Fellas, it’s your Chicago-A10-VCU sicko Connor Bailey. I was late to the 3MW game (started listing ‘22-‘23), but haven’t missed an episode since RJ Luis was at UMass! You guys are awesome at covering all things CBB regardless of conference affiliation. Hell, I’d have no idea that UT-Arlington fired Scott Cross because he didn’t build them to be the Gonzaga of Texas if it wasn’t for you guys!
Anyways… I’ve been sitting on this question for a while and it is somewhat adjusted because of the expansion to 76 teams. What does the A10 need to do to get more bids in the tournament? I was a sophomore at VCU in ‘12-‘13 when VCU joined the A10 and the conference received 5 and 6 bids the first two years! Temple, Butler, and UMass (NCAA 6 seed lol) are long gone, but the A10 still received 3 bids from ‘15-‘18. Unfortunately, the 7 NCAATs since ‘19 have produced 12 total bids and VCU has 5 of those. 2020 would have of course had Dayton and Richmond may have got to Last Four In. Regardless…. It hasn’t been good enough. NET and quadrant system has some affect because there are fewer opportunities for Q1/Q2 wins in the A10, but a lot of A10 fans bring up the A10 Title Game timing (1pm ET on SS) as a problem. 2022, 2025, and 2026 it felt like the committee decided on Saturday that the A10 would be 2, 1, and 2 bid leagues those years. I understand that bracketing is a process (especially with the single digit seeds due to region selection), but I think the committee has been lazy with their Last Four In selections lately (looking at you 2026 SMU). Bubba Cunningham being the AD for UNC (last at-large team selected in 2025) and Keith Gill (former Richmond AD) are the last two committee chairs and if VCU didn’t receive the auto-bid these years, there would be conspiracies galore! End rant. Anyways…. What does the A10 need to do to always get 2 bids, but really push for a 3rd bid in the 76 team field. VCU is arguably the best run non-P5 or Gonzaga program in CBB so we should be there every year. Schertz is a G, but who knows how SLU will look if/when he leaves. I love AG, but he and Dayton do more with less almost every year. I think you can trust those 3 to compete at the top, but what about the other programs who’ve had success? GW should be better and have $$$, but Caputo stinks IMO. Tony Skinn seems like a good coach, but Mason has no $$$ and I can see him coaching at Georgetown soon. McKillop isn’t his dad and Davidson has a tough time getting transfers. St Joes isn’t serious about MBB. Archie Miller lost his fastball in 2017. Schmidt couldn’t and Mooney hasn’t adjusted to the world where developing isn’t common anymore. DV might have a lame duck season ahead of him. Magpayo is a damn good coach, but Fordham is Fordham. Does the conference just need to have better coaches and win more in the non-con? Let me know your thoughts on the A10 review pod and then we can meet up at Sluggers and take some hacks. Jim owes me a beer for his “VCU get the hell out of my tournament” tweet on 2/20, though I love that bit you do. Matt is a dad so he can hit the slow pitch softball cage while members of the good hairline club (Ky and myself) can take some cuts on the 85mph cage.
