And yet more realignment......

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

OK, so I can't put the subject line in teal or soemthing like that.......

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/bigger-maac-conference-add-schools-article-1.1219614



MAAC set to vote in new members: Quinnipiac, Monmouth considered locks, Wagner College an outside chance

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will have a decidedly different look to it after Friday when nine school presidents meet to discuss expansion of the conference in light of the departure of Loyola (Md.) for the Patriot League next season.

Presidents from Manhattan, Iona, Fairfield, Marist, St. Peter's, Siena, Rider, Niagara and Canisius are expected to green light the addition of up to three teams for next season with Quinnipiac and Monmouth of the Northeast Conference appearing to be locks. There have been reports that Wagner College, also of the NEC, might be a third team to jump to the MAAC. But sources told the Daily News that the Seahawks will instead remain as a member of the Northeast Conference. There is also the chance the MAAC will add just two schools this time around and play as an 11-team conference next season.

Other schools that have been mentioned as possible targets included LaSalle of Philadelphia, which played in the MAAC from the 1983-84 season through the 1991-92 campaign before jumping to the Atlantic 10, as well as a pair of southern schools, Davidson and Elon, which would have expanded the conference's reach from Buffalo to the Carolinas. But it is not clear if the latter three schools were ever serious contenders.

Quinnipiac and Monmouth have each built first-class facilities for their athletic programs within the past several years, facilities that would be far superior to many of the current MAAC schools. Quinnipiac, which is based in Hamden, Connecticut and has an enrollment of 6,200 and would provide a natural rival for Fairfield, built the $52 million TD Bank Sports Complex which the Bobcats now call home. Monmouth, based in West Long Branch, N.J. and which would give the MAAC a third team in New Jersey, joining Rider and St. Peter's, has an enrollment of 4,700 and christened their $57 million Multipurpose Activity Center (MAC) in 2009. Of the current MAAC schools, only Siena, which plays its home games at the Times Union Center in downtown Albany, and Fairfield, which plays its home games at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, would compare.

The school presidents are expected to meet early Friday and move to shore up the conference that will lose Loyola, the defending champions, to the Patriot League next season. The Greyhounds are the first team to defect from the MAAC since LaSalle left in 1992. Prior to that, the MAAC saw Army, Holy Cross and Fordham leave following the 1990 season.

The addition of Quinnipiac and Monmouth will be the first new basketball members to join the MAAC since Marist and Rider entered the conference in 1997.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/bigger-maac-conference-add-schools-article-1.1219614#ixzz2F2sJxj57

[brewcity77]

Not extending the A-10 olive branch to the C7? At least someone knows their place

[GGGG]

I heard the people at Monmouth are really worried about how much Quinnipiac is dedicated to the future of the MAAC.

[jsglow]

OK, we're getting cocky here.

[GGGG]

OK, we're getting cocky here.

Damn right.  We beat the Badgers last Saturday...rid ourselves of the damn football schools in the BE yesterday...and I feel good about it. 

[augoman]

Sultan, I, too, feel very good about it.  If I could bring the genie from his lamp I'd wish for the Big East we joined oh so many years ago.  Facing the leaking Big East as it is today, I'm glad we've grabbed the bull by the gonads and took action!  Now I feel the best is yet to come.  No longer are we the weak sister in the league (no football? WTF).