(01-31-2020 05:53 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  

(01-31-2020 05:38 PM)teamvsn Wrote:  

(01-31-2020 04:20 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  

(01-31-2020 03:40 PM)teamvsn Wrote:  

(01-31-2020 03:32 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  No one is announcing a move to D-II for this summer? that's rare

Were there any last year? I didn't think so.

last year
Staten Island, Frostburg St.
2018
UT-Tyler, Savannah St.
2017
None

So it would be no NAIA migrations to D2 since 2016. I think that was Biola's class.

There are some schools that are really unhappy with the NAIA division merger for basketball and the things that go along with it. If there were some who were on the fence before, it might push them over. But I suspect it would be more towards D3 rather than D2.

so it is happening? when will they merge?

Oh yes, for sure. It's baked in now. March 2020 is the last year for Division tournaments.

The unhappiness isn't with the merger itself, but the consequences. Division I had 11 scholarships and a 32 team tourney. DII had 6 scholarships and a 32 team tourney. With the merger, there are 8 scholarships with a 64 team "opening round" and 16 team tourney.

So the DII teams believe they will have to spend 2 more scholarships to be competitive, and the DI teams could have to cut up to 3 scholarships. In reality, the two divisions were very near each other in actual average scholarship allocation (about 6 IIRC) but the DII bottom feeders now see themselves even further away from the post season, and the DI schools that are close to fully funded now see themselves having to cut scholarships. But there doesn't appear to be very many of those.

The real blow is the tournament format. The 32 team format is special. 32 teams, 7 days, 1 court. Everybody gets to watch everybody advance or go home. You have (usually) around 24 hours to prepare for the next game. All the teams in 2 or 3 hotels. You KNEW the top 32 teams would all be there. It was a GENUINE national tournament. Many coaches feel really strongly about it. Many stayed in the NAIA rather than take jobs elsewhere because of it. I remember seeing the coach of one frequent participant weeping as he left for the last time, his school going D2. 2020 will be the last year of this tournament.

The new format will be 16 opening round, 4 team tournaments spread around the country. Supposedly it WON'T be a "regional", but will have schools from all over (not like D2 or D3, but more like NCAA D1) but part of the motivation for the new format will be cost savings, so there's skepticism about that claim. Champions of the opening rounds will advance to the "Final Site" for a 16 team tournament. 6 days, 1 court. But no one thinks the best 16 teams will be there, because upsets happen. The fans especially. And to the coaches. it's 4 times as hard to "go to Kansas City" where the men's tourney is held.

So while the merger itself is happening - and I think it's a good thing - there is unhappiness about the terms. There is a block on proposed changes to the scholarship limit and tournament format for 3 years. So, we'll see after a few years if the tournament format or scholarship limits change at that point. My preference is all 64 teams play a 1 game play in against a nearby qualifier matched by seed, and a 32 team tournament. Still a full, traditional NAIA tournament and much slimmer possibility of upsets. And I think the game atmosphere would be much better too. There's a really good chance that those 17-32 seeded teams would be from local conferences and bring local fans.