(08-04-2021 03:53 AM)JSchmack Wrote:  

(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. ...

In basketball it's after 7 years have elapsed for the one that does not have retain the CUSA conference organization. The "play together for X years" continuity rule was thrown out after the MWC airport meeting, on the pretext of rescuing the WAC, but with the intention of preventing the proliferation of Division 1 basketball conferences encroaching on the tournament at-large spots.

The Big East waiver had a pro forma argument, but also the pragmatic argument that the Big East champion was likely to have an at-large spot if there was no autobid, so it wasn't seen as likely to encroach on the at-large spots available to the other power conferences.

But split CUSA, there's only going to be one autobid available at the outset, to whichever one of the pair is the heir to the CUSA charter.