Another possible round of conference changes

[Da Coach]

Indiana State beat writer Todd Golden with a column on Valley expansion-

http://www.tribstar.com/sports/todd-aaron-golden-mvc-needs-to-be-aggressive-and-get/article_7395c85f-d8c2-5e76-bdfb-af68beb9ae4e.html

I agree with this option. If the MVC can get Murray State and/or Belmont from the Ohio Valley Conference, I think they should do it, sooner rather than later.
I am not nearly as high on raiding the Horizon League again for a school like Milwaukee, which is not as good an option now.

[tornado]

Gonzaga, which has been considering a switch to the Mountain West Conference, has announced they will remain in the West Coast Conference-
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/201...-zags-stay/#/0

here's a story that does show loyalty -
Gonzaga could have gone the greed-centric way of ditching the conference that helped bring their program to prominence and bolting to the Mountain West to make more money & get on TV more.

They could have, but they chose to stay in the West Coast Conference. They know they have a pretty good thing right where they are. But at least it shows that not everyone thinks only about money.

[Chico]

here's a story that does show loyalty -
Gonzaga could have gone the greed-centric way of ditching the conference that helped bring their program to prominence and bolting to the Mountain West to make more money & get on TV more.

They could have, but they chose to stay in the West Coast Conference. They know they have a pretty good thing right where they are. But at least it shows that not everyone thinks only about money.

I remember seeing Gonzaga play Caterpillar in the Fieldhouse when Cat used to play college teams. How things have changed.

[tornado]

Rumor is that Liberty will leave the Big South and join the A-Sun..

If that happens, then the Big South will drop to just 9 members and likely will try to get one more...
The A-Sun will grow then to 9 and also will probably try to add one more.

[tornado]

Rumor is that Liberty will leave the Big South and join the A-Sun......
The A-Sun will grow then to 9 and also will probably try to add one more.

rumor confirmed

https://twitter.com/libertyflames/status/997132819397791744

and now talk that the A-Sun wants to add High Point - LINK
High Point was NAIA until 1995, then joined NCAA Division II. In 1999 they began transition to DI. they have averaged 19 wins per season over the past 4 years.

[Da Coach]

...Liberty will leave the Big South and join the A-Sun..

Kind of a strange move, especially for their basketball program. The Big South is a better conference than the Atlantic Sun and has finished with a significantly better Conference RPI the last 4 years. In fact, the A-Sun was one of the absolute worst Division I conferences in the country- ranking 30th out of 32 conferences this past season-

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2018/conferencerpi

Plus, it seems like the schools in the Big South (9 other schools- all in Virginia or the Carolinas) provide much better natural rivalries for Liberty than the teams in the A-Sun, which has 8 schools- 4 of which are in Florida, and one each in New Jersey, Tennessee, Georgia, and So. Carolina). Almost all the Big South schools are closer to Liberty than all the A-Sun schools are, so it will involve a lot more travel.

[tornado]

Maybe but it's all about money & the future...
A-Sun revenue and attendance is substantially better top to bottom and the difference is widening yearly...
Big South avg attendance dropped again this year b y almost 10% while A-Sun's increased...

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2017.pdf

Like it or not, a big part of all the A-Sun's success over the past 8-9 years belongs to none other than
KEN KAVANAGH - LINK

[Da Coach]

Yes, the other than the top 2 teams in the A-Sun, Lipscomb and FGCU, the other 6 teams in the league averaged near 300 RPI in 2017-18

[Da Coach]

Here are the conference changes for the 2018-19 season-
California Baptist joins the WAC from Division II
University of North Alabama joins the A-Sun from Division II
Hampton leaves the MEAC and joins the Big South Conference
North Dakota leaves the Big Sky Conference and joins the Summit League
Liberty leaves the Big South Conference and joins the Atlantic Sun
USC Upstate leaves the Atlantic Sun and joins the Big South

[tornado]

Interestng news....

The LIU (Long Island University- enrollment 4,568 ) Blackbirds...
NCAA Division I school in the NEC (Northeastern Conference) is going to undergo a big change...

They are merging their entire school/campus. enrollment/and Athletic Departments with NCAA Division II LIU-Post University (enrollment 3,443)
..effective beginning 2019-2020.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2018/10/3/liu-announces-unified-division-i-athletic-program

LIU has made the NCAA Tournament four times since 2011 - most recently they have made three straight in 2016, 2017 & last year in 2018

[tornado]

Bellarmine University, a member of the GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference, a Division II conference) is looking to become DI and join the A-Sun Conference
https://www.courier-journal.com/stor...-i/3507480002/

IPFW and Northern Kentucky are both former GLVC members who have become DI

Bellarmine University is a small school in Louisville (under 3,000 undergrad enrollment - about 4,000 total)


One other school considering a move to Division I is a small school in Minnesota, University of St. Thomas.
They are currently DIII but have been so dominant and kicking everybody's butt for years that their own conference wants to kick them out.
https://www.manitoumessenger.com/201...from-the-miac/

three other DII schools have also announced plans or a desire to transition to DI, University of California-San Diego (UCSD), Merrimack (North Andover, MA), and Dixie State (Utah)

[Mikovio]

Dixie State seems like an odd name for a northern school.

[tornado]

I would have never known the origin of the name but here's what they say...

"The institution was founded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) on September 19, 1911,
as St. George Stake Academy. In 1916, the academy, located in a region called "Utah's Dixie" by Brigham Young and local settlers,
became Dixie Normal College, and then, in 1923, the name was changed to Dixie Junior College. In 1933, the LDS Church
discontinued its support of the college, and rather than give up on it, the local citizenry came together and maintained the
school's operation through donations and labor for two years.
In 1935, the State Board of Education took over the funding for the school....
On September 7, 2007, Dixie State College Board of Trustees members announced that Dixie State College of Utah would petition the
University of Utah to become the University of Utah–St. George. .....(but) did not come to fruition.

In 2011, a bill was drafted for ...Dixie State College's transition to university status.

The institution contracted with a local advertising firm, Sorenson Advertising, to investigate names for the institution as a university
and found that alumni overwhelmingly supported the name "Dixie"
In 2013, the Utah Legislature changed the status of the institution from a college to a university and named it Dixie State University."

The area of southern Utah was called Dixie because it was originally designated back in the mid-1800's as an area to grow cotton
and tobacco and was populated largely by people who had migrated there from the south - some of whom were formerly slave-owners.
In the end it didn't work out and those crops aren't grown there any more.

[Da Coach]

After 7 seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, former Summit League member UMKC will change conferences again.
Starting in 2020-21 they will be rejoining the Summit League. They had been a member of the Summit from 1994-2013.
Summit League welcomes back UMKC

http://thesummitleague.org/general/2018-19/releases/20190620sts1tx

The have had limited success in men's basketball in their 6 seasons in the WAC-
2013-14 10-20, 7-9 in the WAC (8th of 9 teams)
2014-15 14-19, 8-6 in the WAC (tied for 2nd of 8 teams)
2015-16 12-19, 4-10 in the WAC (tied for 6th of 8 teams)
2016-17 18-17, 8-6 in the WAC (4th of 8 teams)
2017-18 10-22, 5-9 in the WAC (tied for 6th of 8 teams)
2018-19 11-21, 6-10 in the WAC (tied for 7th of 9 teams)

They have never gotten a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

This is actually a step down for UMKC based on the last season's conference RPI strength. In 2018-19 the WAC was ranked the 16th best conference in RPI while the Summit was ranked 27th out of 32 conferences in Division I.
In 2014, UMKC's first season in the WAC, it was the Summit League that was the higher ranked conference (Summit 18th, WAC 22nd).

But overall, this is a good move for UMKC. It seemed to make little sense for them to leave a midwest-based conference like the Summit, and join a western based conference like the WAC with members as far away as California and Seattle and with many of the schools 2 time zones away. They will spend a lot less time and money on travel with the return to the Summit League.

[Da Coach]

One other possible conference change developing-
There are unconfirmed reports that UConn, which went with the American Athletic Conference when the Big East split up will return to the Big East-
http://www.digitalsportsdesk.com/nca...n-to-big-east/

University of Connecticut issued a statement that seems to be denying this report as of now, but it is somewhat vague-
https://twitter.com/ManthonyCourant/...41603006685184

If it does happen, one possibility is that it might only be for basketball (men's and women's), and UConn would remain a member of the AAC for other sports. Other reports suggest that UConn is still trying to decide out how this could work.