DII Report: My thoughts on regionalization, unveiled

People have always asked. Well, here they are. Kind of.

The DII men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments are quickly approaching, and this past week, the first regional rankings dropped. Of course, this term is used loosely, because it is 10 teams in alphabetical order and there are no rankings whatsoever.

If you are reading this, you know that DII regionalization has been and will be as hot a topic as NIL, the transfer portal, and how the hell SMU is allowed to be in a conference called the Atlantic Coast Conference. For many years, people have asked my opinions on it and, for the most part, I have kept quiet.

Before we jump in, I want to be clear. This is not going to be a deep dive. This is 100% an op-ed; some quick thoughts I have kept buried deep inside that are waiting to erupt. So, when you tell me I’m wrong, you are probably right. What I really want to do is talk to commissioners, coaches, and those around DII, get some opinions, get some numbers, and present a much more in-depth look at the landscape of DII sports. Unfortunately, with my schedule, that will take time and is much more of a summer project.

Spoiler alert: I don’t hate regionalization. But I do think it needs some adjustments and we can work to fine-tune it.

I want to bring light to a side of regionalization that not many consider: The side of the journalist. And that’s mainly because, if you’re looking for the other DII national beat writers that cover every DII sport, well, be prepared to keep looking. As far as I know, I’m the only person that puts out a DII basketball article the same week as a DII softball article the same week as a DII wrestling article.

And, that opens one’s eyes to many different angles of regionalization. So, let’s get started, shall we?

A lose-lose proposition

If you are subscribed to this newsletter, not only do you have a passion for DII, but you love sports (and I am assuming mainly baseball based on the recent surge of subs!). Here is the simple truth:

Sports fans are not meant to be happy.

I mean, sure, there are brief moments of happiness. But overall, we aren’t programmed to be happy. We are always searching for that beat writer who put down our team so we can go blast them. We love our teams with a passion… until we don’t, and then we want to clean house, fire everyone, and trade away those that are slumping. Our rivals cheat, the refs are against us, and pretty much every sport — at least from what I understand from social media — is rigged against your favorite team (unless you’re a Chiefs fan, amirite MIAA Nation?).

I say all this to tell you that there is no road that leads to the perfect bracket. Regions or no regions, super regions or anarchy… 50% of the fanbase will still think it is the worst idea ever. Why? Because we are sports fans, and if our team isn’t winning it all each and every season, there is obviously something wrong with the sport. Look at Division I. Every year, people complained that there were huge snubs in the basketball bracket and the committee didn’t know what they were talking about. So what did they do? They added four more teams, and that still isn’t enough. Again, per social media, the NCAA hates your team, and no matter what changes are instituted, you will forever be unhappy with the outcome.

So, even if the day comes that regionalization goes away (it won’t), you will find something else wrong to be unhappy with because that is your right as a sports fan… unless of course, your team wins. Then, all is fair.

Funny how that works.

How many teams can you name in the CACC?

Better yet, how many of you know the CACC exists? The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is in the East Region. They are primarily small (some underfunded) schools, and you likely don’t know much about them because teams in that conference don’t go very far in the tournaments. I’m not bashing this conference or singling them out AT ALL, they are just an example that comes to mind very quickly. Goldey-Beacom and Wilmington (DE) usually have good baseball and softball teams. Jefferson feels like it makes every DII women’s basketball championship tournament, whether as an automatic qualifier or an at-large. They have very competitive teams… but for many, the only way they get a team in a tournament outside of winning the conference is regionalization.

Think about DI. How many teams can you name in the MAC? Probably quite a few, especially if you are a fan of Tuesday night MACtion, and those teams haven’t won much on the national level. The CAA? I’d wager (reminder: don’t bet on it) you can name at least a handful. There are several pieces behind the concept of regionalization, but one is to serve as a platform (some have called it a necessary evil) to ensure not only that some of these smaller small schools get a shot at making the tournament, but also have the funds to travel to the host venue. Imagine if Shorter had to travel to California for four days because — sans regionalization — the Hawks were placed in the West quadrant of the bracket? It would be financially brutal. (Also, how many of you just said, who’s Shorter?)

Of course, not everything is created equal, and that is the same for college athletics. Why should a school with the budget to compete be left out of the tournament? Ahhh… the double-edged sword. And this is something that I would be interested in uncovering in a deep dive.

That said, I don’t know that regionalization is all bad. What I would argue is that it has inconsistencies.

Well, what does that mean, Wayne?

Why does baseball have 56 teams and basketball 64?

Much like DI, the DII men’s and women’s basketball championships have 64 teams. Unlike DI, those brackets have eight teams from each of the eight regions (hey, that equals 64!), so yes, it is fair to argue that some of the best teams in the country are left home because two or three teams from a “weaker” conference get to dance. But, like I said earlier, it is no different at the DI level. With the automatic qualifier for conference winners, good teams are still left home (usually, as I said earlier, it turns out to be your team).

Baseball has the same eight regions, but only 56 teams make the tournament. Not only that, the number of teams from each region can change each year based on whether said region gains or loses members. This year the Atlantic Region lost a bracket spot and has six. The PSAC has (in no particular order) Millersville, Indiana (PA), Slippery Rock, Seton Hill, West Chester and East Stroudsburg, all of which are strong teams. But there is also the MEC to contend with — it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out a team or two is going to get snubbed.

That is what I am talking about with inconsistencies. Softball, 64. Men’s and women’s basketball, 64. Volleyball, 64. Baseball… 56? (The men’s and women’s soccer brackets give me anxiety thinking about so I’m excluding them from this example.)

So, can it be “fixed?” I think so. Expand that baby to 64 teams. But instead of eight teams from each region, keep it as it is right now, don’t change it. Those final eight spots are decided by KPI or RPI. The selection committee can pick which one or both, but this way, the bracket is filled with eight of the best teams statistically and metrically speaking, and no one can claim foul play. Have you ever been in a fantasy football league where the last playoff spot doesn’t go to the best record, but the team with the most points? This is the same concept, albeit in a completely different way.

Then, maybe you do that across the board. In the basketball bracket, for example, cut the regions down to seven teams each and the final eight teams are decided by KPI or RPI. It keeps the bulk of regionalization in place, still gives plenty of teams that would otherwise not have a chance at the bracket hope, and still leaves room to eliminate some snubs.

Is it the perfect plan? Of course not, but I came up with that idea in approximately 42 seconds. Yes, there are several cans of worms that need to be sorted (like where those eight teams would play) but hey, it’s a start.

Well… that DII football bracket…

DII football is of course a different beast. But it is undoubtedly the most popular sport, probably at every level, minus three weeks of absolute madness in a certain month (you won’t get me for copyright infringement!). They have four Super Regions, and the tournament has been tweaked and tweaked, and quite honestly, I don’t hate where it is.

But that doesn’t mean it is perfect.

The ultimate issue, in my opinion, is the fact that Super Region Three has simply been too good. The DII football national championship runs through Super Region Three. Over the past 10 tournaments, eight have had a national champion or runner-up from Super Region Three. Some will tell you Super Region Two is right there, but is it? Valdosta State and West Florida (and back in the day North Alabama) sure, but does that make the entire Super Region Two on the same level? One of those three teams isn’t even DII anymore and one of them is entering only its 10th season.

(Author’s note: Remember that inconsistency? Why in the world is it Super Region One, Two, Three and Four in football and Super Region 1, 2, 3 and 4 in soccer? Anyhoo…)

Keep in mind there are only 28 teams in the bracket. People complain that because Super Region Three is so deep, there “are so many” teams snubbed each year, but that’s not really the case. Are there are few? Of course. But they are often from the MIAA or GLIAC, and let’s face reality, those are comparable to the SEC and Big 10 of DI at our level. They get more exposure, and thus, it seems like the whole bracket is a mess.

I think that problem is solved with expanding the bracket to 32 teams and maybe doing those last four teams with the KPI and/or RPI idea I had above. That is even more easily accomplished in DII football with the ability to move teams across Super Regions in the bracket. I think we can get to a place that gets the best teams in while maintaining the regionalization that DII wants.

And we are going to see new proposed Super Regions. The CIAA moves from Super Region Two to One. The newly formed Conference Carolinas football league jumps into Super Region Two. The G-MAC heads to Super Region Three from One and the NSIC jumps from Super Region Four to Three. That leaves Super Region Four with the GAC, MIAA, RMAC and Lone Star.

It is still not perfect. Would I love an FCS-style bracket where the best 28 teams make it? Of course. But that simply isn’t the DII way, and I don’t foresee it ever becoming its way. The main issue I have with regionalization is that too many people are either for regionalization or against it. We need more people — and there are quite a few — that look for a compromise, that find a way to make the best of regionalization and still get more of the deserving teams their shot.

And before we close this section, let’s go back to that FCS bracket. Last year the national semifinals had North Dakota State, South Dakota State and South Dakota — three teams from the same Missouri Valley Football Conference. In fact, it was the fourth-straight season that North Dakota State and South Dakota State were in the semifinals. We all say right now, “Well, at least we are seeing the best teams have a chance at the title,” but I promise you in four years of seeing Ferris State and Grand Valley State in the semifinals every year, everyone would grow tired of it and cry foul and want change.

Remember… we aren’t meant to stay happy.

Wait, what about that journalist comment earlier?

I didn’t forget. Here’s what I noticed about regionalization on a national scale. Many people simply cannot know what they are talking about on a national scale because we aren’t given the tools to talk about DII on a national scale.

But, many people still do.

Huh?

Regionalization makes you, the fan, pigeon-holed into whichever region is yours. It’s not like DI basketball where we see Kentucky and Duke play on a random Tuesday. If you are a fan of Kansas, you are probably still likely watching the Auburn/Florida game later that day. We’re lucky if we see strong out-of-region matchups in any sport, although Week 0 in football is a big step forward and the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic and Houston Winter Invitational give us that. My point is, when your team reaches the final eight, it is likely the first time you’ve seen — or maybe even heard of — one or two of the other schools. So, you look at numbers, stats, maybe even history, and make judgements based on that. I’m not blaming you. What else do you have to go on?

Here is an example of what I mean. Look at the current NCBWA poll. Molloy is currently ranked No. 22, and the Lions haven’t thrown a pitch yet (please note, I am not singling them out as there are several 0-0 teams in the baseball rankings). But here’s my question. How in the world is 0-0 Molloy ranked and Chico State — an unranked team that opened its season with three-straight series wins over No. 7 Point Loma, No. 24 Colorado Mesa, and GNAC preseason favorite Northwest Nazarene — not even in the top 25?!?!

The answer is simple. Chico State didn’t make the tournament last year; Molloy went to the supers. The Wildcats were predicted to finish fifth in the CCAA preseason poll, and because we are all so focused on the task at hand (i.e. YOUR specific region), that is pretty much all the information we have to go off of and mainly only people out West see what is truly happening. But if you are watching baseball on a national level, there is simply no way Chico State is not a top-15 team right now. Look at the D2 Baseball poll… the Wildcats are No. 13! Whether you are an analytics person and go purely by metrics, or you are old school and just watch how well a team is playing, Chico State is checking every darn box… and is sitting comfortably outside of the top 25 underneath multiple teams they have defeated.

With regionalization, we live in a bubble. And come tournament time, sometimes, when you think your team was snubbed, maybe they weren’t (calm down, I am not saying teams don’t get snubbed, I’m just saying not every team is snubbed). Why? Because there are a lot of good teams getting slept on. Maybe it’s because they have a few more losses than another team. Maybe it’s because they may not have quality streaming, or maybe we don’t have time to take our eyes off the competitive nature of our own regions and we want to focus on the teams to beat just to have a chance to play for the national championship. Again, that’s no one’s fault. It is the nature of the beast.

But I can tell you this. I went to University of Delaware. I still watch my Ass Kickin’ Chickens, especially football, as much as I can, but I am also watching Alabama play Georgia later that night. I wonder how many DII men’s basketball fans outside of the SSC tuned into the Nova Southeastern/Florida Southern basketball game — which was a really good one — to maybe see why, despite the losses, I still have the Mocs ranked so highly and why I have had Nova Southeastern No. 1 in my Power 10 over two undefeated teams for well over a month.

The lack of having a night dedicated to DII on ESPN and the fact that you have to have multiple streaming services to watch all the conferences makes it hard to keep up with DII on a national level. And that makes me, as a journalist, NEVER right. As Cory Hogue of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football once joked on Twitter (now X): “Remember, everyone, Wayne Cavadi hates your team.”

And look, that’s part of the game. There is NO way I am always going to be right in my predictions (breaking news: while I would very much like to be, I know I don’t ever have a chance at a 100% bracket) and there is ZERO chance anyone will ever agree with my Power 10 rankings. I’m not hurt or insulted by that. Most of what I write, I hope to strike up a conversation, but ultimately, I write to shine a light on the hard-working student-athletes that even fans in our own division may not know exist. I love that passion from DII fans, I love that they relentlessly defend their team, and sometimes, overzealous dads and protective moms actually help me find some players even I wasn’t aware of. I just wish we got there without telling me I’m an idiot, but alas, I suppose that is what I signed up for, and it could be a lot worse.

Here’s the thing. I don’t hate your team. I have no reason to. But for every bad bracket prediction I have (this year’s football was a historic year of upsets and my bracket was BAD), I make way more wild predictions that are correct that no one talks about. Why? Maybe because it doesn’t fit the narrative that beat writers are idiots, who knows? And, more importantly, to me, these predictions aren’t wild — they are based on watching EVERY team quite a bit.

Well, there you have it. I think a world without regions would be terrific, but I just don’t see it happening. But I also see a path to where we can make regionalization work as long as the right people are at the table having the conversation.