The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

(06-20-2022 03:26 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

Bingo

Understanding the history of the CAA is crucial to understanding why things are the way they are. The pursuit of FCS football has led to the giant mismash that exists today. Instead of purposing a Richmond centric merger, the CAA and SoCon should have worked together to form a joint football league with the CAA and SoCon conferences serving as the conference shells for all other sports to allow for the maximization of geographic efficiency.

Ideal 2001 CAA
GMU, VCU, ODU, JMU, W&M, Davidson, UNCG, UNCW, Charleston

Ideal 2001 SoCon
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI

Ideal 2001 SoCon-CAA Football
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI, JMU, W&M, Richmond

(06-20-2022 03:48 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:26 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

Bingo

Understanding the history of the CAA is crucial to understanding why things are the way they are. The pursuit of FCS football has led to the giant mismash that exists today. Instead of purposing a Richmond centric merger, the CAA and SoCon should have worked together to form a joint football league with the CAA and SoCon conferences serving as the conference shells for all other sports to allow for the maximization of geographic efficiency.

Ideal 2001 CAA
GMU, VCU, ODU, JMU, W&M, Davidson, UNCG, UNCW, Charleston

Ideal 2001 SoCon
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI

Ideal 2001 SoCon-CAA Football
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI, JMU, W&M, Richmond

Assuming you still see GMU, VCU, ODU, Davidson, App St, GA Southern, and later JMU leave for other leagues (and VMI and ETSU leave the SoCon but return), the SoCon should be fine with its our-timeline replacements (Elon, Samford, Mercer), but the CAA would presumably have had to expand to the north. And since some of their targets would likely have had FB, that joint SoCon-CAA league is going to get crowded. So I would imagine the CAA starts sponsoring FB eventually, most likely taking over for the A-10 as they did in reality. Come the late 2010s, both the SoCon and CAA end up looking very similar to how they actually did.

(06-20-2022 05:30 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:48 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:26 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

Bingo

Understanding the history of the CAA is crucial to understanding why things are the way they are. The pursuit of FCS football has led to the giant mismash that exists today. Instead of purposing a Richmond centric merger, the CAA and SoCon should have worked together to form a joint football league with the CAA and SoCon conferences serving as the conference shells for all other sports to allow for the maximization of geographic efficiency.

Ideal 2001 CAA
GMU, VCU, ODU, JMU, W&M, Davidson, UNCG, UNCW, Charleston

Ideal 2001 SoCon
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI

Ideal 2001 SoCon-CAA Football
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI, JMU, W&M, Richmond

Assuming you still see GMU, VCU, ODU, Davidson, App St, GA Southern, and later JMU leave for other leagues (and VMI and ETSU leave the SoCon but return), the SoCon should be fine with its our-timeline replacements (Elon, Samford, Mercer), but the CAA would presumably have had to expand to the north. And since some of their targets would likely have had FB, that joint SoCon-CAA league is going to get crowded. So I would imagine the CAA starts sponsoring FB eventually, most likely taking over for the A-10 as they did in reality. Come the late 2010s, both the SoCon and CAA end up looking very similar to how they actually did.

Yeah, the CAA was hurt a lot by schools moving "up" on the athletics ladder. I think most of the realignment moves the conference made were good, but the way the cards played out the league is basically guaranteed to be in a worse state now than it was ~10-15 years ago.

(06-20-2022 06:39 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 05:30 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:48 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:26 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

Bingo

Understanding the history of the CAA is crucial to understanding why things are the way they are. The pursuit of FCS football has led to the giant mismash that exists today. Instead of purposing a Richmond centric merger, the CAA and SoCon should have worked together to form a joint football league with the CAA and SoCon conferences serving as the conference shells for all other sports to allow for the maximization of geographic efficiency.

Ideal 2001 CAA
GMU, VCU, ODU, JMU, W&M, Davidson, UNCG, UNCW, Charleston

Ideal 2001 SoCon
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI

Ideal 2001 SoCon-CAA Football
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI, JMU, W&M, Richmond

Assuming you still see GMU, VCU, ODU, Davidson, App St, GA Southern, and later JMU leave for other leagues (and VMI and ETSU leave the SoCon but return), the SoCon should be fine with its our-timeline replacements (Elon, Samford, Mercer), but the CAA would presumably have had to expand to the north. And since some of their targets would likely have had FB, that joint SoCon-CAA league is going to get crowded. So I would imagine the CAA starts sponsoring FB eventually, most likely taking over for the A-10 as they did in reality. Come the late 2010s, both the SoCon and CAA end up looking very similar to how they actually did.

Yeah, the CAA was hurt a lot by schools moving "up" on the athletics ladder. I think most of the realignment moves the conference made were good, but the way the cards played out the league is basically guaranteed to be in a worse state now than it was ~10-15 years ago.

If the CAA had stayed a tight knit baskebtall centric league, would ODU have ever added football and would VCU and GMU have looked elsewhere.

The A10 was always a threat and if you're going to have a league from Boston to the Carolinas it might as well be the A10. Had the CAA stayed VA centric with a focus on basketball it would have stood a better chance at keeping VCU/ODU/GMU

(06-20-2022 07:49 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 06:39 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 05:30 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:48 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:26 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

Bingo

Understanding the history of the CAA is crucial to understanding why things are the way they are. The pursuit of FCS football has led to the giant mismash that exists today. Instead of purposing a Richmond centric merger, the CAA and SoCon should have worked together to form a joint football league with the CAA and SoCon conferences serving as the conference shells for all other sports to allow for the maximization of geographic efficiency.

Ideal 2001 CAA
GMU, VCU, ODU, JMU, W&M, Davidson, UNCG, UNCW, Charleston

Ideal 2001 SoCon
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI

Ideal 2001 SoCon-CAA Football
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI, JMU, W&M, Richmond

Assuming you still see GMU, VCU, ODU, Davidson, App St, GA Southern, and later JMU leave for other leagues (and VMI and ETSU leave the SoCon but return), the SoCon should be fine with its our-timeline replacements (Elon, Samford, Mercer), but the CAA would presumably have had to expand to the north. And since some of their targets would likely have had FB, that joint SoCon-CAA league is going to get crowded. So I would imagine the CAA starts sponsoring FB eventually, most likely taking over for the A-10 as they did in reality. Come the late 2010s, both the SoCon and CAA end up looking very similar to how they actually did.

Yeah, the CAA was hurt a lot by schools moving "up" on the athletics ladder. I think most of the realignment moves the conference made were good, but the way the cards played out the league is basically guaranteed to be in a worse state now than it was ~10-15 years ago.

If the CAA had stayed a tight knit baskebtall centric league, would ODU have ever added football and would VCU and GMU have looked elsewhere.

The A10 was always a threat and if you're going to have a league from Boston to the Carolinas it might as well be the A10. Had the CAA stayed VA centric with a focus on basketball it would have stood a better chance at keeping VCU/ODU/GMU

Better chance doesn't mean good chance. GMU, VCU, etc. aren't turning down A-10 invites.

(06-20-2022 01:54 PM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:37 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 09:05 AM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-19-2022 08:21 AM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  Why would Fairfield say yes to a Southern football conference though?

The CAA isn't a Southern football conference, so this question is irrelevant.

Did you think a Northeastern basketball conference would invite North Carolina A&T to be a regional rival and NET ranking booster?

Do you think a Southern football conference would include Northeastern and Hofstra as full members, and Maine and New Hampshire as football affiliates?

Northeastern and Hofstra had football when they joined. Football drives the bus in the CAA’s realignment decisions. That would be a mistake for Fairfield’s future. Solohawks’ description is less exaggerated than mine though.

(06-20-2022 07:49 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 06:39 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 05:30 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:48 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 03:26 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Yeah, my stance on the CAA for a while has been that it doesn't really make a ton of sense, but any other options W&M has make even less sense for us. I think a lot of the CAA schools are in that boat.

If you were to ask each of the CAA members to draw up their (realistic) ideal conference, none would come up with the current CAA, but most would probably have 6-8 of the current CAA schools in it.

Bingo

Understanding the history of the CAA is crucial to understanding why things are the way they are. The pursuit of FCS football has led to the giant mismash that exists today. Instead of purposing a Richmond centric merger, the CAA and SoCon should have worked together to form a joint football league with the CAA and SoCon conferences serving as the conference shells for all other sports to allow for the maximization of geographic efficiency.

Ideal 2001 CAA
GMU, VCU, ODU, JMU, W&M, Davidson, UNCG, UNCW, Charleston

Ideal 2001 SoCon
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI

Ideal 2001 SoCon-CAA Football
UTC, ETSU, App St., WCU, GA Southern, Furman, Wofford, Citadel, VMI, JMU, W&M, Richmond

Assuming you still see GMU, VCU, ODU, Davidson, App St, GA Southern, and later JMU leave for other leagues (and VMI and ETSU leave the SoCon but return), the SoCon should be fine with its our-timeline replacements (Elon, Samford, Mercer), but the CAA would presumably have had to expand to the north. And since some of their targets would likely have had FB, that joint SoCon-CAA league is going to get crowded. So I would imagine the CAA starts sponsoring FB eventually, most likely taking over for the A-10 as they did in reality. Come the late 2010s, both the SoCon and CAA end up looking very similar to how they actually did.

Yeah, the CAA was hurt a lot by schools moving "up" on the athletics ladder. I think most of the realignment moves the conference made were good, but the way the cards played out the league is basically guaranteed to be in a worse state now than it was ~10-15 years ago.

If the CAA had stayed a tight knit baskebtall centric league, would ODU have ever added football and would VCU and GMU have looked elsewhere.

The A10 was always a threat and if you're going to have a league from Boston to the Carolinas it might as well be the A10. Had the CAA stayed VA centric with a focus on basketball it would have stood a better chance at keeping VCU/ODU/GMU

The key to the CAA maintaining its core and competing with the A-10 is with Richmond. Had they stayed, and the CAA added Davidson and Charleston, you have a good Virginia/Carolinas conference that would have been built for the long haul. Richmond’s departure in large part led to the expansion that brought in Northeastern schools (and eventually Northeastern), and its cohesiveness diminished even as its basketball standing reached its apex. But Richmond wasn’t going to be the only CAA —> A10 defector

(06-20-2022 09:14 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:54 PM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:37 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 09:05 AM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-19-2022 08:21 AM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  Why would Fairfield say yes to a Southern football conference though?

The CAA isn't a Southern football conference, so this question is irrelevant.

Did you think a Northeastern basketball conference would invite North Carolina A&T to be a regional rival and NET ranking booster?

Do you think a Southern football conference would include Northeastern and Hofstra as full members, and Maine and New Hampshire as football affiliates?

Northeastern and Hofstra had football when they joined. Football drives the bus in the CAA’s realignment decisions. That would be a mistake for Fairfield’s future. Solohawks’ description is less exaggerated than mine though.

Football vs. non-football isn't my issue here. It's your characterization of the CAA as a Southern football conference. The CAA is a Mid-Atlantic all-sports conference, and if anything, has more of a northeast focus in football. There really isn't much that's southern about a conference where Elon and NC A&T are the southernmost football members.

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

The only people who see the CAA that way are constantly disgruntled UNCW fans and posters. First, leave Williamsburg out of this. W&M has rivalries as strong - maybe stronger - with those north of Baltimore (Delaware, Hofstra) than many of those south of it. Second, Elon and Charleston joined to actually be part of conference that stretches up the coast, not restricted in a secondary tier below your Mason Dixon line mentality,

The CAA is an east coast conference with a mid Atlantic core. It’s pretty easy.

Seriously, as much as I admire UNCW, I think you would be so much happier in the Big South. The rest of us enjoy the membership and geography of the league.

(06-21-2022 11:54 AM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 09:14 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:54 PM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:37 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 09:05 AM)jcohen42 Wrote:  The CAA isn't a Southern football conference, so this question is irrelevant.

Did you think a Northeastern basketball conference would invite North Carolina A&T to be a regional rival and NET ranking booster?

Do you think a Southern football conference would include Northeastern and Hofstra as full members, and Maine and New Hampshire as football affiliates?

Northeastern and Hofstra had football when they joined. Football drives the bus in the CAA’s realignment decisions. That would be a mistake for Fairfield’s future. Solohawks’ description is less exaggerated than mine though.

Football vs. non-football isn't my issue here. It's your characterization of the CAA as a Southern football conference. The CAA is a Mid-Atlantic all-sports conference, and if anything, has more of a northeast focus in football. There really isn't much that's southern about a conference where Elon and NC A&T are the southernmost football members.

The solution here would be to convince Northeastern, Hofstra, and Drexel to join the Metro Atlantic. The MAAC will almost certainly eclipse the CAA in NET rankings once all the new football members are added. Sure, CAA Football has lots of affiliates in the Northeast, but who’s voting on CAA all-sports adds? A bunch of schools in the Carolinas and Virginia. If the argument that they’re “not Southern” boils down to Towson and Delaware being considered part of Northeastern states, well, is that who Fairfield wants to throw their lot in with? Especially since those schools could be flight risks to join one of the Southern G5 conferences…

(06-21-2022 12:18 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-21-2022 11:54 AM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 09:14 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:54 PM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:37 PM)CenterSquarEd Wrote:  Did you think a Northeastern basketball conference would invite North Carolina A&T to be a regional rival and NET ranking booster?

Do you think a Southern football conference would include Northeastern and Hofstra as full members, and Maine and New Hampshire as football affiliates?

Northeastern and Hofstra had football when they joined. Football drives the bus in the CAA’s realignment decisions. That would be a mistake for Fairfield’s future. Solohawks’ description is less exaggerated than mine though.

Football vs. non-football isn't my issue here. It's your characterization of the CAA as a Southern football conference. The CAA is a Mid-Atlantic all-sports conference, and if anything, has more of a northeast focus in football. There really isn't much that's southern about a conference where Elon and NC A&T are the southernmost football members.

The solution here would be to convince Northeastern, Hofstra, and Drexel to join the Metro Atlantic. The MAAC will almost certainly eclipse the CAA in NET rankings once all the new football members are added. Sure, CAA Football has lots of affiliates in the Northeast, but who’s voting on CAA all-sports adds? A bunch of schools in the Carolinas and Virginia. If the argument that they’re “not Southern” boils down to Towson and Delaware being considered part of Northeastern states, well, is that who Fairfield wants to throw their lot in with? Especially since those schools could be flight risks to join one of the Southern G5 conferences…

Solution to what? I think Hofstra, Northeastern and Drexel are quite happy in the CAA. There’s more to a conference than just basketball. There’s lacrosse, football, baseball, soccer, etc. That’s probably why Fairfield would benefit. They would be also associating with schools that bring highly rated academics and allow Fairfield to market themselves down the East Coast.

CAA football is a different animal but also a pretty successful contingent.

I’m not sure why you are concerned other than being a MAAC member yourself who I can understand would not want to see someone like Fairfield move out. Maybe they won’t. But I think they would be welcome and are already an affiliate member in lacrosse,

(06-21-2022 12:38 PM)Sitting bull Wrote:  Solution to what? I think Hofstra, Northeastern and Drexel are quite happy in the CAA. There’s more to a conference than just basketball. There’s lacrosse, football, baseball, soccer, etc. That’s probably why Fairfield would benefit. They would be also associating with schools that bring highly rated academics and allow Fairfield to market themselves down the East Coast.

CAA football is a different animal but also a pretty successful contingent.

I’m not sure why you are concerned other than being a MAAC member yourself who I can understand would not want to see someone like Fairfield move out. Maybe they won’t. But I think they would be welcome and are already an affiliate member in lacrosse,

Hey, if Southern football realignmentologists are going to prognosticate about which Northeastern basketball schools are going to leave their conference, I don’t think my own speculation in response should be particularly concerning to anyone. Fairfield’s administrators are going to do whatever they want. They already get to play CAA lacrosse without needing to sacrifice basketball quality or eat more travel costs for soccer, etc. Just don’t assume that one person’s idea of pecking order is everybody else’s idea of pecking order.

Fairfield would be in a Division with a Boston (Northeastern), two Long Island (Stony Brook, Hofstra), a New Jersey (Monmouth), and two greater Philly area (Drexel, Delaware) schools. UDEL very much pulls Northeast, with a large number of it's students from PA, NJ, NY, CT plus CA, as well as DMV schools for its >60% out of state student population.

Towson, W&M, Hampton, NC A&T, Elon, UNCG and Charleston make up the South Division. Even without formal divisions, scheduling skews heavily toward those shadow divisions. For an 16-18 game Volleyball and basketball schedules, Fairfield can count on 12 of their games being against that north, and 2-4 of the remaining home games against the Southern ones; just one trip to the Southern Division (two in basketball every other year). Certainly no worse than a Canisius & Niagara trip; frankly much better in distance and climate than Buffalo, especially if one is also coordinating with student recruiting from the growing cities of the coastal south in DMV and the Carolinas.

Academically association with the likes of Drexel, UDel, Hofstra, Stony Brook, Northeastern and Elon is nothing to sneeze at. UDel being the only real potential flight risk and a low one at that. Playing a couple HBCUs can be useful in diversity student recruitment. Overall I think the arguments for the CAA far outweigh the negatives, as these are better name recognition schools. But apparently concerns about needing to improve their athletics to compete and not wanting to allocate much in the way of additional resources to it seems to be the real sticking point.

(06-21-2022 12:53 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Fairfield would be in a Division with a Boston (Northeastern), two Long Island (Stony Brook, Hofstra), a New Jersey (Monmouth), and two greater Philly area (Drexel, Delaware) schools. UDEL very much pulls Northeast, with a large number of it's students from PA, NJ, NY, CT plus CA, as well as DMV schools for its >60% out of state student population.

Towson, W&M, Hampton, NC A&T, Elon, UNCG and Charleston make up the South Division. Even without formal divisions, scheduling skews heavily toward those shadow divisions. For an 16-18 game Volleyball and basketball schedules, Fairfield can count on 12 of their games being against that north, and 2-4 of the remaining home games against the Southern ones; just one trip to the Southern Division (two in basketball every other year). Certainly no worse than a Canisius & Niagara trip; frankly much better in distance and climate than Buffalo, especially if one is also coordinating with student recruiting from the growing cities of the coastal south in DMV and the Carolinas.

Academically association with the likes of Drexel, UDel, Hofstra, Stony Brook, Northeastern and Elon is nothing to sneeze at. UDel being the only real potential flight risk and a low one at that. Playing a couple HBCUs can be useful in diversity student recruitment. Overall I think the arguments for the CAA far outweigh the negatives, as these are better name recognition schools. But apparently concerns about needing to improve their athletics to compete and not wanting to allocate much in the way of additional resources to it seems to be the real sticking point.

Well now I feel left out

(06-21-2022 12:14 PM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

The only people who see the CAA that way are constantly disgruntled UNCW fans and posters. First, leave Williamsburg out of this. W&M has rivalries as strong - maybe stronger - with those north of Baltimore (Delaware, Hofstra) than many of those south of it. Second, Elon and Charleston joined to actually be part of conference that stretches up the coast, not restricted in a secondary tier below your Mason Dixon line mentality,

The CAA is an east coast conference with a mid Atlantic core. It’s pretty easy.

Seriously, as much as I admire UNCW, I think you would be so much happier in the Big South. The rest of us enjoy the membership and geography of the league.

Elon and Charleston joined the CAA because there was a mass exodus in the SoCon and the CAA looked like a better bet

No one liked a 1 bid round robin no TV money conference that stretched from Boston to Charleston. It was dumb and the new additions should help minimize travel costs. If there is no money financing an ACC like footprint, there is no point in having one. Divisions are the only way forward for such a geographically spread out CAA

(06-21-2022 01:28 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-21-2022 12:14 PM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  The CAA is a 7 team basketball division from Boston to Baltimore and a 6 team basketball division from Williamsburg to Charleston joined together by history and FCS football.

The only people who see the CAA that way are constantly disgruntled UNCW fans and posters. First, leave Williamsburg out of this. W&M has rivalries as strong - maybe stronger - with those north of Baltimore (Delaware, Hofstra) than many of those south of it. Second, Elon and Charleston joined to actually be part of conference that stretches up the coast, not restricted in a secondary tier below your Mason Dixon line mentality,

The CAA is an east coast conference with a mid Atlantic core. It’s pretty easy.

Seriously, as much as I admire UNCW, I think you would be so much happier in the Big South. The rest of us enjoy the membership and geography of the league.

Elon and Charleston joined the CAA because there was a mass exodus in the SoCon and the CAA looked like a better bet

No one liked a 1 bid round robin no TV money conference that stretched from Boston to Charleston. It was dumb and the new additions should help minimize travel costs. If there is no money financing an ACC like footprint, there is no point in having one. Divisions are the only way forward for such a geographically spread out CAA

No need to try rewrite history. Elon and Charleston left because they wanted to broaden their appeal up the East Coast. They stated that. They pull students from the northeast. There was no pressure for either to leave the So Con. if playing in a southern only conference was their goal, they would have stayed. It wasn’t.

And you don’t need Divisions. You can pod schedule like the A10. Most would probably prefer that.

I get your angst at UNCW. You don’t like the geographical stretch. That’s fine. I just can’t understand why you don’t leave. You have options - the Big South, ASun, So Con. Everyone else in the CAA is pretty happy and it’s not like there aren’t other schools who would consider taking your spot.

(06-21-2022 01:17 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  

(06-21-2022 12:53 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Fairfield would be in a Division with a Boston (Northeastern), two Long Island (Stony Brook, Hofstra), a New Jersey (Monmouth), and two greater Philly area (Drexel, Delaware) schools. UDEL very much pulls Northeast, with a large number of it's students from PA, NJ, NY, CT plus CA, as well as DMV schools for its >60% out of state student population.

Towson, W&M, Hampton, NC A&T, Elon, UNCG and Charleston make up the South Division. Even without formal divisions, scheduling skews heavily toward those shadow divisions. For an 16-18 game Volleyball and basketball schedules, Fairfield can count on 12 of their games being against that north, and 2-4 of the remaining home games against the Southern ones; just one trip to the Southern Division (two in basketball every other year). Certainly no worse than a Canisius & Niagara trip; frankly much better in distance and climate than Buffalo, especially if one is also coordinating with student recruiting from the growing cities of the coastal south in DMV and the Carolinas.

Academically association with the likes of Drexel, UDel, Hofstra, Stony Brook, Northeastern and Elon is nothing to sneeze at. UDel being the only real potential flight risk and a low one at that. Playing a couple HBCUs can be useful in diversity student recruitment. Overall I think the arguments for the CAA far outweigh the negatives, as these are better name recognition schools. But apparently concerns about needing to improve their athletics to compete and not wanting to allocate much in the way of additional resources to it seems to be the real sticking point.

Well now I feel left out

W&M is the highest ranked member academically in the CAA. Northeastern is #2. The CAA actually has 6 members ranked this year in the US News top 100 nationally ranked universities. The MAAC has none. That’s another reason why Fairfield may find it attractive.

Fairfield also has 25K+ alums in the Tri-State area. I know a couple of folks who were nursing majors when they went there living here in Charleston. They have a pretty good nursing school in addition to everything else they have.

I think Fairfield would like to get their name more out there especially with the new on-campus arena.

I would prefer a southern school, but the CAA would rather get more into TV markets especially for their new media deal. Would you rather have Fairfield or High Point?

I think Winthrop would also be a decent option (especially with its access to the Charlotte Airport) but I don't think their Olympic sports would like trading their furthest trip being Radford or Longwood for playing games in Long Island and Boston.