Hoops coaches make trek to Naples for meetings

That's Naples, Fla., not the one in Italy, and Atlantic 10 Conference basketball coaches get together there tomorrow for their annual meetings.

Of the agenda topics, "The biggest one is, all of us are interested in how to best position people for postseason bids," University of Richmond coach Chris Mooney said.

In one sense, the A-10 had an impressive 2007-08 from a postseason standpoint. Eight of its 14 teams played beyond the conference tournament. Xavier, Saint Joseph's and league champion Temple made the NCAA field. Massachusetts, Dayton, Charlotte and Rhode Island went to the National Invitation Tournament. The Spiders played a game in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, which is expected back next season.

But the A-10 had only one team - Xavier - that was assured of an NCAA bid before the league tournament, which developed in a beneficial manner for the conference.

Most impressive was the A-10's 130-73 record in nonconference games. That's the fourth-highest nonconference winning percentage since the league formed in 1976-77 and highest since 1993-94. Among the most notable wins during the regular season: Charlotte over Wake Forest, Davidson and Clemson; Dayton over Louisville; Massachusetts over Syracuse and Boston College; UR over Virginia Tech; and Xavier over Indiana, Kansas State, Virginia and Auburn.

And then come the athletic directors

Monday, the A-10 ADs get together in Naples. There was hope that a new commissioner would be selected before these meetings commenced. School presidents have not yet decided on a successor to Linda Bruno, though finalists' names have been advanced to the presidential level.

The ADs will address basketball scheduling and determine whether they want to keep the tiered system that made its debut in 2007-08. The 14 teams were grouped based on potential to reach postseason. The most highly regarded among them met twice, the middle-group members met twice and the lower-group members met twice.

That was in addition to every league team playing all others once. The system was created to protect the power ratings of the conference's best teams.

If this scheduling policy continues, Richmond, with eight of its top 10 players back from a fourth-place team that went 9-7 in the league (16-15 overall), could be classified in the top group for 2008-09. League coaches and ADs form the groupings.

League ADs also will discuss ways to improve the A-10's Olympic sports. - John O'Connor