2 teams: ‘high-end potential’

Butler won eight of the last nine Horizon League crowns in women’s cross country. The men’s soccer team has made two NCAA tourney trips in the last three years. And the Bulldogs earned their first NCAA berth in volleyball in 2010, losing at Dayton in the first round.

VCU has claimed 44 conference titles in the last 20 years in its 14 sports, earning 88 NCAA berths. The Rams have been dominant in baseball (five Colonial Athletic Association crowns since 2002) and men’s tennis (national runner-up in 2000 and NCAA trips in 16 out of 17 years).

The Rams also reached the CAA tournament finals in volleyball last season, won a regular-season crown in 2009 and took the league tourney title and advanced to the NCAA in 2005.

“VCU’s administration seems to be all the way in for our sport,” said fifthyear UD volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield, “and Butler has had some pretty good success. And I think when they see what other schools in our conference are doing in volleyball, they’re going to raise the ante. I think they’re a sleeping giant in our sport.”

The A-10 will have 16 schools for 2012-13 and then drop back to 14 when Temple and Charlotte leave the next year.

“The teams coming in, I think, are not only better than the teams that are going to end up leaving our conference, but the high-end potential of both those programs is higher as well,” said Sheffield, who has led the Flyers to three straight A-10 regular-season and tourney crowns. “I think it’s great for the conference.”

UD women’s basketball coach Jim Jabir isn’t thrilled about the turnover, though. The A-10 is losing one of its marquee women’s hoops programs in Temple, which played in the NCAA tournament every year from 200411. The league has had at least two tourney bids for the last eight seasons.

“It’s a hit. It’s comparable to men’s basketball. They’re perennially a top30 program,” Jabir said.

But both Butler and VCU show promise. The Bulldogs won 20 or more games each season from 2007-11, while the Rams have reached the postseason the last five years, including the program’s first NCAA berth in 2009.

“I think the Atlantic 10 is a much better league than the Horizon and better than the Colonial. … But I’m sure being in our league will affect their recruiting and, hopefully, impact it in a positive way,” said Jabir, who has built the Flyers into an A10 power in his nine years with a league tourney title last season and three straight NCAA trips.

“We’re losing Temple and Charlotte, and Xavier’s not what they’ve been,” Jabir added. “It behooves all of us to keep working in our programs and keep getting stronger and better because we don’t want to turn into a one-bid league, and I don’t think we will.”