It takes some chutzpah to look other A10 members in the face and tell them "we're now too good for you" when we've won 1 conference tourney title in 23 seasons -- on our home court no less.
The A10 has never once been an impediment to UD basketball making the NCAA tournament. Every time Dayton has fallen short, it was Dayton getting in the way of Dayton. The West Coast Conference has never once held Gonzaga back either.
Every communication Ive ever heard from UD is there is no interest in the AAC. That league is combustible and its a matter of when, not if, it becomes something vastly different than it currently is. Too many unknowns. Unless your ship is sinking -- and the A10 isnt -- you dont take radical chances. This the worst A10 in probably a decade and its still going to end up a multi-bid league -- maybe even 3 teams. All season all we heard was Juan Bid.
We could get three teams in despite UD and VCU being garbage this year. Sloo -- with the most resources -- is on the uptick again. Remarkable. Were UD/VCU any good, it would be a 4-5 bid season and nobody would be tossing the bad fruit.
Wichita, Houston, UC are getting in the NCAAs. Thats it. Could be the same number as the A10 if Davison beats
Rhody which is very possible. UConn, Memphis, SMU were all down this year just like UD and VCU and
Saint Louis are down.
Leagues dont get bids, teams do. I also dont believe UD wants their WBB program in any league with UConn WBB because it will forever take a conference championship off the table. Thats just the reality. There is merit and satisfaction to winning a league. If the only way to get better was to be in the same league as UConn it would be another story. But thats not the narrow choice. DePaul WBB being in the same league as UConn WBB was marginally any benefit to them when they shared room in the Big East. At least now DePaul can once again play for a conference title again. And, UConn hates the AAC anyway. Its a constant embarrassment for them. So you lose UConn MBB if that's your jam.
Lets not even get into travel, missed class time, costs, etc. Our Olympic sports can bus to most games. You can't bus to Texas or Kansas. Logistically its a nightmare especially if you have no travel partner. Maybe that would be Cincinnati for us, but we've already established that UC doesn't even want to be in the AAC and is splitsville as soon as the door cracks.
You dont make a conference move at this point unless its a long-term 20-year decision thats a home run. And, you dont want to be in a league with D-I football money anyway. The optics are bad, the financial inequality is bad, the fit is bad.