(03-08-2017 12:45 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  Considering the demographics of the student body I would say that with the significant number of well off students they pull in from the mid-Atlantic and NE that they are playing schools that their fans are familiar with.

I made a mistake. I was thinking of Davidson -- as in, I was thinking CoC had been in the SoCon as long as Furman and Citadel. Not true, at all.

(03-08-2017 12:37 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Adding two BBall only members offers the chance to really put the screws to other conferences. UNCA or Winthrop out of the Big South. Belmont from the OVC. FGCU from the ASun. New Orleans from Southland.

Add any of those two and you have a chance for more than occasional multibid league. That only has to happen a few times to really bring in more revenue for the conference.

I would imagine that Furman & Wofford have no desire to add a public school that shares their media market, nor that Western and Greensboro have any desire to elevate the profile of Asheville.

(03-08-2017 12:46 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Would the SoCon have any interest in UNCW, from the CAA? They just won the league. And the SoCon currently has a UNC campus (Greensboro).

Would they have interest? Sure. But it'd take a lot for UNCW to be interested back. If the CAA lost JMU to CUSA or SBC. Lost CoC to A10. Then yeh, UNCW would want in the SoCon, and the SoCon would be happy to add them.

(03-08-2017 12:48 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 12:37 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Adding two BBall only members offers the chance to really put the screws to other conferences. UNCA or Winthrop out of the Big South. Belmont from the OVC. FGCU from the ASun. New Orleans from Southland.

Add any of those two and you have a chance for more than occasional multibid league. That only has to happen a few times to really bring in more revenue for the conference.

I would imagine that Furman & Wofford have no desire to add a public school that shares their media market, nor that Western and Greensboro have any desire to elevate the profile of Asheville.

Well, they did just hold the SoCon Touney in Asheville. But I know that was more for location and the ability to handle a big crowd. Winthrop would do just as good as UNCA to hurt the Big South, which was what I was really getting at.

(03-08-2017 12:54 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 12:46 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Would the SoCon have any interest in UNCW, from the CAA? They just won the league. And the SoCon currently has a UNC campus (Greensboro).

Would they have interest? Sure. But it'd take a lot for UNCW to be interested back. If the CAA lost JMU to CUSA or SBC. Lost CoC to A10. Then yeh, UNCW would want in the SoCon, and the SoCon would be happy to add them.

The time to add UNCW was when they were not only the southern edge of the CAA, but an absolute outpost. I presume the additions of CoC and Elon were made at least in part with an eye toward placating them. Had they continued to look to the northeast with their expansion plans, UNCW to the SoCon would have been a distinct possibility.

Someone mentioned High Point. Given how that school is spending money, particularly on capital projects, and how hard they're working to improve their standing, I could definitely see them in the private-heavy SoCon. Someone who used to work in the AD told me a few years ago that they were working with an eye toward the CAA, but if they wanted to expand to the Triad, UNCG seems like a more obvious choice.

(03-08-2017 12:54 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Would they have interest? Sure. But it'd take a lot for UNCW to be interested back. If the CAA lost JMU to CUSA or SBC. Lost CoC to A10. Then yeh, UNCW would want in the SoCon, and the SoCon would be happy to add them.

I see.

So in terms of the smaller UNC campuses, their MBB teams go like: Wilmington > Greensboro > Asheville ?

(03-08-2017 01:00 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 12:54 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Would they have interest? Sure. But it'd take a lot for UNCW to be interested back. If the CAA lost JMU to CUSA or SBC. Lost CoC to A10. Then yeh, UNCW would want in the SoCon, and the SoCon would be happy to add them.

I see.

So in terms of the smaller UNC campuses, their MBB teams go like: Wilmington > Greensboro > Asheville ?

Well, Asheville is a better BBall product than Greensboro but Gboro is the bigger school. While UNCW is a better product and has bigger potential than either.

This is more a "fan" article than a reporter article. Belmont did very well this year, won the regular season going away, but lost one game in the OVC tournament and are now almost certainly an NIT team. The reality is we are looking at 5 or fewer at-large bids for non P6, and 3 of those will go to the WCC, AAC, A10. The AAC needs Houston (on the outside of the bubble) to win their tourney to get a 3rd one in. Similar for the A10. I put the over under at 4 at large. I think the committee will rescue one mid-major who loses a conference tourney, more for show and politics than RPI.

This is the trend I was speaking of about mid-majors, which AAC fans especially don't get, it's a game of musical chairs for mid-major at-large bids. Every time the music stops there is another chair gone. Several conferences have fallen out of contention for a second bid in recent years; the CAA, MVC, MAC, CUSA, and when Wichita State wins, the MVC. The A10 is now teetering on falling out of the multibid category. We all know why, they concentration of media power and money.

Re-arraigning the deck chairs in lower mid conferences like the SoCon wont do anything. to change their situation. The media and money are the real issue. The AAC is trying to keep relevant and be closer to a 3 bid conference than a 2 that can slip to 1, by looking at Wichita State. When you get down to the SoCon it's absolutely hopeless. As it stands the CAA is above the SoCon in MBB quite smartly, and as a group of academic schools, flat trounces them. I can't see anyone wanting to leave the association of those schools for the SoCon. The absolute same for the A10. No school will take the prestige hit for a SoCon prayer at a 2nd bid -- which they wont get. That leaves Belmont. I have a hard time seeing a school that views themselves as mid-south and angled for a decade to get in the OVC, with all those Tennessee schools with easy travel, would want to move sideways from one one-bid conference to another. What's the point?

What this does show is how desperate the mid-majors are becoming as the game of musical at-large chairs continues.

I could see belmont want the Southern Conference just for the academic bump. I would also guess belmont would draw more students from southern conference footprint than OVC footprint + they might get a say on who team #12 would be. UNF would bring in Florida but does that help in a bus league? Maybe belmont would just lobby for tennessee tech.

Lipscomb University could help convince Belmont as they're old conference mates with both them and ETSU.

(03-08-2017 01:00 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 12:54 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Would they have interest? Sure. But it'd take a lot for UNCW to be interested back. If the CAA lost JMU to CUSA or SBC. Lost CoC to A10. Then yeh, UNCW would want in the SoCon, and the SoCon would be happy to add them.

I see.

So in terms of the smaller UNC campuses, their MBB teams go like: Wilmington > Greensboro > Asheville ?

Right now I'd say UNCW is as high as Charlotte, maybe even higher. They average nearly 5K for basketball games, and are the only D1 in a growing market. They also have very good baseball. UNCG plays in Greensboro Coliseum, and gets decent crowds, while Asheville is a small school. Has one of the lower athletic budgets in all of D1.

I think UNCG would be a good find for the CAA to corner that market, but I don't know if they'd want a team so close to Elon (25 miles from Greensboro).

Why doesnt the CAA look at bringing in Belmont?

It sounds like a better solution for Belmont than likinking up with the Southern.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530AZ using CSNbbs mobile app

(03-08-2017 02:26 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Why doesnt the CAA look at bringing in Belmont?

It sounds like a better solution for Belmont than likinking up with the Southern.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530AZ using CSNbbs mobile app

They might, but as it stands, the CAA all-sports footprint goes from Boston to Charleston, and Belmont might be a bridge too far for a payoff too slight for both sides.

Had the CAA landed Davidson, perhaps. And if they could pick off another school (Chatty?) from the region, it's more possible. But still not terribly likely.

(03-08-2017 02:16 PM)sctvman Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 01:00 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 12:54 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Would they have interest? Sure. But it'd take a lot for UNCW to be interested back. If the CAA lost JMU to CUSA or SBC. Lost CoC to A10. Then yeh, UNCW would want in the SoCon, and the SoCon would be happy to add them.

I see.

So in terms of the smaller UNC campuses, their MBB teams go like: Wilmington > Greensboro > Asheville ?

Right now I'd say UNCW is as high as Charlotte, maybe even higher. They average nearly 5K for basketball games, and are the only D1 in a growing market. They also have very good baseball. UNCG plays in Greensboro Coliseum, and gets decent crowds, while Asheville is a small school. Has one of the lower athletic budgets in all of D1.

I think UNCG would be a good find for the CAA to corner that market, but I don't know if they'd want a team so close to Elon (25 miles from Greensboro).

Someone in the know told me that UNCW goes cheap on their coaching and facilities, plus their geography hems them in for the purposes of creating fans (unless they can find a way to improve their outreach to the salt-water aquatic community). And while they're the hot name now, they had a pretty ugly stretch from Brad Brownell's departure to Kevin Keatts' arrival, so it's not like they're Gonzaga By The Sea; as with most mid-majors, their success is inexorably linked to the guy coaching the team.

Elon is somewhat fringe in the Triad and really only has a strong presence in the Burlington micro-market, so having UNCG shouldn't hurt them, plus it gives each other a backyard rival. It didn't seem to hurt them in the SoCon, at least.

Jordan's UNC roommate Buzz Peterson was the UNCW coach before Keatts. His coaching stints made for a full circle (App State to Tulsa to Tennessee to Coastal Carolina to App State again, before he went to UNCW.

Could see ETSU and Belmont being a CAA pair.

Kennesaw State would probably be opposed to by Mercer for sure (keeping the state of GA to itself and academics) and Samford (academics; Samford really stresses academics). North Florida could be a good option though. Long term , I'd like to see Montevallo, West Alabama, and AUM join the SoCon.

I could see Valdosta State, Columbus State, North Georgia (military school that could fit in with VMI and the Citadel), North Alabama, Florida Tech, Catawba and Carson-Newman might fit into Southern Conference. Maybe a UNC-Pembroke in there in the future.

socon takes 4 fla schools from atlantic sun & let them grow

(03-08-2017 02:37 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 02:26 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Why doesnt the CAA look at bringing in Belmont?

It sounds like a better solution for Belmont than likinking up with the Southern.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530AZ using CSNbbs mobile app

They might, but as it stands, the CAA all-sports footprint goes from Boston to Charleston, and Belmont might be a bridge too far for a payoff too slight for both sides.

Had the CAA landed Davidson, perhaps. And if they could pick off another school (Chatty?) from the region, it's more possible. But still not terribly likely.

Is Nashville that far off the seaboard that Belmont is not in the picture?

They have by and large everything the CAA is looking for in a conference member.

That should offset the location.