I know that realignment of the HD conferences has been discussed in detail before. I'm all for it but know it's impossible and not that important in the long run. With that being said, I took over the University of South Dakota in Phelan and after looking at the other teams in the conference and it's divisions I can't believe that North Dakota and North Dakota State and South Dakota State and my South Dakota squad aren't in the same division. Rivals. Rivalries. Playing each other twice a season in conference play and maybe again in the conference tourney. And I'm sure there are a lot of conferences that need adjusted as well. Again, I know the arguments for and against changing the teams/conferences I just wanted to add this point of view to the situation.

Well if realignment ever becomes reality, they should all be moved up to D1 Summit League, right?

Posted by shoe3 on 8/5/2021 8:42:00 PM (view original):
Well if realignment ever becomes reality, they should all be moved up to D1 Summit League, right?

One step at a time, shoe. That move up to D1 would throw a lot of teams and conferences into chaos.

It might create some short term chaos, but seeing Kennesaw State in DII and Birmingham Southern in DI kills me. There is also a real life DII team that made the elite this season that isn’t even on the game because they were NAIA at the time WIS was created. I’m sure I care about this more than most people because I was a college baseball coach. It really doesn’t matter that much, but I think it does detract from the game.

Having teams in the correct conference isn’t as important as at least having them at the correct level. Yes, it would suck for the coaches that have been at schools for a long time that have dropped a division in real life (Pfieffer, Brevard, etc…) and the schools that are forced up a level will have a period where they struggle (North Alabama, etc), but I think it would be worth it.

The real question is what to do with the schools that don’t exist anymore in real life (I.e. Armstrong).

Posted by p6453 on 8/5/2021 8:48:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 8/5/2021 8:42:00 PM (view original):
Well if realignment ever becomes reality, they should all be moved up to D1 Summit League, right?

One step at a time, shoe. That move up to D1 would throw a lot of teams and conferences into chaos.

Right, and that’s why the best option is user determined promotion and relegation on a per world basis, and short of that, probably nothing should be done. If they keep chasing after every change that happens in the NCAA landscape to keep WIS up to date with RL on a uniform basis, they’ll be changing it every year. Augustana is arguably a bigger rival for SDSU than USD, historically (maybe not quite, but it’s close) but they’re not in the same division anymore (and for a number of years, it was not clear that USD would make the jump to D1, either). All that to say… things change. The best thing the game could do on this front is make itself flexible, and ideally that would be user-driven for like 95% of schools (maybe everyone south of the B+ baseline schools *that are currently in their correct conference* can be moved). But if there’s no way to make that feasible, I think it should probably just be left alone in existing worlds. Maybe at some point, expiration dates can be applied, and new worlds can be opened, but that’s down the line.

Posted by strikeout26 on 8/6/2021 1:43:00 AM (view original):
It might create some short term chaos, but seeing Kennesaw State in DII and Birmingham Southern in DI kills me. There is also a real life DII team that made the elite this season that isn’t even on the game because they were NAIA at the time WIS was created. I’m sure I care about this more than most people because I was a college baseball coach. It really doesn’t matter that much, but I think it does detract from the game.

Having teams in the correct conference isn’t as important as at least having them at the correct level. Yes, it would suck for the coaches that have been at schools for a long time that have dropped a division in real life (Pfieffer, Brevard, etc…) and the schools that are forced up a level will have a period where they struggle (North Alabama, etc), but I think it would be worth it.

The real question is what to do with the schools that don’t exist anymore in real life (I.e. Armstrong).

I tend to care about something like this as well, for whatever reason. I have a list somewhere of schools that should be included to replace teams that are no longer around (D2 Dowling and St. Paul's of Virginia for example). I even started a project of getting correct school names and team profile colors corrected to match their real-life counterparts ( D3 Baptist Bible is now Clark's Summit University name-wise and D3 Salisbury should have a maroon and gold team profile card instead of it's current red and gold). Small things, certainly, especially when you consider things like EE's and D1 firings...but my mind is always keyed in on stuff like this.

Posted by shoe3 on 8/6/2021 10:44:00 AM (view original):

Posted by p6453 on 8/5/2021 8:48:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 8/5/2021 8:42:00 PM (view original):
Well if realignment ever becomes reality, they should all be moved up to D1 Summit League, right?

One step at a time, shoe. That move up to D1 would throw a lot of teams and conferences into chaos.

Right, and that’s why the best option is user determined promotion and relegation on a per world basis, and short of that, probably nothing should be done. If they keep chasing after every change that happens in the NCAA landscape to keep WIS up to date with RL on a uniform basis, they’ll be changing it every year. Augustana is arguably a bigger rival for SDSU than USD, historically (maybe not quite, but it’s close) but they’re not in the same division anymore (and for a number of years, it was not clear that USD would make the jump to D1, either). All that to say… things change. The best thing the game could do on this front is make itself flexible, and ideally that would be user-driven for like 95% of schools (maybe everyone south of the B+ baseline schools *that are currently in their correct conference* can be moved). But if there’s no way to make that feasible, I think it should probably just be left alone in existing worlds. Maybe at some point, expiration dates can be applied, and new worlds can be opened, but that’s down the line.

While I would gladly like to see this happen, fixing the real problems like I mentioned in a previous post are most important.
Add user retention to that as well. As we've relocated to South Dakota I'm getting deeper into the rivalries. I didn't pay much attention to the Augustana situation because their not in the same division IRL. Anyway, just something to chew on I guess.

Posted by p6453 on 8/6/2021 10:54:00 AM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 8/6/2021 10:44:00 AM (view original):

Posted by p6453 on 8/5/2021 8:48:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 8/5/2021 8:42:00 PM (view original):
Well if realignment ever becomes reality, they should all be moved up to D1 Summit League, right?

One step at a time, shoe. That move up to D1 would throw a lot of teams and conferences into chaos.

Right, and that’s why the best option is user determined promotion and relegation on a per world basis, and short of that, probably nothing should be done. If they keep chasing after every change that happens in the NCAA landscape to keep WIS up to date with RL on a uniform basis, they’ll be changing it every year. Augustana is arguably a bigger rival for SDSU than USD, historically (maybe not quite, but it’s close) but they’re not in the same division anymore (and for a number of years, it was not clear that USD would make the jump to D1, either). All that to say… things change. The best thing the game could do on this front is make itself flexible, and ideally that would be user-driven for like 95% of schools (maybe everyone south of the B+ baseline schools *that are currently in their correct conference* can be moved). But if there’s no way to make that feasible, I think it should probably just be left alone in existing worlds. Maybe at some point, expiration dates can be applied, and new worlds can be opened, but that’s down the line.

While I would gladly like to see this happen, fixing the real problems like I mentioned in a previous post are most important.
Add user retention to that as well. As we've relocated to South Dakota I'm getting deeper into the rivalries. I didn't pay much attention to the Augustana situation because their not in the same division IRL. Anyway, just something to chew on I guess.

As someone who grew up in South Dakota, and went to school at SDSU, and was part of all those rivalries, I can tell you it’s more irritating that Morris is in conference with us (in D2 at all, actually, it’s a D3 school) and that schools like Black Hills State, Dakota State, and Sioux Falls University don’t even exist. The last one especially bugs me, as they are up to D2 now (the current Fresno State football coach was the guy who propelled that program forward, he was a grade ahead of me in HS, sat next to me in choir).

I don’t think of it as a “problem” really. It would be nice to have the capacity to fix it ourselves, but like I said before, if WIS goes chasing down every inconsistency that bugs people, it will never end.

IMO Realignment to reality is a terrible idea in the current college sports environment. What do you do if the power conferences leave the NCAA? Do you remove them from the game? Some guys miss the old Big East and Big 12 among other conferences, what happens to those coaches?

A new world with updated conferences could work but it would be outdated within a couple years. Realignment of current worlds does not make sense.

Yes if you did realignment of current worlds you would have to move teams to the right divisions regardless of their talent or former recruiting level.. So you might have a D2 recruited team in the same conference as a D1 recruited team at D1. Since D2 has no baseline the team that moved up from D2 to D1 would have to be reset to new baseline prestige while the team that was already in D1 could keep their prestige if it remained the same baseline. Imagine being that D2 powerhouse coach that has A+ prestige one season then starts the next season at D- in D1 with the same team. The complaints would last months upon months. No thanks. That's a mess for coaches and developers.

Posted by p6453 on 8/5/2021 8:10:00 PM (view original):
I know that realignment of the HD conferences has been discussed in detail before. I'm all for it but know it's impossible and not that important in the long run. With that being said, I took over the University of South Dakota in Phelan and after looking at the other teams in the conference and it's divisions I can't believe that North Dakota and North Dakota State and South Dakota State and my South Dakota squad aren't in the same division. Rivals. Rivalries. Playing each other twice a season in conference play and maybe again in the conference tourney. And I'm sure there are a lot of conferences that need adjusted as well. Again, I know the arguments for and against changing the teams/conferences I just wanted to add this point of view to the situation.

Create one with the accurate D1,2,3 levels and conferences using the 12 team to a conference max. Extra teams and Independent schools you can place anywhere. No deleting conferences. Let's see what you come with...

Posted by ftbeaglesfan on 8/6/2021 6:23:00 PM (view original):

Posted by p6453 on 8/5/2021 8:10:00 PM (view original):
I know that realignment of the HD conferences has been discussed in detail before. I'm all for it but know it's impossible and not that important in the long run. With that being said, I took over the University of South Dakota in Phelan and after looking at the other teams in the conference and it's divisions I can't believe that North Dakota and North Dakota State and South Dakota State and my South Dakota squad aren't in the same division. Rivals. Rivalries. Playing each other twice a season in conference play and maybe again in the conference tourney. And I'm sure there are a lot of conferences that need adjusted as well. Again, I know the arguments for and against changing the teams/conferences I just wanted to add this point of view to the situation.

Create one with the accurate D1,2,3 levels and conferences using the 12 team to a conference max. Extra teams and Independent schools you can place anywhere. No deleting conferences. Let's see what you come with...

I'm fairly certain that I said I knew it was impossible AND not important to realign conferences. I was merely stating an idea that I had when I took over USD. Would I like to see it? Sure. Will it happen? Never. If people can post about covering imaginary point spreads in a simulation than a little discussion about rivals in conference play shouldn't hurt. Not a big deal. People discuss whether or not HD should mirror real-life, and to what extent, all the time. This is that. Nothing else. Just my two cents.

Dinks me off that Saint Mary's (CA) isn't represented. They have always been in a D1 conference since 1952. Have made multiple trips to the tournament (earliest 1959! ). How the bleep did they get excluded ??!?

As with anything, no matter what happens or doesn't happen, some will love it and some will hate it. As far as any changes made to the game.

I can honestly say I wouldn't much care about realignment IF 1) it was current and consistent. 2) if it was known to the community that its just part of the game.

We now have 4 or 5 people working on the game? That's plenty to be able to have one guy look at changes each year, and make the necessary adjustments....... to be clear, I'm NOT stating that I want this to happen. I'm saying that if I arrived at the game and that's how it operated, I'd be more than fine with that.

I love this game and I love my teams as much as anyone here. Likely more. But I think we get to attached in some ways. And if changes of this nature were to happen, I'd go along with it. I couldn't imagine crying because I got moved up or down a division or something. And if I did, I'd just change teams next season

Posted by topdogggbm on 8/8/2021 9:18:00 PM (view original):
As with anything, no matter what happens or doesn't happen, some will love it and some will hate it. As far as any changes made to the game.

I can honestly say I wouldn't much care about realignment IF 1) it was current and consistent. 2) if it was known to the community that its just part of the game.

We now have 4 or 5 people working on the game? That's plenty to be able to have one guy look at changes each year, and make the necessary adjustments....... to be clear, I'm NOT stating that I want this to happen. I'm saying that if I arrived at the game and that's how it operated, I'd be more than fine with that.

I love this game and I love my teams as much as anyone here. Likely more. But I think we get to attached in some ways. And if changes of this nature were to happen, I'd go along with it. I couldn't imagine crying because I got moved up or down a division or something. And if I did, I'd just change teams next season

agreed. it doesnt seem like a priority so not expecting any changes, but i feel like if they did make changes, they could simply post about them ahead of time. if they were all the way caught up and a team moved and they posted like, we'll be re-assigning this team, up or down a division, in or out of big 6 conf, come what may - in a year or something - i feel like that would solve most of the issues with folks getting moved from jobs they are attached to, while still being pretty responsive to the real world. obviously there is no perfect solution but simply scheduling these things decently far out would give folks time to adjust and... process emotionally, if needed, haha