The following is something I posted on the other thread I started on this topic. Turbine, feel free to combine the two threads.
Jay and Scott talked about this on their shows today.
These changes are as a result of recommendations made by Mark Adams (ESPN color guy on mid major broadcasts and former mid major coach). Mr. Adams is a scheduling consultant hired by the SBC, CUSA, and the Horizon League. I suspect the scheduling alliance referred to in the article involves those three leagues. However, a part of me is skeptical CUSA would agree to this with the SBC due to the belief of many of those schools such a move would indicate they are going backwards. On April 10, Mr. Adams made a presentation to Rebounders Club members who were available. I was fortunate to be able to attend part of the meeting. In that meeting he outlined this proposal. Obviously we could not make this public until things become official and it was unknown at that time what would be approved. We were told the league wanted to make the announcement and they did so today. There are a couple of interesting tidbits from that meeting that I recall. One, a Big 10 athletic administrator was caught saying the Big 6 leagues (Football P5 plus Big East) have a goal to eliminate all mid major at large bids in the near future. They virtually have done this now by scheduling almost all non conference games at home or on neutral courts. That will continue. The new selection criteria of how you did vs Top 50, Top 100 etc allows the big boys to be close to their goal now. 2nd he claimed that CUSA has agreed to the scheduling alliance with the SBC. As stated earlier, a part of me finds that hard to believe. Overall, this is a good move for the league and indicates a willingness to try something new. The pod system is definitely out of the box thinking. Playing the semi finals and finals at the Smoothie King Center is also a good move vs Lake Front Arena. Plenty of downtown hotels near SKC and you only stay one night. What do you guys think about these changes.