Seadragon76

Doesn't make sense. They wanted a baseball school and as far as I know IUPUI doesn't have baseball. They wanted a school with some basketball pedigree and IUPUI doesn't really have that.

Grand Canyon? OK, whoever is in charge of the Horizon League is on drugs... being that Detroit is part of the conference, I bet that's where they came from. Since basketball and baseball are a priority of the new member, someone like IPFW would be a great fit. They fit very easily within the geographic footprint of the Horizon League and gives them a sixth baseball school.

Right, I goofed on that... my bad.

Weird, but I'm shocked it didn't happen sooner. The HBCU's tend to have big time issues with money (Winston-Salem State is a good example of this). I'm pretty sure the CIAA would easily welcome back an old friend like them in 2019.

In the case of Hawaii, it's all about distance. Being in the Big West greatly reduces the distance traveled by them during the conference season. Being in the WAC, especially in it's current form, would be bad for the travel budget. Cal State Bakersfield might jump at the chance at a joint bid with UC San Diego, but I think they're pretty happy in the WAC. Both leagues are one bid leagues, so there's no real reason to jump ship, especially with the WAC at only 8 members and in danger of being one big move away from total destruction.

Time to bring this thread back to life with news that Wichita State may leave the Missouri Valley for the American. This has nothing to do with money, I think. It's about prestige and tournament bids. Wichita State has made the last six tournaments, yet the MVC is traditionally a one bid league unless another school does well. If this move happens, the MVC may want to look at someone for a 10th school and I may have the solution to that... St. Louis.

No. It still would put the Big South in the same pickle because a team moving up is considered ineligible. Not to mention what dfwabel said about the state placing a cap on funding via fees and the general fund. Jacksonville and Stetson, on the other hand, don't have those hurdles to deal with.Thanks to the alliance between the Atlantic Sun and the Big South, should those two schools move up to play scholarship football, they have a home. It's a win-win for both sides.

It's a strange move, if you ask me. They don't have a FBS home (yet) and it puts the Big South in a pickle in terms of the automatic qualifier. Right now, it's just 6 schools (4 current members plus Monmouth and Kennesaw State as associates). They'll add Campbell for the 7th school (5th current member) but lose Liberty putting them back at square one. Even with North Alabama's addition, it still means only six full time members. Maybe they might want to talk to Jacksonville and Stetson since they would have homes in the Big South.

Of the membership, only New Mexico State, Chicago State, UTRGV (Which is a merger of UTPA and UT-Brownsville, an NAIA school) and UMKC have been D-I schools for longer then a decade. Everyone else there have moved up from either Division II or, in the case of Utah Valley, the Juco level. Basically, once the league fell apart... they needed members badly. the two mid-western schools came on in a 'any port in a storm' situation. California Baptist joining gives the league a backup option since the rumor is that Chicago State might have to drop athletics in the near future (which might not be bad thing since the Cougars are godawful in pretty much every sport they play in) thanks the issues with the state budget. Losing Chicago State puts the league at 7 (Grand Canyon becomes a legitimate D-I school next season, which will help keep the WAC from the danger zone)... from there, who knows. There aren't many schools that want to join a league that is essentially home to the vagabonds of Division 1.

I know it's frowned upon to bump a thread, but there is news as of late.. Last month saw the Atlantic Sun add North Alabama to the roster. (Football will play in the Big South thanks to the strategic alliance of the two leagues) Today, another addition to Division 1 as California Baptist will join the WAC in 2018

I had an old game that was based on March Madness... it was a simulation style game where you rolled multiple dies to score the game. I wonder if I can find it on Google...

What's with the crackpot nicknames, people?

With all the mind tricks here, I wouldn't be shocked if they go with Po' Baby Owlz.

I've seen conferences in Division II go with this route (notably the Northeast-10), so this doesn't sound all that unusual here, but the Big XII (minus 2) can do it... well, more power to them.

Jumbo Shrimp? Really, Jacksonville? The city already had a laughing stock of a football team, don't throw in the baseball team now... oh, too late. This name change did that.

Where's the love for odd shaped flags like Nepal and Switzerland? In fact, I suggest a name change for this thread... Fun with Flags, anyone?

I say 12 personally. With the Pac 12 at 12 teams, at least the Big 12 would have enough members to have a championship game. Not to mention that the name would finally make sense!

Now that we know what teams are in for the AHL, time to realign the league to get a better fit. Eastern Conference Northeast Division -Albany -Binghamton -Bridgeport -Hartford -Providence -St. John's -Springfield -Syracuse Atlantic Division -Charlotte -Hershey -Lehigh Valley -Rochester -Toronto -Wilkes-Barre/Scranton -Utica Western Conference Central Division -Chicago -Grand Rapids -Lake Erie -Iowa -Manitoba -Milwaukee -Rockford Pacific Division -Bakersfield -Ontario -San Antonio -San Diego -San Jose -Stockton -Texas -Tucson

Probably not... There are two ways the Big 12 can go with this. Plan A: Split into two five team divisions (with the round robin). This is what the SWAC does Plan B: Don't split into divisions, and let the top two meet in the title game. This is what the D-II Northeast 10 did for sometime.

That can be easily fixed, though.

With the D-League season over and plans to hit 22 teams, time for a simple plan for them... Eastern Conference Atlantic Division -Delaware -Greensboro -Long Island -Maine -Raptors 905 -Westchester Central Division -Canton -Erie -Fort Wayne -Grand Rapids -Windy City Western Conference Midwest Division -Austin -Iowa -Oklahoma City -Rio Grande Valley -Sioux Falls -Texas Pacific Division -Los Angeles -Northern Arizona -Reno -Santa Cruz -Salt Lake City

Time to rev up the carousel folks... Why? Because there are 4 teams lobbying for two spots in the Big 12.

That has been the rumor.. either drop down a level or get rid of football altogether. Part of this issue is on the team itself. This program has had absolutely no success whatsoever. What little success they had was back in the 80's... and in today's age, no sane recruit is going to want to play for a school that has no winning tradition, let alone any. If they can start winning on a regular basis, that can help take some of the edge off. There is the money issue as well, but I would rather defer to dfwabel on that since he knows that far better then I do.

Exactly. The only FCS conference that does a conference title game is the SWAC, which already abstains from the FCS Championship (alongside the MEAC and the Ivy League). The idea of the Big Sky splitting into two 7 team division comes from, as dfwabel mentioned, getting more teams into the FCS Championship. If there was a way, I'm sure the Big Sky would petition the NCAA to have both division champs earn automatic bids to the FCS Championship starting in 2018.

The article did say they'll go to a divisional format when Idaho joins. This is probably going to be the setup: North -Eastern Washington -Idaho -Idaho State -Montana -Montana State -North Dakota -Portland State South -Cal Poly -Northern Arizona -Northern Colorado -Sacramento State -Southern Utah -UC Davis -Weber State As for New Mexico State, there is two options... -Beg the Mountain West to let them in as a football only member -Drop to the FCS level and join the Southland (Makes sense in a regional standpoint)