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Big 12 Lacrosse picks up Florida, UC Davis and San Diego State to go along with Arizona State, Cincinnati and Colorado. Surprised Florida and Vandy didn't stay together in whatever conference. Pencil FLorida in for the automatic bid with no JMU to worry about anymore.

laxfan9999 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 1:39 pm Big 12 Lacrosse picks up Florida, UC Davis and San Diego State to go along with Arizona State, Cincinnati and Colorado. Surprised Florida and Vandy didn't stay together in whatever conference. Pencil FLorida in for the automatic bid with no JMU to worry about anymore.

Wow, didn't see that coming. I guess Florida doesn't like having a challenger for top dog in conference.

So that will leave the AAC with only 5 teams, they will have to pick up a team in order to keep their automatic bid to the NCAA's. How long does a conference have to add an additional team after they lose teams in order to maintain the automatic bid to the NCAA's?

USF coming in next year? Charlotte?

Florida leaving portends something else happening? More conference realignment? But really, having JMU in the conference was perfect and with USF coming in, another good program. I guess they are concerned about losing in state.

livelovelax wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 2:32 pm USF coming in next year? Charlotte?

Yes...they are both full members of the AAC already.

spidey44 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 2:14 pm I guess Florida doesn't like having a challenger for top dog in conference.

First thought that popped into my head, too.

Disappointing for the AAC. It was shaping up to be a decent conference.

Why is Florida joining this conference again? I get why the other 5 teams are there. Does the conference provide some sort of monetary gain or savings for them to join the conference versus the conference they are in?

Didn't FSU announce a team? What year and where are they going?

forthelaxofit wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 2:49 pm Why is Florida joining this conference again? I get why the other 5 teams are there. Does the conference provide some sort of monetary gain or savings for them to join the conference versus the conference they are in?

Didn't FSU announce a team? What year and where are they going?

Must be some sort of monetary motivation to leave. AAC will still be the better conference to start. Personally think this is a bad move for Florida. They should absolutely run over every other team in the Big12 for the foreseeable future. They had started a nice little rivalry with JMU. Short lived...

FSU is supposed to start Spring 2026. They will be in the ACC just like all other sports.

Don’t know the reasoning behind Florida leaving the AAC, but on the service it comes across as them running scared.

RollTheCrease wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 8:38 pm Don’t know the reasoning behind Florida leaving the AAC, but on the service it comes across as them running scared.

A few thoughts...SEC doesn't have lacrosse, so why not move? Moving to the Big 12 is just about a guaranteed NCAA bid every year until better teams arrive or develop. Worst case they go over other year, or make it every few and take an odd year off. I don't see anyone in the Big 12 beating them out.

You can still have a strong OOC schedule, but it may not help for the playoffs.

My question is when does a decent G5 school make the move to the Big 12? This is a prime opportunity for a school with a football/wlax program to make this kind of move. Liberty? Someone else?

The NCAA likes this move from a playoff perspective. Florida will win the conference and get the automatic conference bid. Florida deserves to be in the playoffs now and in the near future. This prevents a questionable team getting a Big12 automatic bid and reducing the number of at large invites if Florida stayed in the AAC.

laxdadpat wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 9:47 am The NCAA likes this move from a playoff perspective. Florida will win the conference and get the automatic conference bid. Florida deserves to be in the playoffs now and in the near future. This prevents a questionable team getting a Big12 automatic bid and reducing the number of at large invites if Florida stayed in the AAC.

That actually makes sense. But too bad you'll lose that JMU/UF rivalry. Florida still has a decent OOC schedule so don't see that changing. Assume they'll add the in state USF and FSU in the near future as well. Hopefully both of those will be competitive.

My question is still why didn't Vandy go with them with them and Florida being only SEC schools.

laxfan9999 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2024 10:38 am My question is still why didn't Vandy go with them with them and Florida being only SEC schools.

My guess is Vandy didn't want to get into/pay for all that travel. Florida has 3 west coast teams they'll have to travel to at least every other year. Seems like a major PITA.

Interesting choice by Florida..long term i see them being second behind Colorado. The buffs are a rising program in a rising lacrosse hotbed they'll be the class of the conference. All the other programs are pretty much on par with or a little worse than florida