Throughout a lot of threads on here, people bring up having a national basketball conference, adding the likes of Gonzaga, St Mary's, BYU, etc. But it is always denied because there is supposedly a NCAA rule that says the basketball conference a school belongs in is its home conference, where all other sports have to be.

I have been confused with this because a ton of schools have affiliate memberships for various minor sports (lax, rowing, etc.).

Can anyone clarify or point me to this NCAA rule?

I can't find it with google, but I think it also has something to do with NCAA governance being by conference. Since the voting and representation are by conference, they have to have one "fixed point" to determine what conference to count you in, and it's apparently men's basketball. (Not sure what happens if a school doesn't want to sponsor men's hoops.)

Here is a link to the NCAA Division 1 Manual. You can download the pdf version for free.

http://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4284-2...aug-1.aspx

I believe the relevant rules are as follows:

20.02.5 Multisport Conference. A Division I multisport conference shall satisfy the requirements of this section.
20.02.5.1 Minimum Number of Members. A multisport conference shall be composed of at least seven active Division I members. The member conference shall include at least seven active Division I members that sponsor both men’s and women’s basketball.


I believe that this language implies that a school cannot be a full member of a conference unless it plays men's and women's basketball in the conference since a conference could not count such a school as a member for purposes of meeting its membership requirement. This does not mean that a particular school can't be an independent that plays basketball in a conference as an associate member or that plays any other sport in a conference as an associate member. It is also possible that by playing men's and women's basketball in the C7, a school like Gonzaga could be a member of the C7, but could play many or all of its other sports as an associate member in another conference.

Keep in mind that many sports have no conference regular season, such as track, cross country, tennis, and golf. Gonzaga could easily participate in C7 championship events in this sport as they require a single road trip (with no required return road trip by other C7 members). Only team sports require multiple trips. Looking at Gonzaga's website, this would implicate only baseball, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball. Gonzaga may be able to place these in the WAC, for instance, on an associate member basis.

Having thought about it more in researching this post, Gonzaga suddenly seems like a more viable candidate.

Thanks guys. I've always been confused about that.

As you said orangefan, I do think Gonzaga is certainly viable if what you laid out is correct.

(02-19-2013 01:07 PM)bmorex Wrote:  Thanks guys. I've always been confused about that.

As you said orangefan, I do think Gonzaga is certainly viable if what you laid out is correct.

I see the principal obstacle to Gonzaga being considered to be concern over the ability to play midweek games in Spokane.

(02-20-2013 09:20 AM)orangefan Wrote:  

(02-19-2013 01:07 PM)bmorex Wrote:  Thanks guys. I've always been confused about that.

As you said orangefan, I do think Gonzaga is certainly viable if what you laid out is correct.

I see the principal obstacle to Gonzaga being considered to be concern over the ability to play midweek games in Spokane.

Seems like that would be a fairly big obstacle, IMHO.

Not a 100% deal-breaker for the C7 but definitely a major cause of concern.

(02-20-2013 04:12 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(02-20-2013 09:20 AM)orangefan Wrote:  

(02-19-2013 01:07 PM)bmorex Wrote:  Thanks guys. I've always been confused about that.

As you said orangefan, I do think Gonzaga is certainly viable if what you laid out is correct.

I see the principal obstacle to Gonzaga being considered to be concern over the ability to play midweek games in Spokane.

Seems like that would be a fairly big obstacle, IMHO.

Not a 100% deal-breaker for the C7 but definitely a major cause of concern.

It wouldn't so much be a deal breaker for the C7 as it would be for Gonzaga. Every away game being a 10+ hour round-trip flight (assumes no weather or other dealys) would put them at a HUGE disadvantage.

The idea of Gonzaga joining the C7 has always seemed unlikely to me
("always" = last 10 weeks)