http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/spo...r-1625305/

(01-20-2012 09:41 AM)OrangeCamel Wrote:  http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/spo...r-1625305/

Im not crazy about this move. what do you guys think? if we are gaining a school with no football, why not get a proven ETSU or someone like that. i bet Jacksonville/KSU would move to BSC and bring football.

Jacksonville is non scholly obviously and as an institution I find it hard they can afford full scholarship I-AA. Plus JU is super down in hoops at the moment. Also out of the Big South footprint on both.

It honestly makes the most sense for them and the league if the league is not going to go poach from other conferences. I think you need a round number to solve scheduling issues and I can't think off the top of my head who else the league could get. UNCG maybe? There's not a ton of candidates.

I think there is also something to be said for not grabbing the next school going D1 like the A-Sun used to do and making a school earn it, for lack of a better term. Longwood has been D1 for a few years and has figured out how it works.

Athletics aside, Longwood comes in right behind Campbell in the US News & World Report "Regional Universities-South" rankings. Here's the list of Big South (and A-Sun) schools...

3 Stetson
7 Belmont
9 Mercer
19 Lipscomb
21 Winthrop
28 Campbell
29 Longwood
43 Radford
46 Jacksonville
47 Gardner-Webb
48 North Florida
59 Coastal Carolina
61 Kennesaw State
71 Northern Kentucky
75 Florida Gulf Coast
80 Liberty
89 Charleston Southern

"National Liberal Arts Colleges" - 71 VMI, 121 PC, 165 UNCA
"Regional Colleges" - 3 High Point, 33 USC Upstate
"National University" - ETSU's ranking was not published

I think it makes a lot of sense. A natural fit. They need a conference, Conference needs another team and the location makes sense with where the other schools are located.

Longwood has beaten us several times in the past few years.

As Longwood alum we couldn't be more excited about the news. The vibe around campus and energy during the announcement yesterday was incredible! We are very excited to be apart of the BSC.

We're trying to get a Longwood version of CampbellFans up and running, it's in its infancy now but check out http://www.LancersBlog.com

I'll bet we have to wait until after the spring meetings before we learn if there will be two divisions, how many conference games we'll have, and if all twelve will participate in the tournament.

Even with divisions, I kinda prefer to have the league standings in one group #1-#12. Seems like the A-Sun did that one of the years we had divisions there.