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Friday, May 18, 2012

Hoops Scoops: The new CAA (Newsday)

The new CAA?
Dave Coley (center) of Stony Brook celebrates a
Photo credit: Photo by Shane Bufano

We know this conference realignment issue is not settled and likely won’t be for several years. The Big East, Big West, CAA, Conference USA and Mountain West are still in a bit of flux, while the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC could still expand.
Right now we’ll just take a look at local the local fallout from the latest edition of conference musical chairs.
Here’s one Hoops Scoops version of what CAA Basketball should look like. Yes, we’ve included Stony Brook, Charleston and Davidson. This could all be moot, especially if the CAA decides to add Albany, Vermont or Boston University, instead of Stony Brook.
But we're sure that Stony Brook is on the CAA short list because of its recent success in football.

CAA
North
Delaware
Drexel
Hofstra
Northeastern
Stony Brook
Towson
South
Charleston
Davidson
George Mason
James Madison
NC Wilmington
William & Mary

Stony Brook is included because its football program is just what the CAA needs. Truth be told, Stony Brook may not be willing to join the CAA in all sports if the league doesn’t make changes to its alignment. Having to travel south of Delaware for more than half of its conference games can’t be appealing.
In our CAA alignment, Hofstra and Stony Brook will be reunited. With Old Dominion and VCU gone, the travel shouldn’t be as extensive for either school, especially if the league sticks with an unbalanced schedule. In an 18-game conference schedule, Hofstra/Stony Brook would play each team in the CAA North twice and each team in the South once.
To make the home-away schedule even, three of Hofstra/Stony Brook’s South Division games would be on the road and three would be at home. Add that to five home games and five road contests against the North Division teams and you have a balanced home-away slate.