(01-29-2018 09:22 AM)NoDak Wrote:  LaSalle left the MAAC to go to the Midwestern City conference (Horizon) back when it had Notre Dame, Marquette, Xavier, Butler, Duquense etc. That only lasted a few years, but remember thinking that was a strange alliance geographically. Predominantly Catholic, but not east enough. Than an A-10 invite came and Xavier, Dayton, Fordham, and Va Tech joined too.

The MAAC is hardly recognizable from those days.

1995 was the year of the big switch in the A-10. WVU and Rutgers got poached to the Big East. The league went out and recruited Xavier, VT, Dayton, LaSalle, and Fordham. They were kind of doing the marketz game, but they did take care to get some good programs at the time. Both LaSalle and Fordham had been doing okay, and they promised to spend. All in all, it wasn't that bad of a move. We got Dayton, and we kept Xavier for 18 very productive years, which helped us recruit VCU, Richmond, and St Louis. So we've got some struggling teams in the league. I'd rather Fordham and Duquesne be gone, but they're really not hurting anyone by being in the league.