Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[illwauk]

No surprises here. Soldier Field is a piece of crap and the media fears all things Detroit, so it was basically between Cleveland and Indy with the latter having more hotel space and being the established home of the mens hoops tourney.

Ford Field already hosts the MAC Championship game. Why give a field 2 conference championships?

Because its a damn good place to watch a football game <insert obligatory Lions joke here>. They really did a great job designing that place because even halfway up the upper deck feels close to the field.

Besides, I'm not aware of any rule that says the same field can't host two conference championships, and if there is, I don't think Ford Field would have any trouble cutting ties with the MAC to get the Big Ten. The MAC could either go to Cleveland (since half the conference is from Ohio anyway) or go back to rotating the game between the east and west champions.

[hecticbro]

Aha! I have figured out how the Big Ten alignment should work. It keeps things balanced in football (which is pretty much impossible to do with a straight geographic model), somewhat balanced in basketball (which is pretty much irrelevant, but whatever) and preserves traditional rivalries - either by keeping rivals in like divisions or designating that they are required to play each other every season.

Since the conference is going to go to a 9-game schedule with the expansion, we can afford to assign two annual cross-divisional foes for half the teams to help with competitive balance and traditional or potential rivalries. Only Penn State will be really geographically isolated from their divisional opponents, but they always have been since joining anyway. Plus, this keeps them from having to be in a conference with U-M and OSU so they should be happy.

Lakes Division ...............Annual rival(s)

Michigan ....................Nebraska, Michigan State

Ohio State ..................Penn State, Illinois

Wisconsin ...................Iowa, Minnesota

Purdue ......................Penn State

Indiana .....................Michigan State

Northwestern ................Illinois

Land Division

Penn State .................Ohio State, Purdue

Nebraska ...................Michigan

Iowa .......................Wisconsin

Illinois ...................Ohio State, Northwestern

Michigan State .............Michigan, Indiana

Minnesota ..................Wisconsin

[Sport]

I've been to Ford Field twice and it's beautiful. I'm sure Indianapolis will be a fine place to host the conference championship game, but I would've preferred Detroit.

[rams80]

Aha! I have figured out how the Big Ten alignment should work. It keeps things balanced in football (which is pretty much impossible to do with a straight geographic model), somewhat balanced in basketball (which is pretty much irrelevant, but whatever) and preserves traditional rivalries - either by keeping rivals in like divisions or designating that they are required to play each other every season.

Since the conference is going to go to a 9-game schedule with the expansion, we can afford to assign two annual cross-divisional foes for half the teams to help with competitive balance and traditional or potential rivalries. Only Penn State will be really geographically isolated from their divisional opponents, but they always have been since joining anyway. Plus, this keeps them from having to be in a conference with U-M and OSU so they should be happy.

Lakes Division ...............Annual rival(s)

Michigan ....................Nebraska, Michigan State

Ohio State ..................Penn State, Illinois

Wisconsin ...................Iowa, Minnesota

Purdue ......................Penn State

Indiana .....................Michigan State

Northwestern ................Illinois

Land Division

Penn State .................Ohio State, Purdue

Nebraska ...................Michigan

Iowa .......................Wisconsin

Illinois ...................Ohio State, Northwestern

Michigan State .............Michigan, Indiana

Minnesota ..................Wisconsin

I'd rather be able to remember who division foes are kthxbye. The problem with ACC and this alignment is that you could shuffle the lineup annually and nobody would know the difference.

EDIT-Also, the Big Ten plays more than football. Michigan State and (sometimes) Illinois aside, the Land Division is one craptacular basketball division.

[The_Admiral]

Wait, so is the Lakes Division.

[rams80]

Wait, so is the Lakes Division.

Presently it is, but the Lakes Division has a lot of the historic Big Ten powerhouses, so would likely get better once Indiana and Michigan dig out from the rubble.

[crashcarson15]

I've been to Ford Field twice and it's beautiful. I'm sure Indianapolis will be a fine place to host the conference championship game, but I would've preferred Detroit.

I think you could argue though, that more people would be up for going to Indianapolis than Detroit. Just my two cents seeing that the Wolverines don't appear to be headed anywhere near the title game in the next few years. I'm not sure about hotel rooms in Detroit, but Indy regularly hosts big-time events (Drum Corps International, GenCon, Final Fours, NFL Combine, etc.) while I'm not sure what Detroit has. Plus, hosting the game in the city that'll host the Super Bowl 7 weeks later can't be a bad thing for the Big 10. I'll probably be there.

[The_Admiral]

Indianapolis only hosts a bunch of stuff because it's a good centralized location for a lot of people, and Chicago chooses to alienate everyone with head-up-ass union regulations. It's not a compelling destination in and of itself.

[hecticbro]

Wait, so is the Lakes Division.

Presently it is, but the Lakes Division has a lot of the historic Big Ten powerhouses, so would likely get better once Indiana and Michigan dig out from the rubble.

Michigan's not really a traditional hoops power. They just had one pretty spectacular run. Michigan State and Illinois are arguably the strongest basketball programs in the conference. Iowa is solid at basketball (plenty of deep NCAA runs in their history and two conference tourney championships this decade), and Minnesota is passionate and usually competitive.

[crashcarson15]

Indianapolis only hosts a bunch of stuff because it's a good centralized location for a lot of people, and Chicago chooses to alienate everyone with head-up-ass union regulations. It's not a compelling destination in and of itself.

Agreed. Everyone preaches how close our airport is to the city, but our public transport is a piece of . Maybe they'll get around to building that light rail someday...

[BaltimoreFan]

I'd rather be able to remember who division foes are kthxbye. The problem with ACC and this alignment is that you could shuffle the lineup annually and nobody would know the difference.

EDIT-Also, the Big Ten plays more than football. Michigan State and (sometimes) Illinois aside, the Land Division is one craptacular basketball division.

Well the Big Ten doesn't have to use the division in the other sports. The ACC only uses theirs in football, basketball is just a single table. But you do have a point. I have no idea what the ACC's divisions are for football. That may have something to do though, with the fact that I slowly stopped watching the conference after expansion.

[rams80]

Wait, so is the Lakes Division.

Presently it is, but the Lakes Division has a lot of the historic Big Ten powerhouses, so would likely get better once Indiana and Michigan dig out from the rubble.

Michigan's not really a traditional hoops power. They just had one pretty spectacular run. Michigan State and Illinois are arguably the strongest basketball programs in the conference. Iowa is solid at basketball (plenty of deep NCAA runs in their history and two conference tourney championships this decade), and Minnesota is passionate and usually competitive.

I'm not quite sure what the frame of reference here is, because historically Indiana is far stronger than Illinois, and Purdue is roughly similar, Minnesota was the team with the one spectacular (if since vacated) run, Iowa scuffled around with mostly early tournament flameouts before cratering over the last 2-3 decades, while Wisconsin has been on the opposite trajectory. Also, Ohio State hasn't exactly been terrible either. Also, Penn State and Nebraska have been awful at basketball under any frame of reference. Incidently, if we ignore vacations, Michigan has more NCAA Final Four Births (6) than Illinois (5) and 1 National Title and 4 Runner's up to no National Titles and 1 Runner Up.

[leopard88]

I have no idea what the ACC's divisions are for football. That may have something to do though, with the fact that I slowly stopped watching the conference after expansion.

I don't think it's that. I still follow ACC football (more or less) and I couldn't tell which teams are in which division.

[rams80]

I'd rather be able to remember who division foes are kthxbye. The problem with ACC and this alignment is that you could shuffle the lineup annually and nobody would know the difference.

EDIT-Also, the Big Ten plays more than football. Michigan State and (sometimes) Illinois aside, the Land Division is one craptacular basketball division.

Well the Big Ten doesn't have to use the division in the other sports. The ACC only uses theirs in football, basketball is just a single table. But you do have a point. I have no idea what the ACC's divisions are for football. That may have something to do though, with the fact that I slowly stopped watching the conference after expansion.

Most other conferences do use the divisions though. The fact that the ACC doesn't probably stands as further testament to the patent ridiculousness of their divisional setup.

[illwauk]

I'd rather be able to remember who division foes are kthxbye. The problem with ACC and this alignment is that you could shuffle the lineup annually and nobody would know the difference.

EDIT-Also, the Big Ten plays more than football. Michigan State and (sometimes) Illinois aside, the Land Division is one craptacular basketball division.

Well the Big Ten doesn't have to use the division in the other sports. The ACC only uses theirs in football, basketball is just a single table. But you do have a point. I have no idea what the ACC's divisions are for football. That may have something to do though, with the fact that I slowly stopped watching the conference after expansion.

Most other conferences do use the divisions though. The fact that the ACC doesn't probably stands as further testament to the patent ridiculousness of their divisional setup.

That, and the ridiculous amount of political power the North Carolina schools have in the ACC, which is the reason for the ridiculous set-up in the first place.

[tBBP]

Indianapolis only hosts a bunch of stuff because it's a good centralized location for a lot of people, and Chicago chooses to alienate everyone with head-up-ass union regulations. It's not a compelling destination in and of itself.

As I quickly found out about three weeks after I got moved out here. In two months' time, I think I've met a grand total of two people who are actually from Indianapolis itself (spread out as it is)...most everyone else seems to come from Vincennes, Muncie, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Columbus, Kokomo, some place called Nineveh--oh, and Gary. All Indy really seems to be to me is a meeting place for everybody else. The city itself pretty well blows.

That said, I have yet to see the inside of Lucas Oil, but I remember seeing some weird shadows being cast onto the field whenever the Colts were on TV. After seeing all the windows in that giant brick house, I now know why.

[pianoknight]

I think if the BigTen (somehow, magically) can add Notre Dame and Rutgers, the divisions can be East/West and maintain competitive fairness.

WEST

Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame

EAST

Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers

Yes, the East Division would have tOSU, PSU, and Mich, but Nebraska and ND would get bolstered by Iowa and Wisconsin. I think those alignments would be the best.

[Jamikel]

That, and the ridiculous amount of political power the North Carolina schools have in the ACC, which is the reason for the ridiculous set-up in the first place.

So the North Carolina schools wielded their ridiculous amounts of political power to make sure they were split up into separate divisions?

[illwauk]

That, and the ridiculous amount of political power the North Carolina schools have in the ACC, which is the reason for the ridiculous set-up in the first place.

So the North Carolina schools wielded their ridiculous amounts of political power to make sure they were split up into separate divisions?

Wait... what?

<checks the alignments>

I could've SWORE they were in the same division. In large part because it's the only logical reason for having divisions that make no logical sense.

<adds my post to the "evidence that the ACC's alignment makes no damn sense" pile>

[TBGKon]

So the North Carolina schools wielded their ridiculous amounts of political power to make sure they were split up into separate divisions?

Wait... what?

<checks the alignments>

I could've SWORE they were in the same division. In large part because it's the only logical reason for having divisions that make no logical sense.

<adds my post to the "evidence that the ACC's alignment makes no damn sense" pile>

Well, and to seperate Miami and FSU so that it's possible to have them meet in the championship game, in which this season looks to be the first where that might happen.