Could another Big South member be joining the ASUN

[northalaspectator]

This is a little hard for me to believe but ....


On the Liberty Sports Forum it is rumor that another Big South School will join the ASUN.
High Point was specifically mentioned.

According to reports High Point is spending lavishly on student dorms, meals and other student life extras to attract students.

And they're building a 4,500-seat basketball arena and hired Tubby Smith to coach in it.

[brandon]

Well, I didn't expect Liberty.

[unafied]

Interesting. I didn’t realize the actual city of High Point has a population of over 100k. I just looked it up on Wikipedia. It’s about halfway between Winston-Salem and Greensboro, and just minutes from either. Within an hour and a half of Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham. That’s a lot of people and a GREAT area for the conference to expand into if they want to enter North Carolina.

They just hired Tubby Smith as basketball coach. Yeah, he’s an alum, but it’s still big. Obviously they expect to be successful there. The ASUN could be pitching them the idea of being a stronger basketball conference in the near future. High Point doesn’t have football, so I’m sure they look at basketball as their bread and butter sport.

It doesn’t really matter, but adding HPU and Liberty would put the conference at 5 private schools and 5 public schools. Is that a good mix? I don’t know. I’m not sure it’s good OR bad, just an interesting point.

I’d still rather have a certain cockier school join, if it were up to me.

[northalaspectator]

May 17, 2018 19:54:42 GMT -6 unafied said:

Interesting. I didn’t realize the actual city of High Point has a population of over 100k. I just looked it up on Wikipedia. It’s about halfway between Winston-Salem and Greensboro, and just minutes from either. Within an hour and a half of Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham. That’s a lot of people and a GREAT area for the conference to expand into if they want to enter North Carolina.

They just hired Tubby Smith as basketball coach. Yeah, he’s an alum, but it’s still big. Obviously they expect to be successful there. The ASUN could be pitching them the idea of being a stronger basketball conference in the near future. High Point doesn’t have football, so I’m sure they look at basketball as their bread and butter sport.

It doesn’t really matter, but adding HPU and Liberty would put the conference at 5 private schools and 5 public schools. Is that a good mix? I don’t know. I’m not sure it’s good OR bad, just an interesting point.

I’d still rather have a certain cockier school join, if it were up to me.

That certain cockier would be my choice also. I believe by 2023 there could be more than 10 or 11 Basketball schools and the ASUN will have divisions.

[unafied]

If Liberty and High Point are the two members added, neither with FCS football, you have to assume the ASUN is focusing on being a strong conference in every other sport (I guess you can assume that already). But you have USC-Upstate, a school with no football team, that left the ASUN to go to the Big South. I wonder if there will be any regret from them in the coming years. Are there other non-football schools from the Big South that the ASUN could poach? I know UNC-Asheville is one. I'm sure there are 1 or 2 others since the Big South football schedule is so limited. Winthrop? That would get the ASUN back into South Carolina if they care to do so.

Ironically, we don't need the Big South to get too upset with the ASUN and try to get out of the football deal. But then the Big South might actually need us to stay alive as a football conference. It puts them in a potentially tough position.

[brandon]

I don't think the A-Sun pulls from the Big South anymore. I think Liberty was just wanting out. They don't need any bad blood between the two conferences. I think of another school comes to the A-Sun, it will be from the OVC, CAA, or Southland. And D2 schools could still be in play.