2005-2006 NCAA Conference Realignment

2005-2006 NCAA Conference Realignment - Bracketography.com

2005-2006 NCAA Conference Realignment

by David Mihm
Editor, Bracketography.com

THOUGHTS ON THE 2005-2006 CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT

Probably the hardest-hit conference in all this shuffling is Conference USA. The ACC picked up a perennial top-20 team in Boston College, and a couple of programs on the rise in Virginia Tech and Miami. The Big East picked up four perennial NCAA participants, including two recent Final Four teams in Louisville and Marquette. Conference USA is now left with Memphis, UTEP, UAB, and Houston, with a lot of RPI anchors dragging down the conference's power rankings. Even Charlotte left for the Atlantic 10. C-USA should still be a consistent 2-3 team conference each year, but with conferences like the WCC, Mountain West, and Atlantic 10 getting stronger, it will be tough to hold its traditional 4-5-6 team position.

Opinions:

The ACC and Big East should now field a minimum of seven teams in the NCAA Tournament every year.
The Atlantic 10 did well for quite well for itself in grabbing Charlotte and holding onto its successful members like St. Joseph's, Xavier, and Dayton.
The WAC made a superb recovery after losing UTEP and Tulsa to C-USA, picking up perennial Big West power Utah State, as well as an up-and-coming New Mexico State team coached by Pitino disciple Reggie Theus.

Most readers probably know the story behind the conference shuffle that goes into full effect this year, but here's a quick summary. Three schools: Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College, left the Big East for the ACC, primarily to improve their teams' BCS football rankings, as well as potentially to negotiate huge TV contracts with the major networks. This set off a domino-like chain of events, as the Big East scrambled to maintain an eight-team football slate, while retaining its rich basketball affiliations. Conference USA lured a few members from the WAC, which lured several members of lower-major conferences. The dominoes were set into motion.

Conferences with new members for 2005-2006, in order of biggest to smallest dominoes:
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE Boston College (Big East) Clemson Duke Florida State Georgia Tech Maryland Miami (Big East)* North Carolina North Carolina State Virginia Virginia Tech (Big East)* Wake Forest *2004-2005 season members.	BIG EAST CONFERENCE (Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech to ACC) Cincinnati (C-USA) UConn DePaul (C-USA) Georgetown Louisville (C-USA) Marquette (C-USA) Notre Dame Pittsburgh Providence Rutgers St John's Seton Hall South Florida (C-USA) Syracuse Villanova West Virginia
CONFERENCE USA (Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, South Florida to Big East; TCU to MWC; Charlotte, Saint Louis to A-10) East Carolina Houston Marshall (MAC) Memphis Rice Southern Methodist (WAC) Southern Mississippi Tulane Tulsa (WAC) UAB UCF (Atlantic Sun) UTEP (WAC)	ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE Charlotte (CUSA) Dayton Duquesne Fordham George Washington LaSalle UMass Rhode Island Richmond Saint Bonaventure Saint Joseph's Saint Louis (CUSA) Temple Xavier
WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SMU, Tulsa, UTEP to C-USA) Boise State Fresno State Hawaii Idaho (Big West) Louisiana Tech Nevada New Mexico State (Sun Belt) San Jose State Utah State (Big West)	MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE Air Force BYU Colorado State New Mexico San Diego TCU (from C-USA) UNLV Utah Wyoming
BIG WEST CONFERENCE (Utah State to WAC, Idaho to WAC) Cal Poly Cal State Fullerton Cal State Northridge Long Beach State UC-Irvine Pacific UC-Riverside UC-Santa Barbara	MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE (Marshall to CUSA) Akron Ball State Bowling Green Buffalo Central Michigan Eastern Michigan Kent State Miami (OH) Northern Illinois Ohio Toledo Western Michigan
COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION Delaware Drexel George Mason Georgia State (Atlantic Sun) Hofstra James Madison UNC Wilmington Northeastern (America East) Old Dominion Towson VCU William & Mary	ATLANTIC SUN CONFERENCE (UCF to CUSA, Georgia State to CAA, Troy to Sun Belt) Belmont Campbell East Tennessee (Southern) Florida Atlantic Gardner-Webb Jacksonville Kennesaw State (Div II) Lipscomb Mercer North Florida (Div II) Stetson
SUN BELT CONFERENCE Arkansas State Arkansas-Little Rock Denver Florida International Louisiana-Lafayette Middle Tennessee State New Orleans North Texas South Alabama Troy State (Atlantic Sun) Western Kentucky Louisiana-Monroe will leave the Southland to join the Sun Belt in 2006-2007.	AMERICA EAST CONFERENCE (Northeastern to CAA) Albany Binghamton Boston University Hartford Maine Maryland-Baltimore County New Hampshire Stony Brook Vermont
No Changes Big South, Big Sky, Big Ten, Big XII, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, MCC, MEAC, MVC, NEC, OVC, Pac-10, Patriot, SEC, Southern, Southland**, SWAC, WCC

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