Thoughts on VCU going To Atlantic 10

Not sure about baseball, but this is a step up for the basketball program. Now will this push ODU to Conference USA, and what's the impact of that potential move on their baseball program.

Looking at Boyd's Iterative Strength of Conference, the CAA is #19 and A-10 is #22. So, as far as conference goes, it is weaker. But, that could be good for VCU with Charlotte leaving. They now have a better shot to win the conference and the NCAA bid.

Both conferences usually get 1 bid for regionals so no impact there.

What conference is UNC Charlotte moving to?

quote:

Originally posted by mathews41:
What conference is UNC Charlotte moving to?

C-USA

That is good for them. Not sure about ODU at this point. But I would like to see both of our local teams playing in the better conferences (not counting W&M).

I like ODU's move to C-USA. It's all driven by football.

With a few exceptions, football drives most everything at the D1 level. An ODU move to C-USA would be good all around for the school and sports program, but expensive as Blaine Taylor discussed at the Chesapeake Sports Club luncheon this week.

Of all the sports, baseball imposes the greatest travel burden on players.

From that perspective, life in the A-10 will be a lot tougher on a team than would like in the CAA.

Also, they play up north a bit more, which means more cold weather games.

As for C-USA, you're trading buses for airplanes and airports, so that is a real budget buster on top of the travel nightmare.

quote:

RedRaider87 said.....It is official VCU is leaving CAA for A10. Is this good move for baseball team?

It is about basketball and the "Benjamins". Baseball is hostage to President Rao's dream of bringing in more prestige and athletic money. It is a roll of the dice. I thought Paul Woody wrote a pretty good article about it this AM in the RTD. I agree with Woody that turning away from that $5M payout may not have been in the best interest of the University. Rao better hope that Shaka Smart sticks around to realize this calculated gamble of future riches.

To answer your question directly, there may be a slight dropoff to the competitive depth and rankings between A10 and CAA baseball. Over the last three years, here is what I found for conference power rankings out of 32 D1 conferences:

2011: CAA - #18, A10 - #19
2010: CAA - #18, A10 - #24
2009: CAA - #13, A10 - #20

The A-10 consists of:

Dayton
Duquense
Fordham
GW
LaSalle
UMass
Rhode Island
Richmond
St. Bonaventure
St. Joe
St. Louis
Temple
Xavier

Sounds like a few wins for VCU.

The A-10 has history as a basketball conference. Not sure how I feel about this move, on one hand the chance for an improved record and MAYBE a chance at advanceing further to a regional or super regional, on the other hand maybe they don't perform against the "lesser" quality teams and in effect hurting the overall perception of the VCU baseball program. I don't know if the "mid major" tag will really be removed by this move. As for ODU, I hope they go to C-USA, that would be awesome! to be recognised you have to play recognised opponents and C-USA has that.

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
The A-10 consists of:

Dayton
Duquense
Fordham
GW
LaSalle
UMass
Rhode Island
Richmond
St. Bonaventure
St. Joe
St. Louis
Temple
Xavier

Sounds like a few wins for VCU.

Sounds like a few snowflakes in the air during the early spring to me.

Having a son heading to the 49ers, I couldn't be happier with Charlotte's move to C-USA. If having a football team allows Charlotte to return to the 4th or 5th best baseball conference in D1, I support it. Will there be tough road ahead for Charlotte, probably, but they have a good coaching staff and I personally feel good about the 49ers chances of an at large berth there.

VCU moving to A-10 means one thing for the baseball team...win or die. If you don't win the conference championship, the chances of getting an at-large invite is statistically zero. C-USA's RPI this year puts them at #5, they will probably have at least 3 teams making the NCAA regionals...I like that math.

We are all fans...and in most cases, I'd say that while we are on a baseball board, we all like multiple sports. If everyone is honest, football and basketball drive the money train in sports. So the move for VCU (a non-football school) was clearly driven by the potential for basketball success. I wish them luck, but while there are definite wins they can chalk up on the baseball schedule, its one thing to have a good season and another to win it all every year just so you can go to the NCAA regionals...

I wish VCU luck, but I'm very glad that Charlotte moved to C-USA and gave VCU the opportunity to move to the A-10...from a selfish, baseball only perspective.

So does ODU and UNC Charlotte move to C-USA
for the 2014 season?