(08-04-2021 03:40 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(08-04-2021 03:07 AM)JSchmack Wrote:  The concept of a C-USA split is that if seven teams leave, they can basically both be considered an existing conference pretty easily. The NCAA isn't in the habit of denying waivers. The Big East split with 7 and 7 pre-existing members (others had been invited to boost FB numbers, but hadn't been together for significant time). ...

The Big East had a stronger case, though, since the split was under by-laws that had been written during and for the previous continuity rule, so they had at least an argument to make for being grandfathered in when the continuity rule rewrite to save the WAC messed up with their existing by-laws as an unintended consequence.

And, after all, the purpose of the delay in granting autobids to conferences is to discourage schools that aren't likely to get in with at-large bids from consuming all of the available bids by gaming the conference champion autobids, and the Big East was not going to be an autobid-only conference. By contrast, CUSA really would be gaming the system, grabbing two autobids where one were taken before. That is exactly the kind of conference formation the rule was intended to discourage.

Yup, but they can still "get away with it" with no problem.

For starters, a 7 and 7 split is totally within the NCAA rules to keep an autobid for themselves, adding one more to every NCAA championship. They MIGHT have to sit out ONE YEAR like the Mountain West did, but that's at worst in all sports non-football.

Plus it opens the door for everyone who wants the NCAA tournament to expand, so they'd face little opposition. EVERYONE thinks they'd win if there were more NCAA bids, from the richest to the poorest.


The problem is that to be recognized as an FBS Conference, it's EIGHT TEAMS for five years together. They'd lose that, and in some view, $18 million from the CFP by being a "Group of Five" conference.

But.. A) the CFP is up for change, and B) so would C-USA. And then factor in that the SEC expansion means Big 12 is backfilling, then AAC is backfilling, then C-USA is doing what? It's all up for renegotiation.

So do it now. You're not going to LOSE any bargaining power when you already had NONE. You're just building a better basketball conference, capable of getting multiple NCAA bids instead of one, and splitting your football CFP pittance less ways. It's pretty much no-lose for them.