The North Atlantic Conference will see two institutions (Becker and Elms) move to the newly created New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) for the 2008-09 season.
The NAC Pool A bid earner, Castleton State VT, lost 9-5 to Champion Trinity in the first round of the Regionals and then lost to Harwich Regional finalist Southern Maine, 16-7.
The NAC still had its Pool A bid from 2007 with 6 teams, The NAC saw affiliate member, St Joe's Maine, leave after the 2007 season to the GNAC.
The NAC should see these schools fielding baseball teams in 2009.
Castleton State VT
Husson ME
Lyndon State VT (Provisional year 3)
U Maine-Farmington
Thomas
Conferences have 2 years to return to 7 full NCAA members to retain the AQ (Pool A bid). The 2009 Handbook should be out in March 2009.
GNAC Baseball home page (http://www.thegnac.com/sports/mens/baseball.php)
Ralph,
How many different conferences are there in the New England Region now? Eight? What about Mitchell. I seem to recall reading some post that they are coming into the NE Region region. Are they part of this new conference. It just makes it difficult coming out of an eight team regional or having top teams shipped out to play in an eight team regional . Has the NCAA continued to looking at expanding each regional to include 8 teams for an even playing field. 8 teams - 8 regionals 64 teams? It would seem to allow these new conferences a bite of the pie. We all know that every conference has the upper and lower tier teams. But with conference champions getting an automatic bid, it might place more emphasis on regional play throught the season. Just a thought.
Quote from: ecfaninri on June 01, 2008, 08:38:41 AM
Ralph,
How many different conferences are there in the New England Region now? Eight? What about Mitchell. I seem to recall reading some post that they are coming into the NE Region region. Are they part of this new conference. It just makes it difficult coming out of an eight team regional or having top teams shipped out to play in an eight team regional . Has the NCAA continued to looking at expanding each regional to include 8 teams for an even playing field. 8 teams - 8 regionals 64 teams? It would seem to allow these new conferences a bite of the pie. We all know that every conference has the upper and lower tier teams. But with conference champions getting an automatic bid, it might place more emphasis on regional play through the season. Just a thought.
Mitchell is going into the new New England Collegiate Conference.
The problem with all of these conferences is that a couple may not have the minimum 7 members for the AQ. The strongest New England conferences are stable in baseball.
I am going thru the lists now to check the changes. These conferences are fluid at this time.
CCC -- 12 teams, no changes
GNAC -- 8 teams and losing Daniel Webster
LEC -- 8 teams, no changes
MASCAC -- 7 teams, no changes
NAC -- 6 teams after the loss of St Joe's ME, losing and adding
NECC -- not enough full members to make an AQ (only 6 total so far)
NESCAC -- 10 teams, no changes
NEWMAC -- 7 teams, no changes
Please remember that the NCAA no longer confines a team to its region in post season play. The ability to earn an at-large bid is considered by the committee
on a national basis!
The toughness of the region is one thing. The other thing is the demographical dynamics of how tough the competition is for that next at-large bid.
In baseball, I believe that the top 90 programs are one fielding error allowing unearned runs per season or one bad outing away from earning any bid.
In the ASC, I believe that 7 teams were good enough to earn the AQ. We only got one bid! In the ASC, I can show you where that team should not have lost a game to change the course of its season otherwise.
Webster was not on anyone's radar, but lost the Central region finals. Where were the vaunted CCIW teams at that point? Gone!
Adrian? Huh? Yeah, in the Final four teams playing!
Ralph,
You're right about the ASC, Webster, and certainly Adrian. Stands to reason a 64 team field would be a natural fit since the ultimate is to end up in Appleton on Memorial Day Weekend instead of a picnic or on the beach.
Quote from: ecfaninri on June 01, 2008, 10:12:55 AM
Ralph,
You're right about the ASC, Webster, and certainly Adrian. Stands to reason a 64 team field would be a natural fit since the ultimate is to end up in Appleton on Memorial Day Weekend instead of a picnic or on the beach.
Division III has determined that they will budget for one playoff bid for every 6.5 competitors in every team sport (with a few exceptions on the ratio) and capped at 32 for football (5 weekends) or 64 teams.
I think that we may be due another bid from the schools are being admitted as full members in summer 2008. Whether baseball wants to deal with that awful creation known as the 7-team bracket and fund an odd-number of teams in the playoffs is another matter.
NAC forms partnership in baseball with NEAC
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2009/02/04/6289/nac-neac-form-baseball-partnership.html
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 31, 2008, 02:19:03 PM
The North Atlantic Conference will see two institutions (Becker and Elms) move to the newly created New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) for the 2008-09 season.
The NAC Pool A bid earner, Castleton State VT, lost 9-5 to Champion Trinity in the first round of the Regionals and then lost to Harwich Regional finalist Southern Maine, 16-7.
The NAC still had its Pool A bid from 2007 with 6 teams, The NAC saw affiliate member, St Joe's Maine, leave after the 2007 season to the GNAC.
The NAC should see these schools fielding baseball teams in 2009.
Castleton State VT
Husson ME
Lyndon State VT (Provisional year 3)
U Maine-Farmington
Thomas
Conferences have 2 years to return to 7 full NCAA members to retain the AQ (Pool A bid). The 2009 Handbook should be out in March 2009.
GNAC Baseball home page (http://www.thegnac.com/sports/mens/baseball.php)
Quote from: Jim Dixon on February 04, 2009, 07:08:21 PM
NAC forms partnership in baseball with NEAC
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2009/02/04/6289/nac-neac-form-baseball-partnership.html
That is how they handled it.
In 2010, the new NEAC-East should be
-Castleton State
-Husson
-Lyndon State (4th year-provisional in 2009-10)
-Maine-Farmington
-Thomas
The new NEAC-West should include:
--Cazenovia
--
D'Youville (leaving for the AMCC in 2009-10)
--Keuka
--PSU-Abington (1st-year provisional in 2009-10)
--PSU-Berks
--PSU-Harrisburg (3rd-year provisional in 2009-10)
--SUNY-Cobleskill (2nd-year provisional in 2009-10)
--SUNYIT
NEAC-NAC Press release (http://www.nacathletics.com/news/NEAC_partnership)
As I understand the effect that this has on the Pools, the extra Pool A bid goes back to the Pool B/C allocation.
This also affects the access ratio for Pool B. This year, the NEAC has 5 "Pool A" teams; the NAC has 4 "Pool A" teams. These 9 teams now go into the "access ratio" numerator, and the number of Pool A conferences decreases by one. That slightly increases the access ratio to determine the number of Pool B bids.
this confuses me.
does the NAC have a bid?
if so, whos tops in this conf?
anyone know??
soxfan
It confuses me yoo.... last year Castleton St represented the NAC at the NE Regional I don't know if it was an automatic or an at-large bid because that region has 8 teams in it. USM was an at-large bid because Keene got the automatic slot by winning the LEC.
Castleton should be the AQ, no way could they get an at large.
Husson is only other possibility to win conference and would have to beat Castleton.
Quote from: soxfan42585 on April 22, 2009, 09:28:59 PM
this confuses me.
does the NAC have a bid?
if so, whos tops in this conf?
anyone know??
Sorry for the delay in answering your question.
This happens next year. Both the NAC and the NEAC have bids this season (2009) . Both conferences were going to lose their AQ bids.
By affiliating as they have, they maintain access to one bid. For baseball that will be the NEAC's bid.
I will merger this board into the NEAC board after the season. :)
Guys,
Finally launched my blog that is everything New England D3 Baseball!
Check it out!
http://ned3baseball.wordpress.com/ (http://ned3baseball.wordpress.com/)
Castleton St wins the NAC and goes to PSU-Berks, the NEAC Champion, for the best 2-of-3 series for the NEAC'S bid this weekend.
ERRATA: SUNYIT won the tourney. PSU-Berks won the conference.
http://neacsports.com/sports/bsb/index
My bad. I did not look far enough down the NEAC baseball page.
Thanks and +1 to Rick Vaughn!
Ralph - I have Castleton down to play SUNYIT this weekend? Not sure where PSU-Berks comes from...
The affiliation agreement between the NAC and the NEAC in baseball (and women's lacrosse) will end after the 2012 season.
Let's see if the NAC front office has gotten all of the administrative paperwork done to regain the Pool A bid in 2013.
I will bet that they have.
The net effect will be for there to be one less Pool C bid in 2013.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 29, 2012, 08:02:52 PM
The affiliation agreement between the NAC and the NEAC in baseball (and women's lacrosse) will end after the 2012 season.
Let's see if the NAC front office has gotten all of the administrative paperwork done to regain the Pool A bid in 2013.
I will bet that they have.
The net effect will be for there to be one less Pool C bid in 2013.
Ralph, has the NAC picked up an eighth team? How many AQ's will that make for New England?
Here is the NAC (NEAC-East). It only takes 7 schools to earn the AQ.
Castleton State 21-3 0.875 159 54 30-14 0.682 284 164 6-4 Won 4
Thomas 19-5 0.792 157 60 25-17 0.595 228 187 3-7 Lost 2
Husson 14-8 0.636 120 75 19-18 0.514 187 200 6-4 Lost 2
Colby-Sawyer 10-14 0.417 74 101 20-22 0.476 162 174 6-4 Lost 2
New England College 8-16 0.333 73 134 21-17 0.553 193 185 5-5 Won 1
Maine-Farmington 7-16 0.304 91 142 8-28 0.222 123 259 3-7 Lost 3
Lyndon State 3-20 0.130 44 152 5-26 0.161 71 229 3-7 Lost 4
I count 8 AQ's in New England when the NAC gets it AQ again.
GNAC
LEC
MASCAC
NAC
NECC
NESCAC
NEWMAC
TCCC
2 leagues with no business getting a team in.
Wow the NAC NEAC East is bad.
Looking at some of these teams in this conference it doesnt seem right that one of these teams gets into the tournament but a quality team from another that loses in the conference title game would not. I know that its D3 and that there is no money in athletics, but we see schools leaving leagues all the time to go play in more competitive conferences (WNE and ST Joes of Maine, come to mind in recent history). Could a lack of a pool c bid make some schools go back to weak conferences so that they can punch thier ticket to the regionals every year. I mean Castleton is 21-3 but would what would thier record look like in the LEC, or the NASCAC, or MASCAC. By the same token if you were to put say a middle of the pack team in the LEC say a Umass Boston in the NAC, they would be world beaters.
Is the only qualification 7 teams for an AQ? Is there some kind of "quality" standard? Just curious because i cant see the NAC or NEAC East doing real well in the regionals, not saying it wont happen but Lydon State , New England College is a bit of different competition than ECSU, Wheaton, Salem State, Amherst etc
You want to guarantee yourself a spot in the tournament? Win your conference. It is just like every other NCAA tournament, you aren't going to get the best 64 teams into the field.
Oh i agree WNECalum, if you keep winning you dont have to worry about anything. What did AL Davis always say? Just win baby. I was just wondering how it would it impact the regionals as 8 conferences now have AQ's and that means no pool c bids in the new england regional
The other odd situation we have in D3 baseball is in one of the west coast conferences, where there is a team that has not won a game in at least 4 years, (based on the historical stats that I could see), and most likely even longer. In addition, the score differentials in their losses are to the point of absurdity!!!
I am sorry, but, IMHO allowing teams with this degree of non-competitiveness to play NCAA D3 baseball, degrades college baseball in general and NCAA D3 baseball in particular. ( I could understand a couple of bad years, but the result is the same every year....0 Wins-30 Losses,... no improvement.)
In addition games played against this team guarantees every other team in the Conference at least 3 wins and in essence a "run up" of their statistics which are taken into consideration at NCAA tournament time. Frankly, teams like this should consider playing club baseball, which would in turn, allow their students athletes to compete just as effectively, and, at the same time allow a much more competitive team a chance to play in a more competitive conference.
What also makes the above situation even more bizarre is that the particular institution in question prides itself in being one of the most competitive, and awarding some of the most prestigious mathematics and science degrees in the world!!! :o :o :o However, when it comes to athletics, the school doesn't care about competitiveness!!
We all know of similarly competitive acedemic institutions around the country, and at the same time, these school have some of the best athletic programs in the country. This makes no sense to me!!! Am I missing something??
I know this post sounds like snobbery, but this has bothered me ever since I began posting on these D3baseball threads.
Quote from: KSCfan on May 01, 2012, 09:57:10 AM
Wow the NAC NEAC East is bad.
Looking at some of these teams in this conference it doesnt seem right that one of these teams gets into the tournament but a quality team from another that loses in the conference title game would not. I know that its D3 and that there is no money in athletics, but we see schools leaving leagues all the time to go play in more competitive conferences (WNE and ST Joes of Maine, come to mind in recent history). Could a lack of a pool c bid make some schools go back to weak conferences so that they can punch thier ticket to the regionals every year. I mean Castleton is 21-3 but would what would thier record look like in the LEC, or the NASCAC, or MASCAC. By the same token if you were to put say a middle of the pack team in the LEC say a Umass Boston in the NAC, they would be world beaters.
Is the only qualification 7 teams for an AQ? Is there some kind of "quality" standard? Just curious because i cant see the NAC or NEAC East doing real well in the regionals, not saying it wont happen but Lydon State , New England College is a bit of different competition than ECSU, Wheaton, Salem State, Amherst etc
Actually, this conference has a bid because these schools got together to offer baseball as a conference. Because 7 schools came together (like the 7 schools in the NEWMAC) they got a bid.
If those 7 schools dropped baseball, that bid would go away. The NCAA would not keep funding it.
The quality in D-3 is that you are a student-athlete, "going pro in life".
Give the conference a chance to grow and develop. Would those schools that added baseball as a sport do so with the prospects of being hammered in the LEC? No, and those 25 or so players on the roster probably would not get the chance to play intercollegiate baseball.
How many kids came to college to play baseball and go to school?
Unlike their buddies who quit after high school, went to college and flunked out at the first semester, they continued the routine of school, work-outs (off-season or in-season), study to make your grades and 4 years later have your diploma. That is a really successful program!
If we want to talk quality of teams, let's consider football.
Most of D-III looks at New England football and sees teams that might not be beat their local high school team. (That might be the case, were it not the fact that a 22-year old senior defensive lineman from a New England college probably overwhelms the 16-year old high school offensive guard and sacks the QB before the 17-year old phenom Wide Receiver, who has already committed to the SEC school, can get open.) The worst team in the football power conferences like the ASC and the OAC would compete for the title in most New England football conferences.
As for conference realignment, I think that the "mission-and-vision" stuff is more likely to drive the conference alignments. In D-III, most schools are not worried about winning a national championship. They just want to be competitive. D-III has built strength in the conferences. Schools are adding sports all of the time, so student-athletes can have the experience of playing the game. And when a conference can have a playoff and the winner gets a bid to the national championships...great.
St Josephs ME came from NAIA because they liked the D-III model better than the NAIA model. That says something right there about what we are doing right in D-III. You have the same situation in the Upper Midwest AC (UMAC) where St Scholastica dominates, but some year a team will rise up and knock them off, because there is a conference that provides a framework in which the program can improve.
Quote from: ECSUalum on May 01, 2012, 09:59:45 PM
The other odd situation we have in D3 baseball is in one of the west coast conferences, where there is a team that has not won a game in at least 4 years, (based on the historical stats that I could see), and most likely even longer. In addition, the score differentials in their losses are to the point of absurdity!!!
I am sorry, but, IMHO allowing teams with this degree of non-competitiveness to play NCAA D3 baseball, degrades college baseball in general and NCAA D3 baseball in particular. ( I could understand a couple of bad years, but the result is the same every year....0 Wins-30 Losses,... no improvement.)
In addition games played against this team guarantees every other team in the Conference at least 3 wins and in essence a "run up" of their statistics which are taken into consideration at NCAA tournament time. Frankly, teams like this should consider playing club baseball, which would in turn, allow their students athletes to compete just as effectively, and, at the same time allow a much more competitive team a chance to play in a more competitive conference.
What also makes the above situation even more bizarre is that the particular institution in question prides itself in being one of the most competitive, and awarding some of the most prestigious mathematics and science degrees in the world!!! :o :o :o However, when it comes to athletics, the school doesn't care about competitiveness!!
We all know of similarly competitive acedemic institutions around the country, and at the same time, these school have some of the best athletic programs in the country. This makes no sense to me!!! Am I missing something??
I know this post sounds like snobbery, but this has bothered me ever since I began posting on these D3baseball threads.
Actually the big news for Caltech in the SCIAC is that they are getting better. They beat Babson (14-13) last year. They are becoming more competitive.
I would submit that the guys who are smart enough to get into CalTech and play baseball are probably
not playing baseball and have an academic scholarship somewhere else. If they are good enough to play baseball, then they may have a scholarship to Stanford and/or Rice. Wait! Didn't those two face off in the College World Series a few years ago?
The SCIAC guys will defend Caltech to the bitter end. It is what defines their conference.
Guys are playing in the LEC because they can get playing time and because they may have turned down a partial offer to StonyBrook in the America East. (Stony Brook is the only northeastern school in the D-1 top 30.)
Quote from: KSCfan on May 01, 2012, 11:51:34 AM
Oh i agree WNECalum, if you keep winning you dont have to worry about anything. What did AL Davis always say? Just win baby. I was just wondering how it would it impact the regionals as 8 conferences now have AQ's and that means no pool c bids in the new england regional
The AQ's are determined by conference. Pool C bids are awarded nationally. The fact that the New England Region has 8 Pool A conferences does not mean that no Pool C will be awarded. I think that New England gets 2 Pool C bids this year. The number of Pool C bids is actually determined by how much money the NCAA got from its current March Madness contract that allowed D-III to increase the number of Pool C bids in all sports. We only had 3 Pool C bids in all of D-III back about 2004.
"Just win baby". :)
The New England schools that are not sent to Mansfield will be sent somewhere else
One last point...
The NCAA funds one playoff bid for every 6.5 schools in almost every sport. The brackets have "maxed out" at 64 for Women's Basketball and 32 bids for for football.
We also have to remember that the NAC/NEAC East Division winner does not get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The NEAC East and NEAC West winners meet this weekend in a best-of-three series to determine who gets the automatic NCAA bid. That could change the whole way the seeding is made because all of the NEAC West schools are in the mid-atlantic or new york regions, thus not affecting anyone in New England. If Castleton does win the crossover, which I think they will, I can see them getting shipped to New York but I also see them winning a game if they do make it. Tyler Erickson is a stud on the mound, throwing two complete seven inning games in the same day and then throwing two complete nine inning games in less than 24 hours to lead his team to the NEAC East title.
Teams like Castleton are what is great about D3. Kids getting a chance to play the game they love at the college level. Yes, the NEAC East might not be that strong but look at how great of a season Thomas had and how excited those kids must have been after having losing seasons for a long time. It's good to see and it makes teams in the LEC, NESCAC and NEWMAC play harder every day. Nothing is guaranteed anymore in New England.
Ralph- some great points, thank you for reminding me of my LEC bias. It is important for some of the younger programs to grow and be competitive in conferences that will allow them do so. That is a point I did not consider.
Hobbsey- That kid from Castleton is being straight up abused. I dont care how much of a rubber arm you have, pitching 18 innings in a 24 hour period, and having pitched 14 innings 163 pitches on the same day is a sure fire way to hurt that pitcher. I know that chances are the pitcher will never go pro, and if his arm falls off then so be it, but seriously come on.... there is just no need to throw that much. The coach doesnt have any other pitchers that he can use on his team? What is the Castleton coach going to do if they get to the regionals? Throw Erickson every game in the regionals?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 02, 2012, 12:53:36 AM
Quote from: KSCfan on May 01, 2012, 09:57:10 AM
Wow the NAC NEAC East is bad.
Looking at some of these teams in this conference it doesnt seem right that one of these teams gets into the tournament but a quality team from another that loses in the conference title game would not. I know that its D3 and that there is no money in athletics, but we see schools leaving leagues all the time to go play in more competitive conferences (WNE and ST Joes of Maine, come to mind in recent history). Could a lack of a pool c bid make some schools go back to weak conferences so that they can punch thier ticket to the regionals every year. I mean Castleton is 21-3 but would what would thier record look like in the LEC, or the NASCAC, or MASCAC. By the same token if you were to put say a middle of the pack team in the LEC say a Umass Boston in the NAC, they would be world beaters.
Is the only qualification 7 teams for an AQ? Is there some kind of "quality" standard? Just curious because i cant see the NAC or NEAC East doing real well in the regionals, not saying it wont happen but Lydon State , New England College is a bit of different competition than ECSU, Wheaton, Salem State, Amherst etc
Actually, this conference has a bid because these schools got together to offer baseball as a conference. Because 7 schools came together (like the 7 schools in the NEWMAC) they got a bid.
If those 7 schools dropped baseball, that bid would go away. The NCAA would not keep funding it.
The quality in D-3 is that you are a student-athlete, "going pro in life".
Give the conference a chance to grow and develop. Would those schools that added baseball as a sport do so with the prospects of being hammered in the LEC? No, and those 25 or so players on the roster probably would not get the chance to play intercollegiate baseball.
How many kids came to college to play baseball and go to school?
Unlike their buddies who quit after high school, went to college and flunked out at the first semester, they continued the routine of school, work-outs (off-season or in-season), study to make your grades and 4 years later have your diploma. That is a really successful program!
If we want to talk quality of teams, let's consider football.
Most of D-III looks at New England football and sees teams that might not be beat their local high school team. (That might be the case, were it not the fact that a 22-year old senior defensive lineman from a New England college probably overwhelms the 16-year old high school offensive guard and sacks the QB before the 17-year old phenom Wide Receiver, who has already committed to the SEC school, can get open.) The worst team in the football power conferences like the ASC and the OAC would compete for the title in most New England football conferences.
As for conference realignment, I think that the "mission-and-vision" stuff is more likely to drive the conference alignments. In D-III, most schools are not worried about winning a national championship. They just want to be competitive. D-III has built strength in the conferences. Schools are adding sports all of the time, so student-athletes can have the experience of playing the game. And when a conference can have a playoff and the winner gets a bid to the national championships...great.
St Josephs ME came from NAIA because they liked the D-III model better than the NAIA model. That says something right there about what we are doing right in D-III. You have the same situation in the Upper Midwest AC (UMAC) where St Scholastica dominates, but some year a team will rise up and knock them off, because there is a conference that provides a framework in which the program can improve.
Ralph - If I could give good Karma you would get a +1 from me.
Quote from: KSCfan on May 02, 2012, 02:07:06 PM
Ralph- some great points, thank you for reminding me of my LEC bias. It is important for some of the younger programs to grow and be competitive in conferences that will allow them do so. That is a point I did not consider.
Hobbsey- That kid from Castleton is being straight up abused. I dont care how much of a rubber arm you have, pitching 18 innings in a 24 hour period, and having pitched 14 innings 163 pitches on the same day is a sure fire way to hurt that pitcher. I know that chances are the pitcher will never go pro, and if his arm falls off then so be it, but seriously come on.... there is just no need to throw that much. The coach doesnt have any other pitchers that he can use on his team? What is the Castleton coach going to do if they get to the regionals? Throw Erickson every game in the regionals?
LEC bias? Hey! As a follower of the ASC football, my ASC football bias is bigger than your LEC baseball bias. LOL ;)
The only appearance in the Wisconsin that we have in the ASC includes a first round one run loss by Concordia-TX to ECSU.
You guys in the LEC looking to get to Wisconsin, until the cold hard reality hits you that you still have to get out of the LEC. :)
Welcome to 2013!
Good luck to Colby Sawyer heading to Florida today to start their season. They have a chance to take it all with their pitching.
Colby Sawyer off to a good start with 4 wins in 5 tries, including two shut outs. Also five walks vs 21 K's in five games. The loss, to Lesley was a shut out for four innings. and a complete game 5 hitter for their starter. CSC could only manage 3 hits and committed two errors. Those 9AM games on the day the clocks go ahead are tough. Keep it up Chargers.
Update -- NAC and CUNYAC to play for post-season bid.
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2018/07/cunyac-nac-announce-playin-series
My guess is that the NAC is using its five core members to maintain the Pool A bid and accept the CUNYAC members as "affiliates" for Pool A consideration for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
(I will appreciate other comments, but...) I think that this lays the groundwork for long term arrangement of two conferences to stay out of Pool B and have some playoff fun.
It certainly makes sense to me!
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 19, 2018, 09:47:16 PM
Update -- NAC and CUNYAC to play for post-season bid.
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2018/07/cunyac-nac-announce-playin-series
My guess is that the NAC is using its five core members to maintain the Pool A bid and accept the CUNYAC members as "affiliates" for Pool A consideration for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
(I will appreciate other comments, but...) I think that this lays the groundwork for long term arrangement of two conferences to stay out of Pool B and have some playoff fun.
It certainly makes sense to me!
If we can get the UAA to get 7 teams, we can get rid of Pool B.