Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[sportsfan7]

Missed a lot over the last few days, so I'll just put all my 2 cents in at once.

 

RE: SEC

IF the SEC were to expand, I think they grab 2 of the following; Florida St, Miami, Clemson, UNC, Duke, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma. No team would defect from the Big 10 and the SEC is too good to grab a Go5 team. This leaves only a few top football teams and elite b-ball ones.

 

RE: Liberty

The University itself poisons any chance they have at getting into a conference. They'll just have to settle for being a discount BYU at best.

 

RE: FCS  --> FBS

I don't know about any current FCS teams that could do it be successful, so I think the most likely one is Grand Canyon. They have made a tremendous investment into their programs and facilities lately and have explored adding football in the past. They are eerily similar to Liberty, just with less controversy. Both are large, relatively new, Evangelical Universities in or near a major metro area.

 

RE: NDSU

There is a greater chance of the SuperSonics winning the NBA title this year then there is of NDSU joining the B10, ever. Keeping with the NBA references, I think the chances of them moving up to FBS are about the same as the Knicks winning the NBA title this year.

[Luigi74]

10 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Big 12 wouldnt be bad a fit. Still a ways from Iowa and Kansas but better than Northern Illinois in the MAC and better than Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming.

 

As for Cincinnati I see them in the Big 12 to help out West Virginia or in the ACC, renewing rivalries with Pitt and Louisville as well at Notre Dame in basketball.

Pitt never had a rivalry with Cincy, sure the old Big East gave them a trophy to play for but no one cared. Pitt's rivals are Penn State and West Virginia and thanks to the nonsensical alignment of conferences they no longer play yearly. Outside of money it makes no sense for Pitt to be in a conference with Florida State, Penn State to be in a conference with Nebraska and West Virginia to be in a conference with Texas Tech, part of me wants the tv money bubble to break in the next few years leading to everything being reset to make more sense geographically. 

 

On conference expansion, don't South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and maybe Kentucky have a pact blocking any school from their respective states from joining the SEC? Both the SEC and B1G want to expand their footprint so don't be shocked if they strike at the ACC with the SEC taking Virginia Tech & NC State and the B1G taking UVA & North Carolina. If the SEC and B1G are able to pull that off the Big 12 will swoop in and pick apart the ACC's bones, FSU and Clemson if they only want to expand to 12 then Pitt, Louisville, GT and Miami if they want to jump up to 16. Also there's been talk recently that the Big 12 would raid the PAC-12 but I can't see the likes of USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington and Colorado wanting to be in the same conference as West Virginia(distance), TCU & Baylor(secular), the Arizona schools get a ton of students and athletes from California so it's hard to see them cutting ties with the four California schools. 

[Dilbert]

5 hours ago, Luigi74 said:

Pitt never had a rivalry with Cincy

The cities are definitely rivals, and when it came to football, Pitt and UC was one sided but the conference realignment never allowed the rivalry to fully pickup steam.

[colinturner95]

15 hours ago, sportsfan7 said:

Missed a lot over the last few days, so I'll just put all my 2 cents in at once.

 

RE: SEC

IF the SEC were to expand, I think they grab 2 of the following; Florida St, Miami, Clemson, UNC, Duke, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma. No team would defect from the Big 10 and the SEC is too good to grab a Go5 team. This leaves only a few top football teams and elite b-ball ones.

 

RE: Liberty

The University itself poisons any chance they have at getting into a conference. They'll just have to settle for being a discount BYU at best.

 

RE: FCS  --> FBS

I don't know about any current FCS teams that could do it be successful, so I think the most likely one is Grand Canyon. They have made a tremendous investment into their programs and facilities lately and have explored adding football in the past. They are eerily similar to Liberty, just with less controversy. Both are large, relatively new, Evangelical Universities in or near a major metro area.

 

RE: NDSU

There is a greater chance of the SuperSonics winning the NBA title this year then there is of NDSU joining the B10, ever. Keeping with the NBA references, I think the chances of them moving up to FBS are about the same as the Knicks winning the NBA title this year.

As an NDSU fan, I'm perfectly content with them staying where they are and I think they are too. 

 

As for FBS down to FCS, I think San Jose State would/could be the next possible victim. I think I read somewhere that since the Mountain West expanded in the early 2010's, they're the only school that hasn't won a conference championship in anything so far. Not to mention they've been mediocre to bad in the same time period. Now would they drop down? Probably not. 

[Red Wolf]

14 hours ago, Luigi74 said:

On conference expansion, don't South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and maybe Kentucky have a pact blocking any school from their respective states from joining the SEC? Both the SEC and B1G want to expand their footprint so don't be shocked if they strike at the ACC with the SEC taking Virginia Tech & NC State and the B1G taking UVA & North Carolina. If the SEC and B1G are able to pull that off the Big 12 will swoop in and pick apart the ACC's bones, FSU and Clemson if they only want to expand to 12 then Pitt, Louisville, GT and Miami if they want to jump up to 16. Also there's been talk recently that the Big 12 would raid the PAC-12 but I can't see the likes of USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington and Colorado wanting to be in the same conference as West Virginia(distance), TCU & Baylor(secular), the Arizona schools get a ton of students and athletes from California so it's hard to see them cutting ties with the four California schools. 

 

I doubt it. Florida State was offered a spot in the SEC before they chose the ACC. All of those teams play their major conference in-state counterparts every year which isn't standard behavior for schools that would block an in-state addition. That said, the in-state schools likely aren't getting invitations just because they don't expand the footprint, which has been the impetus of the most recent schools to join.

[LMU]

9 hours ago, colinturner95 said:

As an NDSU fan, I'm perfectly content with them staying where they are and I think they are too. 

 

As for FBS down to FCS, I think San Jose State would/could be the next possible victim. I think I read somewhere that since the Mountain West expanded in the early 2010's, they're the only school that hasn't won a conference championship in anything so far. Not to mention they've been mediocre to bad in the same time period. Now would they drop down? Probably not. 

I'd also throw New Mexico State on the watch list since they're independent in football after being punted from the Sun Belt and everything else is in the on-life-support WAC that's only alive because of using D-II transitions as duct tape.

[Coltfan]

Louisville and West Virginia should have been in the AAC. Along with Army, Navy and Air Force.

[Red Wolf]

9 hours ago, Coltfan said:

Louisville and West Virginia should have been in the AAC

 

Louisville was until they got a better offer.

 

9 hours ago, Coltfan said:

Along with Army, Navy and Air Force.

 

Why?

 

17 hours ago, LMU said:

I'd also throw New Mexico State on the watch list since they're independent in football after being punted from the Sun Belt and everything else is in the on-life-support WAC that's only alive because of using D-II transitions as duct tape.

 

NMSU is the most obvious candidate. They, along with Idaho, were only in the Sun Belt because the conference had ambitions of going to 12 teams for a conference championship game. With conference defections that everybody other than the commissioner saw coming, that never happened. With the requirements for conference championships no longer requiring 12, there was no more need to hang on to the schools out West.

[Geoff]

18 hours ago, Red Wolf said:

 

I doubt it. Florida State was offered a spot in the SEC before they chose the ACC. All of those teams play their major conference in-state counterparts every year which isn't standard behavior for schools that would block an in-state addition. That said, the in-state schools likely aren't getting invitations just because they don't expand the footprint, which has been the impetus of the most recent schools to join.

Nah, that’s a legit thing. UF sponsored a bid in the early 90s to get FSU in the SEC but since then, there has been a pact between UK, UGA, UF, and USC to keep their in-state rivals out. I think the most threatened of the group was UK wanting Louisville to keep “little brother” status and not being a power conference.

 

They want to play their in-state rivals, yes, but they don’t want their chance to have bragging rights getting in the way of their conference championship odds.

 

The last round of expansion rumors, the FSU-Clemson plus whoever to the Big 12 deal (was a legit discussion but I don’t know how close it ever got) was largely because the Big 12 was on the prowl and trying to not die but to also get back at the SEC and get into their markets. The Petty Four were definitely part of the reason none of UofL, FSU, GT, or Clemson didn’t take A&M or Mizzou’s spots but, yeah, TV markets played a large factor too.

[Red Wolf]

Well that's what I get for assuming the status quo hadn't changed in the past... 30 years.

[rams80]

On 7/21/2020 at 3:32 PM, Sebastianm said:

Good point, When do you think Liberty will join a conference, NDSU is a elite program nobody talks about, so I think they go in the Big Ten.

 

The rest of their sports are parked in the Summit League, which is the tier below the Horizon League.  No.  No. A Thousand times No.

[rams80]

On 7/21/2020 at 4:01 PM, Sebastianm said:

I was ridiculous on the NDSU into the Big Ten, more seriously, I think Liberty could be a national threat in a decade or less. Now, who will be the next team to move from FCS to FBS?

 

Not as long as Jerry Falwell Jr. calls the shots; waaaay to many political liabilities, especially given his handling of COVID.

[rams80]

On 7/22/2020 at 9:57 PM, LMU said:

I'd also throw New Mexico State on the watch list since they're independent in football after being punted from the Sun Belt and everything else is in the on-life-support WAC that's only alive because of using D-II transitions as duct tape.

 

This.  The only reason they are sticking it out is because the school (correctly) determined that the politicos 4+ hours away in Santa Fe understand NCAA FBS better than Carnegie R2 and Land Grant status when it comes to determining how much state aid they get.

[sportsfan7]

https://www.ktuu.com/2020/08/19/uaa-to-cut-four-sport-programs-including-mens-hockey/

 

Alaska-Anchorage is dropping all 4 of their D1 sports; men's hockey and skiing and women' gymnastics and skiing. They will play this season before ending. Seven of the ten men's hockey members are leaving the WCHA after this season to form the CCHA, leaving behind Alaska-Fairbanks and Alabama-Huntsville. Alaska-Fairbanks has said that they will not be cutting any athletics programs.

[Seadragon76]

Honestly, I'm shocked that they haven't thought about cutting hockey until now. Both Alaska schools are so far away from the rest of the WCHA (soon to be CCHA) that I'm pretty sure that the travel budget is problematic.

[GDAWG]

1 hour ago, sportsfan7 said:

https://www.ktuu.com/2020/08/19/uaa-to-cut-four-sport-programs-including-mens-hockey/

 

Alaska-Anchorage is dropping all 4 of their D1 sports; men's hockey and skiing and women' gymnastics and skiing. They will play this season before ending. Seven of the ten men's hockey members are leaving the WCHA after this season to form the CCHA, leaving behind Alaska-Fairbanks and Alabama-Huntsville. Alaska-Fairbanks has said that they will not be cutting any athletics programs.

 

Don't they have basketball?

[sportsfan7]

Just now, GDAWG said:

 

Don't they have basketball?

D2

[GDAWG]

1 hour ago, sportsfan7 said:

D2

 

Gotcha.  So they are keeping their D2 sports.  

[Burmy]

What a shame to see such a well-supported program in a hockey hotbed go away like this...I wonder if this means the ol' Sullivan Arena's gonna meet the wrecking ball.

[sportsfan7]

4 hours ago, MBurmy said:

What a shame to see such a well-supported program in a hockey hotbed go away like this...I wonder if this means the ol' Sullivan Arena's gonna meet the wrecking ball.

I don't know. The hockey team moved back on campus for this year to save money, but it looks like the Sully is the only major arena in the area, so I think that wanna keep it around just in case.