NCAA Basketball FanHouse

Atlantic 10 Leaves Philly for the Money

Chas Rich — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:51:00 EST

Filed under: George Washington, UMass, Xavier, A-10, Media Watch

It isn't easy being only a basketball conference trying to compete with the major programs. No football money from the 1-A level, even to be a patsy team like the Sun Belt, MAC or the ilk. The Atlantic 10 has managed to make it work, but apparently the money is no longer there.

Reports are out that the Atlantic 10 is moving its offices to Newport News, Virginia. There are no member schools in Newport News. The closest school is Richmond. Nearly 80 miles away. The move is apparently driven by economics, as the city's development office actively courted the A-10 to move into new digs no where near any of their members.

The A-10 offices have been located in Philadelphia. It has made sense since three (LaSalle, Temple, St. Joe's) of the fourteen full members are located in Philly. Add in Duquesne in Pittsburgh and associate member West Chester, and the A-10 has its basketball tournament in Atlantic City, NJ. To say nothing of a major airport located in the area that all members could get direct flights to and from. it would appear to have little reason to move the offices from Philadelphia.

Apparently the office space in Philly, though, is just too expensive for the A-10. Wonder how many direct flights there are to the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport (a third runway coming in 2012) from the various cities .

Atlantic 10 Leaves Philly for the Money originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Jordan Crawford Dunk LeBron Hasn't Yet Put Into Witness Protection

Ray Holloman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Indiana, Xavier

Unless you live under the last rock that didn't come with Tweetdeck pre-installed, you've certainly heard about Jordan Crawford's alleged dunk over LeBron James, which ended up with Nike confiscating the tapes in the shoe giant's corporate version of Witness Protection.

Fortunately, Crawford's midnight madness dunk at Indiana (where he played for a season before transferring to Xavier last year), is available on YouTube. Watch Crawford soar over a rack of balls plainly trained to play defense by ex-Duke point guard Greg Paulus.

Now if Crawford would only be so kind as to dunk over LeBron in everything starring Kevin James.

A Jordan Crawford Dunk LeBron Hasn't Yet Put Into Witness Protection originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xavier Stays In House for New Coach

Chas Rich — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:07:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier, A-10, Coaches, Rumors

According to reports, Xavier has decided to promote assistant coach Chris Mack. The announcement may not be made, though, until Wednesday at the team banquet.

Mack is 39 years old, and has no head coaching experience. He is, however, considered a rising assistant. It probably does not hurt that Mack is a Xavier alum and was a team captain on the basketball team during his time. He also served as an assistant to former Xavier coach Skip Prosser at Wake Forest before joining Sean Miller back at Xavier.Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski had denied reports that Mack was going to be hired on Monday. Today he has not been reached for any comment.

The decision to promote Mack, would make it the second straight time that Xavier has promoted from within to replace a coach leaving for another job. Recently departed Sean Miller took over after Thad Matta left for Ohio State.

The move is not surprising and makes sense. Mack is a promising young coach. He's popular with the current players and most of the incoming recruits. He was also the pick of most of the fans in unscientific polls. Plus without any head coaching experience he comes relatively cheap compared to other possibilities.

Add in that he is an alum, and that has to push him over the top. The hope being that Mack will not be enticed away for another job and see this as his destination. While the Xavier administration and fans have to be pleased with the continued growth and success of Xavier basketball on a national level, there has been natural frustration at being seen as a stepping-stone job rather than a destination.

Xavier Stays In House for New Coach originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:07:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Billy Packer Would Have Loved the Upcoming NCAA Tournament

Shiloh Carder — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:00:00 EST

Filed under: Butler, Davidson, George Mason, Gonzaga, WCC, Xavier, A-10, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Mid-Majors, MVC, MWC, Pac-10, SEC, March Madness, St. Mary's (CA)

One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer was that he didn't respect the mid-majors. He famously complained that there were too many mid-majors in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. That was the year that George Mason upset Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn to get to the Final Four.

This will be the first Packer-less tournament in decades as he retired after last year's Final Four. It's a shame for him because he would have loved the makeup of the brackets this time around. Going against the recent trends, it looks as if the major conferences will get most of the at-large bids, leaving the mid-majors out in the cold.

According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, there aren't too many mid-majors that are locks to get in if they do not win their conference tournament. Siena, Utah State and Davidson have the strongest cases to be at-large teams but there are factions that believe they won't. Utah State has that win over Utah, but nothing else. Davidson has actually lost a couple of SoCon games this year and their biggest win is against West Virginia on a neutral court. Siena just lost to Niagara last night. All will be overwhelming favorites to win their conference tournaments but they could be in trouble if they don't.

Gonzaga will snatch a bid if they don't win the West Coast Conference tournament. Butler does the same if they fail to win the Horizon.

Lunardi is also projecting that 31 of the 34 at-large bids will be going to the so-called "BCS conferences". The ACC leads the way with eight teams, followed by the Big East and Big Ten with seven each. The SEC, which is suffering a perceived down period, is projected to get five teams in the tournament. The other three bids are penciled in for the Atlantic 10's Dayton and two from the Mountain West (Utah, BYU and UNLV should all get in; one should win the conference tournament). The only non-BCS school that is currently seeded as a No. 4 seed or better is Memphis.

Even Lunardi's last four out includes nothing but BCS schools. The "next four out" features two more Mountain West schools and two Big XII schools.

All this leads up to schools from power conferences fighting for those last spots available in the tournament. It will also lead to more name matchups in the first and second round. Right now, Lunardi has first round games of Kentucky-Texas, Florida-California, Oklahoma State-Arizona State, Boston College-Tennessee, Michigan-LSU, Penn State-UCLA and South Carolina-Wisconsin.

Billy Packer Would Have Loved the Upcoming NCAA Tournament originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone Remember When Xavier Played Good Basketball?

Chas Rich — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:17:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier, A-10

When Xavier goes south, the Musketeers do not limit it to just one end of the court. They have been struggling for most of February. It will not cost them an NCAA Tournament bid, but it sure will drop their seeding. The Musketeers have now lost three of their last four with this latest loss to Charlotte, 65-60.

For Charlotte, this was their first win over a ranked team in four years. The team has struggled this year, and will likely finish with a sub-.500 record. It was their first win over Xavier since the 49ers joined the Atlantic 10 in six games. Still, rushing the floor seemed a bit forced. Especially after beating a team that was just hanging on in the Top 25, and Charlotte was tied or led for much of the game.
As for Xavier, it has shown that struggles at one end of the court affect it at the other end. In this game, the Musketeers were frustrated much of the game with their poor shooting. Much of the blame belongs to Xavier's struggling guards. They could not get shots to fall from the perimeter and struggled to penetrate to the basket.

Those guards then seemed to hang their heads and not give much of an effort defensively. All too often, they allowed themselves to be screened or just gave up on plays to allow Charlotte to shoot unchallenged 3-pointers.

Anyone Remember When Xavier Played Good Basketball? originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:17:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cincinnati's Mick Cronin Takes Issue With ESPN's Bracketologist

Shiloh Carder — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:44:00 EST

Filed under: Cincinnati, Xavier, A-10, Big East, Coaches, Media Watch

University of Cincinnati's head basketball coach Mick Cronin doesn't like ESPN.com's newest NCAA Tournament projections. ESPN's resident bracketologist Joe Lunardi has just seven Big East teams in the dance -- none of which are Cincinnati.

Cronin didn't find it amusing. "I would tell Joe Lunardi he needs to buy the ESPN Full Court package. Are you telling me that Syracuse wouldn't win the A-10? Does somebody want to give me that answer? I'd like to have that argument with somebody.

"You're going to tell me that Syracuse, with their McDonalds's All-Americans and their talent, would not win the A-10? They're eighth in our conference. For us to not get at least eight is only a by-product of us beating up on each other and being penalized for having too good of a conference."

Those are the normal gripes from people who think the Big East deserves eight, nine or 10 spots in the tournament. It doesn't fly with me or, apparently, Lunardi.

Lunardi defended his position by telling him that he, not Cronin, knows the inner workings of how the selection committee crafts its bracket.

Now I don't know Cronin, and he appears to be doing a terrific job of keeping his Bearcats more than competitive in the hellacious Big East. But I would politely suggest that he keep his eye on the ball and leave broader judgments about the tournament selection process to the NCAA men's basketball committee, since apparently my views aren't to his liking.

Lunardi goes on to dismiss Cronin's complaints. The fact that anyone is eighth in the Big East is meaningless since the committee looks at individual teams and not conferences. He has had nine teams placed in his projections for most of the season, but Notre Dame and Georgetown have fallen off due to their amazing funks.

As for that comment about an eighth place Big East team would cruise through the Atlantic-10, Lunari points out that the lowest seeded Big East team has had a better seeding in the NCAA's than the A-10 champion just once in the past eight years. After all, likely Atlantic-10 champ Xavier did beat Cincinnati earlier this year. They also beat likely Conference USA champion Memphis and ACC bubble team Virginia Tech.

Lunardi also points out that Syracuse has continued to be in his projections, despite Cronin's complaint that they weren't.

As for Cronin's Bearcats, Lunardi points out that they are 0-6 against teams that are currently in his bracket. Those two wins over Georgetown don't look as good if the Hoyas are an N.I.T. team.

I side with Lunardi here. I don't think the Big East should get a ton of teams in the tournament just because that conference is so top heavy. Continuing to lose to good teams doesn't mean you are one, too. If they are one of the 34 best at-large teams, they will get in.

Cincinnati's Mick Cronin Takes Issue With ESPN's Bracketologist originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:44:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dayton Rides 'Top Flight' Past Xavier

Hamilton Waldron — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier, A-10

The Dayton Flyers finally rid themselves of a nagging six-game losing streak against Xavier, beating the 14th-ranked Musketeers on Wednesday night, 71-58. Chris Wright led the Flyers with 19 points and also scored the last nine points for Dayton down the stretch.

In what is generally perceived as the Atlantic 10's staple showdown, Xavier was beginning to totally dominate the rivalry in nearly every way possible.

That all changes now, and the A-10 just got a lot more interesting.

Both teams were coming off rather embarrassing road losses due to lackluster defensive efforts, but something about a famous rivalry tends to bring the intensity back on that side of the ball.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, promising guard Rob Lowery went down with a knee injury in the first half and did not return to action. Lowery might not be a household name yet, but he has been an integral part of Dayton's success this season. Lowery is highly regarded as the centerpiece to Dayton's pressure defense and, with conference tournament play approaching, the Flyers can't afford to have Lowery sidelined.

Xavier turned the ball over early and often in the game, which allowed the Flyers to establish an early lead and play a composed and balanced brand of basketball throughout the second half.

In theory, this win does wonders for Dayton's chance at an NCAA tournament bid, but Flyers fans know it will likely take a solid conference tournament run for their team to get in.

These two teams will take their rivalry to Xavier's home court in Cincinnati on March 5, where Xavier has beat Dayton the last 23 games since 1981.

Dayton Rides 'Top Flight' Past Xavier originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xavier Waits Too Long to Come Back

Chas Rich — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:45:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier, A-10

Here's a tip if you are playing Xavier: press on defense. The Musketeers just do not handle pressure defense real well. Not with only one true point guard on the roster. The Duquesne Dukes like to press on defense, and it completely frustrated Xavier for almost 30 minutes. By the time Xavier solved the problem and made their run, they did not have enough time. Xavier went down, 72-68.

Except for the first few minutes, Duquesne led the entire game. They held a 15-point halftime lead and just attacked Xavier on offense the entire first half. In the second half they seemed to slow the game down on offense, but that was also Xavier doing a better job of denying the penetration and drives to the basket. Even so, the Dukes had a great shooting night that the Musketeers could not match.
At the end of the game, a rather long suffering Dukes student section stormed the court. To which, we at FanHouse do not have a problem. Duquesne had not beaten a ranked opponent since January 1997 -- when they beat Xavier. They had not beaten a top-10 team since knocking off Florida State in 1992. It had been quite a while since the Dukes have had any reason to celebrate.

The crowd at the Palumbo Center definitely helped Duquesne. It was their first sellout in over two years, and their first sellout that did not involve playing crosstown foe Pitt since 1994. It had to be a little more painful for Xavier coach Sean Miller, a Pittsburgh native and former star at Pitt. It was his third loss to Duquesne as a player or a coach.

Xavier Waits Too Long to Come Back originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wake, Xavier to Play Prosser Memorial

Will Brinson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Wake Forest, Xavier, A-10, ACC, Coaches, Fans

Skip Prosser will always be remembered on the campuses of Wake Forest and Xavier for the work as a coach he did in each location before passing suddenly from a heart attack.

Instead of just living on in the memories of players and coaches, there will now be a special day to recognize the work Prosser did with student-athletes. The two universities announced that they will compete annually for at least the next 10 years in the Skip Prosser Classic.

The 10-year series will begin during the 2009-10 season with the first game scheduled to be played at Wake Forest. Over the course of the series, five games will be played at Wake and five at Xavier. The exact dates have yet to be determined and will be announced at a later time.

[...] "This series will serve as a legacy to the tremendous impact that Skip had on each university," said Wake Forest Athletics Director Ron Wellman. "We thought that it was a natural fit that the two schools should play in both Winston-Salem and in Cincinnati in recognition of Skip's achievements to both communities."

This is, frankly, a fantastic idea. I suppose it is something that needed to happen eventually, in order to fully remember Prosser's life. He was, by all accounts, a heck of a coach and a great human being.

The added bonus, of course, is that both Xavier and Wake Forest are highly competitive programs these days (mostly thanks to Prosser, natch) and it should provide college basketball fans with an extremely appealing matchup added to the calendar each year.

Wake, Xavier to Play Prosser Memorial originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Duke Slams Xavier In Their Home Away From Home, 82-64

Shiloh Carder — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:50:00 EST

Filed under: Duke, Xavier, A-10, ACC

The Xavier Musketeers traveled to ~~North Durham~~ New Jersey to show the world that they were a legit title contender. They came into the game with a No. 7 ranking and a big win over Memphis in their rear view mirror.

Duke came in ranked No. 6 and provided a nice challenge to show Xavier how good they are right now. Judging by what happened, the Muskies have some work to do.

Duke jumped all over Xavier early and cruised to an 82-64 victory. The Blue Devils rolled out to a 20-3 lead just five minutes into the game, expanded the lead to 31 points at halftime and never looked back. It was just a perfect storm of the Blue Devils playing very, very well at the exact same time the Musketeers were playing very, very badly.

This was Duke's 18th win in 19 tries at the Izod Center. Of Mike Krzyzewski's ten Final Four appearances, five of the trips went through East Rutherford. Their only loss was to Arizona back in 1989.

Very rarely has anyone every loved the place formerly known as Brendan Byrne Arena and Continental Airlines Arena, but Coach K thinks the Izod Center is the cat's pajamas.

"This place has been a magical place for us," Krzyzewski said. "When we walked out onto the court, I was really pumped up. The court looked great. It had the feel of an NCAA tournament game. It's like going to the best restaurant. We've won a lot of great games here. It's great for the game of basketball to have this type of atmosphere."

The crowd was mostly pro-Duke as the schools has a lot of alumni in the New York/New Jersey area.

Duke Slams Xavier In Their Home Away From Home, 82-64 originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atlantic-10 Had a Very Good Day

Chas Rich — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:44:00 EST

Filed under: UMass, Xavier, A-10

Nothing like a lot of wins over teams from major conference teams in one day. Even better when they are ranked teams. Today the Atlantic-10 had the kind of day that helps the entire conference. It raises the profile of the teams and the competition. At least for a while.

Temple crunched the 8th ranked Tennessee Volunteers to start things off today. That was followed by UMass beating number 25 and defending national champ Kansas 61-60 in Kansas City. Both of those games were nationally televised on ESPN.

For the nightcap, Xavier took down Cinci 76-66 in the Crosstown shootout. An ugly, trash-talking, technical foul-filled game. Three A-10 programs taking down teams from three different power conferences. All being aired nationally. Of course, good luck at finding a conference game being aired on TV once conference play gets underway.

The rest of the conference went 6-2 today. Duquesne nearly pulled off an upset over West Virginia in Morgantown, but that fell short. There are some good teams and plenty of talented young coaches that have been overshadowed by Xavier's Sean Miller. Not to mention good coaches at other schools that have been almost forgotten nationally (Rick Majerus, St. Louis) or just are never looking to jump somewhere else (Phil Martelli, St. Joe's and Fran Dunphy, Temple).

The A-10 was here as recently as last year. They had a fantastic December as teams like Dayton, St. Joe's, UMass, Rhode Island, Charlotte and of course, Xavier all had big wins out of conference. All made noise and spurred dreams of going to the NCAA. Then came conference play and things fell apart. Except for Xavier, there seemed to be little separation among the fourteen programs. Teams rose and fell every week. By the end of the season, three teams made it to the NCAA Tournament only because Temple stunned everyone to win the A-10 Tournament and the automatic bid.

Atlantic-10 Had a Very Good Day originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:44:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xavier-Cincinnati 'Crosstown Shootout' Has Lost a Lot of Sparkle

Shiloh Carder — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:43:00 EST

Filed under: Cincinnati, Xavier, A-10, Big East, Fans

When I first moved to the Cincinnati area (which, by the way, was exactly one decade ago today), I would be told that the Xavier-Cincinnati basketball rivalry was up there with Duke-UNC. I just moved from Charlotte and shot that down immediately.

It is a neat little rivalry that has fallen on some hard times. The event that once gripped the city has turned into a oh-that's-coming up game. It is coming up this Saturday.

So, wha' happened?

Obviously the fall of the Cincinnati Bearcats has contributed to this. The game used to feature a ranked Bearcats team versus the mid-major Muskies who are known to come up and bite you every once in a while. The Bearcats were a polarizing team that you either loved or hated; Xavier doesn't own that level of love or hate -- even from Cats fans. To outsiders, it was a matchup of the thuggish Bearcats and the small Jesuit school.
There was also actual hatred between the two programs. Bob Huggins and Pete Gillen famously didn't get along. Skip Prosser did a lot to get the two sides friendly again and Huggins dismissal has pretty much taken away the villain of the series. There really is no bad blood anymore.

You could say that this is all Cincinnati's fault. Huggins' absence has been a huge reason why the rivalry seems lacking. The fact that the Bearcats now play in the Big East and fans get to see some of the top teams in the country come visiting takes away from the magnitude of the game and forces it to be played earlier in the season. This year, Bearcat fans are football crazy as their team will be in the Orange Bowl next month.

Xavier is now the top-10 team who is coming off an appearance in the Elite Eight. The Musketeers are the best basketball team in town with the better arena and dominating a second-tier conference. Still, it is very rare to hear any Xavier talk in a town filled with the sorry Reds, sorry Bengals and a Orange Bowl bound Bearcats.

It should be a pretty good game. Xavier is the better squad but Cincinnati is getting better. The game will be play at Cincinnati's Fifth/Third Arena and should be filled with rabid Bearcats fans.

That is, the ones who aren't saving their money for a holiday trip to Miami.

Xavier-Cincinnati 'Crosstown Shootout' Has Lost a Lot of Sparkle originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:43:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free Throw Shooting Costs Memphis In Loss To Xavier In Puerto Rico

Shiloh Carder — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:37:00 EST

Filed under: Memphis, Xavier

Whether it is the championship game of the NCAA Tournament or the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament, you need to be able to hit your free throws.

Memphis' bad free throw shooting kept the door open for a magical Kansas comeback last April. Last night against Xavier, the Tigers missed 7 of 9 free throws late that cost them the game.

The Musketeers hit their free throws to salt away a 63-58 win over Memphis for the Tip-Off title.

Remember that last year, Memphis head coach John Calipari shrugged off the media's insistence that their bad free throw shooting would cost them. So I find it amazing that in the time since their overtime loss to Kansas and now they haven't gotten any better from the stripe.

Memphis went 15-of-30 from the line in this game and are shooting 67% for the season.

You would think the last thing Calipari told his players to do this offseason was to shoot free throws as much as possible.

That isn't the only thing that ails Memphis. They still don't have a point guard.

Antonio Anderson just isn't cutting it; freshman Wesley Witherspoon isn't ready; and Tyreke Evans is struggling. Evans went 11-for-36 during the tournament, blew a late layup and gunned a ill-advised three point shot that got him yanked from the game. He would be seen in tears as he left the locker room after the game.

That'll happen. He's a freshman. But there is no excuse for this team to continue to be so bad at shooting the freebies.

Free Throw Shooting Costs Memphis In Loss To Xavier In Puerto Rico originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:37:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xavier Beats Virginia Tech On Half Court Shot

Shiloh Carder — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:18:00 EST

Filed under: Virginia Tech, Xavier, A-10, ACC, Video

What is that old saying? "It is better to be lucky than good?" The Xavier Musketeers will take that today as they needed a half court shot to beat Virginia Tech, 63-62, in the semifinals of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip Off today.

As you can see in the video above, Tech took the lead on a tip in with three seconds left in overtime. The Muskies' Dante Jackson took the inbounds pass, dribbled once and launched a desperation three at the half court stripe.

That was Jackson's only field goal of the game and came after he missed all eight previous attempts.

Xavier will go on to face Memphis in the title game of the Puerto Rico Tip Off tomorrow.

Xavier Beats Virginia Tech On Half Court Shot originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:18:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How I Spent My Summer Vacation: the Atlantic 10

Shiloh Carder — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:25:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier, A-10

With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.

Today's look is the Atlantic 10.

The A-10 is routinely one of the better non-football conferences. They finished 7th in the conference RPI rankings last year and sent Xavier to the Elite Eight.

Still, there is a lot to be done for a league that struggles to find its niche among viewers in Big East, ACC and Big Ten markets. A lot was done this offseason.

Bernadette McGlade Becomes Commissioner

McGlade was an associate commissioner in the ACC and brings a ton of experience with her to the A-10. Her biggest task will be exposure for the conference. As I said, the A-10 is a wide-ranging conference filled with several small schools but also in some major U.S. cities. Even if you live in one of these cities, it is tough to find an Atlantic-10 game on anywhere.

McGlade comes from the ACC where she helped work on the television contracts for the league and for the NCAA Tournament. The ACC is the most television-friendly league in college hoops and hopefully some of this will carry over to a nice deal for the A-10.

She's already put the schools in the conference on notice by saying that members are responsible to do their part to make the league stronger.

.REBIRTH OF TEMPLE

Xavier may be the best program in the A-10, but Temple is the most well known. In John Chaney's last few years and in Fran Dunphy's first at Temple, the Owls haven't been relevant. A nice A-10 tournament championship got them back into the NCAA Tournament and now Temple seems to be back on track to contend for conference supremacy.

Temple brings back Dionte Christmas, a senior swingman who has led the conference in scoring the past two seasons. Add that to the players adapting Dunphy's man-to-man style and this team won 15 of their last 20 games last season.

DEREK KELLOGG TAKES OVER AT UMASS

Kellogg was a guard for the Minutemen in the 1990s and now will attempt to get UMass into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998.

He will try to bring back the glory days of the John Calipari Era back to Amherst. Kellogg played for Calipari at UMass and has been an assistant coach for him at Memphis for the last eight seasons.

His job will be tough as he takes over a team that lost three starters, including Atlantic-10 Player Of The Year Gary Forbes.

DUQUESNE DUPES

Duquesne had a tough offseason as they watched two players leave for the NBA and three lawsuits come in with them as the defendant.

Remember that two years ago, five Duquesne players were injured in a campus shooting. Two of them, Kojo Mensah and Shawn James, left the program for the NBA draft. Both went undrafted and since they signed with an agent they cannot return to school. Both Mensah and James joined Stuart Baldonado in suing the university for security issues that may have prevented the shooting.

Mensah and James are also claiming that head coach Ron Everhart forced them to practice even though their gunshot-inflicted wounds had not yet healed.

RICHMOND'S RECRUITING VIOLATIONS

Assistants for the Richmond men's and women's basketball teams resigned after they broke recruiting rules. The two coaches were involved in texting and emailing recruits and violated NCAA rules. The school immediately reported the violations and placed self-imposed sanctions on both programs.

ST JOSEPH LIVE AT THE PALESTRA

St. Joseph's will play their home games at Philadelphia's famed The Palestra. Their home court is being renovated, expanded and renamed the Michael J. Hagan Arena. It should be ready for the 2009-2010 season.

The Hawks have hosted Big Five games in The Palestra (including the Holy War against Villanova) as well as home games against high profile opponents.

ST LOUIS GETS SOME NEW DIGS, TOO

The St. Louis Billikens will move into their 10,000+ seat Chaifetz Arena this year, leaving behind the Scottrade Center.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: the Atlantic 10 originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xavier Lands Transfer Jordan Crawford

Shiloh Carder — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Indiana, Xavier, A-10, Big Ten

Former Indiana player Jordan Crawford has announced he is transferring to Xavier. Crawford, the brother of former Kentucky guard Joe, averaged 9.7 ppg as a freshman in Bloomington last year.

Jordan Crawford is expected to appeal for immediate eligibility at Xavier, citing the unusual circumstances of Indiana's predicament as cause for lenience. He leaves IU in good academic standing but ostensibly chose to depart because the program was so decimated by the events of the past year. Other players recently have been granted waivers of the year-in-residence rule, including Tennessee's Tyler Smith (from Iowa) and Georgetown's Julian Vaughn (from Florida State); those two cases involved medical issues with family members that made moving to schools closer to home important.

I highly doubt the NCAA will grant him immediate eligibility. I'm sure that they will force him to sit one season for leaving that smoking mess at Indiana ... but it should be worth it for Crawford.

Xavier is excited to have him and have had a nice history of transfers of late. They brought it Drew Lavender from Oklahoma and been highly successful. They also did well with Brian Thornton (Vanderbilt) and currently has C.J. Anderson (Manhattan) and Jamel McLean (Tulsa) on the roster.

Xavier Lands Transfer Jordan Crawford originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xavier Gives Miller A New Extension

Charles Rich — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:07:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier Basketball, A-10 Basketball, NCAA Basketball Coaches

When you get a team to the Elite Eight, put together a top-20 recruiting class and have been the name on every fan of a program with an opening's wish list (along with Washington's Dave Bennett), you know a raise and extension is coming your way. Sure enough, Sean Miller got his raise and extension from Xavier.

His new contract is worth a total compensation value of just less than $1 million per year with a base salary between $700,000 and $800,000.

Miller had been making a base salary between $500,000 and $600,000 with a total compensation value - including perks such as a country club membership and a vehicle - of about $800,000.

While the extension is stated as being a 10-year extension, it is really just a couple years more -- albeit with a higher salary. Last year Miller received a raise and extension that was to run through the 2015-16 season.

As an added present, Miller officially added a point guard to his 2008 recruiting class. Ex-Indiana commit, Terrell Holloway gave his verbal to Xavier last week, despite no scholarship available. Well, junior center Charles Bronson (yes, that is his real name) decided to transfer in the name of getting more playing time. According to his statement issued by the athletic department, it was a "mutual decision."

Of course it was. It always is.

Xavier Gives Miller A New Extension originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:07:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cincinnati Claims Another Athlete: Xavier's Drew Lavender Arrested

Josh Alper — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Xavier Basketball, A-10 Basketball, NCAA Basketball Police Blotter

Bob Huggins is long gone and Chris Henry's been released, yet Cincinnati athletes can't seem to steer their way clear of the police blotter. Drew Lavender, whose career as the point guard for the Xavier Musketeers ended in the regional finals, was arrested in early on Sunday morning and charged with disorderly conduct while intoxicated and possession of marijuana.

Police say Lavender was drunk and disorderly after they asked him several times to move out of a Cincinnati street intersection "and refused until apprehension," police documents note.

Lavender's college career began at Oklahoma as a McDonald's All-American and he played well there for two years before transferring to Xavier. While with the Musketeers he starred on the court but never quite shook a reputation for hard living off of it. He was arrested while at Oklahoma and charged with recklessly causing annoyance at a nightclub over the summer.

If there's a silver lining for Xavier it's that arrested players have, for better or worse, long been a hallmark of some of the country's biggest programs. They've chafed at the mid-major label for some time and can now point to the kind of behavior that's gotten programs from the SEC to Big East in trouble as a reason why they're big-time.

Cincinnati Claims Another Athlete: Xavier's Drew Lavender Arrested originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UCLA Running Away From Xavier

Michael David Smith — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:04:00 EST

Filed under: UCLA Basketball, Xavier Basketball

UCLA is putting on its most impressive performance so far in this year's NCAA Tournament, dominating Xavier and looking every bit like a team that can win the national championship.

We're closing in on the midway point in the second half, and it's been all UCLA. The Bruins took a 33-24 lead into the locker room at halftime and have exploded at the start of the second half to run away with it. It's currently 51-30 UCLA, and the Xavier team that looked solid up until this game appears to be ready to head home.

For UCLA, Kevin Love is, again, leading the way, with 16 points and eight rebounds. The answer to the question, Can Xavier stop Love? is an emphatic no.

UCLA Running Away From Xavier originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can Xavier Do to Kevin Love What It Did to Michael Beasley?

Michael David Smith — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:01:00 EST

Filed under: UCLA Basketball, Xavier Basketball, March Madness, Kansas State Basketball

UCLA plays Xavier today in Phoenix in a game that looks like a mismatch. That's not intended as a knock on Xavier, a fine team that has had an impressive season. But the talent gap between the Bruins and the Musketeers is vast, UCLA freshman center Kevin Love looks like the kind of inside presence whom Xavier simply wouldn't have an answer for.

Except that Xavier took on another talented freshman big man this season, Michael Beasley of Kansas State, and held him in check. Xavier won 103-77 and Beasley finished with five points on 1-of-6 shooting, by far his worst scoring game of the season. Love has heard about it:

"Somebody mentioned to me they held him to five or six points," Love said. "Hey, I think Beasley's the most talented player in the country. For him to get five or six points shows how good they can be on defense."

Discussing that game with Robyn Norwood of the Los Angeles Times, Kansas State coach Frank Martin spoke highly of all the players Xavier will throw at Love: Josh Duncan, Derrick Brown, B.J. Raymond, C.J. Anderson and Jason Love. But is it really realistic to think those guys will have the kind of success on defense against Love that they had against Beasley? I have my doubts. The way Love is playing right now, I have my doubts that any team in college basketball can stop him.

Can Xavier Do to Kevin Love What It Did to Michael Beasley? originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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