[Ill flame]

I like the idea of adding a non football playing school that will raise the basketball profile of the conference. St Louis would be my first choice. They probably wouldn't want to leave the A10 but they are a terrible geographic fit there so you never know. If not them belmont has had a 20 win season in 15 of their last 16 years. Seems like a safe choice right in the middle of the conference without having to worry about calling up fcs schools and watering down the football product.

[LUOrange]

I think for FBS conferences non-football schools are a pain in the booty to deal with. Kinda how the current Big East schools felt about their former football playing brethren. But in CUSA's current state it would probably be beneficial with travel costs if you could go to 2 divisions with schools closer to us and FIU, as we're really the outliers without any real travel partner.

[olldflame]

I like the idea of adding a non football playing school that will raise the basketball profile of the conference. St Louis would be my first choice. They probably wouldn't want to leave the A10 but they are a terrible geographic fit there so you never know. If not them belmont has had a 20 win season in 15 of their last 16 years. Seems like a safe choice right in the middle of the conference without having to worry about calling up fcs schools and watering down the football product.

I have mixed feelings about Belmont. A great fit in some ways, but It would make it a lot tougher to get to the dance year in and year out.

[JK37]

I like the idea of adding a non football playing school that will raise the basketball profile of the conference. St Louis would be my first choice. They probably wouldn't want to leave the A10 but they are a terrible geographic fit there so you never know. If not them belmont has had a 20 win season in 15 of their last 16 years. Seems like a safe choice right in the middle of the conference without having to worry about calling up fcs schools and watering down the football product.

I have mixed feelings about Belmont. A great fit in some ways, but It would make it a lot tougher to get to the dance year in and year out.

Very well-coached. A rising tide raises all boats, and the league is already going to be much harder in MBB and WBB overall. Bring ‘Em on!

[LUOrange]

Getting to the Dance in CUSA is going to get a lot harder without Belmont (who's purportedly going to the MVC anyway). I copied this from TH Spangler's post in the JAX State MBB game thread:

CUSA will be fun. Here's how the new conf teams looked before this game.

Liberty 14-6
JSU 14-6
Sam Houston 13-9
NMSU 16-3
Middle Tennessee 13-6
UTEP 12-8
Western Kentucky 10-10
FIU 12-8
Louisiana Tech 16-4

[Ill flame]

https://csnbbs.com/thread-937587-page-8.html

Here's a pretty good thread on csnbbs that compares the current c-usa to future c-usa net rankings. Overall c-usa will improve at basketball and will be roughly on par with AAC, A10, MVC and slightly worse than MWC. Adding a belmont. SLU, mo st, Wichita st type school would likely make it a 2 bid league every year instead of getting the occasional 2nd bid.

[BlueBlood]

At one time I thought it might be smart for C-USA to add non football schools to create travel partners - like add FGCU to complement FIU. But then I thought that’s pretty dangerous, as FIU could leave in the next realignment and then you’d be stuck with a remote non football school.

[Sly Fox]

The University of Southern Indiana located in Evansville just voted this afternoon to move to Division I. Since an invitation to a Division I conference is required to make the move, it is suspected that they were invited by the OVC which holds their conference tourney in, you guessed it, Evansville in less than two weeks.

With the OVC in backfill mode, here may be some more movement among the smaller schools. Lots of rumors of the Colonial & Big South bringing in more HBCUs to pick the MEAC clean.

[Ill flame]

That should be a pretty solid pickup for the OVC. They've had a pretty successful d2 basketball program and the school seems to have big aspirations in terms of enrollment.

[Sly Fox]

The OVC is in full on survival mode. Any port in a storm ...

[Sly Fox]

What a crazy week ...

Do they bring back Coach Layer?

[ATrain]

What a crazy week ...

Do they bring back Coach Layer?

Ah, High Point's old rival.

Big South is in survival mode as it lost Hampton plus football only schools Kennesaw State, Monmouth, and North Alabama. I can see the Big South inviting Norfolk St., maybe Howard and/or Delaware State to backfill, and we know the Big South doesn't mind calling up Division II members.

[Sly Fox]

You can practically see Kyle rolling down to Clinton, SC to see if he can sweet talk the Hose to coming back. HaHa

[ballcoach15]

I am yet to be convinced Charlotte is D1 material, much less Queens.

[olldflame]

What a crazy week ...

Do they bring back Coach Layer?

Highly unlikely.
I think Layer and Buzz Williams are now officially joined at the hip. Maybe not quite McKay/Soucie level, but getting close.

[Sly Fox]

At some point Coach Layer has to be jonesing to be coaching again. I see him at A&M games standing away from the huddle and you can see he misses being in the mix. But I indeed meant it as a joke.

[ATrain]

I am yet to be convinced Charlotte is D1 material, much less Queens.

With all due respect, no one needs to convince you of anything

[rmiller1959]

https://theathletic.com/news/sun-belt-b ... Qzb3vH54Y/

[ATrain]

NC A&T leaving the Big South for the CAA. Not sure how Big South football survives: https://andscape.com/features/n-c-aampt ... n-in-2022/

[ATrain]

Big South and Ohio Valley merging football conferences. Also Southern Indiana and Lindenwood are joining the OVC.

[Sly Fox]

While it technically makes sense in order for both leagues to remain eligible. I am not sure that mess of a league makes common sense to anyone.

[JK37]

Lindenwood. You Know it’s bad when I haven’t heard of a college.

[ATrain]

Lindenwood. You Know it’s bad when I haven’t heard of a college.

I've heard of it. They were one of our hockey team's biggest rivals in mid-late '00s

[JK37]

Well pin a rose on your nose

[Ill flame]

Dallas Baptist baseball will be leaving the Missouri Valley for C-usa in 2023. That gives C-usa a huge boost