The unexpected resignation (effective mid-June) was announced in the midst of a mixed message week for the transitioning Atlantic 10 conference.
Commissioner Linda Bruno, on Wednesday, announced her resignation - which may not have been entirely voluntary - and with the announcement, she simultaneously helped put the spotlight on a league enjoying one of its best-ever inaugural months to a season.
The night before the Bruno bombshell, Rhode Island handled Big East member Providence at the Ryan Center. Then, on Thursday the league sent out an early strike alert regarding its Top 5 RPI (as of last Wednesday). By Saturday, Dayton was downing Louisville on the road and URI was getting by Syracuse at The Dome.
""It's probably the most exciting win of my career because of its magnitude," said URI's Jim Baron, in what can be considered gushing for the slightly uptight head Ram. "We've played well all season, played a very tough schedule, but this win is special.
"During the pre-game intros, their PA announcer talked about Syracuse being the fifth-winningest program in history," Baron said. "And down the sideline, Jimmy Boeheim is a Hall of Famer. The Final Fours, the national titles, the list of names of retired jerseys, the Carrier Dome - it's unreal."
Unreal but not un-needed. The recently "un-deep" A-10 could be having a rejuventaion season with four "lock" NCAA bids seeming like a real possibility (happened last in 2004). During the four-day period of Dec. 5-8, the A-10 recorded eight non-conference wins over teams who advanced to the postseason a year ago (highlighted also by Charlotte taking down Davidson and Southern Illinois and Xavier knocking off Creighton).
For a league in flux administratively, the quality of play sure has ramped up quite a bit - with the league going 57-30 in non-conference Novemeber games. Rhody is off to its best start since 1991-92 and Dayton's 70-65 win at #11/14 Louisville was the first time the Flyers defeated a ranked opponent on its home court since UD beat No. 18 DePaul, 67-63 (Feb. 6, 1985 at the Rosemont Horizon). Flyer rookie Chris Wright took home his third A-10 Rookie of the Week honors (in five weeks) and overall, the league's teams are opening eyes virtually every night.
. . . The Bruno announcement was made odder by its timing, but we're led to believe it is more likely a result of some shaky recent seasons of post-season appaerances and a television package fiasco from last season that alienated a lot of individual school's presidents and athletic directors. That TV package situation has been largely remedied this season, but the rough start to a new deal with our mommy dearest, CSTV, did not bode well for Bruno, who has been at the league since 1994 when she took over for the outdated Ron Bertovich.
We've heard no strong indications on what way the member schools will go on a Bruno successor but Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports has already speculated on one very attractive name (Tom "Ojay" Odjakjian). There's also likely to be some buzz around the names of the MAAC's Rich Ensor and the CAA's Tom Yeager and it wouldn't hurt if a someone with a strong TV and digital background where involved as well. The A-10's of the world need brave and bold thinkers who will pounce on the business opportunities of a new media world.
Fortunately, as the early season has shown, the A-10 appears to be in a bounce back season where its true potential is once again being portrayed. Four and five NCAA bid years used to be the norm and should be again.
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