What's the next realignment domino to fall?

[CaliRdBrd]

I was going to say, on the surface, a UAB focused on hoops could be a strong add. But their administrative situation is just in an awful place right now.

This is going to be brutal for UAB. A decade ago they were in a CUSA that was getting at-large bids on the regular. Now, we're talking about the Atlantic Sun as their likely landing spot. Maybe OVC, but they're full. Sun Belt too. Yikes.

Getting them into a good basketball conference again though would be good...right? Couldn't hurt.

Let Misery State toil in the Sun Belt (which just had it's football conference won by a first year FBS program that went 8-0 through it in Georgia Southern and had another 1 year FBS move up App State go 6-2 in conference and finish 3rd...yep...two programs that were a combined 11-12 in the FCS the year before went 14-2 in the Sun Belt...think about that).

I'd trade UAB for MSU every single day...especially if we can get NMSU along with them and get Evansville or ISUr to leave...

What's wrong with ISUr?

[bleach]

MSU is tearing up that invite to the Sun Belt, now that there's an opening in CUSA.

Sorry, but I can't resist.

They are checking their cattle herd inventory to see if they can come up with the $10,000 MVC exit fee.

Not that i'm suggesting MSU is moving anywhere, but it wouldn't take many cattle at todays prices to raise 10K.
My post is about as serious as yours was.

[rlh04d]

UAB's a unique situation because of the power the University of Alabama has over them.

Not extremely unique -- quite a few states have similar setups regarding boards of regents including North Carolina and California. It doesn't seem that the California Board of Regents is on the verge of dismantling the UCLA athletic program, but in theory they could.

True. It's a unique situation because the University of Alabama has so much power over them AND is committed to using that power for their own benefit, at the expense of UAB.

Having the power itself isn't as unique, but the way Alabama chooses to exercise that power is.

[uniftw]

Kind of shocked this hasn't been posted yet...

About the 11:30 mark

http://bit.ly/1ASJK4F

[squirrel]

Interesting that they are developing models. As he said it would probably have to be the right schools. SLU has up until recently been perfectly satisfied with being in the A10. And if you add a UAB, the 2nd school would have to be a private. But I would think SLU/UAB would be a very attractive package.

Dayton less-so, but SLU is probably more likely to have a shot at the new Big East.

[uniftw]

Interesting that they are developing models. As he said it would probably have to be the right schools. SLU has up until recently been perfectly satisfied with being in the A10. And if you add a UAB, the 2nd school would have to be a private. But I would think SLU/UAB would be a very attractive package.

Dayton less-so, but SLU is probably more likely to have a shot at the new Big East.

That's the interesting part.

Elgin has always been very anti going over 10, so for him to admit discussions are happening and there are ways he could see it happening is very interesting to me.

I've read reports that the OVC told UAB no because the OVC only wants football schools. I've also read that UAB won't actually be cutting the athletic budget by much, if at all, they'll be directing it to other sports.

If that's the case it would be a very nice add

[TheAsianSensation]

I think the OVC (and the Sun Belt) have a problem with just plain old being full of teams, and having football on top of it. The logistics of adding is a problem.

UAB's options might be down to the following conference where they're mild geographical outliers:
Horizon
MVC
CAA
...and the A-Sun as the best geographic fit, but UAB fans would probably riot before that happens.


St Louis would be an obvious pair with UAB, with Belmont also sitting there as a possible bridge to the south.

But also, if we can wedge out St Louis, why not just wedge out Dayton along with them?

[uniftw]

I think the OVC (and the Sun Belt) have a problem with just plain old being full of teams, and having football on top of it. The logistics of adding is a problem.

UAB's options might be down to the following conference where they're mild geographical outliers:
Horizon
MVC
CAA
...and the A-Sun as the best geographic fit, but UAB fans would probably riot before that happens.


St Louis would be an obvious pair with UAB, with Belmont also sitting there as a possible bridge to the south.

But also, if we can wedge out St Louis, why not just wedge out Dayton along with them?

Expanding to expand gets sketchy because of splitting the same number of NCAA shares between more people.

Now, Dayton, SLU and UAB I think would all be very nice adds and would bring added shares. Belmont coming on board might not bring a ton of shares but it would make the MVC a very[i][/i]strong 14 team conference.

As far as UAB goes, I've heard they don't really want the A-Sun. That excites UAB about as much as adding NDSU or SDSU excites MVC fans.

They approached the OVC, but the OVC is full unless you have football so they told UAB no.

I can't imagine the CAA going all the way to Arkansas. In all the shuffling they've really tried to reassert themselves as a mid-Atlantic and north conference.

I'm all for UAB if it brings a good team with it.

[TheAsianSensation]

Well the CAA would only have to stretch to Alabama, not Arkansas and they did add Charleston.

I will admit I'm still shaky on UAB (it's tough to trust an athletic department where that decision about football was made), but if it brings a strong 12th, so be it. I'm not sure St Louis would consider UAB a tipping point that would cause them to move, and if they did move...I'd rather Dayton than UAB. Belmont's out there too, but if you go them and UAB, are you okay long-term with adding those two as the long-term answer? Nervy.

[squirrel]

I saw a list from an Alabama media source a few weeks ago that was probably being fed inside information, at least it certainly read that way matter-of-factly, the school had 4 realistic geographic options:

CAA
Sun Belt
SoCon
A-Sun

Obviously the Sun Belt has emerged to not have mutual interests. The CAA really doesn't make any sense now, given its decidedly Mid-Atlantic orientation. The Southern Conference would be a geographic fit, but their members may not like the odd number of schools and non-football schools, and it would be a significant step down for basketball. The A-Sun would have actually been a pretty good league if Belmont, Mercer and ETSU hadn't left and eventually added UAB.