I figure it's worth putting forward a proposal for a 27-conference, 12-team-per-conference structure. If everything is changing soon, now is a good time for a realignment.
My goals: Keep schools in the right conferences whenever possible; keep schools in their current HD conferences whenever possible; keep conferences logical; keep bigger programs in bigger conferences when something has to give.
Keep in DII: Bryant, Cal-Bakersfield, Cal-Davis, C. Arkansas, FGCU, Kennesaw St., Longwood, N. Colorado, Nebraska-Omaha, NJIT, NC Central, N. Florida, SIU-Edwardsville, Seattle, and the four Dakota schools have moved to DI in real life, but it's easier to just keep them in DII where HD has them.
Rebrand: Morris Brown no longer has an athletic program, so let's call it Houston Baptist. Centenary is now DIII, so let's call it S. Carolina Upstate. And Birmingham-Southern is DIII, too, so let's call it St. Mary's (CA).
Continue to Ignore: Texas Rio Grande Valley. This is the old UTPA. No one cares.
Conference name changes: I got rid of the Southland Conference and the Summit League. In their place are the American Athletic Conference and the SWAC.
THE CONFERENCES
1. Atlantic 10. Davidson, Duquesne, Fordham, GWU, La Salle, Rhode Island, Richmond, Rutgers, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph's (PA), Temple, UMass.
Comments: The real A10 is 14 schools, so something had to give. Rutgers is getting demoted (no room in power conferences); Temple doesn't go to the AAC like in real life.
2. American Athletic Conference. Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, SMU, USF, Syracuse, Tulane, Tulsa, West Virginia
Comments: Kind of a hodge-podge here, but there's only so much you can do when the real-life ACC is 15 schools. Temple and UCF have been demoted; this is really just the most logical home for WV and the three ACC schools here.
3. ACC. BC, Clemson, Duke, FSU, GT, Miami (FL), UNC, NC St., Notre Dame, Virginia, V Tech, Wake Forest.
Comments: Everyone's real here.
4. Big 10. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan St., Minnesota, NU, OSU, Penn St., Purdue, Wisconsin.
Comments: No Nebraska, no Rutgers. Had to make the numbers work.
5. Big 12. Baylor, Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St., Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech
Comments: Nebraska, TAMU, and Mizzou can't leave if we're going to have 12-team conferences.
6. Big East. Butler, Creighton, Dayton, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. Johns, St. Louis, Villanova, Xavier
Comments: They're big Catholic schools.
7. Big Sky. Denver, E. Washington, Idaho, Idaho St., Montana, Montana St., N. Arizona, N. Mexico St., Portland St., S. Utah, Sacramento St., Weber St.
Comments: Geography is king here - no more of this **** where Southern (in Lousiana) is "Big Sky."
8. Big South. Charleston So., Coastal Carolina, High Point, Liberty, McNeese St., New Orleans, Nicholls St., Northwestern St., Radford, SE Louisiana, UNC-Asheville, Winthrop
Comments: This is basically the real Big South, plus the Louisianan contingent from the Southland.
9. Big West. Cal. Poly SLO, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Fullerton, Northridge, Hawaii, Long Beach, Lamar, Sam Houston St., Stephen F. Austin, TAMU-CC
Comments: And here's the Texan bit of the Southland.
10. CAA. Delaware, Drexel, E. Carolina, Hofstra, George Mason, James Madison, Northeastern, Old Dominion, Towson, UNC-Wilmington, VCU, William and Mary
Comments: A few teams, most notably George Mason and VCU, get denied promotions.
11. CUSA. Charlotte, FAU, FIU, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tenn. St., N. Texas, Rice, S. Miss., Texas-Arlington, UAB, UTEP
Comments: Jesus, the CUSA is a mess in real life. So here it is in HD.
12. Horizon. Cleveland St., Detroit, UIC, IPFW, IUPUI, Oakland, Valpo, Green Bay, W. Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright St., Youngstown St.
Comments: some of the local Summit League teams make it in to round out the numbers. Note that Loyola are DePaul are gone.
13. Ivy League. Boston U., Brown, Bucknell, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Monmouth, Penn, Princeton, Quinnipiac, Yale
Comments: compared to the old HD Ivy, we've replaced two big Catholic schools with smaller Northeastern schools. Sure.
14. MAC. Akron Ball St., Bowling Green, Buffalo, CMU, EMU, Kent State, Miami (OH), N. Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, WMU
Comments: Yep.
15. MEAC. Bethune-Cookman, Coppin St., Delaware St., FAMU, Hampton, Howard, UMES, Morgan St., NCAT, Norfolk St., S. Carolina St., Troy
Comments: HBCUs in the Southeast. Troy isn't an HBCU, but its student body is over a quarter African-American.
16. Metro. Albany, Binghamton, Canisius, Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Niagara, Rider, Siena, St. Peters, Stony Brook
Comments: Three state-of-New-York schools from the real-life America East join this conference. In HD, they were in the Patriot before.
17. Missouri Valley. Bradley Drake, Evansville, Gardner-Webb, Illinois St., Indiana St., Loyola-Chicago, Missouri St., N. Iowa, S. Illinois, Western Kentucky, Wichita St.
Comments: Gardner-Webb is stupidly placed here, but I'm deferring to old HD for convenience. WKU is local-ish.
18. Mountain West. Air Force, Boise St., Colorado St., Fresno St., Nevada, New Mexico, Oral Roberts, SDSU, San Jose St., UNLV, Utah St., Wyoming
Comments: It had to go somewhere. What a stupid name for a school.
19. Northeast. CCSU, Fairleigh Dickinson, Hartford, Long Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, the St. Francises, Vermont, Wagner
Comments: I kept the four America East schools together - this is as reasonable a home for them as the Patriot was.
20. Ohio Valley. Austin Peay, Belmont, E. Illinois, E. Kentucky, Jacksonville St., Lipscomb, Morehead St., Murray St., Tenn. St., Tenn. Tech, Tenn-Martin
Comments: Geography.
21. PAC-12. Arizona (St.), Cal and Stanford, UCLA and USC, Oregon (St.), Washington (St.), Utah, and Colorado.
Comments: It's correct.
22. Patriot League. American, Army, Colgate, Holy Cross, Jacksonville, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (MD), Mt. St. Mary's, Navy, S. Carolina Upstate, UMBC
Comments: A bit of spread here. If you guys can find more logical homes for these schools, let me know...
23. SEC. Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi (St.), USC-East, Tennessee, Vandy
Comments: Missing the new teams, but these are all SEC schools.
24. Southern. Charleston, Elon, ETSU, Furman, Mercer, Samford, Tenn-Chattanooga, The Citadel, UNC-Greensboro, VMI, W. Carolina, Wofford
Comments: Charleston and Elon don't get their promotions.
25. Sun Belt. Appalachian St., Arkansas St., Arkansas-LR, UCF, Georgia Southern, Georgia St., Louisiana-Monroe, S. Alabama, Stetson, UTSA, Texas State, UL-Lafayette
Comments: Stetson, a real Atlantic Sun school, joins its local-ish rivals-ish. Former A-Sun rival UCF comes with.
26. SWAC. Alabama A&M, Alabama St., Alcorn St., Ark-Pine Bluff, Campbell, Grambling St., Houston Baptist, Jackson St., MV St., PVAM, Southern, Texas Southern
Comments: I'm bringing back the SWAC because ten of these schools are SWAC in real life. Texas Southern (currently in HD's MWC) is probably the biggest jump, which would affect me negatively, but hey, it's SWAC in real life...
27. WCC. BYU, Chicago St., Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, UMKC, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, St. Mary's (CA)
Comments: Sure, Chicago State and UMKC are weird here, but they're in the damn WAC in real life.
6/23/2016 7:39 PM (edited)