Originally Posted by FlyerinChicago
sooo...Dayton to AAC, or nah?
|
If you get the chance, I'd say do it.
I know Dayton doesn't play FBS football, but when you look at the Big East and Conference USA before that, the one thing that you can say for both of them is that the non-football schools who were members of those leagues ended up being better off than they would have had they not joined them. At the very least, none of them ended up worse off. And, hybrid leagues aren't the only leagues that fold. The Southwest Conference was a strong league that folded. The WAC was a strong league that practically folded (although technically still exists even though virtually none of the current membership were members of the classic WAC lineup).
Lastly, when it comes to basketball and the other Olympic sports, I think Dayton has more in common with the AAC in terms of how they value it and how they approach it than the vast majority of the A10. The vast majority of the A10 is operating with half the cash, half the resources, and half the fan support that UD is. As a general basketball fan, there are maybe two or three A10 teams that it's fun to watch Dayton play against. In the AAC there is Memphis (who lost two of their best three players, but is still on the verge of being a consistent tournament caliber program again), Houston who should be a tournament caliber team this year, Cincinnati who is a natural rival, SMU (and I do think Jankovic will keep them competitive),
Temple, UCF who is much improved even if they lose Tacko Fall, UConn, and of course WICHITA STATE.
Throw in the fact that you'd be making more money from the media deal than the entire Atlantic Ten combined, then it's a no brainer. If Dayton gets the chance to go and chooses not to because they end up talking themselves out of it for whatever reason, I think it wold be a HUGE mistake. Dayton is not getting into the Big East. I'm not saying that because I don't want UD in the Big East. I'm saying that because they're not getting in. So, to pass this up for something that probably has a less than one percent chance of happening is a mistake. If the conference comes courting Dayton and VCU, and the rumor is that they may be considering it (which I realize is a long way from a certainty), then I think it's a huge mistake to turn it down.
