(01-26-2016 12:49 PM)jrj84105 Wrote: In the last round of realignment no conference made it to the mythical ideal 16 school format. The latest NCAA rule changes failed to make concessions that would facilitate pods or the kind of scheduling flexibility to better maintain conference cohesion with growing numbers. The rule changes did make expansion to 20 slightly more lucrative as a league with two conferences could stage a second CCG. Is 20 the new 16?
The new legislation did not change the ability to have pods, if a conference wants them. By their nature and set up, pods are basically set up in a given year as two division, where the division set up rotates. So unless there was unreleased language that dictates the divisions must be static for X number of years, pods could still work.
For example, let's use North, South, East, and West ad pod names. In a three year cycle, each pod is paired up with another pod, where each team plays every other team in that pod, and one team in each of the other two pods (or only game against one other division depending on the number of teams). As such, each pairing is represented by column:
Year 1
North East
South West
Year 2
North South
East West
Year 3
North East
West South
The two pods that play each other in a given year, form a division for that season. That was always the plan behind a pod set up. The only difference is some would like an additional semi final round where each champ plays, but that is not necessary since each column represents a group of teams that had a round robin against each other.
Note this set up could also be used with 14 teams, or even 12 teams, if desired.
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Is the 16 team conference dead?
