Certainly the MAAC has and will continue to have trouble scheduling
teams from the established conferences. This goes hand in hand with
being an emerging conference. It's not unreasonable for established
teams to be reluctant to play the newcomers, especially when national
success/recognition is so dependent on strength of schedule (in one
fashion or another). But I suspect that in time this will change
as the MAAC teams demonstrate that they can play at a high level.
As someone mentioned the MAAC will have several major conference
opponents next season and this number will probably increase in the
future as long as the newcomers make a good showing.
 
Is it fair to penalize the MAAC because they weren't able to schedule
established teams? I think a better question is, is it reasonable to
expect a national tournament bid in your first (real) year in division
one? I understand that Dick Tuthill and other MAAC people want to see
their teams and league have a chance at national recognition as soon
as possible. But this type of recognition takes time to earn.
 
Just my opinion...
 
Keith Kannenberg
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://mae.cornell.edu/kannenb/
 
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