D-1 Re-Alignment

You may recall that I’ve touched on Division-1 conference affiliations in the past, and mentioned that there is a possibility that re-alignment could be a positive in terms of helping encourage more non-hotbed schools to add lacrosse (particularly those in Big Ten country).

Though last summer’s re-alignment seemed to be the end of any major shakeup in college athletics, it seems that this summer (continuing into the fall) has brought about a second wave. As of now, here are some of the possible changes to the D-1 landscape.

Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC

The Orange join the country’s top lacrosse conference, bringing the ACC to five teams (Duke, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina are the others). That brings the ACC to just one member short of being an NCAA-sanctioned conference in lacrosse, autobid and all. Should somebody like Villanova join the ACC, there’s your six-team conference. But if the league doesn’t expands to include any more current lacrosse teams, it’s possible that an ACC football school, such as Florida State (or Boston College/NC State two schools that have shuttered D-1 programs in the recent past) could add the sport.

Pitt also happens to be a decent choice for adding D-1 lacrosse. They’re a public institution in a state that has good lacrosse talent. They have a natural rivalry with Penn State, there’s already a D-1 lacrosse program (Robert Morris) in the Pittsburgh area, and with an ACC affiliation, there are plenty of reasonable scheduling opportunities for non-conference games.

Syracuse out of the Big East

Syracuse’s departure drops the Big East to six teams – depending on timing – and back up to seven once Marquette joins in 2013. With at least one other school on shaky ground (the above-mentioned Villanova), the league may not continue as a lacrosse conference. Losing the most high-profile member in ‘Cuse certainly doesn’t help its case.

Could the dissolution of the Big East as a lacrosse conference (or possibly as a conference in any sense, per some scenarios) lead the westernmost members – Notre Dame and Marquette – into pushing for a rebirth of the GWLL?

The Ripple Effect

With the Big 12 seemingly on the verge of implosion, and the Big East not much more stable, there could be much wider-reaching ripples in conference alignment. Does the departure of Syracuse and Pitt make the Big East a less-attractive option for Notre Dame’s basketball teams (and non-revenue sports)? That could drive the Irish into all-sport independence, or even into the Big Ten, ACC, or Pac-12.

One hypothetical situation (fanciful though it may seem, conference re-alignment is a crazy time) sees Notre Dame and Texas end up in the Big Ten. The Irish would be the fourth lacrosse-playing member of the league, which could help inch some existing Big Ten schools ever-closer to taking the plunge themselves.

…AND?

Until we see what shakes out with Syracuse and Pitt, and what effects that will have on re-alignment from a football/basketball perspective (because let’s be honest here, those are the sports that matter, and for good rea$on), it’s impossible to predict what happens.

Like the summer of 2010, it’s possible that the enormous changes that seem imminent right now never come to pass. If they do though, their effect on the D-1 landscape in the midwest should be a very interesting study.