A Sea Of Red

Liberty to make major conference affiliation announcement, sources say

http://www.aseaofred.com/liberty-to-mak ... ouncement/

Reasons why this would actually be a really good move for us:

1) Destination cities people want to visit and places we already have large alumni bases. We're swapping out Clinton, SC; Buies Creek, NC; and Farmville, VA for Atlanta, Nashville, and multiple trips to Florida.

2) In baseball the conference RPI is 7. Big South is 22. 7 of 8 teams are inside the top 200. 6 in the top 150.

3) Basketball is 6 spots behind the Big South but with us coming in it should go higher. Also has a better program (FGCU) than any team in the Big South.

4) WBB had 2 top 100 RPI teams this year and Stetson is traditionally in that mix although they were down this year. WBB RPI was 23. BS is 27. But take us out and that drops. Add us to ASun it goes up. So there’s another plus.

5) It helps MBB recruiting because now you go to Florida multiple times per year. Thats a state that has tons of private Christian schools with good programs. You tell those kids and their parents they can play in front of family for half the conference schedule and that’s big.

6) For softball, 4 of the 7 teams in the league won 30+ this year.

7) We essentially replace USCU and are better across the board than they are. That's an instant RPI boost to a league that is already rated better than the Big South in most sports.

What? Atlantic Sun Conference? That might be a step down for us??? I'm not even sure what to think. No one's even close to us.

Whats a abetter conference? ASUN or BS?


ASUN -
FGCU
Lipscomb
Jacksonville
NJIT
North Florida
Kennesaw State
Stetson
USC Upstate

Big South -
Campbell
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
High Point
Liberty
Longwood
Presbyterian
Radford
UNC Asheville
Winthrop

I admit - I don't know much and maybe t he BS team's just are more familiar to me, but doesn't look like an upgrade.

Thoughts?

Jonathan Carone wrote:Reasons why this would actually be a really good move for us:

1) Destination cities people want to visit and places we already have large alumni bases. We're swapping out Clinton, SC; Buies Creek, NC; and Farmville, VA for Atlanta, Nashville, and multiple trips to Florida.

2) In baseball the conference RPI is 7. Big South is 22. 7 of 8 teams are inside the top 200. 6 in the top 150.

3) Basketball is 6 spots behind the Big South but with us coming in it should go higher. Also has a better program (FGCU) than any team in the Big South.

4) WBB had 2 top 100 RPI teams this year and Stetson is traditionally in that mix although they were down this year. WBB RPI was 23. BS is 27. But take us out and that drops. Add us to ASun it goes up. So there’s another plus.

5) It helps MBB recruiting because now you go to Florida multiple times per year. Thats a state that has tons of private Christian schools with good programs. You tell those kids and their parents they can play in front of family for half the conference schedule and that’s big.

6) For softball, 4 of the 7 teams in the league won 30+ this year.

7) We essentially replace USCU and are better across the board than they are. That's an instant RPI boost to a league that is already rated better than the Big South in most sports.

Thanks for this Jon. Admit i know nothing about them and this seems to be better for us. Maybe reports are wrong and it's The ACC;) [I'm just kidding - I know there is no way we join a big conference]

#8 to SJs list.

We will avoid having to play Charleston Southern, where our recently fired AD is rumored to be hired.

It seems this is a preventive measure to help avoid the big south kicking us out at some point in the future.

A lot of ways it is a lateral move but as Jon pointed out there are some pretty solid positives. I can't think of any negatives but I also despise the Big South and being from Florida I am fairly familiar with the A-Sun.

Cool, at the least it's a change of scenery.

R i wrote:#8 to SJs list.

We will avoid having to play Charleston Southern, where our recently fired AD is rumored to be hired.

LOL. That seems like a reason to stay;)

Rpi wise and recruiting wise its better. Travel wise it stinks but its probably pre emptive in nature.

thepostman wrote:It seems this is a preventive measure to help avoid the big south kicking us out at some point in the future.

It’s either that or the move was forced by the Big South. I don’t know the answer to that yet. Have heard both.

jinxy wrote:Rpi wise and recruiting wise its better. Travel wise it stinks but its probably pre emptive in nature.

I had this exact conversation earlier today and was convinced it’s actually a win. The alumni/fan bases around the Big South schools is significantly lower than the bigger cities of the ASun. On top of that, the fans in the Carolinas/Virginia might be more inclined to visit Lynchburg for a home game than they would be with the local Big South schools. So while most fans can’t go to more away games, it sets up nicely for more fans to attend a game.

Jonathan Carone wrote:

jinxy wrote:Rpi wise and recruiting wise its better. Travel wise it stinks but its probably pre emptive in nature.

I had this exact conversation earlier today and was convinced it’s actually a win. The alumni/fan bases around the Big South schools is significantly lower than the bigger cities of the ASun. On top of that, the fans in the Carolinas/Virginia might be more inclined to visit Lynchburg for a home game than they would be with the local Big South schools. So while most fans can’t go to more away games, it sets up nicely for more fans to attend a game.

Liberty needs to take over airport and get that fixed. We need more destinations offered. A Florida location would be great. I really think this will continue to hold us back.

prototype wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:

jinxy wrote:Rpi wise and recruiting wise its better. Travel wise it stinks but its probably pre emptive in nature.

I had this exact conversation earlier today and was convinced it’s actually a win. The alumni/fan bases around the Big South schools is significantly lower than the bigger cities of the ASun. On top of that, the fans in the Carolinas/Virginia might be more inclined to visit Lynchburg for a home game than they would be with the local Big South schools. So while most fans can’t go to more away games, it sets up nicely for more fans to attend a game.

Liberty needs to take over airport and get that fixed. We need more destinations offered. A Florida location would be great. I really think this will continue to hold us back.

They're petitioning United for service back to Dulles. It's a start.

thepostman wrote:It seems this is a preventive measure to help avoid the big south kicking us out at some point in the future.

A lot of ways it is a lateral move but as Jon pointed out there are some pretty solid positives. I can't think of any negatives but I also despise the Big South and being from Florida I am fairly familiar with the A-Sun.

The negative would be travel distances. We can afford it, but it would change the dynamic for students and other Lynchburg locals who like to go to road games. Several of the BSC opponents are close enough that you can go to an away game and go home and sleep in your own bed. Closest A-Sun opponents are in Atl and Nashville. I would expect fewer opposing fans to travel to our home games as well. The plus side is that all of the A-Sun schools are in or near travel "destinations", so you can make it a mini-vacation and take in what the area has to offer. It will be pretty cool to have the Big Apple in the mix.

Liberty has absolutely nothing in common with anyone in the Big South any more, institutionally. Four of the eight current ASun schools have more than 10,000 on-campus students (FGCU, NJIT, Kennesaw and UNF). I can see the Big South wanting to cut ties with LU simply for this reason.

And, yes, plenty of legs to that Barber to Chuck South rumor. Makes sense, knowing his friendship with Barclay.

Given the dispersion of our fan base, we likely will be one of the largest away crowds for most of the schools.

I think it USB’s now appropriate to mention the possibility to finally establish NCAA women’s golf, beach volleyball or both here at Liberty.

This is absolutely an upgrade over the Big South. How it can be questioned otherwise is a head scratcher. Especially for hoops. Lipscomb is a traditionally well known hoops and everyone knows FGC is betting the farm on becoming a hoops powerhouse in MBB and WBB. Larger schools with more resources etc. larger recruiting potential footprints and basically everything JON already wrote. LU is not a fit for the BIG SOUTH anymore and vice versa. Not a bad thing it just is. Nice stepping stone to move up All Sports to another Conference within a decade or so. Plus, with most of LU games being televised who cares how LU fans travel?

Newark is close enough to NYC to make thata fun trip too.

Love this move for the reasons SJ stated.

High Point and Campbell were the only two schools that were willing to put money into athletics. Get to go in a conference with schools that have large student bodies and aren’t afraid to invest in facilities.

Only down side is old guys won't be making away games anymore, and no more Big South Quiz Bowl championships.

prototype wrote:What? Atlantic Sun Conference? That might be a step down for us??? I'm not even sure what to think. No one's even close to us.

Whats a abetter conference? ASUN or BS?


ASUN -
FGCU
Lipscomb
Jacksonville
NJIT
North Florida
Kennesaw State
Stetson
USC Upstate

Big South -
Campbell
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
High Point
Liberty
Longwood
Presbyterian
Radford
UNC Asheville
Winthrop

I admit - I don't know much and maybe t he BS team's just are more familiar to me, but doesn't look like an upgrade.

Thoughts?

Need to transfer USC Upstate to the Big South as of this summer.

Purple Haize wrote:This is absolutely an upgrade over the Big South. How it can be questioned otherwise is a head scratcher. Especially for hoops. Lipscomb is a traditionally well known hoops and everyone knows FGC is betting the farm on becoming a hoops powerhouse in MBB and WBB. Larger schools with more resources etc. larger recruiting potential footprints and basically everything JON already wrote. LU is not a fit for the BIG SOUTH anymore and vice versa. Not a bad thing it just is. Nice stepping stone to move up All Sports to another Conference within a decade or so. Plus, with most of LU games being televised who cares how LU fans travel?

Gunna call on being an upgrade in hoops. Only the MEAC and SWAC had worse basketball RPIs than the A-Sun. BSC is 6 spots higher. Swapping UNC-Upstate for Liberty will make it somewhat closer. I'm not against the move and it does have some real positives, but better hoops is not one of them.

I think basketball is a wash. With Asheville being completely decimated and Upstate coming in, that RPi was going to go lower anyway. ASun is definitely better at the top.

olldflame wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:This is absolutely an upgrade over the Big South. How it can be questioned otherwise is a head scratcher. Especially for hoops. Lipscomb is a traditionally well known hoops and everyone knows FGC is betting the farm on becoming a hoops powerhouse in MBB and WBB. Larger schools with more resources etc. larger recruiting potential footprints and basically everything JON already wrote. LU is not a fit for the BIG SOUTH anymore and vice versa. Not a bad thing it just is. Nice stepping stone to move up All Sports to another Conference within a decade or so. Plus, with most of LU games being televised who cares how LU fans travel?

Gunna call on being an upgrade in hoops. Only the MEAC and SWAC had worse basketball RPIs than the A-Sun. BSC is 6 spots higher. Swapping UNC-Upstate for Liberty will make it somewhat closer. I'm not against the move and it does have some real positives, but better hoops is not one of them.

Lipscomb is a historical program and FGC made an incredible run a few years ago. That alone makes it better than the Big South. How many Tournament games have Big South Teams won? How many marketing movements have been launched by Big South teams? How many Honorable Mention All Americans in the Big South? This is one where numbers like the RPI don’t tell the entire story.
You have programs willing to put money into their programs and it’s a Conference, hoops wise, that is certainly on the rise. Meanwhile, the Big South is stuck in neutral. There is a buzz and excitement around hoops at the ASUN.