How long before the AAC implodes?

[AndShock]

Horizon League has a board
http://horizonleaguefans.freeforums.net

Believe it or not SWAC, MEAC, America East, etc have boards.

There’s been one post about basketball this month, they’d probably appreciate your presence.

[AndShock]

In Marshall’s worst season in a decade, a season that is ridiculed by MVC fans, with a team that is likely to be Marshall’s worst for the rest of his career...we’re 30 spots better than the best MVC team in the NET.

And our home game in late February between two 13-12 teams just got flexed to ESPN2.

Life in the AAC is rough

I've always enjoyed following the shockers as a team, it was always the fans that ruined it for me. The Baker / Van Vleet days and that final 4 team was a spectacle. Loved watching Shamet as well more recently.

Obvious bad blood aside... what gives this year? I've barely followed along, but have to imagine this has been a major dissapointment.What's the forecast for Shocker hoops in the coming seasons?

Extremely senior heavy class, 6 of them. That is a problem by itself and then sophomore Shamet left early for the draft (you can argue Gregg could’ve prepared better for this). Sophomore Reaves transferred unexpectedly in April. Incoming freshman PG Lomax was out of his LOI to go play for Penny Hardaway after he was named the Memphis coach. This resulted in us having one PG as of April 20th of last year and that was an incoming JUCO. Marshall’s system is extremely reliant on having a capable PG.

The first half of the year a returning SG, Samajae Haynes-Jones, who played sparingly last year, was our PG. His PG play consists of dribbling the ball for 28 seconds and then shooting a step-back 3. As the season has gone on, a freshman CG we signed in late-April has gained the ability to play PG and the JUCO PG mentioned earlier has adjusted to D1. We’re a completely different team now.

How is UNI looking for next year? Admittedly I’d rather play South Carolina and West Virginia in Cancun but UNI would be a hard storyline to turn down.

[MNPanthers]

How is UNI looking for next year? Admittedly I’d rather play South Carolina and West Virginia in Cancun but UNI would be a hard storyline to turn down.

Tough to say and I'm no expert, but it seems the consensus is there should be a lot of promise. I've been let down before so don't want to get ahead of myself, but here goes anyways. The team is finally starting to gel, and we only lose Lohaus next year. AJ Green has settled in and is playing great basketball right now, and we've got 2 other great shooters in Haldeman and Berhow. The defense has improved a lot over this season and is starting to resemble some of Coach Jake's former teams, credit to Isaiah Brown for being the catalyst on D and always handling the other teams star player very well. We should have good size next year too. 7 foot Dahl, 6-10 Goldman, 6-9 McDonnell, 6-9 Phyfe if he is healthy. We are adding 3 big freshman, though I don't know what the redshirt situation will look like. We've really lacked depth this year but I suspect that won't be an issue next year.

Far more offensive firepower than the last couple of years. IF these last couple games weren't just an aberration, then there's a lot to be excited about in Cedar Falls. Only time will tell.

I for one would love the prospect of taking on Wichita in Cancun. Would be a big win for the fans I think but I can understand how you would prefer a potentially stronger matchup.

[nafstrops]

Sorry you all hate Shocker fans so much. Every fan base certainly has a contingent of vocal idiots. After following the Valley my entire life, I also check scores and watch the MVC when I can. Usually don't comment when checking in over here but like to keep up on news in the league.

As far as the AAC imploding. The next wave of realignment could be interesting but for now the AAC seems to be growing on it's members and supposedly has a new TV deal upcoming with ESPN that will pay Schools 6-10 M per year. Of course WSU will probably only get 2 or 3. So for now it seems pretty stable.

[LanceShock]

Since the Cancun Challenge has come up in this thread, I saw that the bracket for the Cancun Challenge is out and WSU and UNI will not play in the opening round in Cancun. WSU plays South Carolina and UNI plays West Virginia.

[Sir Sci]

Since the Cancun Challenge has come up in this thread, I saw that the bracket for the Cancun Challenge is out and WSU and UNI will not play in the opening round in Cancun. WSU plays South Carolina and UNI plays West Virginia.

Those are some pretty good matchups. I look forward to watching the Cancun Challenge next season!

[Ricardo del Rio]

Civility never goes out of style.

[redrocks]

It's surprising that a real conference hasn't come for Houston.

[VUGrad1314]

I think that's what they're building for. I don't think all the building and development at places like Houston UCF and Cincinnati is coincidental. I think we're about to see the top teams of the AAC decouple from the bottom half and join up with the Big XII particularly if Texas and OU (and potentially others) find greener pastures in the SEC Big 10 PAC 12 or ACC. Even if the Big XII is only left with the likes of Iowa State Kansas State Oklahoma State Texas Tech TCU Baylor and West Virginia that's still worlds better and more lucrative than playing schools like Tulane and East Carolina.

[VUGrad1314]

Just read up a bit on the new AAC deal. Looks to be a short term deal through 2023 for a big raise for all members. I think they're getting about $7million\year. Seems like both sides won here. The network gets a nice package of quality events possibly at a slight discount while avoiding a long-term commitment in case realignment poaches the top members. While the member schools get a nice raise and preserve their flexibility for the 2023-25 realignment. This should also be enough to lock UCONN into the AAC for now though I'm not certain that this deal does much (if anything ) for their budget issues. That said it's unlikely that the deal would have been this good if UCONN was serious about leaving.