Seadragon76

2 hours ago, Burmy said:

What's more, with Duquesne as an associate football member and Robert Morris rejoining as one next season, Lakers football has three guaranteed in-state conference rivals.

 

As you mentioned, it helps Chicago State out at least a bit, not the least because the Cougars have been seriously considering adding football themselves (given CSU's financial woes, I think it's one of the most ludicrous ideas I've ever heard, but they're counting on it being a windfall as the only D1 football team in the Chi).

Both Duquense and Robert Morris are in Pittsburgh, which is a short trip from Erie. That will come into play in 2025 as the conference schedule is already set and I don't know if they can change things with Mercyhurst jumping in.

1 hour ago, Burmy said:

Mercyhurst University (Erie, Pennsylvania) is the newest D2 school to move up to D1...the Lakers are joining the NEC.

 

As destiny would have it, the Lakers already have a logo page on the mothership (because they were already playing D1 hockey in the AHA), though it is outdated.

The move helps in a couple of ways.

First off, it helps Chicago State out. They don't feel so isolated as the westernmost school in the NEC (weird, I know). It also helps St. Francis out by being not so isolated as well.

Secondly, football gets an easier transition - a school gets 63 scholarships at the FCS level. That's an additional 27 scholarships the school has to pay for, which might not be feasible for them. By joining the NEC, the numbers are easier to swallow here - schools in the NEC only give out 45 scholarships. This means Mercyhurst only has to add 9 more scholarships to be at compliance.

So, with the A's moving to Sacramento for two years... what does that do to the River Cats?

16 minutes ago, TrueYankee26 said:

Yeah... poor Rockies. 13 runs given up in 1 inning on Opening Day. Jeez

 

Angels and Rockies are in for a llllooooonnnnnggggg season.

Make that 14 runs... something tells me that Arizona might have some pent-up anger from losing the World Series last year. Thankfully, there is no better patsy to beat up on then the Rockies.

23 minutes ago, walkerws said:

Depending on travel costs, this makes sense. Easier to rent three buses than to fly somewhere. 

It does. A good majority of the road trips they took in the WAC were all westward bound.

By joining the Southland, there's no more trips that go west. The farthest east they'll have to go to is New Orleans. The farthest north they'll have to go to is Commerce.

On the NAIA front...

The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference is changing their name to the HBCU Athletic Conference - Here's the story.

It makes perfect sense to me since all the conference members are HBCU's. This also includes the incoming members of Stillman, Voorhees and Wilberforce.

School wise, Union College in Kentucky is changing their name to Union Commonwealth University - Here's the story for this one

22 hours ago, Germanshepherd said:

Add Quinnipiac to that list

In fact, here's the list of teams that would have gotten an automatic bid to the NIT this season had the NCAA not changed the rules...

-South Florida (American)

-Eastern Kentucky (ASUN)

-Richmond (Atlantic 10)

-Eastern Washington (Big Sky)

-High Point (Big South)

-UC Irvine (Big West)

-Sam Houston State (Conference USA)

-Princeton (Ivy League)

-Quinnipiac (MAAC)

-Norfolk State (MEAC)

-Toledo (Mid-American)

-Indiana State (Missouri Valley)

-Central Connecticut State (Northeast)

-Little Rock (Ohio Valley)

-Appalachian State (Sun Belt)

Nearly half the field could have been automatic bids this season... and there's the chance for more teams to enter this list by the time of the Selection Show on Sunday.

11 hours ago, McCall said:

That would be the lowest rated tournament ever. You have only 5 or 6 "power conference" teams, a few mid-majors and the rest smaller conference schools. You automatically lose more than half your viewership just by cutting the number from 68. Then taking out all but 6 bigger conference schools. CBS couldn't get out of this deal fast enough.

That's why I said it was a crazy thought experiment.

If they wanted 64 teams, then go with the approach that the NAIA does: The regular season champion gets an automatic bid and the tournament champion gets an automatic bid. If the regular season champion and tournament champion are the same team, then the regular season runner up gets the second bid.

Crazy thought experiment time...

In my perfect world, the NCAA Tournament would only have 32 teams in it, and all would be conference champions.

In this example, this is how the tournament would work:

South Region

(8) Norfolk State (MEAC) vs. (1) Houston (Big XII)

(5) High Point (Big South) vs. (4) Grand Canyon (WAC)

(6) Oakland (Horizon League) vs. (3) Samford (Southern)

(7) Eastern Kentucky (ASUN) vs. (2) Richmond (Atlantic 10)

East Region

(8) Merrimack (NEC) vs. (1) Purdue (Big Ten)

(5) College of Charleston (CAA) vs. (4) Vermont (America East)

(6) Quinnipiac (MAAC) vs. (3) Princeton (Ivy League)

(7) Morehead State (Ohio Valley) vs. (2) Connecticut (Big East)

North Region

(8) Colgate (Patriot League) vs. (1) Tennessee (SEC)

(5) Sam Houston State (Conference USA) vs. (4) St. Mary's (WCC)

(6) Toledo (Mid-American) vs. (3) Indiana State (Missouri Valley)

(7) McNeese State (Southland) vs. (2) North Carolina (ACC)

West Region

(8) Grambling (SWAC) vs. (1) Utah State (Mountain West)

(5) Appalachian State (Sun Belt) vs. (4) UC Irvine (Big West)

(6) Eastern Washington (Big Sky) vs. (3) South Florida (American)

(7) South Dakota State (Summit) vs. (2) Arizona (Pac-12)

TV wise, the four network system will still be in use. Now, each network gets their own region - meaning that they get seven games over a weekend to broadcast. CBS and TBS still has rotating Final Four duties.

The NIT is also 32 teams, but it is only open to schools in Top 16 in terms of conference RPI. For this season, the following conferences are allowed to send two teams to the NIT:

Big XII, SEC, Big Ten, Mountain West, ACC, Big East, Pac-12, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, American, Ivy League, Southern, West Coast, WAC, America East and Big West.

The remaining 16 conferences are then allowed to send teams to the CBI and CIT, with the second placed teams going to the CBI and third placed teams going to the CIT.

I didn't think it was possible for an actual team to score 200+ points in a basketball game.

Granted, it's the All-Star Game and defense is literally taboo, but come on. Try a little bit here.

Bears. The houndstooth stripe is a great touch and a great nod to Paul 'Bear' Bryant.

Silverbacks is my vote.

Love the tie in with the Columbus Zoo.

I'm going with Sting, only because the team would have the perfect mascot...

Snowbirds. It's such an original idea and concept.

Swarm

Salt Lake City has my vote... the crypto beast theme has me intrigued.

Wolves

1 hour ago, 4_tattoos said:

Here's PVF's schedule. So far they have broadcast for every game up to early March either being carried by Bally or Stadium. I'm trying to figure out what role CBS has in the broadcast equation.

 

https://provolleyball.com/all-teams-schedule

CBS isn't jumping in until mid-April at best. They're only getting 10 games and championship weekend while Bally Live and Stadium is probably covering the rest.

Not a bad move for San Jose State, but man it's going to be weird to see Niumatalolo run a team that doesn't have the triple option.

Just now, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Tough way to go out for Cowboys fans. They were good enough all season long and then....this.

The Cowboys and January - name me a combination that's better known for choking then this.

28 minutes ago, tBBP said:

While we're on coaching searches, the Snatit's candidate list is out:

• Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan
• Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn
• Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson
• New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka
• Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald
• Las Vegas Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce
• Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

I know three of those names. Dan Quinn seemed to do alright for most of his time as HC in Atlanta; he could probably do it again in Tennessee. Unless Tennessee can offer Antonio Pierce a better deal, I don't see him leaving the Raiders. (I could be wrong.) And it took me a minute to remember Aaron Glenn; he was a pretty decent defensive back for the Jets (and I think Cowboys?) back in the day. Interesting how both Lions coordinators are on this list, though. 

 

I'll let fans of the other teams chime in on the rest of these guys. What say y'all?

Knowing what I know with Seattle, I get the feeling that they want Dan Quinn before anyone else. People still remember that he was the guy who built the Legion of Boom up here.  If not him, then I think Seattle needs to look for someone that can add some life to the team... but I don't know who can do that.

17 hours ago, ruttep said:

 

I'm gonna keep saying this.

 

Stop. Disrespecting. The. 49ers.

NO. Everyone needs to poo-poo on the Whiners. Why? Well... I do because I have no horse in the race right now and just wants maximum chaos.

Are there any new colleges adding lacrosse this season?

6 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

The downside to the Arizona Bowl is that Barstool Sports is doing the broadcast. I've seen cable access stations do a better job. It is truly awful. Tank did the coin toss so there's that, I guess. 

Oddly enough, if your area has a CW Network... it has the game. Which is a win for both sides - a bowl game NOT on ESPN and a football game on the CW, of all networks.

33 minutes ago, ruttep said:

Chargers? Uhh, you good? 42-0 in the FIRST HALF.

I'm shocked they didn't just yeet Brandon Staley's sorry ass into the Luxor at halftime. This is clearly a team that has given up once they heard that Herbert was done for the year.