Belmont to Join OVC
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By
Matt Peloquin
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The OVC had been considering schools such as North Alabama. And when Northern Kentucky announced it was considering an upgrade to Division 1, the OVC was considered one of their goal destinations. But the Ohio Valley Conference has put those schools aside for the time being with the addition of Belmont as it’s 12th member.
Belmont will join the OVC on July 1, 2012 and be a full member for the 2012-2013 season.
The Nashville based school will fit in nicely with the current OVC members, providing access for OVC schools into that market. Belmont will be joining 4 other Tennessee schools in the conference: Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, UT-Martin.
While the OVc sponsors football, the school has said they have no plans to add the sport in the OVC.
Tags: Featured News, NCAA Conference Expansion & Realignment, NCAA Expansion, OVC expansion
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Good Job for Vanderbilt Jr!
I’m still scratching my head about Butler. Two straight national championship games, yet there are no conferences fighting to get them to join their league? The Horizon League is the ceiling for them?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those naive fans who’s completely oblivious to the reasons conferences expand and thinks the Big Ten or Big East should invite them over. But what about the A-10? The Missouri Valley? Don’t they think Butler would add enough to the size of the pie to justify splitting it one more way? Heck, C-USA ought to have enough vision to see that it should ditch the requirement that members play football when there’s a two-time national runner-up in a very low-revenue conference available.
As for Belmont’s switch to the OVC, I don’t blame them one bit. It’ll be less travel and a slightly better basketball league. This move also probably means the A-Sun is going to have nothing but 15- and 16-seeds in the NCAA Tournament for years to come. The league is officially rivaling the Great West and the Summit in the race for the most unhappy members, although the Summit has come a long way.