Blogging the Bracket

Who Says There's No News In Mid-May?

2012-05-17T18:08:00Z

A quick look at some key pieces of info for a May afternoon...

Old Dominion is, after much deliberation, departing the Colonial Athletic Association for Conference USA effective with the 2013-14 season (Hampton Roads Daily Press). They'll have to eventually upgrade to FBS in football, but again, since this is a basketball blog, here's what the news means for this coming season. The CAA Tournament in Richmond (that is, if it's indeed held there, Towson has proposed Baltimore as a replacement site, contract be damned) may feature as few as seven teams. The Monarchs and Georgia State will be ineligible as departing members and the Tigers and UNC Wilmington may be out because of APR issues. As for the medium-term, the CAA will now need to replace three members (don't forget about VCU), The most often rumored schools include Boston University, College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, and Stony Brook. In other words, expect more dominoes to fall soon.
The NCAA finally announced a site for the 2013 East Regional on Wednesday, and in a bit of an upset, the Division I Men's Basketball Committee selected Washington, D.C. over Brooklyn, Newark, and Syracuse. The other second weekend sites are Los Angeles (at the Staples Center for the first time), Indianapolis, and Arlington, Texas.
Finally, the Charleston Classic field is now set, according to Andy Katz at ESPN.com, as Murray State will join Baylor, Boston College, College of Charleston, Colorado, Dayton, St. John's, and (EDIT, thanks to Patrick Marshall for reminding me) Auburn, who replaces Southern Illinois. That move gives the Racers a chance to grab some decent neutral-court, non-conference wins to pad their at-large profile. Remember, the OVC race will get a bit tougher in 2012-13 with Belmont's arrival from the Atlantic Sun.

I've updated the 2013 Conference Tournament Info, Conference Changes For 2013-14, 2013 NCAA Tournament Info, and 2012 Early Season Event Info pages with this new information.

Enjoy this post? Follow Blogging the Bracket on Twitter and Like the site on Facebook.

VCU to Atlantic 10 is all but official now. The university has a presser scheduled for 1:30 p.m....

2012-05-15T14:31:41Z

VCU to Atlantic 10 is all but official now. The university has a presser scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the conference has one set for an hour later.

I've updated the Conference Changes for 2013-14 page with this info.

Update: CBS's Brett McMurphy (who else) says this move is effective for THIS fall. So the Conference Changes 2012-13 page received an unexpected update.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but between work and moving, I haven't had a ton of time.

per Tim Pearrell of the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Conference Realignment For 2013-14

2012-05-03T21:33:57Z

Conference Realignment For 2013-14

I'm updating this as quickly as I can based on new information. Today, I've moved Charlotte, UTSA, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and FIU to Conference USA, reducing their soon-to-be former conferences in kind.

As for Old Dominion ... well, that's a different story entirely. The Monarchs have yet to commit. When they do, I'll move them, and wait for the next set of dominoes to fall.

MWC Connection: San Jose State And Utah State Are Mountain West-Bound

2012-05-03T00:43:43Z

MWC Connection: San Jose State And Utah State Are Mountain West-Bound

The parade of conference realignment press conferences continues on Friday with the official announcement of the Spartans' and Aggies' move.

I've updated the Conference Realignment For 2013-14 page yet again with this info.

Butler To The Atlantic 10; Texas State To Sun Belt Now Official

2012-05-02T18:58:39Z

Butler To The Atlantic 10; Texas State To Sun Belt Now Official

Mike Rutherford has more over at SB Nation.

The Conference Realignment for 2013-14 page is updated with this news, along with Texas State's move to the Sun Belt. More info will be added as moves, especially in the A10, CAA, C-USA, and Mountain West, are made official.

Anchorage Daily News: Great Alaska Shootout Field Set

2012-04-20T10:17:24Z

Anchorage Daily News: Great Alaska Shootout Field Set

Belmont is the only NCAA Tournament team in the 2012 field, while Oral Roberts is the lone of the seven Division I teams that made the NIT. Of the other five, just Loyola Marymount closed the 2011-12 campaign with a winning record. Once again, Alaska-Anchorage was unable to secure a Power Six conference team for its tournament, with UC Riverside, Charlotte, Northeastern, and Texas State rounding out the field.

UMass In Puerto Rico Tip-Off

2012-04-14T13:53:44Z

UMass In Puerto Rico Tip-Off

Per Pacific's release about its participation in the Anaheim Classic of all places.

The Minutemen's inclusion would keep an A-10 team in the field after Xavier's move to the Southern California event.

2012 Anaheim Classic Field Features Three Golden State Teams

2012-04-12T21:00:00Z

ESPN Plus revealed the full field for the 2012 Anaheim Classic earlier today. My immediate reaction was that the Southern California tournament will have a distinctly Northern California feel.

We already knew that Drake (MVC) would be making the trip to Disneyland, thanks to message boards, and that Xavier (A-10) was slated to participate after their withdrawal from the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, prompted because of what would have been a quick turnaround after a Tip-Off Marathon home game against Butler. As for the remaining six teams, three, California (Pac-12), Pacific (Big West), and St. Mary's (West Coast), will stay in-state for their 2012 exempt event. The Tigers and Gaels will soon be conference rivals as Pacific will shift from the host Big West to the West Coast Conference in time for the 2013-14 season. Drexel (CAA), Georgia Tech (ACC), and Rice (Conference USA) round out the field. The Dragons and Drake were both in the 2011 Paradise Jam, though they didn't meet during the event. Meanwhile, the Owls are coached by Ben Braun, who used to be in charge at Cal.

St. Mary's is the only team among the eight to make a previous appearance in Anaheim, as a Patrick Mills-led team finished in fourth place in 2008.

In other exempt tournament news...

Patrick from WhiteAndBlueReview.com emailed me with information on the South Padre Invitational. It looks like UAB (Conference USA), Northwestern (Big Ten), and TCU (Big 12) will join already confirmed Illinois State (MVC) as host schools, with Fairleigh Dickinson (Northeast) and Navy (Patriot) serving as two of the four visitors.
Patrick and Buzz from GopherHole.com also advised me of some NIT Season Tip-Off news. Delaware (CAA), Fairfield (MAAC), and Robert Morris (NEC) will play in the Virginia regional. (So much for the Cavaliers' participation being "rumored.") Southland champion Lamar is also slated to participate
The Cardinals may very well play at Kansas State, who will also serve as a regional host. Pat Knight's team could run into in-state rival North Texas there, as the Sun Belt power is also in the field. (H/T Johnson Jennings via email)

I've updated the 2012 Early Season Tournaments And Events page with this information. I've also moved the Barclays Classic into the Round-Robin Events section, as I recently realized the doubleheader in Brooklyn, anchored by National Champion Kentucky and Maryland is actually a five-team tournament (I'm not Rick Rolling you with the link), not a one-off contest.

As it stands now, only eight teams from the Big Six conferences are without an event for this season: Rutgers and USF from the Big East; Michigan State and Nebraska from the Big Ten; and Auburn, Florida, LSU, and South Carolina from the SEC.

Enjoy this post? Follow Blogging the Bracket on Twitter and Like the site on Facebook.