Alderson Broaddus Basketball

[BlueBlood]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

With all of these Ohio schools, we should be able to get back to recruiting real-well over there in multiple sports including basketball. You can tell a kid that he would be coming back home to play.

I watched Fairmont's last two games* (and was extremely impressed). I was a little surprised that 3 of their starters were from Ohio - so much so that I pulled up their roster while I was watching. They have 7 kids from Ohio.

*I started the first game off casually rooting for Bellarmine, but switched halfway through when I realized that Calhoun played for Rollie Massimino and that Molinari was a Nova guy.

[JDonAB92]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

I watched Fairmont's last two games (and was extremely impressed). I was a little surprised that 3 of their starters were from Ohio - so much so that I pulled up their roster while I was watching. They have 7 kids from Ohio.

Fairmont's coach was from Cleveland. He recruited Ohio as an assistant for Bob Huggins. He was a standout player in Cleveland and played for Rollie Massimino at Cleveland State. Huggs still holds a big name in Ohio from his days as an assistant at OSU, head coach at Walsh, Akron and Cincy. Calhoun built on those connections. It is not surprising he landed a D-I job at Youngstown State.

[BlueBlood]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Fairmont's coach....was a standout player in Cleveland and played for Rollie Massimino

I was editing my post to add that when you posted this. I'm friends with a bunch of Nova guys, and got drug to lot of games through the years. Between his connection to Rollie and his assistant being a Nova guy, I ended up rooting for Fairmont.

[JDonAB92]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

I guess it brings me to this......small D2 schools have tight budgets. We certainly do. Less travel means less coin and missed class time while a lot and more travel means: (a) the school must outsource more money to the athletic department for travel or (b) the athletic department must raise more money privately to take on some of the costs of travel. I have noticed in the recent flyer sent out by the athletic department that Denny stated that a contribution would really help with the travel budget for the conference. I am not opposed to more travel if it can cause an out-reach to more student athletes throughout several states. I do have concerns about (a) travel budgets and (b) missed class time by our student athletes. I also wonder about Ohio Valley overall. If they were to close, were to drop to NAIA because of lack of being competitive, etc., then that takes one more school away that is a one-day travel. That would actually hurt AB. It would put D&E and AB on an island as far as geography much like Trevecca and Kentucky Wesleyan. If you look at the list I created, Cedarville on up is really not bad travel at all. If we add Ashland, they would fall in that group as they are 4 hours from AB. I guess the conference is going to continue to add to form two divisions or is going to go to Pods for scheduling purposes. I don't know.

Another question I have is concerning Urbana. They have no school close at all in the MEC. They have financial issues which have been documented. Their travel budget must be substantial as Wheeling is their nearest school at 3 hours one-way. That means your closest school is 6 hours round-trip....not counting stops, time for game, prep time before the contest, etc. With the G-MAC going very Ohio-centered, does the league work with the MEC to switch out schools. I mean you have that Wheeling thing in the MEC which appears to be contentious beyond message boards and extends to coaches, ADs....as they seem to have an issue with Wheeling not having football. I mean....

School

Mileage

Time Travel

WV Wesleyan

22

34 minutes

Fairmont State

31

49 minutes

Glenville State

71

1 hour & 19 minutes

West Liberty

115

2 hours & 16 minutes

University of Charleston

140

2 hours & 12 minutes

West Virginia State

145

2 hours & 17 minutes

Concord

185

3 hours & 4 minutes

Shepherd

190

3 hours & 19 minutes

UVA-Wise

185

3 hours & 5 minutes

There is a huge difference between there and the G-MAC travel. But that leaves really just getting exposure in West Virginia and mostly in rural locations. This conference stuff is constantly ongoing at all levels....teams/schools coming and going. It is a valid issue that has to be raised and discussed.

[JDonAB92]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Malik Bocook was named to the Division II Bulletin's All Freshman All-American Team. He was one of ten freshmen named.

[BlueBlood]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

With the G-MAC going very Ohio-centered, does the league work with the MEC to switch out schools.

When you look at a map, an Urbana/NDC for AB/D&E switch does seem simple enough (except for D&Es lack of football). WJU and OVU are both squarely on the border (literally) and could probably go either way.

However, we all know that a map doesn't tell the whole story. And, it is not lost on any of us that the MEC didn't "work with us" last time. They took from us what they wanted and left for us what they didn't.

With the high concentration of Ohio schools, the G-MAC is definitely at a geographic crossroads now. If no one leaves, there are probably 3 more spots. Adding 3 more WV schools (bringing WV to 6) would really solidify the eastern side (I have no idea if there is any interest from any WV schools). Adding 3 more in IN/KY would really solidify the western side (and again - no idea of any interest from them either). Doing one-here/one-there still leaves the "we are really on the fringe" feel to either/both sides and probably leads to long term volatility.

At the end of the day, I hope the schools that really put the G-MAC on their back (You guys, KWC, TNU, Cedarville) all end up in a situation they are very happy with - even if its not in the same conference.

[BlueBlood]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

BTW - If I'm in charge of the MEC, I'd probably agree to a Urbana/NDC for AB/D&E deal. Urbana may close any month or year. NDC is an outpost and has to be wanting to go to the G-MAC anyway - even if there isn't an orchestrated switch. I know the MEC would go down by one FB school, but that would leave 10 right? That's 9 conference games. D&E joins WJU as a non-football school (maybe making that dynamic less contentious). That's a pretty well-built 12-team conference that stands a chance to lasting many years (which really should be the goal, right?).

[UFOILERFAN]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

When we were accepted into the GMAC our last thought was that it would be an Ohio dominant league. I hope some schools join that would encourage AB and DE to stay.

[Looking For 9]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Schools that dropped out of the G-MAC "fool me once shame on you" "try to fool me twice NOPE"

[BlueBlood]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Schools that dropped out of the G-MAC "fool me once shame on you" "try to fool me twice NOPE"

That's why I worded it from the "if I was in charge of the MEC" perspective. I'm still not ready to contemplate it from the G-MAC perspective.

[UFSwimDad]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

It's crazy how less than 48 hours ago we were all warm and fuzzy with the way the conference was heading and now it's like wow, maybe we should trade these teams for that team. Man conference expansion can bring joy and rip your heart out in a second! Really hope that the WV schools stay and ultimately I think they will but with schools like NDC and Urbana in Ohio and the probable move of Ashland to GMAC, one cannot be 100 percent confident

[WVFanatic]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Word in the rumor mill is Wheeling Jesuit in the near future could be transitioning to either NAIA or D3. If this happens to be true then the MEC would be dumb to not reach out to AB to replace them.

Although being in the MEC would definitely save budgets, travel, missed classes, etc, I really like the way the GMAC is shaping up. Also helps basketball wise because it seems teams over the Zimmerman era tend to have an Ohio flavor. I don't know the first thing about recruiting but kids in Ohio could get away from home but still play majority of their games near their families.

I don't see D&E being a target to get back in the MEC just because of the football mindset. If Wheeling drops down and Urbana/Notre Dame bolt, who are there options for the MEC to go after?

[JDonAB92]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Oh, I am not unhappy about expansion. I think it is a great thing for all involved. I am also not advocating for us to go into the MEC. I enjoy the new games and the ability to play old rivals. My posts were not about that. It was simply from a financial and academic perspective. There is a lot of good being in a league that is about to be in 5 states. I think it gives us the outlook that we are part of a league that is growing as well as an institution that is doing the same. We also have to rely heavily now on attracting primarily out-of-state students due to the downturn of the WV economy. Being in an athletic conference with other private, faith-based schools is unique.

I don't see Wheeling going NAIA or D3. They are doing well as an athletic department. They won a national championship last year in volleyball. Their men and women's basketball teams made the NCAA tournament this season. They seem do be doing well as an athletic department. I would think Urbana would go D3 or NAIA possibly to cut down on increased travel costs of being in the MEC.

I definitely agree that playing a lot of basketball games in Ohio will help men's basketball as long as Greg Zimmerman is coach. One only as to look at our past all-conference and all-americans under Zimmerman that came from Ohio. It won't hurt football. Even recruits we get from western PA will have families that will have a short distance to see games in eastern OH. We have other sports that recruit heavily in OH.

Make no doubt, I am not down on recent expansion. I don't know where that comes from. I am just stating travel mileage and financial costs associated with that are increasing. Missed class time can be an issue. If the conference continues to grow, then divisional play helps that. I would love to add WV Wesleyan. I just don't know if they would go that avenue, but they seem, at least to me, to be a better fit in the G-MAC. Other than that, it is good.

However, I do disagree with those that think Urbana and Notre Dame won't be allowed in the league. With more Ohio private schools coming aboard, what would stop those administrations from considering them for expansion. I think they may think differently that those of us on the message boards. The commissioner of the G-MAC has done a fantastic job with this expansion process. I don't think we are going to add southern NAIA schools. I think if that was going to happen then it would have already have happened over the past two years. I guess it could still happen, but I would have thought we would have already heard something about that by now.

I have been a big advocate of AB being in the G-MAC. I think it works well for us and we still play some local rivals in most sports (Glenville, Fairmont and Salem). I am just saying conference expansion is an on-going process and I just look at what could happen.

[BlueBlood]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

Well put JDon.

[WVFanatic]

Re: Alderson Broaddus Basketball

JDon I totally agree. I'm excited for all the expansion going on. Getting to play the likes of Findlay or Walsh or Hillsdale twice a year is something I never imagined say 10 years ago. I was just saying that I think the MEC would be dumb if they didn't consider AB as an option when something happens with one of the three schools mentioned