Atlantic 10's new kids

NEW YORK - In the history of the Atlantic 10, one team has made the Final Four (Massachusetts, 1996). With very bold moves earlier this year, the league got two schools that account for three of the last 12 Final Four spots and just happen to have two of America's best coaches of any age.

Losing Temple and Charlotte after this season to football riches could have been disastrous. There is only joy when Butler and VCU arrive to join the party.

Butler's Brad Stevens sees the game through young eyes with a much older man's vision, VCU's Shaka Smart coaches without fear and his team plays just like he coaches.

They were two of 16 coaches at A-10 Media Day on Thursday at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But they attracted serious attention because they are serious men at schools that are very serious about basketball.

It wasn't just Stevens' first A-10 Media Day. It was his first Media Day. The Horizon League never had one. And still Stevens managed to take his Bulldogs out of that league to the championship game in 2010 and 2011.

"There are certain things you have to have, players and guys that are completely accountable to one another are the most important thing," Stevens said.

Smart attended several CAA Media Days, organized by the league's basketball guru, Ron Bertovich.

"The CAA does a good job," Smart said. "That's a really good league, an underrated league. The year we went to the Final Four, the CAA had everything to do with us even making the NCAA Tournament. A lot has been made of our transition from the CAA to the Atlantic 10 and it certainly is a step up, but it's not like we're coming from chopped liver. So, our guys have been tested and they've been tested in the NCAA Tournament."

VCU really does not play like any team in America. In an era where risk-taking has been minimized, the Rams guard all 94 feet. That won't change.

"Even more so," Smart said. "That's what we do. We call our style of play 'havoc,' " Smart said. "Our guys love it. If we're not aggressive on the floor, then we're not very good."

Saint Joseph's Phil Martelli is the coach with the longest tenure. He knows the league. He really likes the changes.

"I don't think that it can be undersold on how remarkable a job [commissioner] Bernadette [McGlade] and the athletic directors and the presidents have done," Martelli said. "The option was to sit on the sideline. Until the Atlantic 10 made their move, college realignments were driven by football. The Atlantic 10 changed that dynamic."

And he is an admirer of Smart and Stevens.

"The two young coaches have a following and they should have a following because they do things the right way and they do things that other people emulate," Martelli said. "I think the big deal here is that Butler and VCU didn't come to finish fifth in this league. They don't do anything that would be labeled fifth in this league. Just by their mere presence they have driven every other team in this league to up the ante."

Smart was in the league before when was an assistant to Oliver Purnell at Dayton.

"I draw on that experience quite a bit now in preparation because I've been to Rhode Island, I've been to Duquesne, I've been to GW," Smart said.

Stevens spent some time this summer getting familiar with the league, but said the vast majority of his time was working with his team. He did note that Butler plays seven of the top nine voted teams on the road.

"The level of talent, the length at every position, the speed is clearly at a high level," Stevens said.

Butler and VCU are at the level. And they can only help America's best basketball-only league become one of its best leagues, period.