With the Big South in flux, would now be a good time for the A-Sun to approach some basketball only schools????

(07-06-2016 05:50 PM)BLIKNS1 Wrote:  With the Big South in flux, would now be a good time for the A-Sun to approach some basketball only schools????

Radford would be a good addition but it's pretty far. What about Winthrop?

North Alabama seems to be likely be getting an invite to the A-Sun in the 2016-2017 season. A-Sun/Big South football needs football members now than later.

I like the A-Sun/ Big South agreement a lot....think it can help both leagues survive. I agree North Alabama is probably in play .

So when FGCU does start it`s football program, it will have a place to go.

Would the league try to lure Mercer and East Tennessee back???

The A-Sun needs to get to at least 10 teams, then can have 18 conference games, I am tired of FGCU playing 3 or 4 non D1 schools that don`t count on your rpi... This year playing Florida National??? not even a d3 school. Doesn`t matter if you go 26-4 or 4-26 , it`s a juan bid league . so going to have to win the A-Sun tourney anyway.

Yes, the A-Sun should expand by asking the Big South to join the conference.

(09-23-2016 08:57 AM)army56mike Wrote:  Yes, the A-Sun should expand by asking the Big South to join the conference.

Why would those members want to give up 2 bids to the NCAA tourney in favor of just 1?

The new membership agreement will ensure that the A-Sun and Big South are stable. It will allow the A-Sun to bring up some D-2 members and for the Big South to stabilize its football membership...win for both conferences and all the involved programs.

Yes, I understand the reality of the conference situation from the basketball (and other Olympic sports) perspective. You would never want to lose your NCAA auto bid. But from my perspective as a fan, I would love for my school, Liberty, to be part of a larger 18 team conference, that would generate more variety and quality of competition.

Regarding football agreement, I fail to see how in reality it does anything for the Big South at all. No A-Sun member has joined the BSC. No member has shown a desire to add scholarships to their programs in order to join the BSC. The BSC remains on the same shaky ground that it has been. True, if an A-Sun team decided to add scholarship football, they would be immediately eligible to play in the BSC. But none of the current teams seem inclined to do so.

Would Jacksonville and Stetson consider moving their football from the Pioneer to The Big South?

(09-23-2016 08:57 AM)army56mike Wrote:  Yes, the A-Sun should expand by asking the Big South to join the conference.

The question really is which one of these two conferences are stronger. The answer to that question, I do not know...

(10-19-2016 06:47 PM)BLIKNS2 Wrote:  Would Jacksonville and Stetson consider moving their football from the Pioneer to The Big South?

Being a Valparaiso fan, this is a big question. Theoretically the Pioneer is D3 type D1 conference with no scholarships. To add FCS level scholarships potentially means adding a women's sport to two to even things out.

Mercer was in the Pioneer for one year then jumped so it is not crazy to think it might not happen.

Interesting. As a Valpo fan, would you want to move up and play in the Big South Conference for football?

Neither conference is on strong footing. Lipscomb is dying to get into the OVC, Kennesaw thinks they belong in FBS as does Liberty, Florida Gulf Coast and UNF both have come to the realizations they're going to have to start football soon just to compete with the other schools around them for students.
JU and Stetson don't have the resources to add scholarships, otherwise they would've when the SoCon door was open.
The Big South needs Campbell to get its' act together and bring in scholarships, then convince North Alabama and a couple of the Peach Belt teams to take the plunge and move up.

(10-27-2016 02:56 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  Neither conference is on strong footing. Lipscomb is dying to get into the OVC, Kennesaw thinks they belong in FBS as does Liberty, Florida Gulf Coast and UNF both have come to the realizations they're going to have to start football soon just to compete with the other schools around them for students.
JU and Stetson don't have the resources to add scholarships, otherwise they would've when the SoCon door was open.
The Big South needs Campbell to get its' act together and bring in scholarships, then convince North Alabama and a couple of the Peach Belt teams to take the plunge and move up.

Why is NJIT in the Atlantic Sun???

NJIT wanted in one of the basketball conferences in the northeast and nobody would take them. They needed a conference to make scheduling home games a little bit easier, and the A-Sun needed a team. The homeless shelter took in the homeless, which is what this league has had a reputation for doing. It's the halfway house for college athletics.

(11-03-2016 01:07 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  NJIT wanted in one of the basketball conferences in the northeast and nobody would take them. They needed a conference to make scheduling home games a little bit easier, and the A-Sun needed a team. The homeless shelter took in the homeless, which is what this league has had a reputation for doing. It's the halfway house for college athletics.

And NJIT built a $250 million arena which its admin cannot afford to pay for

Could adding NYIT, who already plays D-I baseball, be taken as a travel partner for NJIT when trying to get to 10?

(11-17-2016 11:18 AM)PK_UToledo Wrote:  Could adding NYIT, who already plays D-I baseball, be taken as a travel partner for NJIT when trying to get to 10?

NJIT needs to get into a Northeastern conference ASAP.

The NJIT admins otherwise would have wasted $250 million on a new arena and continues having student fees finance 96% of the athletic budget,because the local fans are not interested in viewing Atlantic Sun schools.

(10-24-2016 11:53 PM)army56mike Wrote:  Interesting. As a Valpo fan, would you want to move up and play in the Big South Conference for football?

I would love to see us add scholarships but it will not happen. I keep hoping more D1 schools will adopt the Pioneer's model.

I think the Pioneer is a nice football conference, but too spread out. Which really makes the Big South thing appealing

The A-Sun sits at 9 teams now, which is a perfect number for a nice even 16 game round robin conference basketball schedule. That’s all fine and good. However, I’ve always been a fan of larger conferences, with more variety. That being said, I’d love to see greater expansion if it offered greater competition, or bigger markets, or greater conference comtinuity.

As I posted on another thread.....

NJIT - Slippery Rock - Liberty - Bellarmine - Lipscomb - High Point - UNC Ashville - Winthrop - Charleston So. - North Alabama - Kennesaw St. - Jacksonville - North Florida - Stetson - FGCU