VIRGINIA BEACH
Former Old Dominion University basketball star Kent Bazemore, whose arrest in March minutes before the final game of his college career surprised his coaches and angered Monarch fans, is due to appear in General District Court this afternoon.

Click here to read the full article from College Basketball, Men

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If VCU’s departure this week was a punch to the gut for the CAA, then Old Dominion’s exit is an even more crippling blow.

The Monarchs will announce Thursday afternoon that they’re leaving for Conference USA in 2013, a decision that will soon leave the CAA without two of its three premier programs over the last decade. Adding to the anguish, the league will have just seven teams eligible to compete in its conference tournament next year unless it breaks with policy and allows Old Dominion to participate.

What the loss of Old Dominion and VCU means for the CAA is it will be difficult for the league to land multiple NCAA tournament bids for the foreseeable future. Unless an upper echelon CAA program like George Mason or Drexel radically upgrades its non-conference schedule and thrives against those top teams, the weakened league slate will make at-large bids an extreme long shot.

The CAA has said it will look into expansion to replace the ODU, VCU and Georgia State, but replacing programs of that caliber will not be easy. The best-case scenario might be adding Charleston and Davidson, two tradition-rich Southern Conference programs who in time might be able to contend in the CAA and help the league grow again.

Keeping Old Dominion would have made it far easier for the league to absorb the loss of VCU, but the Monarchs’ football-driven dalliance with Conference USA apparently was too great an opportunity to pass up.

While Old Dominion’s three-year-old football program has emerged quickly as a national contender at the FCS level, the Monarchs had no guarantee another FBS conference would make them an offer in five years if they chose to bypass this one. As a result, school officials eventually accepted it after a prolonged evaluation period, gambling that they can upgrade their infrastructure and facilities to prepare for the move sooner than expected.

“While the university was not actively seeking a change, recent events necessitated an earlier consideration of our future, and in particular, for our football program,” Old Dominion president John R. Broderick said in the release. “C-USA’s invitation provided the right opportunity at the right time to reclassify our football program and broaden the national footprint of our athletic program.”

Old Dominion basketball won’t have any problem competing right away in a watered-down Conference-USA, which is deeper than the league the Monarchs are leaving but not any stronger at the top.

With Memphis, Houston, SMU and Central Florida all bound for the Big East, Conference USA had to scramble to replace those teams. Adding FIU, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Charlotte and Texas-San Antonio creates a bloated jumbo-sized league that is still likely to struggle to produce more than one or two NCAA tournament bids more often than not.

Still, Old Dominion found a satisfactory home for basketball while its burgeoning football program attempts to make the transition to the sport’s top level. That’s a victory for the Monarchs and massive loss for the CAA.

Click here to read the full article from The Dagger – NCAAB – Yahoo! Sports

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Old Dominion will officially announce Thursday it will move to Conference USA in 2013. On May 1, CBSSports.com reported ODU would join C-USA along with North Texas, Florida International, Louisiana Tech,
Texas San Antonio and Charlotte.

Click here to read the full article from College Basketball News : CBSSports.com

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The most important week in recent Colonial Athletic Association history started out all right: Five days ago, George Mason announced it would turn down offers from other conferences and remain in its home league. That was good news for the CAA and commissioner Tom Yeager who was struggling to hold together one of the nation’s best emerging mid-major hoops leagues — one that sent four teams to the NCAA tournament just two years ago — amid rampant realignment rumors.

Click here to read the full article from ESPN.com – College Basketball Nation Blog

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Monarchs heading to CUSA… Read More »

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ESPN (blog)

Old Dominion to leave CAA for Conference USA USA TODAY (blog) By Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY And just like that, the Colonial Athletic Association has lost two of its best basketball programs within the span of a week. Adios, Old Dominion. The Monarchs will announce at a Thursday afternoon new conference that … Old Dominion latest CAA school to boltESPN (blog) Old Dominion Leaving CAA for Conference USAABC News ODU will join C-USA in 2013CBSSports.com (blog) Daily Press -Tucson Citizen all 141 news articles »

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ODU leaving CAA, joining Conference-USA in 2013 The Virginian-Pilot … is leaving the CAA to join Conference-USA, effective July 1, 2013. The move means the ODU football program will make the leap to the Football Bowl Subdivision. “I want to express my appreciation to our Colonial Athletic Association member schools, …

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We’ve finally reached a point where we can start to glue our lives back together. Mason and VCU have made their calls, and ODU is working its way through the pop quiz Wood Selig was given by C-USA.

The time has come to shift out of Zak Bagans mode, chasing the ghosts of rumor and the EVP baloney fed to us. At long last we get to look forward at reality–issues and strategies based on known data. There’s a lot to process thanks to the past six weeks.

We pride ourselves on perspective around here, and this entire realignment issue–stem to stern–is burning up brain cells at a faster rate that cell minutes. But we’re getting there, and I promise the next few weeks will produce some thought-starters for your walk up the 14th fairway or day on the beach.

It begins in earnest with tonight’s Work Session. Schedules, money, the CAA tournament, adding programs–all are on the agenda and bouncing around the noggin. We will begin to weave it all together for you.

Until then, here’s a few links to professionals who are doing a very good job with all of this:

NBCSports hoops head Mike Miller gives us numbers!

Gary Moore goes all level-headed on us with a well-done analysis.

Brian Mull talks to UNCW AD Jimmy Bass–bonus links there–and does a very good job outlining our position as we sit here today.

Ed Miller updates the ODU romance novel.

Dave Fairbank is perspective central. Keep going back into The Tarpit. And colleague David Teel continues to channel his inner James Brown–Teel is another must-read.

Ryan Kish nicely compares VCU and Mason’s decision and situation.

Click here to read the full article from CAA Hoops

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The 700 Level

VCU’s defection cuts both ways for Drexel Philadelphia Inquirer Virginia Commonwealth just left Drexel’s league, the Colonial Athletic Association, for the Atlantic Ten Conference. Was anybody shocked? Did that register on any collegiate Richter scale? Zillmer made a point about how the shifts have similarities to … A Weaker CAA Not So Bad for DrexelThe 700 Level all 2 news articles »

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WOODY: It’s time to stop the madness of college conference realignment Richmond Times Dispatch Tuesday, VCU left the Colonial Athletic Association to join the Atlantic 10 Conference, effective July 1. Rumors are roiling through the CAA that the next shoe to drop will be ODU’s decision to join Conference USA in order to be in a Football Bowl … and more »

Click here to read the full article from caa "colonial athletic" – Google News

The Feed is a curated aggregation of CAA-related news and blogs. Our goal is to highlight the great articles being written and direct traffic back to the original sources, introducing fans to new places to find news and opinion about the teams and league they follow fervently.