It isn't easy being only a basketball conference trying to compete with the major programs. No football money from the 1-A level, even to be a patsy team like the Sun Belt, MAC or the ilk. The Atlantic 10 has managed to make it work, but apparently the money is no longer there.
Reports are out that the Atlantic 10 is moving its offices to Newport News, Virginia. There are no member schools in Newport News. The closest school is Richmond. Nearly 80 miles away. The move is apparently driven by economics, as the city's development office actively courted the A-10 to move into new digs no where near any of their members.
Unless you live under the last rock that didn't come with Tweetdeck pre-installed, you've certainly heard about Jordan Crawford's alleged dunk over LeBron James, which ended up with Nike confiscating the tapes in the shoe giant's corporate version of Witness Protection.
Fortunately, Crawford's midnight madness dunk at Indiana (where he played for a season before transferring to Xavier last year), is available on YouTube. Watch Crawford soar over a rack of balls plainly trained to play defense by ex-Duke point guard Greg Paulus.
Now if Crawford would only be so kind as to dunk over LeBron in everything starring Kevin James.
According to reports, Xavier has decided to promote assistant coach Chris Mack. The announcement may not be made, though, until Wednesday at the team banquet.
Mack is 39 years old, and has no head coaching experience. He is, however, considered a rising assistant. It probably does not hurt that Mack is a Xavier alum and was a team captain on the basketball team during his time. He also served as an assistant to former Xavier coach Skip Prosser at Wake Forest before joining Sean Miller back at Xavier.
One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer was that he didn't respect the mid-majors. He famously complained that there were too many mid-majors in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. That was the year that George Mason upset Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn to get to the Final Four.
This will be the first Packer-less tournament in decades as he retired after last year's Final Four. It's a shame for him because he would have loved the makeup of the brackets this time around. Going against the recent trends, it looks as if the major conferences will get most of the at-large bids, leaving the mid-majors out in the cold.
When Xavier goes south, the Musketeers do not limit it to just one end of the court. They have been struggling for most of February. It will not cost them an NCAA Tournament bid, but it sure will drop their seeding. The Musketeers have now lost three of their last four with this latest loss to Charlotte, 65-60.
For Charlotte, this was their first win over a ranked team in four years. The team has struggled this year, and will likely finish with a sub-.500 record. It was their first win over Xavier since the 49ers joined the Atlantic 10 in six games. Still, rushing the floor seemed a bit forced. Especially after beating a team that was just hanging on in the Top 25, and Charlotte was tied or led for much of the game.
University of Cincinnati's head basketball coach Mick Cronin doesn't like ESPN.com's newest NCAA Tournament projections. ESPN's resident bracketologist Joe Lunardi has just seven Big East teams in the dance -- none of which are Cincinnati.
Cronin didn't find it amusing. "I would tell Joe Lunardi he needs to buy the ESPN Full Court package. Are you telling me that Syracuse wouldn't win the A-10? Does somebody want to give me that answer? I'd like to have that argument with somebody.
The Dayton Flyers finally rid themselves of a nagging six-game losing streak against Xavier, beating the 14th-ranked Musketeers on Wednesday night, 71-58. Chris Wright led the Flyers with 19 points and also scored the last nine points for Dayton down the stretch.
In what is generally perceived as the Atlantic 10's staple showdown, Xavier was beginning to totally dominate the rivalry in nearly every way possible.
That all changes now, and the A-10 just got a lot more interesting.
Here's a tip if you are playing Xavier: press on defense. The Musketeers just do not handle pressure defense real well. Not with only one true point guard on the roster. The Duquesne Dukes like to press on defense, and it completely frustrated Xavier for almost 30 minutes. By the time Xavier solved the problem and made their run, they did not have enough time. Xavier went down, 72-68.
Except for the first few minutes, Duquesne led the entire game. They held a 15-point halftime lead and just attacked Xavier on offense the entire first half. In the second half they seemed to slow the game down on offense, but that was also Xavier doing a better job of denying the penetration and drives to the basket. Even so, the Dukes had a great shooting night that the Musketeers could not match.
Skip Prosser will always be remembered on the campuses of Wake Forest and Xavier for the work as a coach he did in each location before passing suddenly from a heart attack.
Instead of just living on in the memories of players and coaches, there will now be a special day to recognize the work Prosser did with student-athletes. The two universities announced that they will compete annually for at least the next 10 years in the Skip Prosser Classic.
The Xavier Musketeers traveled to North Durham New Jersey to show the world that they were a legit title contender. They came into the game with a No. 7 ranking and a big win over Memphis in their rear view mirror.
Duke came in ranked No. 6 and provided a nice challenge to show Xavier how good they are right now. Judging by what happened, the Muskies have some work to do.
Duke jumped all over Xavier early and cruised to an 82-64 victory. The Blue Devils rolled out to a 20-3 lead just five minutes into the game, expanded the lead to 31 points at halftime and never looked back. It was just a perfect storm of the Blue Devils playing very, very well at the exact same time the Musketeers were playing very, very badly.
This was Duke's 18th win in 19 tries at the Izod Center. Of Mike Krzyzewski's ten Final Four appearances, five of the trips went through East Rutherford. Their only loss was to Arizona back in 1989.
It isn't easy being only a basketball conference trying to compete with the major programs. No football money from the 1-A level, even to be a patsy team like the Sun Belt, MAC or the ilk. The Atlantic 10 has managed to make it work, but apparently the money is no longer there. 
According to reports, 
One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst 
When Xavier goes south, the Musketeers do not limit it to just one end of the court. They have been struggling for most of February. It will not cost them an NCAA Tournament bid, but it sure will drop their seeding. The Musketeers have now lost three of their last four with this latest loss to Charlotte, 65-60.
University of Cincinnati's head basketball coach 
The Dayton Flyers finally rid themselves of a nagging six-game losing streak against Xavier, beating the 14th-ranked Musketeers on Wednesday night, 71-58. Chris Wright led the Flyers with 19 points and also scored the last nine points for Dayton down the stretch. 
Here's a tip if you are playing Xavier: press on defense. The Musketeers just do not handle pressure defense real well. Not with only one true point guard on the roster. The 
Skip Prosser
The Xavier Musketeers traveled to 
