I thought the same thing then I started to look at travel. GA State and GA Southern are two travel partners. Hartwick and NJIT are travel partners. That leaves ETSU who could have been a natural travel partner with Belmont, but the decision was to take a more northern school, Howard. I would imigine that Howard was chosen over Belmont for a few resesons. 1. To convince Hartwick and NJIT to come along. One shorter conference away match. 2. Howard might be more of a "W" on the schedule than Belmont. 3. If Alabama A&M still had a team, adding Belmont would have made sense, then you have a 8 team conference with sort of travel partners. 7 teams is hard to schedule.
I think Hartwick leaving the MAC is good for Akron as it allows them to drop a team with a low RPI and add another team from a big conference. Notre Dame, Northwestern, hell, Maryland could be added. BTW, if Pitt had any ambition they'd be phoning West Virginia and Akron to get themselves on the schedule as replacements for Hartwick. Anyone think that happens?
I agree with your logic here. This will immediately free up a game for Akron to fill with a quality RPI opponent. I only have a problem the MAC's reasoning for forcing out Hartwick. No "multi-divisional" members? Really? Who do they think they are?
The reasoning is shaky. Something fishy is going on, and it might be related to realignment in other sports. Lots of rumors flying that some combination of James Madison, Delaware, UMass, and Missouri State will be joining the MAC. Or it could just be some weird quirk coming from the conference leadership (read: the university presidents who vote on these things).
There are some who believe the MAC dropped Hartwick because they inflicted the first MAC home defeat on Akron. Or perhaps Hartwick's return to competitiveness was worrisome to lower ranked teams in the MAC
I deserve that. But that was not the first home MAC loss for Akron, just the first in many years. Probably the first victory at Akron for Hartwick. Had I my futbol druthers, I say keep Hartwick in the MAC and expel Buffalo.
FYI.... Not a criticism, Rob, you're doing yeoman's work that is much-appreciated. But sometimes some changes fall through the cracks.
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So does the Sun Belt get an automatic bid this year? If so, the proverbial bubble just got more crowded as there's one less at-large spot.
http://sunbeltsports.org/news/2014/2/11/GENERAL_0211145401.aspx?path=general From the official release: The Sun Belt will conduct a championship at one of the six institutions with the winner earning an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The championship format will see the top two teams from the regular season earning a bye into the tournament semifinals. A date and site for the championship will be announced in May. "We are looking forward to having an automatic qualifier in the sport to represent us in the NCAA postseason," said Benson. "And we are optimistic at the possibility of sending multiple teams to the tournament field each year."
If you ever go to Chicago State you will understand why. I only see foreign players going to that school so they can get into the states.
Thanks to Hararea, UTPA has hired their first coach. So one needs to feel a little bad to the current UT-Brownsville coach (D3). When they become UTRGV his job goes away. http://www.scnow.com/sports/article_b75142c2-9991-11e3-89e0-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm They are set for 2015.
A little more about the UTPA/UTB/UTRGV situation: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/sports/local/article_59dcf480-9f66-11e3-99d5-0017a43b2370.html
Belmont is no longer an independent. They are joining the Horizon League as an associate member. http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/b...ber?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
At the present, the Sun Belt, the Southern, Pac 12, and MAC are all at the minimum number of teams to get a tourney bid (6). And the Southern is the only conference of the 4 that doesn't use associate members to get up to the minimum. We could have a league drop men's soccer if just one full member or associate leaves. So, how many years until one of those 4 conferences loses men's soccer?
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