No good place to put this, but thought it was interesting.
Conference Realignment (Basketball)
- Status
Half of the NEC is expected to move to D3
Won't be the last either. Many of the conferences in the northeast and mid-atlantic along with the HBCUs will likely have schools reclassify down because of how much NIL and the transfer portal have changed things.
I am okay with this. NIL, I have always believed, will be the death of NCAA basketball. All these wealthy people currently funding NIL across the land, as well as the collectives, will wither and die unless the conference Championships and NCAA births continue at an unrealistic pace. Not to mention the expectations at a school like UI. You all really think donors will continue to fund multi-million dollar rosters to only bow out in the NCAA's 1st weekend ???
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Watching some of those conference tournaments like the SWAC, NEC, MEAC, heck even the MAAC and Patriot league.. the level of basketball doesn't feel like D1 at all.
The thing about a lot of those Northeast and mid-atlantic schools is that sports like soccer and lacrosse are the more popular sports at those schools.
But why skip D2?
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Just spit balling here, but they did say that travel and the time away from campus were a consideration. Maybe there are more D3 schools concentrated in their area than D2. Ergo, less travel.
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Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
D3 sets their own eligibility requirements instead of the NCAA and they don't give athletic scholarships. It's a true(r) student athlete. So I guess if they are going to de-emphasize sports why not go all the way. I can't imagine D2 brings in enough money for the extra expense in scholarship, travel, etc. associated with D3
my guess it is about scholarships/money...D2 can give scholarships, D3 can't...so if you are planning on cutting out scholies then you likely aren't competitive in D2 either & at the end of the day does D2/D3 really matter in prestige? Also of interest, quick google search says 304 D2 basketball schools vs 431 D3...so seems to be the more popular landing spot.
I had a brother who played for Loras who was NAIA at the time and transitioned to D3, but had to go to D2 until scholarships cleared out.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
D2 still has athletic scholarships.
At D3 level, I believe they don't even have to provide athletic scholarships. That's likely why.
I'm assuming this also means that NIL is not a thing at D3?
I'm a D3 coach for the last decade and I've not heard any talks about revenue sharing. No athletic scholarships given = zero money spent in terms of sharing revenue. It is all merit-based scholarships for academic pursuits and outside of presidential scholarship students, every student pays a decent sum of $$ out of pocket. The average out of pocket expense for my players is north of $15k with my lowest being about $4500 and my highest being nearer to $20k. Each receives $20-$27k in scholarships yearly from our school. I can promise you that the school turns a nice profit yearly and I'll save the cost of a college education for another rant haha.
I will also assume that the smaller, low major D1's will have superior resources (athletics funds, NIL, boosters, donors, etc) when they move to the D3 level, which can still earn NIL, and possibly become powerhouses if they choose to allocate resources to athletics.
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The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
A (the?) silver lining in this could be that the push to further expand the NCAA tournament to 72 or 78 or whatever might disappear. Hell, maybe the field shrinks back to 64? I still hate the idea of the play-in games because of how it forces some automatic qualifiers to play for the right to go to the "real" tournament. I would be fine with the play-in games (such that they remain necessary...) if they only included the last of the at-large bids.
Or, perhaps more likely, the shortsighted and money-driven nature of the NCAA will do the worst of both worlds - fewer automatic qualifiers due to conference shifts to DIII, and an additionally expanded field. We should probably begin preparing for this stupid outcome rather than for reason to prevail...
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
I think you may be right, assuming the wild wild west attitude about NIL continues unabated
NIL does exist in D3
I agree with some of the doom and gloom, but donors have been funding basketball and football for half a century at least, and there's still only 1 champion, 4 FF, 16 S16, etc. in bball. The money folks know you can pay a lot but there's still a ton of competition.
There was a piece on why the NBA is dying that I thought a lot applied to NCAA.
Games are harder to watch. They used to be on free tv, and now you sometimes need multiple services
More competition for eyeballs and attention than ever with current entertainment options
Late game fouling making games unwatchable and pace comes to a crawl. Bonus issue: refs becoming as important as players
For college, I think NIL just adds another layer that is particularly bad for the traditional fan that thinks these players should be or used to be amateurs.
All that said, my googling says this years tourney has the best ratings in a long time. And if the money slows, the guys behind the curtain will make adjustments.
When you have no chance to honestly compete at one level – it’s only sensible to find another level that makes sense.
No reason to get your teeth knocked out by powerful and better-funded programs you cannot compete with. Find some like-minded, like-leveled programs and have some true and fair and honest competitions within them.
Just like Water Seeking Its Level... so it is now with College Ball. The Legacy and Big Conference programs will be at their own lofty pre-NBA/Professional level... and everyone else will slide back to the middle or a lower rank.
And that’s not all bad for fans of the lower-powered programs. At least their fans can watch competitive games and have the enjoyment of that rather than watching their Beloveds get punched in the mouth all the time. A better fan and better player experience for all.
We knew that things had to change in College Ball for many years. While the changes are still being worked through... hopefully something sensible for all will become the new norm.
I got roasted by some here for not caring for today's New NBA Style of play. I stand by what I have said. The NBA also needs to change and find a new level of better game play on the floor ... and competitiveness among the franchises. Also resulting in better fan experiences.
No reason to get your teeth knocked out by powerful and better-funded programs you cannot compete with. Find some like-minded, like-leveled programs and have some true and fair and honest competitions within them.
Just like Water Seeking Its Level... so it is now with College Ball. The Legacy and Big Conference programs will be at their own lofty pre-NBA/Professional level... and everyone else will slide back to the middle or a lower rank.
And that’s not all bad for fans of the lower-powered programs. At least their fans can watch competitive games and have the enjoyment of that rather than watching their Beloveds get punched in the mouth all the time. A better fan and better player experience for all.
We knew that things had to change in College Ball for many years. While the changes are still being worked through... hopefully something sensible for all will become the new norm.
I got roasted by some here for not caring for today's New NBA Style of play. I stand by what I have said. The NBA also needs to change and find a new level of better game play on the floor ... and competitiveness among the franchises. Also resulting in better fan experiences.
robertgoulet
IL Board Resident Crooner
- Austin, TX
Not true.
Why would there be limitations on NIL depending on what division you are in? If I'm an advertiser, all I care about is exposure and ROI from attaching my money to that Name, image, or likeness? I'm not saying it's not possible there are restrictions.... Just don't see why
Article with some background. Definitely not limited to D1
Interesting that they believe the top 100 are at roughly $600k or more (not sure if they're referring only to football, but for sure there's plenty in bball). To me that says the high-end gets bid up pretty quickly and you really need to hit on your evaluations and be able to coach.
It is true though
Jack Betts ’24E: The King of Division III NIL
In just over eight months, Mammoths wide receiver Jack Betts ’24E has accumulated over 35 NIL deals, causing many to proclaim his as the King of DIII NIL. Managing Sports Editor Alex Noga ’23 sits down with Betts to learn about his NIL journey.
amherststudent.com
- Status