Quote from: Gregory Sager on July 01, 2026, 12:47:06 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on July 01, 2026, 12:22:40 PMGiven the growth of the C2C in Virginia/North Carolina with the additions of J&W Charlotte and Regent (once the latter fully transitions), I wouldn't be too surprised if they ditch UC Santa Cruz and Alverno and just form a conference of their own.  It's too bad because UCSC doesn't have a lot of options for conferences that would take them given their size and public status.  They likely would have to go independent, but they play as an independent for regular season scheduling already.  Alverno is only restarting athletics and has a lot of nearby options if they can get somewhat competitive.

Sadly, I'm pretty sure that Alverno will cease to exist within the next few years, making a quest for a new conference affiliation a moot point. If somehow the school beats the odds and manages to survive, it's likely to be without athletics. The Inferno have mostly been awful across the board when it comes to sports in the quarter-century-plus that they've been D3, and I don't think that they were any better when they were NAIA before that. More to the point, fielding full rosters has been a chronic problem for them over the years, so it doesn't seem like the school has ever tried to use athletic recruiting as an admissions tool.

It seems to me Alverno only serves as a matter of short-term convenience for the C2C anyway as it allows them to retain at least retain their AQs for women's sports. The men's side has exhausted their grace period and now has to wait until Regent and JWU Charlotte are fully countable. It may sound callous but Alverno's status is rather superfluous to the league at that point.

I know the C2C is controversial but I'm glad it exists as it does to at least provide some kind of option of last resort. It would be a shame to see Santa Cruz kicked to the curb. If that does happen, maybe they would be an interesting travel partner with Colorado College in the SCAC?

Happy July 1, the day on which most (all?) of the conference changes for the 2026-2027 become official.
I was reminded of this thanks to the New Paltz X account: https://x.com/NewPaltzMBB/status/2072321095835783376

Quote from: BaboNation on June 03, 2026, 12:23:21 PM

Quote from: ziggy on June 03, 2026, 10:47:54 AM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 24, 2026, 10:45:30 AMThere's nobody in the NEWMAC who shies away from competition.  Maybe CGA, Emerson, and Salve could do a little better, but they're not dragging anybody down.  The teams need to be good enough to win some of those games, but you've got a lot of serious programs and serious coaches.  I don't think it'll be an issue for NPI.

In strict NPI terms, if you go 0-5 in your toughest non-conference games, you over-scheduled. If you go 5-0, you may have under-scheduled. A conference's at-large chances really comes down to each team in the league being able to find and perform at their sweet spot waaaaay more than whether a conference schedule is 14 or 16 or 18 games.

I just think that as the number of conference games increase and as the number of non-conference (discretionary) games decrease the overall strength of the conference can play a big factor, good or bad.  And the overall strength of the conference can be measured by how well you do in those discretionary games, which are ideally against reasonably good teams.  If too many teams within the conference find their sweet spot in the 225+ rankings they'd better do well in those games.

Right, a conference game is by definition a .500 outcome for the league as a whole whereas two teams playing non-conference games could go 1.000 (or 0.000). Playing fewer non-conference games would be a positive for a conference that would otherwise aggregate a below .500 mark in those games and a negative for a conference whose teams would combine to go better than .500.

Regardless of the number, at-large chances really come down to having a depth of teams that can stack up as many wins as possible against as good of competition as they can get them. *Almost* any win is better than any loss.

It's in a team and conferences best interest to have all non-conference schedules tuned to the appropriate level to balance risk and reward.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 24, 2026, 10:45:30 AMThere's nobody in the NEWMAC who shies away from competition.  Maybe CGA, Emerson, and Salve could do a little better, but they're not dragging anybody down.  The teams need to be good enough to win some of those games, but you've got a lot of serious programs and serious coaches.  I don't think it'll be an issue for NPI.

In strict NPI terms, if you go 0-5 in your toughest non-conference games, you over-scheduled. If you go 5-0, you may have under-scheduled. A conference's at-large chances really comes down to each team in the league being able to find and perform at their sweet spot waaaaay more than whether a conference schedule is 14 or 16 or 18 games.

Quote from: FCGrizzliesGrad on January 15, 2026, 02:51:27 PMThe MIAA-HCAC challenge will continue through 2028. They will now use NPI to determine the matchups (and have an agreement to bring in an OAC team to even the numbers to 8-8). 2026 (and 2028) will be hosted by the HCAC.

Here are the games listed for week 3 (Sept 19) of the 2026 season with their final 2025 NPI ranking:
Hope (17) @ Hanover (26)
Alma (24) @ Baldwin Wallace (45)
Adrian (50) @ Mount St. Joseph (95)
Calvin (56) @ Franklin (121)
Trine (100) @ Bluffton (149)
Albion (162) @ Rose-Hulman (175)
Kalamazoo (155) @ Anderson (208)
Olivet (204) @ Manchester (235)

Seems like Albion and Kalamazoo are flipped. Maybe one of the correct matchups is already scheduled so they adjusted it?

With full schedules available now it looks like we can chalk the Albion-Kalamazoo swap to Kalamazoo and Rose-Hulman already scheduled to play each other the week before.

Bringing this back forward with the news of VTSU Castleton (or whatever) moving from the Little East to fill the Anna Maria-sized hole in the MASCAC. (Also added a note about VWU's name change which happens July 1).

Provisional Pipeline for 2026-27 (expected)
3rd year provisional members: Carlow, Penn State-Brandywine
2nd year provisional members: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)
1st year provisional members: Azusa Pacific (reclassification from D2), St. Francis (PA) (reclassification from D1)
Exploratory year: Maine-Augusta

Provisional Pipeline for 2027-28 (expected)
Full Membership: Carlow, Penn State-Brandywine
3rd year provisional members: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)
2nd year provisional members: Azusa Pacific (reclassification from D2), St. Francis (PA) (reclassification from D1)
1st year provisional members: St. Anselm (reclassification from D2)

*Games against Year 3 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for NPI and tournament selection purposes (possibly changing to include provisionals that conform to all D3 bylaws but may be earlier in the pipeline)

Conference Changes Starting in 2026-2027
Alfred State leaves the AMCC for the SUNYAC
Alverno (Women only) leaves the NACC for the C2C
Anna Maria (MASCAC) closes
Azusa Pacific joins the SCIAC (full D3 member 2028-29 academic year)
Luther leaves the ARC for the MWC
Maryville leaves the CCS for the SAA
Marywood leaves the AEC for the MAC Freedom
McMurry leaves the SCAC for the ASC
Neumann leaves the AEC for the MAC Commonwealth
New Jersey City leaves the NJAC for the CUNYAC merges into Kean (no NJCU NCAA D3 athletics)
Rosemont (UEC) ceases athletics (merging into Villanova)
St. Francis (PA) joins the PAC (full D3 member 2028-29 academic year)
Schreiner leaves the SCAC for the ASC
SUNY Cobleskill leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY Delhi leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY New Paltz leaves the SUNYAC for the NJAC
Wesleyan (Ga.) (Women only) leaves the D3 for NAIA
Virginia Wesleyan becomes Batten University (effective July 1, 2026)
Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids (C2C loses MBB AQ)

Conference Changes Starting in 2027-2028
Concordia (WI) leaves the NACC for the CCIW
Keuka leaves the Empire 8 for the AMCC
Pratt leaves the AEC for the CUNYAC
St. Anselm joins the NEWMAC (full D3 member 2029-2030 academic year)
St. Elizabeth leaves the AEC for the CUNYAC
Vermont State Castleton leaves the LEC for the MASCAC
Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids (C2C remains without MBB AQ)

Quote from: WUPHF on May 16, 2026, 03:15:45 PM

Quote from: ziggy on May 16, 2026, 02:39:09 PMIt seems to me any school carrying debt has a fairly obvious target for funds that are otherwise unallocated.

Say you have never worked at a college or university without saying you have never worked at a college or university.

My perspective is admittedly driven by more of my approach to personal finance than the operational norms of institutions of higher learning.

It seems to me any school carrying debt has a fairly obvious target for funds that are otherwise unallocated.

Quote from: goodknight on April 25, 2026, 03:03:51 PMTitus Spencer, the 5-11 pg from Holland (MI) Christian High School, has committed to Calvin University.

It seems Titus Spencer is heading to Cornerstone instead.

Quote from: scottiedoug on May 12, 2026, 05:40:19 PMWell so much for resisting.  Here is Maryville's posting about this error.

https://mcscots.com/news/2026/5/12/general-saa-announces-exclusive-media-rights-partnership-with-flosports.aspx

It was a poorly-kept secret that the SAA would go this direction, however attached to what I had heard was that Trinity would be an opt-out, as they were when the SCAC deal was announced prior to their departure. Perhaps the silence out of San Antonio speaks for itself, but the announcements out there don't indicate any schools will operate outside this agreement.

QuoteThrough this agreement, FloSports will serve as the global home for live and on-demand SAA competitions across its member institutions.

QuoteThe SAA's core membership includes Berry College, Centre College, Maryville College, Millsaps College, Oglethorpe University, Rhodes College, The University of the South (Sewanee), Southwestern University, and Trinity University.

Listing Trinity as a core member of the conference is factually correct regardless of whether or not they are part of this deal and it wouldn't be a surprise for those putting together this "exciting" announcement to not watn to mention that a school has opted out. Will be interesting to see if Trinity addresses this directly soon.

Bringing this back forward:

Provisional Pipeline for 2025-26 (confirmed)
Full Membership: Hartford, Lyon
3rd year provisional members: none
2nd year provisional members: Carlow, Penn State-Brandywine
1st year provisional members: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)

Provisional Pipeline for 2026-27 (expected)
3rd year provisional members: Carlow, Penn State-Brandywine
2nd year provisional members: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)
1st year provisional members: Azusa Pacific (reclassification from D2), St. Francis (PA) (reclassification from D1)
Exploratory year: Maine-Augusta

Provisional Pipeline for 2027-28 (expected)
Full Membership: Carlow, Penn State-Brandywine
3rd year provisional members: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)
2nd year provisional members: Azusa Pacific (reclassification from D2), St. Francis (PA) (reclassification from D1)
1st year provisional members: St. Anselm (reclassification from D2)

*Games against Year 3 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for NPI and tournament selection purposes (possibly changing to include provisionals that conform to all D3 bylaws but may be earlier in the pipeline)

Conference Changes Starting in 2025-2026
Anna Maria leaves GNAC for the MASCAC
Bryn Athyn (UEC) drops athletics
Ferrum leaves the ODAC for D2
Fontbonne (SLIAC) closes
Hendrix leaves the SAA for the SCAC
Hiram leaves the NCAC for the PAC
John Carroll leaves the OAC for the NCAC
Johnson & Wales (NC) joins the C2C
Johnson & Wales (RI) leaves the GNAC for the CNE
Keystone (UEC) is doing the limbo, but allowed to play
LeTourneau leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Northland closes
Regent joins the C2C
Southwestern leaves the SCAC for the SAA
St. Elizabeth leaves the UEC for the AEC
Trinity (Texas) leaves the SCAC for the SAA
Expecting 43 automatic bids, 21 at-large bids

Conference Changes Starting in 2026-2027
Alfred State leaves the AMCC for the SUNYAC
Alverno (Women only) leaves the NACC for the C2C
Anna Maria (MASCAC) closes
Azusa Pacific joins the SCIAC (full D3 member 2028-29 academic year)
Luther leaves the ARC for the MWC
Maryville leaves the CCS for the SAA
Marywood leaves the AEC for the MAC Freedom
McMurry leaves the SCAC for the ASC
Neumann leaves the AEC for the MAC Commonwealth
New Jersey City leaves the NJAC for the CUNYAC merges into Kean (no NJCU NCAA D3 athletics)
Rosemont (UEC) ceases athletics (merging into Villanova)
St. Francis (PA) joins the PAC (full D3 member 2028-29 academic year)
Schreiner leaves the SCAC for the ASC
SUNY Cobleskill leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY Delhi leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY New Paltz leaves the SUNYAC for the NJAC
Wesleyan (Ga.) (Women only) leaves the D3 for NAIA
Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids (C2C loses MBB AQ)

Conference Changes Starting in 2027-2028
Concordia (WI) leaves the NACC for the CCIW
Keuka leaves the Empire 8 for the AMCC
Pratt leaves the AEC for the CUNYAC
St. Anselm joins the NEWMAC (full D3 member 2029-2030 academic year)
St. Elizabeth leaves the AEC for the CUNYAC
Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids (C2C remains without MBB AQ)

Now public, Overway to Green Bay: https://x.com/i/status/2044944227554013190

Green Bay has been very active with high-level D3 players in the portal the last couple years - some they've gotten, and some they haven't. Justin Allen had a big year for them this past season after transferring from Carnegie Melon.

It looks like the C2C will officially be without their AQ to the men's basketball tournament for the next two years as they have used up the two-year grace period and Regent and JWU Charlotte are two years away from getting the conference back to the membership minimum for an automatic bid.

The league made a waiver request to the championships committee but the group did not support it, noting that they "understood the rationale but did not support granting a waiver that would in effect double the grace period and set an undesired precedent."

Bringing this back forward:

Provisional Pipeline for 2025-26 (now confirmed)
Full Membership: Hartford, Lyon
3rd year provisional members: none
2nd year provisional members: Carlow, Penn State-Brandywine
1st year provisional members: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)

Provisional Pipeline for 2026-27
1st year provisional members: Azusa Pacific (reclassification from D2), St. Francis (PA) (reclassification from D1)
Exploratory year: Maine-Augusta

*Games against Year 3 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for NPI and tournament selection purposes (possibly changing to include provisionals that conform to all D3 bylaws but may be earlier in the pipeline)

Conference Changes Starting in 2025-2026
Anna Maria leaves GNAC for the MASCAC
Bryn Athyn (UEC) drops athletics
Ferrum leaves the ODAC for D2
Fontbonne (SLIAC) closes
Hendrix leaves the SAA for the SCAC
Hiram leaves the NCAC for the PAC
John Carroll leaves the OAC for the NCAC
Johnson & Wales (NC) joins the C2C
Johnson & Wales (RI) leaves the GNAC for the CNE
Keystone (UEC) is doing the limbo, but allowed to play
LeTourneau leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Northland closes
Regent joins the C2C
Southwestern leaves the SCAC for the SAA
St. Elizabeth leaves the UEC for the AEC
Trinity (Texas) leaves the SCAC for the SAA
Expecting 43 automatic bids, 21 at-large bids

Conference Changes Starting in 2026-2027
Alfred State leaves the AMCC for the SUNYAC
Alverno (Women only) leaves the NACC for the C2C
Asuza Pacific joins the SCIAC (full D3 member 2028-29 academic year)
Luther leaves the ARC for the MWC
Maryville leaves the CCS for the SAA
Marywood leaves the AEC for the MAC Freedom
McMurry leaves the SCAC for the ASC
Neumann leaves the AEC for the MAC Commonwealth
New Jersey City leaves the NJAC for the CUNYAC merges into Kean (no NJCU NCAA D3 athletics)
Rosemont (UEC) ceases athletics (merging into Villanova)
St. Francis (PA) joins the PAC (full D3 member 2028-29 academic year)
Schreiner leaves the SCAC for the ASC
SUNY Cobleskill leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY Delhi leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY New Paltz leaves the SUNYAC for the NJAC
Wesleyan (Ga.) (Women only) leaves the D3 for NAIA
Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids (C2C loses MBB AQ)

Conference Changes Starting in 2027-2028
Concordia (WI) leaves the NACC for the CCIW
Keuka leaves the Empire 8 for the AMCC
Pratt leaves the AEC for the CUNYAC
St. Elizabeth leaves the AEC for the CUNYAC
Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids (C2C remains without MBB AQ)

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 09, 2026, 10:34:53 AM

Quote from: ziggy on April 08, 2026, 09:01:28 PMAlverno moving to the C2C saves the WBB AQ but MBB will lose it staring next season until Regent and JWU Charlotte are full D3 members?

There may be an AEC school or two ripe for the picking.  They have to get someone in immediately, though, which might be problematic.

Right. C2C just used up their second year of the grace period on the men's side, so barring an immediate addition who moves over for the '26-'27 year, next MBB season will have one fewer automatic bids and one more at-large bids.

Assuming I am correct on all that, we can add the "Expecting 42 automatic bids, 22 at-large bids" line to the bottom of the '26-'27 rundown. I noticed that part was missing.

I believe it would be the same for '27-'28 (at least until some kind of news breaks that would change that). Regent and JWU Charlotte would be countable as D3 competition but I don't think that is enough to meet the membership minimum for regaining the AQ until the following year when they are full members.