The Atlantic 10 Thread

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Final Standings

2007 - 08 STANDINGS

Conference Overall
W L PCT. W L PCT.
Xavier 14 2 .875 26 5 .839
Temple 11 5 .688 18 12 .600
Massachusetts 10 6 .625 21 9 .700
Charlotte 9 7 .562 18 12 .600
Richmond 9 7 .562 16 13 .552
Saint Joseph's 9 7 .562 18 11 .621
Dayton 8 8 .500 20 9 .690
La Salle 8 8 .500 14 16 .467
Duquesne 7 9 .438 17 12 .586
Rhode Island 7 9 .438 21 10 .677
Saint Louis 7 9 .438 16 14 .533
Fordham 6 10 .375 12 16 .429
George Washington 5 11 .312 9 17 .346
St. Bonaventure 2 14 .125 8 22 .267

[OSUFan_88]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

My Rhody Rams need to probably win out to get to the NCAA's...figures. About 3 weeks ago they were a lock, now they threw it all away.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

My Rhody Rams need to probably win out to get to the NCAA's...figures. About 3 weeks ago they were a lock, now they threw it all away.

They're probably the most dangerous 11-seed in any conference tournament. I'm glad they aren't on Xavier's side of the bracket. They can be UMass' and Temple's problem. IMO, like you, they do need to win the tournament to get in. Seeing them choke like they did the last few weeks was rather disappointing.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I'm not too happy about the tie-breakers working out so Charlotte has to beat Rhode Island twice in 5 days to get to the next round. Should be a fun tournament, UMass will have to beat either Charlotte or Rhode Island to seal their dance bid. Dayton is all of the sudden looking legit again, if they win a couple of games they will be an interesting bubble case. Then a few other teams have a decent chance to win the whole thing if somebody can knock X out.

[P2K]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I hope Temple does well in the A10 tournament. It would be great for Dunphy to get this program back in the NCAA tournament. Help him in recruiting. Put Temple back on the map.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Per Dustin Dow, Xavier's beat-writer, here are Stanley Burrell's comments on Xavier players being left off the 1st team all-conference and other guys not getting recognized at all. You go, Hammer!

"I've never been so upset. You'd think after getting the awards I got, I'd be happy right now. I'm really upset about how things turned out. I called this after the Dayton game, and no disrespect to Brian Roberts, but I said things like this are going to happen; we're going to be left out. I've got champions in that locker room. B.J., C.J., Derrick. Those guys shouldn't have been left out like that. No way. Those guys are champs. Where would we be without them. I'm so upset."

"It's ridiculous. This league is pathetic. We went 14-2, top 10 in the nation. Forget first team, Josh is probably the player of the year. You've got the best team and nobody on the first-team all-conference team? It's ridiculous. You talk about not having motivation? We got plenty now. I'm really looking forward to Atlantic City now."

"I should be happy right now. I got a good award and that's great. But my teammates got left out. No way. I'm the leader of this team, and I'm not going to sit here and say it's OK. I know how I'd feel if I got left out like that if I gave for the good of the team; if I sacrificed and was all about doing what's best for the team. I'm so upset, so upset."

"You see the teams and you're like, put B.J. in place of a Darnell Harris or somebody who went .500 or below. Put Derrick in place of a Bryant Dunston. You don't leave C.J. out. You don't leave guys out who just won a championship. Those guys could easily go to other teams and easily be getting 14, 15, 16 points a game. They decided to be here and play team ball. And they get left out for that? For being unselfish? It's not right, man. I don't care what I got. That Defensive Player of the Year? That's my team's award."

"I can't believe my team got left out like that. I'm happy for Coach; hell, he should have been Coach of the Year last year too. We won the league last year too. It's ridiculous. I'm sick of people overlooking us. I'm sick of us being labeled as a mid-major; we don't get no respect, man. And we're going to keep winning. We're going to stay together and keep doing what we do. We're going to stay focused, and we're not going to let people take us off our path. I feel bad for my teammate [nudging Raymond who was sitting next to him] because he deserved it. He bought out this year. He deserved to be recognized for his play this year. Where would we be without B.J.? Where would we be without C.J.? Where would we be without Derrick? Thost guys should be recognized, and I'm trying to hold myself together, but I love those guys to death. They did everything for us this year. They sacrificed like crazy. And they don't get nothing to show for it. I don't even want to answer no questions, man"

And with that, Burrell got up; walked off the dais and out of the room to the locker room. I caught up with him before practice, and he said everything he said in the media room was genuine.

[P2K]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Shut the **** up, Stan.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Shut the **** up, Stan.

Hammer has never been one to hold back an opinion. Good to see him stand up for his teammates like that. Just back it up in the A-10 tournament and beyond. In all honesty, the only player that really deserved to be on 1st team all-conference, or even POY, was him. He's been one of the best defenders in the country. The only guy to really torch him was Goldwire and that was mainly due, IMO, to Stan backing off b/c of foul trouble. There was no better TEAM in the league. If they had more individuals they may not have had as much success this year.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

CM, how do you feel about this?

Charlotte endorses Lutz with five-year extension

Associated Press

Updated: March 28, 2008, 2:33 PM ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz received a five-year contract extension that will keep him at the school through the 2012-13 season.

The school's board of trustees approved the new contract at a meeting Friday, ending an uncertain time for Lutz after the school denied him a contract extension last summer.

Lutz's future was in doubt after the 49ers went 14-16 in the 2006-07 season. Lutz said he was told to start looking for other jobs. But he turned down the coaching job at South Alabama last spring and said he was determined to turn things around at Charlotte.

The 49ers went 20-14 this season, including an upset win at Clemson and a first-round loss to Nebraska in the NIT. Contract talks began midway through the season.

Lutz is 188-126 in 10 seasons at Charlotte and is the school's career leader in coaching victories.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

CM, how do you feel about this?

Late to respond(I only dug up this thread to ask you a question, see blow...), but I'll go ahead anyway.

I think Lutz deserves the extension. This past year may have been his best coaching/recruiting job yet. He had Micheal Beasly(and, as a result, Camron Tatum) pulled out from under his feet and he had to scramble to bring in something for the class of 2007. He ended up losing 3 verbals for that class and bringing in a total of 8 new players, somehow he turned that into a 20 win season. Everybody except Goldwire is back next year, they have two SG commitments on board who both had ACC offers and it is looking possible that the last scholarship will be used on an ACC transfer(who started about half of the season for Boston College). Not that the ACC ties automatically make these players great, but it finally looks like Lutz has learned how to recruit in the A10 and is now back on track beating out bigger name schools for recruits. On the court he'll never be an elite coach. His whole strategy is to give players and inordinate amount of freedom on offense, which is why he can get commitments over higher-profile schools, but it also means you are going to blown double digit leads in the second half 3-5 times a year because your players jack 3's ten seconds into the shot clock, regardless of the score. Anyway, he deserves it, if he doesn't get back to the NCAA tournament soon then this should be his last contract, but he's shown me enough to earn this extension.

So, the reason I stopped by in the first place. What's the word on Sean Miller? I don't know his history, but Marquette seems like they would go after him heavily with Crean leaving. I'm not sure what other jobs opened up he would be interested in.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

...So, the reason I stopped by in the first place. What's the word on Sean Miller? I don't know his history, but Marquette seems like they would go after him heavily with Crean leaving. I'm not sure what other jobs opened up he would be interested in.

The word is that XU boosters apparently have the money available to give him a raise to make him the highest paid coach in the conference, which would be over $1 million/year. Rather large for a school that size but they have the financial support from people to pull it off without a problem. From everything I've read, he isn't interested in the Maqruette job. In fact, I read that a Milwaukee reporter called Xavier's AD and asked what he thought about Miller being on his way to Milwaukee right that minute to discuss the MU job the next day and Miller was sitting 5 feet away from the AD in his office at the time of the call where they were discussing a raise and such. That resulted in a good laugh. Because of the recruiting class Miller has coming in, which is crazy good, he really believes he can take this school to a Final Four someday. Now that doesn't mean he won't leave at some point. He has to keep bringing in classes like the one he has for 2008-09 to be a national competitor. The one job everyone believes he will bolt XU for in a heartbeat is the one at Pitt. Other than that, he seems very happy at Xavier. He has a great relationship with Mike Bobinski (XU's AD), he likes Cincinnati, his family likes Cincinnati, and he really is in a great situation. Everyone feels that he won't leave for anything anytime soon unless Jamie Dixon leaves Pitt.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

The word is that XU boosters apparently have the money available to give him a raise to make him the highest paid coach in the conference, which would be over $1 million/year. Rather large for a school that size but they have the financial support from people to pull it off without a problem. From everything I've read, he isn't interested in the Maqruette job. In fact, I read that a Milwaukee reporter called Xavier's AD and asked what he thought about Miller being on his way to Milwaukee right that minute to discuss the MU job the next day and Miller was sitting 5 feet away from the AD in his office at the time of the call where they were discussing a raise and such. That resulted in a good laugh. Because of the recruiting class Miller has coming in, which is crazy good, he really believes he can take this school to a Final Four someday. Now that doesn't mean he won't leave at some point. He has to keep bringing in classes like the one he has for 2008-09 to be a national competitor. The one job everyone believes he will bolt XU for in a heartbeat is the one at Pitt. Other than that, he seems very happy at Xavier. He has a great relationship with Mike Bobinski (XU's AD), he likes Cincinnati, his family likes Cincinnati, and he really is in a great situation. Everyone feels that he won't leave for anything anytime soon unless Jamie Dixon leaves Pitt.

That's good to hear. From a national perspective most people seem to think Miller leaving was a sure thing after the success they had this year. It's good to hear some more concrete information on the topic though. Hopefully he and Travis Ford both stick around for a while.

[Mxracer23x]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

http://blog.masslive.com/sports/2008/04/umass_coach_ford_wont_go_to_ls.html

Travis Ford is not leaving, at least for LSU

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

XU gains another one for 2008-09 in former IU recruit Terrell Holloway. Word is the one leaving is Charles "Death Wish" Bronson. Adrion Graves might bounce too, although I'd hate to see that. He's supposedly their best shooter in practice but just has no confidence during games.

IU recruit chooses Xavier
BY DUSTIN DOW

Xavier got a commitment from a fifth 2008-09 freshmen, which means one of XU’s current men’s basketball players will have to go in order to make room for the incoming class.

“I’m not worried about it,” said Terrell Holloway, who orally committed to Xavier coach Sean Miller Tuesday night. “Coach Miller told me there would be room.”

Officially, Xavier is out of scholarships for next season. But a scholarship for Holloway would open up if one or more current Xavier players decided to transfer. Xavier’s most likely transfer candidates are sophomore Adrion Graves and junior Charles Bronson, both of whom played sparingly this season.

Holloway said Xavier coaches assured him that a player would transfer out, thereby creating an available scholarship for Holloway. In fact, he was hoping to delay making an oral commitment to Xavier until a player left but felt compelled to make the commitment Tuesday after recruiting insiders became aware of his interest in Xavier.

“I had been telling coach Miller that I wanted to go to Xavier,” Holloway said. “I was waiting for one of those players to get out. I was planning on making the commitment to Xavier but didn’t want to make it public until they transferred.”

Holloway is a 6-foot point guard who plays at Harmony Community School in Roselawn. He originally committed to Indiana but obtained a release from his letter of intent after Indiana fired coach Kelvin Sampson midseason.

Holloway’s close ties to Xavier assistant Emanuel Richardson helped the Musketeers pursue Holloway after he decided not to attend Indiana. Richardson, who has been at Xavier for one season, formerly coached Holloway on the New York Gauchos summer basketball team.

“Book wasn’t the only reason why I committed to Xavier, but it was a big reason why,” Holloway said, referring to Richardson by his nickname, Book. “It is a very good relationship with me and Book.”

Xavier’s 2008-09 recruiting class now includes five freshmen and two transfers.

Holloway joins Brad Redford, Mark Lyons, Kenny Frease and Brian Walsh in the freshman class. Andrew Taylor and Jamel McLean will become eligible next season as well after sitting out as transfers.

With Holloway’s commitment, the competition to be Xavier’s starting point guard next season increased. He, Lyons and Redford are all backcourt specialists who will contend for playing time with sophomore-to-be Dante Jackson.

“That’s a good thing for me,” Holloway said. “An opportunity to go to a top 25 school and have a chance to be a starting point guard as a freshman.”

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Sean Miller gets a contract extension through 2017-18

XU extends Miller deal
BY DUSTIN DOW | ENQUIRER.COM

Xavier University and men’s basketball coach Sean Miller agreed to a contract extension Wednesday after more than a month of fine-tuning and preparing a new deal for Miller.

It was unclear Wednesday afternoon as to how much the new contract, which runs through the 2017-18 season, would increase Miller’s compensation. He had been making between $800,000 and $900,000 per year in total compensation.

Xavier officials, including university president Michael Graham, S.J., had been hoping to push Miller’s compensation over $1 million in order to make him the highest paid coach in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Such a deal, Xavier officials hoped, would help XU retain Miller as head coach long term. Travis Ford, for instance, recently left A-10 program Massachusetts for Oklahoma State and a $1.3 million deal.

This is Miller’s third contract extension since taking over as head coach in 2004 following the departure of Thad Matta who left for Ohio State.

Miller, 39, is 93-39 in four seasons at Xavier, including this season’s 30-7 performance that ended in the NCAA Tournament regional finals and established a new team record for victories in a season.

“I would like to thank (Xavier University President) Fr. Michael Graham and Mike Bobinski for their incredible support of our basketball program and continued belief in me as the head coach,” Miller said in a statement.

“Today’s commitment reinforces my own beliefs and excitement about our future together. With great anticipation I look forward to continuing to build our program and the challenges that accompany doing so.”

Xavier won a second straight Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title in March, after which Miller was named the conference Coach of the Year in addition to being named the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 10 Coach of the Year.

His contract extension, beginning in 2008-09 and lasting for 10 years, is the longest ever given to a Xavier head coach.

“This agreement represents an unprecedented commitment by Xavier University to head coach Sean Miller,” said athletic director Mike Bobinski.

“It reflects our strong belief in Sean’s leadership of our basketball program and further solidifies our mutual desire to achieve success at the highest level of Division I basketball.”