big East of old but can lay realistic claims to the new league's top spot. That term is not Catholic, after the majority of the schools' affiliations, but perhaps it is catholic, as in universal, appealing to a wide range of tastes.

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Atlantic 10: Surging for a Season with 16 Teams

The long wait will soon be over when the first official NCAA basketball game of the 2012-13 season will tip-off on Nov. 15. Some of our favorite players have moved on the ranks of professional athletes, new recruits have been polishing their games in gyms with recognizable logos on the court, and schools have switched conference allegiances. Through a series of conference previews, the BDD crew will do its best to prepare you for the next 4.5 months of collegiate hoops.

Kwamain Mitchell could find A-10 gold with St. Louis. (Matt Brown/SLUBillikens.com)

Conference Champion: St. Louis

The Atlantic 10 is deep.With 16 teams, it has the biggest roster of teams in Division-I competition that will disappear when Charlotte and Temple leave next summer. But this year, size and talent-wise, the A-10 is the mid-major equivalent of the Big East. Traditional conference powers Xavier and Temple will be in the title hunt despite with their diminished power. Saint Louis can't be counted out of the mix after an NCAA tournament loss to Michigan State in which the Billikens were a popular upset pick. Butler and VCU — new additions from the Horizon and CAA, respectively — are automatically top-tier teams, too, after the memorable postseason runs both teams have made since 2010.

All of these teams are legitimate contenders to win the A-10 and there's no sure-fire formula to calculate a champion in October, but it's hard to bet against the Billikens, a team ranked 10th nationally in defensive efficiency in 2011-12. The loss of forward Brian Conklin marks a rare case in which little drop-off should be seen after the departure of a team's leading scorer. He averaged 13.9 points per game, just 1.5 more than Kwamain Mitchell.

Aside from Conklin, SLU returns every player important to last season's squad. The only potential detriment to the Billikens' success is the absence of head coach Rick Majerus as he sits out the season to focus on his ongoing cancer treatment. Interim head coach Jim Crews is familiar with the system in place after being an assistant in 2011-12, though, and his 24 years of head coaching experience could motivate the team if Majerus' health concerns somehow do not.

Dark horse Team to Watch: Saint Joseph's

Rarely can you call a team that posted a top-five conference finish in the season prior a dark horse, but Saint Joseph's is just that in a pool so deep. Every single player from last year's roster has returned.

Let that sink in: Every. Single. Player.

Even the conference's standing Defensive Player of the Year (C.J. Aiken — an NBA prospect) is back for his junior season. That kind of continuity can push a team past a more talented squad. The thing is, the Hawks went 20-14 and were a bubble team for most of the spring. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it should be safe to pencil Saint Joseph's into an NCAA tournament bracket right now and wonder if an A-10 championship precedes that bid.

Player of the Year: Chaz Williams, Massachusetts

The Minutemen's guard made an immediate impact upon taking the court last year, having sat out the 2011-12 season after making a post-freshman year transfer from Hofstra. Williams proceeded to average 16.9 points, 6.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He's the centerpiece of a team that could make a push toward the top of the conference and, if he can get his turnovers under control and continue on the trajectory he began last season, he'll be an easy pick for A-10 POY.

Newcomer of the Year: Jordan Burgess, VCU

Burgess is a wing who will make noise on glass and outwork bigger opponents in order to do it. His offense comes from the corners and along the baseline. VCU head coach Shaka Smart should work his brand of magic with the 6'5" forward. The things that will hamper his first-year peers — availability of playing time, offensive systems and so on — should not hamper Burgess, as VCU's top prospect is projected to find big minutes at the 4-spot.

Coach of the Year: Shaka Smart, VCU

Another crowded category, another bundle of candidates that should be worthy by the end of conference play. The roster stability at Saint Louis and Saint Joseph's potentially excludes Crews and Hawks head coach Phil Martelli from the running. If Butler has a bad year with its least heralded team in the 2010's, Brad Stevens is out, too. With his team on the upswing during its inaugural campaign, though, and projecting as a title favorite in a conference more difficult than the CAA, Shaka Smart winning COY is as close to a sure thing as there is in the A-10 this season.


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Nike-Sponsored Squads Set For Elite Event in 2017

Nike-sponsored schools will square off in a two-tournament event featuring college basketball's elite in 2017 (nikeblog.com)

It's not too early to look ahead to the 2012 college basketball season, which is three months away. But how about looking ahead to 2017?

Thanks to Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis, the best early-season college basketball tournament won't take place in Maui or Madison Square Garden. This tournament will take place in Portland, and the star power represented by the schools is fitting given the star power of the sponsor they are celebrating. 

According to Andy Katz of ESPN, Hollis was able to receive commitments from 16 Nike-sponsored programs to play in a two-tournament event held over four days in November 2017. This is in celebration of Nike co-founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday, which is the following February.

The premise itself is enticing — having teams sponsored by the same company compete against one another — but it's the programs represented that will make college hoops fans' mouths water. 

The tournament will include a mix of blue bloods (Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan St.), as well as power-conference representatives (Florida, Ohio St., UCONN, Georgetown, Texas, Oklahoma, Stanford and Oregon), and some choice mid-majors (Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga and Portland).

Let that sink in for a moment. No matter the combination of seedings, elite programs will have a hard road to win these two tournaments. Unlike other early-season tournaments, there is no Chaminade in the quarterfinals. Even the "mid-majors" are no one to mess with. This event is loaded from top to bottom.

That's what fans want to see. Why else would this event even be a topic of conversation five years early if it wasn't big? The third game of the year against Towson isn't circled on any calendars. If you think your team is better than Duke, and the team doesn't play in the ACC, then you're excited to play the Blue Devils and find out if you're right. 

This not only is a win for fans and for the teams — this should help boost the RPI at the end of the year — but imagine what this does for Nike. It's hard to say which is more impressive:  that Nike sponsors all of these teams or that, when Hollis came calling with the idea, everyone said yes. The king of sports apparel and marketing will have its name on the biggest regular-season basketball event of the year, maybe even the decade, while every player on the court wears its equipment. 

The only downside is this won't take place for another five years. It's unlikely these teams will plummet to mediocrity during the waiting period, so if this upcoming season is any indication, college hoops fans are in for a treat in 2017.


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