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It can't be. I mean the trustees are just there to approve what the president wants right? Well that's what they said....

(05-11-2015 12:50 PM)biglizard Wrote:  It can't be. I mean the trustees are just there to approve what the president wants right? Well that's what they said....

And they treat all three campuses equally, even though they hold their degrees from UAT. There is no bias here.

Look at how well the reverse has worked for Bama since 2000. Fortunately their AD has about $150 million annually to work with for his department.(The rest of the school is about broke and is relying on annual tuition hikes to stay afloat))

UAB has just about 0% chance of ever being a Top 10 program in the country. Especially under the current leadership followed by our conference affiliation. If he told Watts that it is the most ridiculous advice Gray has ever given.

These guys are full of it. To make the top 10 you must have a respectable conference affiliation along with schedule that the AP writers love. UAB's main problem over the years has been getting team to come to Bartow. Playing on the road all the time against top 25 teams is not a recipe for success.

(05-11-2015 02:07 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  UAB has just about 0% chance of ever being a Top 10 program in the country. Especially under the current leadership followed by our conference affiliation. If he told Watts that it is the most ridiculous advice Gray has ever given.

Yep. Even in the current CUSA, which is at least a decent basketball conference, we aren't anywhere near becoming a top ten program. We gave our coach $1 million a year, they offered somewhere around $4 million a year. That speaks volumes about what they think of the program.

I always thought being a consistent top ten program had a lot to do with conference affiliation and institutional support. If you're in a bigger conference, you can schedule better and look forward to other teams in your conference not being straight up RPI killers win or lose. I'd even argue that support from decision makers at the university is just as important. If you can't secure the necessary infrastructure and staff, then it's already a dream.

I fully believe UAB could field a highly ranked team, but, right now, it'd be in spite of the administration and board as opposed to any active progress from them.

Gray clearly suffers from hoof in mouth disease and he let the cat out of the bag in that interview.... BIG TIME!!!

Scarbo called him on it too.

Gonzaga, VCU, Wichita St, Butler, Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier, Marquette... yeah, it would be really something to be mentioned in the same breathe as these programs.

Gonzaga... dominates the WCC every year.
Wichita St/Creighton... dominate the MVC every year.
Butler... dominated the Horizon League before its move to the BE.
Xavier... dominated the A-10 before moving to the BE.
VCU... dominates the A-10.

You can be a "Top 10" program by dominating a mid-major conference, but it takes more than dropping football and throwing a little more money at the program to do it. It takes leadership with vision from top to bottom and a unified fanbase.

(05-11-2015 10:55 PM)UABslant Wrote:  Gonzaga, VCU, Wichita St, Butler, Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier, Marquette... yeah, it would be really something to be mentioned in the same breathe as these programs.

Gonzaga... dominates the WCC every year.
Wichita St/Creighton... dominate the MVC every year.
Butler... dominated the Horizon League before its move to the BE.
Xavier... dominated the A-10 before moving to the BE.
VCU... dominates the A-10.

You can be a "Top 10" program by dominating a mid-major conference, but it takes more than dropping football and throwing a little more money at the program to do it. It takes leadership with vision from top to bottom and a unified fanbase.

Of that group you named, only Gonzaga has been a consistent Top 10 team over the last 10 years. And Butler's two year run was magical indeed. But besides Gonzaga, none of those other teams are Top 10 programs and it's not even close. Very good programs? Absolutely. Top 25 to 30.....yes sir. Top 10.....no.

I would be satisfied with UAB just being a very good program again. Interesting that the teams you listed do not have a FBS Football program. Also interesting that none of those programs are located in the South (unless you consider Richmond, VA the south). On the other hand, UAB Basketball achieved most of it's success before football arrived on the scene.

Not saying UAB doesn't need football because it is needed. Just pointing out that coincidence.

Someone saying a program can be top 10 is proof that the person saying it knows nothing about basketball and is more familiar with football programs that are top 10. It's just ignorance of reality.

I think that you folks talking about whether UAB can be Top 10 in basketball does not concentrate on the most important thing to come out of the Ron Gray interview. The most important thing he said was that the Trustees on the BOT Athletic Committee did not know about Watts' plan to cut football until "one to two weeks before December 2nd".

This is a blatant lie and we all know it. In fact I have come across proof to the contrary. Working on getting that proof before the media soon.

(05-11-2015 11:39 PM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  I think that you folks talking about whether UAB can be Top 10 in basketball does not concentrate on the most important thing to come out of the Ron Gray interview. The most important thing he said was that the Trustees on the BOT Athletic Committee did not know about Watts' plan to cut football until "one to two weeks before December 2nd".

This is a blatant lie and we all know it. In fact I have come across proof to the contrary. Working on getting that proof before the media soon.

Expose their asses

(05-11-2015 11:39 PM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  I think that you folks talking about whether UAB can be Top 10 in basketball does not concentrate on the most important thing to come out of the Ron Gray interview...

Oh, I know Gray gave us a lot to work with. I just went back and looked at the end of season AP top 25 rankings for the last decade... listed some of the teams without FBS football in mid-major conferences that showed up multiple times.

The reality is that almost every AP top 10 in the last decade has been dominated by schools fielding FBS football teams. Only Gonzaga, Wichita St, Georgetown, and Villanova have finished in the top 10 in the last decade.

2015 was a banner year for schools without FBS football in the AP poll, though. Seven teams finished in the top 25... a record for the past decade.

The reality is that Haase was building a winner with football in place... an extra $1-2 million in the budget wasn't going to change that.

2013 was bad, but I thought the 2014 showed a lot of promise. They crowds were pretty good (at least much better), and very lively. 2015 would have been even better, as we would have been competing for a CUSA Title.
I was replying to a "Montgomery Blazer" post that seems to have disappeared.

From reading trustee and media comments the boycotting the team didn't work out so well. I know we had some bad teams but this was a real possibility and the trustees have pointed to attendance. I know they might - would have done it anyway but WE gave them an excuse. We as a program cannot protest by staying away. We have to do it in other ways.

The ONLY good thing coming out of this thus far is this family (for the most part) is united like never before. Hopefully more good is on the horizon.

This also brings up another point I want to make. If we want to keep Haase we BETTER improve attendance. Don't complain about who we play. Cheer on UAB. We NEED to start averaging 6K. I'm dead serious about this.

(05-12-2015 07:46 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  From reading trustee and media comments the boycotting the team didn't work out so well. I know we had some bad teams but this was a real possibility and the trustees have pointed to attendance. I know they might - would have done it anyway but WE gave them an excuse. We as a program cannot protest by staying away. We have to do it in other ways.

The ONLY good thing coming out of this thus far is this family (for the most part) is united like never before. Hopefully more good is on the horizon.

This also brings up another point I want to make. If we want to keep Haase we BETTER improve attendance. Don't complain about who we play. Cheer on UAB. We NEED to start averaging 6K. I'm dead serious about this.

This We need to support UAB regardless who they play.

Yea, I'm weary of the complaining about opponents. Yea I would always like to see a schedule filled with meat and taters but quite honestly I rarely miss a game and go watch US play. If it's a better opponent that day so be it. if not and we blow someone out I enjoy watching the last guys on the bench get their minutes. I would much rather see a schedule built to try and get us in the tourney instead of playing a big school that sucks but has a good name if that makes sense.