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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 2, 2024 18:05:46 GMT -5
Dartmouth’s 2024 schedule takes a hit because of Army joining the AAC. They had a game at AWP three years ago but it was postponed and rescheduled for Sep 28 - last week Army cancelled the game and Dartmouth imme scheduled Merrimack to replace them and had to agree to play the game in North Andover . Good for Merrimack. I wonder why they had an open date ten months out? Who the heck was their coach?🙂 Wonder if it was an open date or they replaced a D2 opponent. Not sure if it was by choice or necessity but Merrimack played a lower division team each of the last 3 seasons: 2023 - Virginia-Lynchburg 2022 - Assumption 2021 - St. Anselm In 2019, their first season in DI, they played 3 lower division teams - Virginia-Lynchburg, Mayville State and Franklin Pierece I also saw Gennetti is listed as Head Coach (no interim tag) on Merrimack site. Associate HC prior. I haven't been paying attention to the carousel thread.
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Post by cfrivals on Jan 2, 2024 22:27:27 GMT -5
HC Conference USA all sports! They are better than UMASS in FB, better stadium. Make the jump.
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Post by purplehaze on Jan 2, 2024 22:36:48 GMT -5
You need to go to bed and keep dreaming
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Post by timholycross on Jan 3, 2024 6:54:40 GMT -5
Can't wait for that two game swing to Las Cruces and El Paso.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jan 3, 2024 8:29:59 GMT -5
Isn't Conference USA a poster child for Etch-A-Sketch conferences (along with the A-Sun, WAC and maybe a couple of others I am forgetting)? You can't count on anything staying the same by aligning with one of them.
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Post by trimster on Jan 3, 2024 9:13:40 GMT -5
Can't wait for that two game swing to Las Cruces and El Paso. It would probably attract as many alums to the games in Bethlehem and Easton.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 3, 2024 10:07:18 GMT -5
Can't wait for that two game swing to Las Cruces and El Paso. It would probably attract as many alums to the games in Bethlehem and Easton. The Holy Cross Club of Midland, TX will be all over it! Why the hate for Bethlehem and Easton? Great road trip for any NY-area alums with access to a car. Very pleasant <2-hour drive from my house in the Bronx. I try to go whichever Lehigh Valley opponent we play in football each year. I also went out for our PL Championship basketball game there in 2016. Was working in midtown, got my car out of the garage at 3:30, was on campus by 5:45 and back home in bed with the lights out by 11pm. Haven't been to a basketball game @ Lafayette since before Kirby was renovated. January 2008 was the only time I've been (we lost).
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 3, 2024 10:43:46 GMT -5
Yes, it is a down year for PL men's hoops. Does losing to "better" teams mean HC is trying to excel? Yes, today the PL is rated low but I have not seen them as last in any ratings. I am in the raise the PL bar camp. Try actively to bring some better programs into the stability of the PL.Problem is that there are very schools that have interest in joining, but who would also actually get invited. W&M is more likely to join the SoCon it seems, if they become ultimately unsatisfied with the direction of the CAA. Richmond would follow in football and obviously stay in the A-10 for other sports. Villanova could possibly join for football, especially if W&M and Richmond ever left, but this does zero to solve the basketball problem. Fairfield has at least been rumored to have had talks with the CAA regarding all-sports and already has the relationship there through lax. Note this was a couple years back and didn't happen so who knows. I could see Le Moyne (just joined the NEC) and/or NJIT joining if invited. Both are academically strong enough where maybe league brass would consider them. Possibly Marist but they have no interest in scholarship football. Anyway, my expansion plan for the PL would be to shoot for the following quartet to expand to 14 teams: W&M, Binghamton, Northeastern, Fairfield. All good academic schools and all would breathe at least some life into the total wasteland of a hoops conference. As I've stated before, the football conference is fine for now -- would I take Villanova? For sure. However, it's the basketball league that needs to be addressed first.
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Post by hc1996 on Jan 3, 2024 10:50:54 GMT -5
Yes, it is a down year for PL men's hoops. Does losing to "better" teams mean HC is trying to excel? Yes, today the PL is rated low but I have not seen them as last in any ratings. I am in the raise the PL bar camp. Try actively to bring some better programs into the stability of the PL.Problem is that there are very schools that have interest in joining, but who would also actually get invited. W&M is more likely to join the SoCon it seems, if they become ultimately unsatisfied with the direction of the CAA. Richmond would follow in football and obviously stay in the A-10 for other sports. Villanova could possibly join for football, especially if W&M and Richmond ever left, but this does zero to solve the basketball problem. Fairfield has at least been rumored to have had talks with the CAA regarding all-sports and already has the relationship there through lax. Note this was a couple years back and didn't happen so who knows. I could see Le Moyne (just joined the NEC) and/or NJIT joining if invited. Both are academically strong enough where maybe league brass would consider them. Possibly Marist but they have no interest in scholarship football. Anyway, my expansion plan for the PL would be to shoot for the following quartet to expand to 14 teams: W&M, Binghamton, Northeastern, Fairfield. All good academic schools and all would breathe at least some life into the total wasteland of a hoops conference. As I've stated before, the football conference is fine for now -- would I take Villanova? For sure. However, it's the basketball league that needs to be addressed first. I think the PL would be fine with existing members if they went by the same rules for redshirting, 9th semesters, roster limitations as the other non-Ivy conferences we are competing against.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 3, 2024 10:54:47 GMT -5
Problem is that there are very schools that have interest in joining, but who would also actually get invited. W&M is more likely to join the SoCon it seems, if they become ultimately unsatisfied with the direction of the CAA. Richmond would follow in football and obviously stay in the A-10 for other sports. Villanova could possibly join for football, especially if W&M and Richmond ever left, but this does zero to solve the basketball problem. Fairfield has at least been rumored to have had talks with the CAA regarding all-sports and already has the relationship there through lax. Note this was a couple years back and didn't happen so who knows. I could see Le Moyne (just joined the NEC) and/or NJIT joining if invited. Both are academically strong enough where maybe league brass would consider them. Possibly Marist but they have no interest in scholarship football. Anyway, my expansion plan for the PL would be to shoot for the following quartet to expand to 14 teams: W&M, Binghamton, Northeastern, Fairfield. All good academic schools and all would breathe at least some life into the total wasteland of a hoops conference. As I've stated before, the football conference is fine for now -- would I take Villanova? For sure. However, it's the basketball league that needs to be addressed first. I think the PL would be fine with existing members if they went by the same rules for redshirting, 9th semesters, roster limitations as the other non-Ivy conferences we are competing against. Totally agree. Under current rules, Villanova, Richmond and W&M would revert to the mean to some extent if they joined. 'Nova would basically become Fordham.
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Post by 78purple on Jan 3, 2024 19:38:54 GMT -5
Isn't Conference USA a poster child for Etch-A-Sketch conferences (along with the A-Sun, WAC and maybe a couple of others I am forgetting)? You can't count on anything staying the same by aligning with one of them. completely agree...the CAA is the only viable choice football-wise.....but probably ain't happening
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 4, 2024 17:03:44 GMT -5
Isn't Conference USA a poster child for Etch-A-Sketch conferences (along with the A-Sun, WAC and maybe a couple of others I am forgetting)? You can't count on anything staying the same by aligning with one of them. Yes. C-USA is the current G5 misfit conference of schools with nothing much in common other than they want to play FBS football, have the resources to do so, and aren't currently invited to any other FBS conference. An "incubator" of sorts. Wasn't THAT long ago, that Conference USA was the best non-power I-A conference, sort of what the AAC has been more recently. Before the first really prominent wave of conference mega-expansion in 2004, C-USA was a little bit of a hodgepodge geographically (hence the name I guess) but was full of great football programs that challenged traditional powers for rankings and bowl appearances. You had Louisville, TCU, Tulane, Houston, East Carolina, South Florida, Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Memphis, UAB and I might be missing a couple. Army was in for football from 1997-2006 and they were lucky to win 1 game in conference per year. On the basketball side, you also had Marquette (they were here when they made the Final Four), DePaul, St. Louis and Charlotte. CUSA was poached by the Big East after the Big East was poached by the ACC in 2004. And then the creation of the AAC once the Big East split further diluted its ranks. Throughout that time CUSA tended to backfill membership either by poaching the Sun Belt (+Marshall from the MAC) or by bringing in startup programs. Somewhere along the line, CUSA and Sun Belt flipped places as far as prominence and the osmosis went in the other direction. Suddenly, you saw schools leaving the CUSA for the Sun Belt when in the past it was the other way around. I'm sure Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee are sitting there today wising they could go back to the Belt. IMO, the difference in fate between the two conferences is that CUSA focused more up against media markets while the Sun Belt focused up against creating a regional league of football-first schools with rabid fan bases and histories of success. The additions of Georgia Southern, App State, Coastal Carolina and now JMU from FCS all appear to be grand slam home runs for the league. So now CUSA is stuck trying to find an identity as a league. Tough spot to be in given that literally every school in the conference would leave at the drop of a hat if invited to one of the other FBS conferences.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 4, 2024 17:11:50 GMT -5
The Patriot League sounds better and better for Holy Cross!
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Post by jkh67 on Jan 4, 2024 17:42:36 GMT -5
Isn't Conference USA a poster child for Etch-A-Sketch conferences (along with the A-Sun, WAC and maybe a couple of others I am forgetting)? You can't count on anything staying the same by aligning with one of them. completely agree...the CAA is the only viable choice football-wise.....but probably ain't happening Football-wise, the CAA is a sinking ship. Anyway, it's hard to believe that HC would disengage from the PL in football. So, our best option would be for the PL to put a full court press on Villanova, Richmond, and W&M. And now...right now...is the time to do it. These are all superior academic institutions that I believe value their academic reputations. I also believe they've got to be looking for football alternatives to the CAA at this point. HC should be putting the heat on the PL to get the league to make as strong a play as we can for these schools' football programs. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, baby! One problem here may be that the only other PL football school that might be interested in doing that would be Fordham. If so, I would hope that TPTB would look at another path for the football program. Maybe a new league composed of HC, Fordham, Villanova, Richmond, W&M and schools like, say, UNH, Albany, and Stony Brook.
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Post by spenser on Jan 4, 2024 17:59:23 GMT -5
completely agree...the CAA is the only viable choice football-wise.....but probably ain't happening Football-wise, the CAA is a sinking ship. Anyway, it's hard to believe that HC would disengage from the PL in football. So, our best option would be for the PL to put a full court press on Villanova, Richmond, and W&M. And now...right now...is the time to do it. These are all superior academic institutions that I believe value their academic reputations. I also believe they've got to be looking for football alternatives to the CAA at this point. HC should be putting the heat on the PL to get the league to make as strong a play as we can for these schools' football programs. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, baby! One problem here may be that the only other PL football school that might be interested in doing that would be Fordham. If so, I would hope that TPTB would look at another path for the football program. Maybe a new league composed of HC, Fordham, Villanova, Richmond, W&M and schools like, say, UNH, Albany, and Stony Brook. Not that I’m hopeful, but these are great suggestions.
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jan 4, 2024 19:13:34 GMT -5
The Patriot League sounds better and better for Holy Cross! For HC perhaps... but where are all the schools to which Rev., Brooks said would follow? The Patriot League is the only FCS playoff conference that has not added a single school in the past 20 years. Six of the seven are among the 20 largest budgets in the subdivision and yet it is still largely a one-bid league that cannot compete as a group outside opponents in the Ivy and NEC. How would Colgate fare against Northern Iowa? How would Bucknell fare versus FAMU? That may not matter if fans doesn't want the team to travel further than New Haven for its opponent list, but the league itself seems incapable of making structural changes necessary to improve the football product against the other leagues that constitute the subdivision.
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Post by gks on Jan 4, 2024 19:16:50 GMT -5
The Patriot League sounds better and better for Holy Cross! For HC perhaps... but where are all the schools to which Rev., Brooks said would follow? The Patriot League is the only FCS playoff conference that has not added a single school in the past 20 years. Six of the seven are among the 20 largest budgets in the subdivision and yet it is still largely a one-bid league that cannot compete as a group outside opponents in the Ivy and NEC. How would Colgate fare against Northern Iowa? How would Bucknell fare versus FAMU? That may not matter if fans doesn't want the team to travel further than New Haven for its opponent list, but the league itself seems incapable of making structural changes necessary to improve the football product against the other leagues that constitute the subdivision. Well said. Truth hurts to some on this board.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 4, 2024 19:50:00 GMT -5
Can only speak for myself - I'm not hurting.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 5, 2024 12:19:30 GMT -5
The Patriot League sounds better and better for Holy Cross! For HC perhaps... but where are all the schools to which Rev., Brooks said would follow? The Patriot League is the only FCS playoff conference that has not added a single school in the past 20 years. Six of the seven are among the 20 largest budgets in the subdivision and yet it is still largely a one-bid league that cannot compete as a group outside opponents in the Ivy and NEC. How would Colgate fare against Northern Iowa? How would Bucknell fare versus FAMU? That may not matter if fans doesn't want the team to travel further than New Haven for its opponent list, but the league itself seems incapable of making structural changes necessary to improve the football product against the other leagues that constitute the subdivision. Where are PL football programs spending inefficiently?
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Post by 78purple on Jan 5, 2024 12:29:48 GMT -5
Football-wise, the CAA is a sinking ship. Anyway, it's hard to believe that HC would disengage from the PL in football. So, our best option would be for the PL to put a full court press on Villanova, Richmond, and W&M. And now...right now...is the time to do it. These are all superior academic institutions that I believe value their academic reputations. I also believe they've got to be looking for football alternatives to the CAA at this point. HC should be putting the heat on the PL to get the league to make as strong a play as we can for these schools' football programs. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, baby! One problem here may be that the only other PL football school that might be interested in doing that would be Fordham. If so, I would hope that TPTB would look at another path for the football program. Maybe a new league composed of HC, Fordham, Villanova, Richmond, W&M and schools like, say, UNH, Albany, and Stony Brook. Not that I’m hopeful, but these are great suggestions. Agree.....Call it Colonial League 2.0.....those 7 schools would be a great start....maybe extend further south to Furman.......but, as noted in another post, now is the time....and we have to approach them......They're probably not going to approach us
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 5, 2024 16:54:08 GMT -5
You can't use the word colonial anymore. Its racist or something.
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Post by mm67 on Jan 5, 2024 19:09:16 GMT -5
As the college football landscape gets more muddled with transfers, NIL and realignments it is now more important than ever for HC and the other PL schools to stay with the PL. It is a stable league seemingly insulated from the turmoil and well suited to HC's profile. Only one person's opinion but I don't give a damn about playing N.Iowa or whatever. These far away games against little known FCS schools do next to nothing to increase awareness of HC nationally. There is no connection & no reason to schedule these teams. The 2022,2023 schedules were fine. 2024 looks pretty good too. Grass is always greener. It is best to appreciate what we have,
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Post by 78purple on Jan 5, 2024 19:15:12 GMT -5
You can't use the word colonial anymore. Its racist or something. Good point
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 5, 2024 22:20:16 GMT -5
Do we get into the tournament four years in a row and on the bubble in the fifth year out of this new super league?
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Post by jkh67 on Jan 5, 2024 22:41:48 GMT -5
For HC perhaps... but where are all the schools to which Rev., Brooks said would follow? The Patriot League is the only FCS playoff conference that has not added a single school in the past 20 years. Six of the seven are among the 20 largest budgets in the subdivision and yet it is still largely a one-bid league that cannot compete as a group outside opponents in the Ivy and NEC. How would Colgate fare against Northern Iowa? How would Bucknell fare versus FAMU? That may not matter if fans doesn't want the team to travel further than New Haven for its opponent list, but the league itself seems incapable of making structural changes necessary to improve the football product against the other leagues that constitute the subdivision. Where are PL football programs spending inefficiently? The NCAA adopted the FCS playoff format after demoting the FCS schools several decades ago to what was then called Division I-AA . It lumped together many leagues with many different academic profiles, many different football ambitions, many different geographical locations, many different student populations, and many different histories and football traditions and encouraged them to compete for the FCS title. Long standing symbols of regional college football excellence like the Lambert Trophy in the north-east US were consigned to the dustbin of history. The one thing the FCS is not is a homogeneous body of schools. Not by a long shot. The FCS football landscape in the north-east US is dominated by relatively small schools football-wise compared with the rest of the country. That's not going to change. Neither HC nor any other FCS north-eastern school will be able to compete successfully for the FCS national crown except very occasionally. The play-off track record over the years tells you that in spades. So the notion of setting success against the big bad boys elsewhere in the country as the litmus test for HC football success is a prescription for perennial disappointment. What we and our brethren should be aiming for is separation from the NCAA FCS system with something like a revival of the old Lambert Trophy competition with a post-season playoff added to determine the north-eastern US Division 1-AA football champion.
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