Conference changes

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Being an NCAA Provisional team, they are not yet eligible for the NCAA Tournament. In these situations, most leagues award the AQ to the tournament runner-up if they win. So a team might enter a final vs. Brandywine knowing they've won the AQ already.

If I recall, this happened in the SCAC when St. Thomas TX was a provisional.

Yes, I recall those. I did not ask this properly. Why would a conference want a provisional team participating in post-season play?  Or is it a case of they have to?  Or is it in conference bylaws, and changes from conf to conf?

If they're a full conference member, paying full conference dues, they probably have a right to participate.  With the new regulations requiring conference sponsorship for new D3 members, I think they're forced to a more concrete relationship than existed in the past. Previously you could say, "yes, we'll let you in once you're eligible."  Now, the NCAA requires some greater guarantee.

I think that's a guess and not real. Carlow, for example, was not eligible for the AMCC tournament last year.  It is up to every conference to determine how they want to do it, and if a conference decides that it's beneficial to have its transitional/provisional D-III members participate, it can do so. Or it can choose not to. Those who do might well see it as an incentive for those schools to join in the first place, if they are hard up for members, or if there's a school they really want to join.

Carlow's also not eligible this year (right?  their WBB team finished 6th but isn't in the conference tournament).  Presumably that was the deal they worked out when they joined.  I'm just saying, the NCAA does require a conference sponsorship now, which some schools may parlay into full participation sooner than they might have been able to do previously.

It likely just comes down to which party has more leverage in the negotiation for membership.

Seems that way. The Carlow men finished 7th but would have taken the last spot due to Pitt-Bradford's penalty. Instead the 6th seed went to Alfred St who finished 8th.

[jeffconn]

Pratt will move from the Atlantic East to the CUNYAC in 2027-28

https://cunyathletics.com/news/2026/2/25/general-pratt-to-join-new-and-expanded-division-iii-conference-in-2027.aspx

The AEC is in trouble, unless they can add someone. Neumann and Marywood are joining the MAC, and now Pratt is leaving, too. That leaves just five members.

The Atlantic East, Middle Atlantic, Centennial, United East, and Landmark all exist in essentially the same footprint. So the AEC schools will probably jump to one of the other four. I can't foresee any members of the other four conferences wanting to jump to the sinking ship AEC.

Oh yeah, I'm guessing the new moniker for the CUNYAC will be Big Apple Conference, or Little Apple if they wimp out.

[Jake Feldman]

Since the C2C (Formerly Capital Athletic Conference) will be at 8 members with Alverno joining (for women's sports) and 6 core schools in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas (if they get Bob Jones), do you think that the league decides to go to a regional footprint and make UC Santa Cruz join the NWC or SCIAC? It'd make sense since they usually have to travel to C2C events out on the East Coast, and their athletic budget is among the lowest in D3, adding to the school's $80 million overall budget deficit. A move like that would reduce their travel costs, take the budget squeeze off, and also give birth to new rivalries with other West Coast schools.

[jeffconn]

Since the C2C (Formerly Capital Athletic Conference) will be at 8 members with Alverno joining (for women's sports) and 6 core schools in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas (if they get Bob Jones), do you think that the league decides to go to a regional footprint and make UC Santa Cruz join the NWC or SCIAC? It'd make sense since they usually have to travel to C2C events out on the East Coast, and their athletic budget is among the lowest in D3, adding to the school's $80 million overall budget deficit. A move like that would reduce their travel costs, take the budget squeeze off, and also give birth to new rivalries with other West Coast schools.

Bob Jones gave up on going NCAA D3 a few years ago. The C2C isn't going to kick out any school. They need the bodies.

[KnightSlappy]

I doubt the C2C will kick anyone out, but I could see a scenario where they develop critical regional mass, try to implement some sort of regular season schedule, and 'force' the geographic outliers out voluntarily.

Although, in MBB at least, the Christopher Newports and Mary Washingtons don't really want to play the Warren Wilsons or Regents, so I doubt the above would happen any time soon.

[Gregory Sager]

I doubt the C2C will kick anyone out, but I could see a scenario where they develop critical regional mass, try to implement some sort of regular season schedule, and 'force' the geographic outliers out voluntarily.

Although, in MBB at least, the Christopher Newports and Mary Washingtons don't really want to play the Warren Wilsons or Regents, so I doubt the above would happen any time soon.

They may not want to play them, but I'll bet that they'd gladly play them both -- twice apiece, even -- if it meant  an AQ and the bonus of reduced travel costs.

The C2C is highly unlikely to ever grow so large as to inconvenience national contenders like Christopher Newport and Mary Washington with too many burdensome contests against lightweights.

[CNU85]

Looking at the 2023 Equity and Athletics data, UCSC is in the top half of D3 Budgets. #148 out of 407 schools listed. Total Expenses in 2023 were right in line with Salisbury and not far off from UMW. Of the 407 schools, the average was $3,996,280. Santa Cruz expenses were $4,358,257. Salisbury was $4.2 Million (#143). UMW broke into the top 100, coming in at #98 with expenses just below $5 Million

I agree, any school facing deficits should, and probably are, looking for ways to right the ship. However, UCSC is so remote even from those conferences that perhaps their expenses would increase if they were in a conference that actually required regular season conference games. Now, they can pretty much be an independent until the post season and can schedule based on what makes sense for them. Reasonable travel against teams from multiple conferences. There would have to be some study on the impact to them as well as potential impact to the other schools from conferences mentioned. Adding UCSC could possibly add to travel costs for all other conference members.

There is a reason(s) they joined the C2C and not already in another conference out west. Perhaps this is one the reasons.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Neither the SCIAC nor the NWC would ever consider UCSC.  It doesn't make sense for either of them.

They can all schedule UCSC as they see fit without being required to do so.

[Gregory Sager]

Neither the SCIAC nor the NWC would ever consider UCSC.  It doesn't make sense for either of them.

They can all schedule UCSC as they see fit without being required to do so.

This. UCSC is unlike any of the SCIAC schools in two important ways: 1) it's a state school, and the SCIAC consists of private schools; and 2) it's in northern California, and, as the name of the conference indicates, the SCIAC is is in southern California. The Banana Slugs are a five-hour drive away from the nearest SCIAC campus.

The NWC is the same in both respects, except that the distances are even further between UCSC and the Oregon- and Washington-based NWC schools.

[Jake Feldman]

Neither the SCIAC nor the NWC would ever consider UCSC.  It doesn't make sense for either of them.

They can all schedule UCSC as they see fit without being required to do so.

This. UCSC is unlike any of the SCIAC schools in two important ways: 1) it's a state school, and the SCIAC consists of private schools; and 2) it's in northern California, and, as the name of the conference indicates, the SCIAC is is in southern California. The Banana Slugs are a five-hour drive away from the nearest SCIAC campus.

The NWC is the same in both respects, except that the distances are even further between UCSC and the Oregon- and Washington-based NWC schools.

So it looks like they either can go D2/NAIA to cut travel budgets but add scholarships, or stay in C2C and struggle to compete with the Mary Washingtons, Christopher Newports, and Salisburys, all while adding further strain on the overall school budget for possible travel expenses. The SCIAC would be most logical for them, since the LA area is 300 miles away, but I recognize your point.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Neither the SCIAC nor the NWC would ever consider UCSC.  It doesn't make sense for either of them.

They can all schedule UCSC as they see fit without being required to do so.

This. UCSC is unlike any of the SCIAC schools in two important ways: 1) it's a state school, and the SCIAC consists of private schools; and 2) it's in northern California, and, as the name of the conference indicates, the SCIAC is is in southern California. The Banana Slugs are a five-hour drive away from the nearest SCIAC campus.

The NWC is the same in both respects, except that the distances are even further between UCSC and the Oregon- and Washington-based NWC schools.

So it looks like they either can go D2/NAIA to cut travel budgets but add scholarships, or stay in C2C and struggle to compete with the Mary Washingtons, Christopher Newports, and Salisburys, all while adding further strain on the overall school budget for possible travel expenses. The SCIAC would be most logical for them, since the LA area is 300 miles away, but I recognize your point.

The UCSC student body passed an additional fee on themselves a few years back to keep athletics.  The school was independent for a long time.  I think they appreciate having an opportunity to compete for an AQ - and they had a pretty good squad this year.  I think they'll be competitive.  Santa Cruz is a beautiful place to spend four years!

[Jake Feldman]

Neither the SCIAC nor the NWC would ever consider UCSC.  It doesn't make sense for either of them.

They can all schedule UCSC as they see fit without being required to do so.

This. UCSC is unlike any of the SCIAC schools in two important ways: 1) it's a state school, and the SCIAC consists of private schools; and 2) it's in northern California, and, as the name of the conference indicates, the SCIAC is is in southern California. The Banana Slugs are a five-hour drive away from the nearest SCIAC campus.

The NWC is the same in both respects, except that the distances are even further between UCSC and the Oregon- and Washington-based NWC schools.

So it looks like they either can go D2/NAIA to cut travel budgets but add scholarships, or stay in C2C and struggle to compete with the Mary Washingtons, Christopher Newports, and Salisburys, all while adding further strain on the overall school budget for possible travel expenses. The SCIAC would be most logical for them, since the LA area is 300 miles away, but I recognize your point.

The UCSC student body passed an additional fee on themselves a few years back to keep athletics.  The school was independent for a long time.  I think they appreciate having an opportunity to compete for an AQ - and they had a pretty good squad this year.  I think they'll be competitive.  Santa Cruz is a beautiful place to spend four years!

Unless you're a Jewish Student. There's a group trying to shut down the Hillel, and replace it with a more humanistic group that kowtows to SJP.

[Jake Feldman]

Sorry if I'm delving into campus culture wars, I've been stung by the SJP crowd once before.

[Gregory Sager]

Neither the SCIAC nor the NWC would ever consider UCSC.  It doesn't make sense for either of them.

They can all schedule UCSC as they see fit without being required to do so.

This. UCSC is unlike any of the SCIAC schools in two important ways: 1) it's a state school, and the SCIAC consists of private schools; and 2) it's in northern California, and, as the name of the conference indicates, the SCIAC is is in southern California. The Banana Slugs are a five-hour drive away from the nearest SCIAC campus.

The NWC is the same in both respects, except that the distances are even further between UCSC and the Oregon- and Washington-based NWC schools.

So it looks like they either can go D2/NAIA to cut travel budgets but add scholarships, or stay in C2C and struggle to compete with the Mary Washingtons, Christopher Newports, and Salisburys, all while adding further strain on the overall school budget for possible travel expenses. The SCIAC would be most logical for them, since the LA area is 300 miles away, but I recognize your point.

The UCSC student body passed an additional fee on themselves a few years back to keep athletics.

They could probably raise a chunk of athletics money just by aggressively marketing Banana Slugs merch.