Posted by benrudy on 2/22/2017 4:43:00 PM (view original):
Shoe - I'm with you that thats a separate conversation - I was just throwing it out there. Also, I think that each division has its unique attributes - D3 has its own challenges that make it a different game than either D2 or D1 - and that doesnt mean that one division is harder or easier than the other.
And on the scholarship thing - i still dont see your point... D3 schools still field teams and recruit players in real life...
Sure. There are lots of schools that aren't NCAA affiliated at all, and they field basketball teams. Should they be included here as a D4? My point was that regarding realism, I care more about the mechanics than if all the teams, divisions or conferences are right. If HD was like real life in that D3 could not offer scholarships, we likely wouldn't have the issue of D3 players being able to beat anyone from higher divisions out. And maybe that's a legitimate suggestion, but in a shared-universe setting, I don't think it would make sense to have them operate under a different system.
The big thing here is that people seem to be very concerned about a wide gap between championship level D3 teams and the teams available to entry level coaches in the same division, due to geography, and the fact that with some savvy and experience, D3 coaches can put together teams that look a lot like D1 mid-majors.
My argument is, since that gap has always existed, and likely always will, as long as coaches can park in lower levels, why not kill 3 or 4 birds with one stone? One massive conference would encourage participation in better conferences, and still let new players "hide" in empty conferences for as long as they need to; it would offer its own form of "relegation" as conferences compete with each other to get those NT berths; recruiting would be more active, and there would be no second "red light" for D3 schools; geographic advantages would be mitigated, and those D3 superteams would be competing with more appropriate levels of talent for championships.