Conference changes

[Caz Bombers]

Regent will be joining the Coast 2 Coast Conference in 2025-26, postseason eligible in 2028-29 when they complete the Division III re-classification process.

[CNU85]

Regent will be joining the Coast 2 Coast Conference in 2025-26, postseason eligible in 2028-29 when they complete the Division III re-classification process.

Regent Royals

[Ralph Turner]

Updating to include today's news about Keystone not getting accreditation. Also making note of pending change to the way provisionals are counted toward their opponents' ranking and selection criteria.

Provisional Pipeline for 2024-25 (Now confirmed)
Full membership: Asbury, Warren Wilson
3rd year provisional members: Hartford, Lyon
2nd year provisional members: Carlow
1st year provisional: Penn State-Brandywine (I don't see a report on this one yet)

Exploratory: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)

Mayville State withdrew from the exploratory process. The Membership Committee also recommended reducing the reclassification process from three to two years and asked for more information on the proposed merger of Bluffton University with D2 Findlay.

* Games against Year 3 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for regional-ranking and tournament selection purposes (possibly changing to include provisionals that conform to all D3 bylaws but may be earlier in the pipeline)

Conference Changes Starting in 2024-2025
Asbury joins the CCS
Berea leaves the CCS for the HCAC
Birmingham-Southern (SAA) closes
Brockport leaves the SUNYAC for the E8
Cabrini (AEC) closes
Clarks Summit (UEC) closes
Concordia (Texas) leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Defiance (HCAC) leaves D3 for NAIA
Eastern Nazarene (NAC) closes
Fontbonne athletics in limbo? (closing in 2025-26)
Keystone (UEC) have accreditation revoked; cannot enroll students during the appeal process.
McMurry leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Morrisville State leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
Penn State-Brandywine joins the UEC (provisional pending)
Pratt leaves the C2C for the AEC
SUNY Canton leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY Geneseo leaves the SUNYAC for the E8
SUNY Poly leaves the NAC for the E8
Texas-Dallas leaves the ASC for D2 (application accepted)
University of the Ozarks leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Wells (AMCC) closes
CCS expected to gain Pool A bid
Expecting 43 Pool A bids, 0 Pool B bids, 21 Pool C bids

Conference Changes Starting in 2025-2026
Anna Maria leaves GNAC for the MASCAC
Ferrum leaves the ODAC for D2 (application pending)
Fontbonne (SLIAC) closes
Hendrix leaves the SAA for the SCAC
Hiram leaves the NCAC for the PAC
John Carroll leaves the OAC for the NCAC
Johnson & Wales (RI) leaves the GNAC for the CCC
LeTourneau leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Regent join C2C.
Southwestern leaves the SCAC for the SAA
Trinity (Texas) leaves the SCAC for the SAA
Expecting 43 Pool A bids, 0 Pool B bids, 21 Pool C bids

Conference Changes Starting in 2026-2027
SUNY New Paltz leaves the SUNYAC for the NJAC
Maryville leaves the CCS for the SAA

[d3hoopstories]

Does anyone know how many Pool A spots there will be for men's basketball this year? I saw that the women's basketball committee approved 43 but I have not seen final word for the men. Thank you.

[deiscanton]

Does anyone know how many Pool A spots there will be for men's basketball this year? I saw that the women's basketball committee approved 43 but I have not seen final word for the men. Thank you.

In September, the DIII Championships Committee did indeed approve 43 AQs for the 2024-25 women's basketball, verifying the recommendation of the DIII Women's Basketball Committee.  The DIII Championships Committee has not yet made their final approval of AQs for this year's DIII Men's Basketball Tournament, but we are expecting that it will be the same as the women's tournament, with 43 AQs and 21 at large bids. (The same conferences that were approved on the women's side.) The at large bids will be the top 21 ranked teams on the national NPI that did not get an AQ.  We expect official DIII NPI rankings will be released weekly starting in February, with a daily release of NPI rankings during Conference Tournament week, followed by a final official released NPI ranking of all DIII basketball teams on Sunday night/early Monday morning after all contests for the regular season have been completed and all AQs have been awarded. The final NPI rankings will have a {selections} indicator, indicating that it is indeed the final NPI rankings.  If the fall announcements for women's and men's soccer and women's volleyball are any indication, we will know the entire field for both the DIII men's and women's basketball tournaments hours before the official brackets are released on the afternoon selection shows.   The selection shows will be the official reveal of the matchups where we will know where each AQ and at-large team will be playing in the first weekend of the tournaments and their potential paths to Fort Wayne for the men and Salem, Virginia (Cregger Center) for the women. 

[ziggy]

Does anyone know how many Pool A spots there will be for men's basketball this year? I saw that the women's basketball committee approved 43 but I have not seen final word for the men. Thank you.

In September, the DIII Championships Committee did indeed approve 43 AQs for the 2024-25 women's basketball, verifying the recommendation of the DIII Women's Basketball Committee.  The DIII Championships Committee has not yet made their final approval of AQs for this year's DIII Men's Basketball Tournament, but we are expecting that it will be the same as the women's tournament, with 43 AQs and 21 at large bids. (The same conferences that were approved on the women's side.) The at large bids will be the top 21 ranked teams on the national NPI that did not get an AQ.  We expect official DIII NPI rankings will be released weekly starting in February, with a daily release of NPI rankings during Conference Tournament week, followed by a final official released NPI ranking of all DIII basketball teams on Sunday night/early Monday morning after all contests for the regular season have been completed and all AQs have been awarded. The final NPI rankings will have a {selections} indicator, indicating that it is indeed the final NPI rankings.  If the fall announcements for women's and men's soccer and women's volleyball are any indication, we will know the entire field for both the DIII men's and women's basketball tournaments hours before the official brackets are released on the afternoon selection shows.   The selection shows will be the official reveal of the matchups where we will know where each AQ and at-large team will be playing in the first weekend of the tournaments and their potential paths to Fort Wayne for the men and Salem, Virginia (Cregger Center) for the women. 

Alternatively, this is already being updated daily: https://d3datacast.com/npi/
Still not going to mean a whole lot for a while but it has been up and running and available for anyone interested in current NPI regardless of when the NCAA decides to release the numbers officially.

[KnightSlappy]

Frank Rossi is reporting that Keystone will be closing at the end of this week. Their accreditation was set to be revoked on Dec. 31.

[KnightSlappy]

Exploratory member Johnson and Wales (NC) will be joining the C2C in 2025-26:

https://www.c2csports.com/general/2024-25/releases/20250114newMemberJWUCharlotte

[KnightSlappy]

Provisional Pipeline for 2024-25 (Now confirmed)
Full membership: Asbury, Warren Wilson
3rd year provisional members: Hartford, Lyon
2nd year provisional members: Carlow
1st year provisional: Penn State-Brandywine

Exploratory: Regent, Johnson and Wales (NC)

Mayville State withdrew from the exploratory process. The Membership Committee also recommended reducing the reclassification process from three to two years and asked for more information on the proposed merger of Bluffton University with D2 Findlay.

* Games against Year 3 provisional members count the same as games against full-members for regional-ranking and tournament selection purposes (possibly changing to include provisionals that conform to all D3 bylaws but may be earlier in the pipeline)

Conference Changes Starting in 2024-2025
Asbury joins the CCS
Berea leaves the CCS for the HCAC
Birmingham-Southern (SAA) closes
Brockport leaves the SUNYAC for the E8
Cabrini (AEC) closes
Clarks Summit (UEC) closes
Concordia (Texas) leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Defiance (HCAC) leaves D3 for NAIA
Eastern Nazarene (NAC) closes
Fontbonne athletics in limbo? (closing in 2025-26)
Keystone (UEC) have accreditation revoked; cannot enroll students during the appeal process.
McMurry leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Morrisville State leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
Penn State-Brandywine joins the UEC (provisional pending)
Pratt leaves the C2C for the AEC
SUNY Canton leaves the NAC for the SUNYAC
SUNY Geneseo leaves the SUNYAC for the E8
SUNY Poly leaves the NAC for the E8
Texas-Dallas leaves the ASC for D2 (application accepted)
University of the Ozarks leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Wells (AMCC) closes
CCS expected to gain Pool A bid
Expecting 43 Pool A bids, 0 Pool B bids, 21 Pool C bids

Conference Changes Starting in 2025-2026
Anna Maria leaves GNAC for the MASCAC
Ferrum leaves the ODAC for D2 (application pending)
Fontbonne (SLIAC) closes
Hendrix leaves the SAA for the SCAC
Hiram leaves the NCAC for the PAC
John Carroll leaves the OAC for the NCAC
Johnson & Wales (NC) joins the C2C
Johnson & Wales (RI) leaves the GNAC for the CNE
LeTourneau leaves the ASC for the SCAC
Regent joins the C2C
Southwestern leaves the SCAC for the SAA
Trinity (Texas) leaves the SCAC for the SAA
Expecting 43 Pool A bids, 0 Pool B bids, 21 Pool C bids

Conference Changes Starting in 2026-2027
SUNY New Paltz leaves the SUNYAC for the NJAC
Maryville leaves the CCS for the SAA
[/quote]

[gordonmann]

Northland College announced it will close at the end of this academic year.

https://www.northland.edu/closure/

[Inkblot]

The agenda for next week's membership committee meeting is up. https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/committees/d3/memb/Feb2025D3Memb_Agenda.pdf

There are of course the two applicants for provisional membership. No applications for exploratory membership are listed.

[Ralph Turner]

Hmmm.  What is the C2C item on the agenda?

[ziggy]

Hmmm.  What is the C2C item on the agenda?

My first thought is something related to the status of their automatic qualifier because I don't believe their new members in the provisional pipeline will be coming soon without a gap between the grace period and being back to "full strength" - however that may be more of a Championships Committee issue.

[KnightSlappy]

Hmmm.  What is the C2C item on the agenda?

My first thought is something related to the status of their automatic qualifier because I don't believe their new members in the provisional pipeline will be coming soon without a gap between the grace period and being back to "full strength" - however that may be more of a Championships Committee issue.

Perhaps they're going to bat for Regent and J&W NC to skip a year or otherwise expedite?

[Gregory Sager]

No impact on men's basketball, but Mount Mary will be leaving NCAA and joining NAIA in 2025-26.

https://mtmaryathletics.com/general/2024-25/releases/20241008g7tlho

Leaving NCAA D3 to join the NAIA is starting to become the institutional equivalent of a first thrash in the water of a drowning person.