Will DivisionA Change in 07

[TheLoo]

Should Nebraska, KSU or Iowa move down?

Should Harding, Arkansas, Memphis, Western Illinois, Creighton, SLU or someone move up?

Please post your opinions

[bste_lax]

Should Nebraska, KSU or Iowa move down?

No. They have Division I-A football teams and should be in A. If they move down to B, they can't compete for playoffs or get all-conference honors. What's the point to the season then?

I can't speak for Nebraska or KSU but I know Iowa is starting to get kids who played in high school in Chicago again. They had a 2-year period (my junior and senior year) where we only got like 5-7 new kids with only 1 or 2 with experience. If you look at their roster now, majority of their talent or kids with experience are freshmen or sophomore. Hopefully this continues for them.

[beckner11]

Although they're a very small school, I think Harding should take a serious look at moving up since they've already proved their abilities in B. As for the new teams, Memphis and Arkansas.....I think 1 more year in B would be good for them, although both teams have already said they plan to move up as soon as possible (since they joined the league trying to be A teams).

SLU should stay down in B since it looks like they are having some success and much more competitive games down there.

[Arklax]

Not to kill the surprise, but you'll probably see us in Div. B next year w/ more games versus A teams. However, a lot can happen between now and October, so we'll see.

[Matt_Gardiner]

SLU is currently in the B Division to sort out what is mostly organizational issues. We have turned over almost the entire team from last year. We only returned four non-freshman from last year.

The team essentially had to start from scratch, but has been very fortunate. We have got a small active roster of only 16 players, but all 16 players are talented. We only lose two seniors at the end of the year, and I would expect that we would continue to pick up freshman and other stragglers.

As far as I am concerned, we are starting over from last year. We are drastically improved on and off the field. This year's team does not resemble last years team at all. It would be a mistake to base any assumptions about SLU's program off of our play last year.

I am comfortable in the B Division. I find little things like only paying for two officials at most of our games is a tremendous help, but I would not want to speak for the team as a whole. They may want to make the move to A division in the future. By the end of the season the officers will understand fully what goes into effectively running a club team and managing a budget. Organizationally the foundation to be an A team will be firmly in place. Competitively, I believe that we could compete right now in the A division with the talent we have on the field. I would leave it up to the team to decide what they want to do, so I would never completely count SLU moving back to A out. It just would not be what I would vote for at this time.

While it is not my team, if I was Harding I would not move up to A. They are a smaller school and have the chance to be very competitive on a national level. They are getting the most out of what resources are available at their school. If they moved up to the A division, they would simply become part of the also rans. I am looking forward to play Harding in a few weeks. Hopefully a healthy SLU / Harding rivalry would be enough to convince them that their home is in the B division.

While it is also not my team, I would expect Arkansas to move up in two years. They have a strong foundation and have really come together as a quality team. While they are located in Arkansas, it looks like most of their players come from Texas. I believe next year Arkansas will play impressively and effect the B Division playoffs. While they can not compete in the playoffs themselves, I believe they will spoil at least one team's season. Arkansas should be commended for how strongly they came out of the gate in the GRLC.

[TheLoo]

I understand that a team moving down from A to B can't play in playoffs. But whats the point? They aren't playing in playoffs now anyways.

[Arklax]

Arkansas should be commended for how strongly they came out of the gate in the GRLC.


Appreciated...we still have a lot of work to do.

[bste_lax]

I understand that a team moving down from A to B can't play in playoffs. But whats the point? They aren't playing in playoffs now anyways.

Well, they might as well not show up to anymore of their games then......

[KnoxVegas]

This is why we need to adopt relegation in the GRLC. That would be all the incentive a team would need to compete.

As for the state of the A & B Divisions, parity has yet to be achieved. We are still years away from that. Until youth lacrosse explodes, not just in the St. Louis-area, but in areas like Arkansas, Iowa, Western Illinois and central Kansas, there will continue to be the haves and the have-nots.

This was the case in the early 90s when I was at Tennessee and the SELC was in its formative years. There was UT, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, then everyone else. Now look at the size of the SELC and all their member teams. It takes time, which is something that might be frustrating to some.

Not a sermon, just a thought.

[cjwilhelmi]

Although they're a very small school, I think Harding should take a serious look at moving up since they've already proved their abilities in B. As for the new teams, Memphis and Arkansas.....I think 1 more year in B would be good for them, although both teams have already said they plan to move up as soon as possible (since they joined the league trying to be A teams).

SLU should stay down in B since it looks like they are having some success and much more competitive games down there.

I know when I was at Harding we discussed the idea of going up to Div A withing the then officers and there was a resounding 'no'. Div B was designed for teams from smaller schools. Although Harding has had a very good record the last two years and are doing well this year who knows what will happen to them next year.

[Jolly Roger]

This is why we need to adopt relegation in the GRLC. That would be all the incentive a team would need to compete.

Relegation/elevation is a tough question given the transitory nature of talent pools on MDIA teams over the course of time.

How long does relegation last? Can you bounce up/down each year?

Should team A be relegated for a poor season even though the next year they have 3 Baltimore HS All-Americas or multiple DI varsity transfers coming in?

Should team B be elevated after 2 great seasons even though they're graduating 10 seniors who contributed 200 points and a team GAA of less than 5.0?

Just questions, I don't have any ready answers.

[KnoxVegas]

Relegation is simple:

Based on the final ladder at the end of the season, the last two teams in Division A would play the next season in Division B, with the two highest placing teams in Division B moving up to compete in Division A the next year. This is done on a yearly basis. It is a system that rewards winning.

I think that this is something that should be explored by this conference. I know that Division B was created for smaller schools but in some areas of the country, B teams are beating A teams, if not competing on the same level.

[cjwilhelmi]

I disagree... The conference can not force a legit Div B team to move up.

[danza]

u cant enforce relegation with money being as big an issue as it is for most div b teams. u also cant predict how good a team is gonna be in the next few years...
at harding we have had some amazing talent that started this program graduate.. even though we only graduate one from this year to next year the year after that we graduate almost everyone... and we dont have a very big team to begin with.

i think a bigger issue is school support... we keep getting it dangled in front of us and different situations proposed but as a n officer i want to stay div b at least till i graduate... i mean if we were killing everyone for five years i can understand but weve had a good draw of talent( thank God for maryland) recently and nobody knows how much lacrosse is gonna grow in arkansas in the next few years...
and since its still the players in charge on most teams then my philosophy is "don't tell me what to do" if a team wants to kill in div b do it but ur not gonna get the respect

overall, i think the situation we have right now is working real well... moving slu down made division b more competitive and i like that...

oh and it is real nice to see 4 grlc div b teams in the top 25 this last poll...

[btriley01]

I do not believe Harding is in the financial state to move up into div. A play. Also, remember that we have still not yet won the national championship. Until There is a reigning dynasty on the national level, there should be no reason to move up. If someone's schedule is weak, I suggest getting out to the bigger teams, including maybe a trip to the west coast to play USD and Claremont. If we can ever afford to, I promise we will. Just because conference play is not very competitive, there is no reason to move up. I mean, look at NCAA play.

Besides, i don't believe Harding or creighton are the only teams building up strength. A big piece of info we need to look at is how sturdy a lot of the surrounding teams are becoming. I think our conference will have maybe 2-4 more years of expansion, and then we will see a period of solidification. Our conference will begin to experience inter-team growth. once this happens, there will be no reason to move teams up or down. I think we're just used to seeing Div. B champs move up, since this year was the first time a B champ didn't move up (harding). Times are changing...