what's going to be interesting is these next 3 weeks(and really moreso 2)- June 1 is deadline I believe for reclassing from 1 division to another. So IF one of these schools wants to move up- it's happening in the next 3 weeks.

The ASUN has NO current Div.I prospects that are public knowledge.NKU is gone-effective June 30th.

They are hanging by a thread and at best have weak leadership.I am sure Lipscomb and others are looking to jump ship.Of course they have nowhere to go.

The pathetic part is they should have seen this coming and had 1 or 2 in the pipeline as replacements.
I am just a guy behind a keyboard and could see this coming 2 years ago!Probably too late to add anyone for the upcoming season.Pitiful.

(05-11-2015 04:57 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  The ASUN has NO current Div.I prospects that are public knowledge.NKU is gone-effective June 30th.

They are hanging by a thread and at best have weak leadership.I am sure Lipscomb and others are looking to jump ship.Of course they have nowhere to go.

The pathetic part is they should have seen this coming and had 1 or 2 in the pipeline as replacements.
I am just a guy behind a keyboard and could see this coming 2 years ago!Probably too late to add anyone for the upcoming season.Pitiful.

And this is why I'm so glad to see my alma mater get out and move on to a much better conference.

Also, how did the A-Sun not have NJIT on the phone already today? I know someone mentioned travel as a potential issue. I doubt NJIT cares. It's not a problem to them. For the rest of the league, it's only for one game and it's not like they are in California. Not to mention they are a counting member who would join right away and be THRILLED to be in the league.

The A-Sun is a mess. They may have less foresight and vision than the WAC did/does. I mean, compare NJIT to Chicago State. Do you think the WAC WANTED Chicago State? No, but they knew they needed them, so they took them. The A-Sun should look at NJIT the same way and they make far more geographic sense. Honestly, they should have grabbed them before last year.

Asun should focus on D2 florida schools. Becoming the Florida version of the big west would be a good long term goal

I still wouldn't be surprised to see NJIT head to America East, especially since NJIT is adding lacrosse. That possible move might be why the Atlantic Sun is hesitant to add them.

Even the difference in splitting one tournament unit 8 ways instead of 11 isn't enough to justify a school like Winthrop moving, although it may be a better fit for Winthrop in the long run.

The Atlantic Sun might just need to start adding a Division II school every two years for the next six to ten years.

I think the # of move ups should be limited.There are over 350 D 1 basketball teams now.

(05-11-2015 08:19 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  I still wouldn't be surprised to see NJIT head to America East, especially since NJIT is adding lacrosse. That possible move might be why the Atlantic Sun is hesitant to add them.

Even the difference in splitting one tournament unit 8 ways instead of 11 isn't enough to justify a school like Winthrop moving, although it may be a better fit for Winthrop in the long run.

The Atlantic Sun might just need to start adding a Division II school every two years for the next six to ten years.

I don't know if it would be better in the long run for Winthrop. Even with an 8 way instead of an 11 way split they would probably lose money considering that the Big South is pretty much a bus league with everybody except Campbell and Longwood being within a four hour drive from Rock Hill. In the A-Sun the only schools within a 6 hour drive are Upstate and Kennesaw St.

(05-11-2015 08:19 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  The Atlantic Sun might just need to start adding a Division II school every two years for the next six to ten years.

The ASun added DII Kennesaw St and N Florida one year, and immediately added DIi FGCU and USC-Upstate the next. The ASun managed the transition schools by playing them only once in the first year of transition. The second year they count as fully DI schools.

The Southland encountered problems with Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word because they gave them full schedules the first year of transition, when the NCAA counts them as DII. The result was that some Southland schools were over the limit on DII teams on their schedule.

The ASun knows how to manage DII to DI transitions. I imagine NKU, Lipscomb, and Upstate were blocking Florida additions. Now the Fla-Ga block can get their way. Lincoln Memorial, Trevecca Nazarene, and Bellarmine were probably wanted by northern schools.

(05-11-2015 07:17 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Asun should focus on D2 florida schools. Becoming the Florida version of the big west would be a good long term goal

That would work to a point. Being a bus league with most members in one state really reduces travel costs. On the other hand, it also significantly hinders national exposure.

(05-11-2015 10:07 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-11-2015 07:17 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Asun should focus on D2 florida schools. Becoming the Florida version of the big west would be a good long term goal

That would work to a point. Being a bus league with most members in one state really reduces travel costs. On the other hand, it also significantly hinders national exposure.

I can't imagine that's very high on their priorities, at the moment.

(05-11-2015 08:48 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  I think the # of move ups should be limited.There are over 350 D 1 basketball teams now.

I disagree. Particularly when we're just talking about schools without football.

Division I doesn't really mean anything special, other than a school wants to offer the higher minimum requirements for scholarships, number of sports sponsored and so on.

Look at La Salle University in Philly and the University of St. Thomas in Minny. Why is one DI and the other DIII? There's no rhyme or reason, other than tradition and desire to remain in one division over the other. (If UST moved up, they would have to upgrade facilities as well)


So, I say that any school that desires to meet the higher minimum requirements of DI should be allowed to do so.

(05-12-2015 08:55 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(05-11-2015 08:48 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  I think the # of move ups should be limited.There are over 350 D 1 basketball teams now.

I disagree. Particularly when we're just talking about schools without football.

Division I doesn't really mean anything special, other than a school wants to offer the higher minimum requirements for scholarships, number of sports sponsored and so on.

Look at La Salle University in Philly and the University of St. Thomas in Minny. Why is one DI and the other DIII? There's no rhyme or reason, other than tradition and desire to remain in one division over the other. (If UST moved up, they would have to upgrade facilities as well)


So, I say that any school that desires to meet the higher minimum requirements of DI should be allowed to do so.

St Thomas would to transition to Dll and then have to spend five years in DII before it could transition to DI. The Slummit would most assuredly take them if they were a DII team.

(05-11-2015 04:57 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  The ASUN has NO current Div.I prospects that are public knowledge.NKU is gone-effective June 30th.

They are hanging by a thread and at best have weak leadership.I am sure Lipscomb and others are looking to jump ship.Of course they have nowhere to go.

The pathetic part is they should have seen this coming and had 1 or 2 in the pipeline as replacements.
I am just a guy behind a keyboard and could see this coming 2 years ago!Probably too late to add anyone for the upcoming season.Pitiful.

Most schools in the ASun only see the conference as a stopping point on the way from D2 to something better. No one is looking out for the long term prospects of the conference because no one expects to be there long. The Atlantic Sun will go one doing what they have always done... bring up the next in line D2 school and sit tight until the next realignment move and then do it all over again. As long as there are D2 schools looking to move up, the Atlantic Sun will survive in some form.

(05-12-2015 09:07 AM)NoDak Wrote:  

(05-12-2015 08:55 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(05-11-2015 08:48 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  I think the # of move ups should be limited.There are over 350 D 1 basketball teams now.

I disagree. Particularly when we're just talking about schools without football.

Division I doesn't really mean anything special, other than a school wants to offer the higher minimum requirements for scholarships, number of sports sponsored and so on.

Look at La Salle University in Philly and the University of St. Thomas in Minny. Why is one DI and the other DIII? There's no rhyme or reason, other than tradition and desire to remain in one division over the other. (If UST moved up, they would have to upgrade facilities as well)


So, I say that any school that desires to meet the higher minimum requirements of DI should be allowed to do so.

St Thomas would to transition to Dll and then have to spend five years in DII before it could transition to DI. The Summit would most assuredly take them if they were a DII team.

And that's a ridiculous requirement, in my opinion. They should be able to jump directly to DI under the same probation period that a DII team moving to DI faces.

DIII to DII is not the same thing as DII to DI, like one might think. It really just has to do with philosophy in most cases, not money or ability.


I agree that the Summit would take UST.

(05-12-2015 09:36 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(05-12-2015 09:07 AM)NoDak Wrote:  

(05-12-2015 08:55 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(05-11-2015 08:48 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  I think the # of move ups should be limited.There are over 350 D 1 basketball teams now.

I disagree. Particularly when we're just talking about schools without football.

Division I doesn't really mean anything special, other than a school wants to offer the higher minimum requirements for scholarships, number of sports sponsored and so on.

Look at La Salle University in Philly and the University of St. Thomas in Minny. Why is one DI and the other DIII? There's no rhyme or reason, other than tradition and desire to remain in one division over the other. (If UST moved up, they would have to upgrade facilities as well)


So, I say that any school that desires to meet the higher minimum requirements of DI should be allowed to do so.

St Thomas would to transition to Dll and then have to spend five years in DII before it could transition to DI. The Summit would most assuredly take them if they were a DII team.

And that's a ridiculous requirement, in my opinion. They should be able to jump directly to DI under the same probation period that a DII team moving to DI faces.

DIII to DII is not the same thing as DII to DI, like one might think. It really just has to do with philosophy in most cases, not money or ability.


I agree that the Summit would take UST.

Five years is too long, it should be similar to FCS moving to FBS.

(05-11-2015 10:07 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-11-2015 07:17 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Asun should focus on D2 florida schools. Becoming the Florida version of the big west would be a good long term goal

That would work to a point. Being a bus league with most members in one state really reduces travel costs. On the other hand, it also significantly hinders national exposure.

Let's be honest.....the only true national exposure that the A-Sun gets is during the NCAA Tournament and unless they lose the auto-bid they would still get that as a FLA/GA bus league.

To those people who think that UST should be a willing DI school, stop. The Tommies know they can get better attendance with schools like St. John's(MN), Bethel, Hamline and the like without running up travel miles(Fact: Concordia-Moorhead is closer than anyone the Tommies would face in the Summit). The Tommies also have a better radio deal than some FBS teams. But then there this: it's patron, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is currently bankrupt due to the large numbers of lawsuits filed by victims of abuse by the archdiocese's priests dating back to the 60's. They have some wealthy benefactors that could help the transition from DIII to DII to DI, but I think that they'll wait until this crisis passes before you see any movement here, if there is any.

(05-09-2015 10:35 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(05-09-2015 09:59 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  Now? Would North Alabama get the nod for the OVC to replace Northern Kentucky? It would make the football schools happy. A lot of the FCS and Sun Belt schools came from the Gulf South Conference.

UNA's Division I aspirations are effectively dead. The next member of the Atlantic Sun is likely Georgia Regents (née Augusta State), which already plays golf at the Division I level.

Is something wrong with you?