Drink some more KSU Kool Aid. After all, how can you expect KSU to be a top basketball school, when a majority of your players are gonna leave early for the NBA?

Granted Kennesaw might be getting better, I would say a team picked last in the conference by the coaches and sporting a 42-77 record over the past 4 years in the ASun hardly qualifies for a program capable of getting a win in the NCAA tournament... unless you're talking about the play-in game, but we all know that doesn't count.

Skeptics abound. If you were put in our situation your school would have done no better. Try recruiting kids when you have no chance to play in a postseason tournament. Kennesaw will be just fine.

Actually, Kennesaw has some talent this year. I've seen two of their games. They're not going to win it. They're still very undisciplined. But there is a little bit of talent there.

That is a fair assessment at this point in the season. We finally have some talent, and we are undisciplined. I think as the season goes on we will improve to a point where we will be a tough out come tournament time. For our first year as a full member of D1, that is above and beyond what most people hope for.

(12-09-2009 02:20 PM)bucfan99 Wrote:  hey - don't forget about State College of Florida - my guess is they will be on the radar soon. http://www.scf.edu Florida's newest university. in the same city as IMG Academies - with basketball, baseball, soccer development programs and my football buddies tell me football will start soon. what a recruiting tool!
(I am half joking and half forecasting the future - so if they bring in Rollins then SCF will be the travel partner of FGCU)

The Florida State Colleges are prohibited by law from playing athletics above the JUCO level (s. 1007.33, F.S.). All of the state colleges are just community colleges that have been authorized to grant a small number of bachelor degrees in key areas of communityneed (e.g. education, nursing, business admin) or niche areas that the state universities don't cover (e.g. interior design). They're not "new universities" or anything. The only Florida public university left for the A-Sun to add is West Florida in Pensacola, which presently plays in D-2.

good info CitrusUCF, I was wondering what was behind all the recent name changes by the JUCOs down here. None quite so drastic as "Manatee CC" to "State College of Florida", of course.

I think/hope the A-Sun would want to take a pass on a moved-up UWF...Pensacola is a million miles from anywhere in this league. Even for JU and UNF that's a haul.

I still think the ASUN needs to go after Wintrop with everything they have. The school doesn't play football which is perfect since the Big South does. Their basketball program is down right now. Plus they are good at baseball. Sounds like an ASun school to me. Their only problem is they are a founding member of the Big South. but the timing will never be better to try and get them.

Going back to Savannah State.

I hear what you're saying about Division I revenues.

But would their revenues increase if they got into the A-Sun? That would give them structure, real championships to try for instead of essentially playing a glorified exhibition schedule as an indepedent, and quite possibly more victories.

I realize the question is "what would they give us?" But the thought here is that it appears the Atlantic Sun is going to continue to lose teams now that KSU will add football (just an educated guess) and I'm thinking Mercer would like an in-state rival while Jacksonville and North Florida would like an easy road trip.

And if the conference did want to replace KSU, it might be nicer to add a school that, as a Division I, would be eligible for NCAA competition right away rather than the current waiting period and embarassment that comes when the A-Sun women's basketball champion cannot go to the NCAA Tournament.

I don't know if Savannah State would be in a position to win championships at that point, but the thing I'm going for here is perception.

Savannah would be a great tournament town.

wow - try to remember that just because it is posted on a message board does not mean it has happened. within this message string is a fair amount of misinformation - i'll leave it at that

(12-14-2009 12:31 PM)Goldfinger Wrote:  Savannah would be a great tournament town.

I don't recall anyone saying it was a certainty rather I believe we were discussing the possibility. The only plus side, that I can think of, to adding Savannah State would be that it could be an excellent tournament town. Similar to Charleston in its makeup. Though I have no idea what kind of arena's are available there.

Gold has a point. Savannah is a very fun town!

Do not misunderstand....I am not advocating Savannah State's entry into the A-sun

(12-14-2009 12:31 PM)Goldfinger Wrote:  Savannah would be a great tournament town.

I don't know about that. I agree it is a good place but I went to the Big South tournament there years ago when Campbell played for the title and there was almost no one at the game.

Well that's the big south....and it would be the same way in the A-sun no matter where you put the tournament. But as far as the town....Savannah would be a great tournament town. The Southern would put a great tournament there. The town is similar to Charleston.

(12-06-2009 08:40 AM)PittsburghBucs Wrote:  My thoughts? Try to get non-scholarship football established at all of the schools. Make a conference the way the Pioneer League has. In time, grow the league into a scholarship program.

I agree with this 100%! Campbell and Jacksonville already have teams in the Pioneer league. Kennesaw is about to start a team and Mercer might also. Perhaps, ETSU and one or two other and you have a 6 game conference.

If anything having a football league might maintain some conference stability.

(12-06-2009 10:56 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Become "THE" southern lacrosse conference. There is no LAX conference south of NC. There's a huge void in the South for LAX. Ga and Fla LAX are growing extremely fast at the HS level.

LAX is the fastest growing sport. The TV revenue will someday be significant. Because of Title IX, other ACC and SEC schools won't add men's lacrosse (but they have added women's lacrosse - like Florida, S Carolina, Vanderbilt, Miami etc).

Jacksonville and Mercer have already announced DI teams.

Get Lipscomb, Belmont, Stetson and FGCU to add the sport. Or add Presbyterian as an affiliate.

With six lacrosse-playing schools, the ASUN then gets an autobid.

I'm not going to lie, I think the growth of LAX in the southeast is interesting. Its growth mostly roots in the migration of northerners to the south. But I always like to see kids and students become involved in sports outside of the big three of Football, Basketball, and Basketball.

That being said, I wouldn't invest my conference's future on any "olympic" sport outside of basketball. Not even baseball. The conference should really consider a football league and invest in getting that moving along.

(12-07-2009 11:14 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  FYI, the OVC was courting ETSU, Belmont, and Lipscomb. We all turned it down. If we would have said yes, the ASUN would have ceased to exist. To be honest, the ASUN is better than the OVC in basketball lately.

Would ETSU moved to the OVC, if it meant restoring the football program?

(12-08-2009 11:07 PM)KennesawBasketball Wrote:  To be honest I would much rather have North Florida, USC-Upstate, and FGCU than Savannah State. They are terrible and operate out of an athletic deficit basically every year. Thanks for the insult though ;0

I feel bad for SSU and their student athletes. Having a conference to play in, and conference championship to compete for could really turn that program around both competitively and financially.

(12-08-2009 11:45 PM)HatterFan Wrote:  Savannah State moved up from D2 basically overnight about 7 years ago, against the wishes of their board of trustees and basically the entire university community. They've gone through probably half a dozen presidents and ADs in that time, got themselves put on NCAA probation for widespread compliance violations (huge indicator of a malnourished athletic department is no ability to hire and retain good regulators).

Also, another huge reason the presidents and ADs of the A-Sun members have always been against them is the staggering level of incompetency Savannah State displays every year in every sport - beyond basketball. For example, I don't believe their volleyball team has beaten a D1 opponent in at least 3 years. The softball team, near as I can tell, has NEVER beaten a Division I opponent and frequently gets crushed by D2, D3 and NAIA opponents.

You might not care about those last two facts. I realize on this board you're all primarily basketball fans and think only of what might make sense from that perspective - which is fine, that's your right. The league, and its stewards the presidents/ADs, however, have to operate in the best interest of all their coaches and sports. Adding Savannah State, a boat anchor so heavy they make UNF Men's Basketball look like the Kansas Jayhawks, would be irresponsible.

BTW, don't be so quick to look down your nose at Rollins. They thrashed UW-Green Bay of the Horizon League by 17 last year and are currently ranked #13 in Division II. Sad but true, they'd pistolwhip Stetson, UNF and FGCU right now and probably give JU all they want.

Like I said above, giving the student athletes something to actually play for might increase their competitiveness. Also how do you recruit for a school that has a 100% zero chance of getting into any type of post season? That is SSU's competitive dilemma - give those coaches something to recruit with and they might be able to rise to the occasion.

I don't know anything about Rollins - but D2 accomplishments can't be equated to potential D1 success. For the simple fact that the transition period will kill any momentum the school had. Kennesaw State fans can tell you all about that.

What's wrong with Savannah State or North Carolina Central?

They represent the very bottom of the bucket in NCAA DI athletics. Hell, maybe they should go ahead join the rest of us.

I don't think you'll see Savanah State join the A-sun.