D2 tournament expansion

[leeatu]

Announced this past week;

Championships policy changes

The Management Council voted to establish as championships policy an access ratio for all team sports to determine bracket sizes. Specifically, the policy states that for every 4.25 to six schools that sponsor the sport, one would be included in the championship field. This policy, which was recommended by the Division II Implementation Committee, will potentially provide more championship opportunities for student-athletes, as it will guide decisions regarding bracket sizes as part of the triennial budget process.

Currently the women have a 6.938 ratio and the men have a 6.333 ratio. Enacting this policy will force the overdue expansion of both brackets. D2 has 8 future teams for each gender which will continue bracket expansion to keep the ratio low. There are other D2 proposals under review affecting the brackets. One grants AQ to all non-football team sports. The other caps the number of teams with the AQ at 60% of the bracket. With the number of AQ's potentially to be awarded (9 men, 13 women) and the new teams the brackets would need to grow to 16 for men and 24 for women to meet these new standards.

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/7/19/med ... sored.aspx

[Doxology]

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/8/3/medi ... ntion.aspx

Inching closer . . .

[River Donkey]

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/8/3/medi ... ntion.aspx

Inching closer . . .

What about the recent losses? Wouldn’t that cancel out any gains that have been made?
Personally I think D2 is in trouble and we are looking at going back to D1 and D3 only. Hopefully I’m wrong, but the trend is disturbing.

[Leonard Washington]

What about the recent losses? Wouldn’t that cancel out any gains that have been made?
Personally I think D2 is in trouble and we are looking at going back to D1 and D3 only. Hopefully I’m wrong, but the trend is disturbing.

I definitely agree on the former (seems like more losses will come in the next 12-24 months) but disagree (because of football and basketball) on the latter.

As you said, I hope I'm wrong

[River Donkey]

What about the recent losses? Wouldn’t that cancel out any gains that have been made?
Personally I think D2 is in trouble and we are looking at going back to D1 and D3 only. Hopefully I’m wrong, but the trend is disturbing.

I definitely agree on the former (seems like more losses will come in the next 12-24 months) but disagree (because of football and basketball) on the latter.

As you said, I hope I'm wrong

Yes I agree other D2 sports will be ok, I was referring to D2 lacrosse only.

[Leonard Washington]

Yes I agree other D2 sports will be ok, I was referring to D2 lacrosse only.

Despite the 10 or so year hiatus in the 80s/90s, Division III lacrosse has been around as long as football and basketball and since the NCAA split in the 70s. I believe there would have to be a massive implosion within DII lax for anything to happen. If it did happen, which I still stand by and hope it doesn't, it would be interesting to see if a DII team or two, got an invite to the DI tourney like they did "back in the day"

[leeatu]

In 2022-23, D2 men had 76 teams and women had 111 teams. Le Moyne College and Alderson Broaddus are the only losses this summer. Nine new programs for each gender will begin play during the upcoming three school years, I said eight above but that was the net program gain on July 1. There are rumors of more programs being added. Both D2 lax brackets are already too small for the number of teams in the division and the additions of teams is much greater than the losses of teams leaving D2.

[Leonard Washington]

Let's not forget about the DII colleges (with MLAX programs) that are not doing well financially. Will they still be open in 5 years? Possibly. Will some cut things other than football, basketball with rosters that are underwhelming, probably.

[leeatu]

Moving closer to bracket expansion.

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2024/1/11/med ... chool.aspx

DII Presidents Council approves supplemental distribution of $13,500 per school
...

The Presidents Council also approved the triennial budget recommendations for Division II championships, which included $1.3 million annually for various championships enhancements and initiatives beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The recommendations include additional participation opportunities for student-athletes through bracket expansions in field hockey and men's and women's lacrosse and increased field sizes in women's golf and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field.

[RedFromMI]

Any word on the proposed addition of AQs to all sports except FB?

[d2laxfan]

It passed this morning. 2025 will have a 16-team men's bracket with an AQ for every conference with the minimum 6 members.