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mmm 3C SPORTSAZ^lie Cliarlotte Thursday, May 18,2006 NCAA realignment would shift CIAA Continued from page 1C Conference could be in jeopardy. Kerry’s claim was rejected. Supporters for the realignment said if the CIAA were to remain in the South Atlantic, the region would have an unfair balance with four conferences: Carolinas-Wginia Athletic, and the Peach Belt and South Atlantic conferences being the other three, while the Atlantic Eegion would be reduced to two: the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and West Virginia Athletic Conference. No region in the nation has more than three member con ferences. “If you have four conferences in a region, atr large access to the championship is diminished because you have to accommodate one more automatic qualifier,” said Jill Wilson, Management Council chair and former chair of the Regionalization Task Force. “Regionalization must be based on geography, and the decision to put the CIAA in the Atlantic Region was made because it was the best fit for that region among the conferences in that part of the country.” The CIAA’s move can mostly be attributed to its nemesis, the CVAC, whose officials have been trying to get into the South region for • years. They argue the CVAC has more mem bers in the afea-fijan-the CIAA. • > - That argument is even more valid now that the CVAC has no Viriginia schools, while the CIAA has three from Virginia and one from Maryland. “It turns out that now their teams are geo graphically more to the south than the CIAA,” Hermitte said. “That’s the main reason why the proposal went through this time.” The South Atlantic has been a haven for the CIAA, especially in men’s basketball. Atrip to the illustrious Elite Eight is almost a given. And that has been a sore spot with the other member conferences. “The South Atlantic has been a strong region throughout the years. Not only do you have a chance to go to the Elite Eight but generally when you come out of this region, you’ve got a chance to win a national championship,” said Steve Joyner, men’s basketball coach and ath letic director at Smith. “All of that is going to be damaged, and we strongly oppose it.” But not everyone on the CIAA side is unhap py at the proposed move. ‘We are certainly unified with our confer ence, but as the furthest northern school in the conference, undeniably it helps us out with travel costs,” said Derek Carter, Bowie State’s athletics director. “The way those schools in the southern part of the conference benefited being in the South, now we’ll get that benefit.” Proposal would split Division n playoffs based on scholarship totals Continued from page 1C out that were,not going.M increase the number of teams to the playoffs,” said Phillips, who has won three CIAA champi onships. “They were going to take the .24 teams and split them up into two divisions. The bigger division may get 16 teams and the little division would only get eight teams. We had to vote on 16/8 or 12/12. Of course, I voted on 12/12. If you’re going to have two, you should have it even.” Tfeams in the larger and more powerful D-II conferences like the South Atlantic (Carson- Newman, Presbyterian, Catawba) are more apt to carry the maximum number of football scholarship allotted in Division II (36). But smaller programs, especially those at histori cally black colleges, average around 25. CIAA schools averaged 22.5 as of last season. At the 2005 NCAA convention, a vote was put forth by the Pennsylvania State and Rocky Mountain athletic conferences to lower football scholarships from 36 to 24. It was defeated 2-1, but with an assurance that com mittees would address equity concerns in the future. The Football Issues Task Force was asked to recommend: how many teams would be in the larger-program and smaller-program brack ets; and what the ceiling for scholarships would be for those smaller programs. (Details hadn’t releeised by press time.) PhUHp® is confident he knows which group the CIAAvwll be housed. “The t^tjprc^sals for scholarships are 0 to 24 for one'side and 0 to 40 on the other side,” said PhiHipsi who declined to say how many he had. ‘Well, there’s not too many of us oper ating at 36,^ We all know what comer we’re going to befitting in in our league. “I don’t think that it-vvould be that bad of a deal (with two champions) if they would allow the same number of teams to go to the play offs.” The biggest concern is what happens if the proposal is voted down. Another proposal would limit football schol arships to 32 or 30 across the board. If that happens, some ADs fear more Division II pro grams would move up to Division I-AA. “This is a huge Division II issue,”'^aid David Riggins, athletics director at Mars Hill. “This could have the capacity to change Division II as we know it.” Other highlights of note: • Approved in concept a plan that would mandate almost all coaches to be certified in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. • Agreed to sponsor legislation for the 2007 convention to permit a two-year college trans fer student who has not previously attended a four-year institution and who was a qualifier after graduating from high school to be eligi ble for competition at a Division II institution during his first year only if the student has spent at least one full-time semester or quar ter in residence at the two-year college (excluding summer sessions). Such student- athletes would be required to have a mini mum grade-point average of 2.0 and to have satisfactorily completed an average of at least 12 hours of transferable credit. • Referred to the new community task force a proposal that would permit institutions to donate used athletics equipment to all youth groups, including high schools. • Discussed with consultant Rich Luker the promotion of Division II through greater com munity involvement. The NCAA News contributed to this story. Lexus IS250 expensive ride, but the perks are impeccable Winfred B. Cross Test Drive Why must every car I real ly like cost almost 40 grand? Because everything I like about these cars costs. Voice- activated nav^ation systems with rear cameras and Bluetooth technology don’t come cheap.. . . Neither does the Lexus IS250, which will come with ' such equipment if you are wiUihg' tor^Hell out an extra 2,200 bones above the already steep $34,285. And that’s for a subcompact. But let’s digress and talk about the extraordinary dri ving pleasure you receive by sitting behind the wheel of one of these beauties. First there’s the V6. It’s kinda little at 2.5 liters and is only rated at 204 horsepower with 185 pounds-feet of torque. However, Lexus seems to wring all of the energy from the engine at the most oppor tune times. Yes, the optional 306 hp V6 will trounce it in a race, but this is the little engine that can and will. Coupled to a six-speed auto matic, the engine' always seems to be at the right revs. You can shift the auto with paddles on the leather- wrapped steering wheel, but ■ 'it’s not as nice as the Audi or 'Volkswagen system. It works weU enough,, but a bit more smoothness is needed. , The handling is closer to BMW’s 3-series than that company would like. The optional all wheel drive has a lot to do with that. The 3 is still champ in it’s class but Lexus and Audi are catching up. That’s about the only place. The new IS is visually stun- nit^, far less boxy than the old design. It actually looks Uke a-mini GS, which is pre cisely what Lexus wants. The_intmor isn’t flashy, but it s’^^s luxury sport car. Gauges,'Wood inlays, stitches hi the leather seats, carpet - you name it, Lexus has spared- no expense to make all feel, well, expensive. ' My test car was a comely Matador Red Mica which gUstened in the sunshine as if it were wet. Aside from the navigation package, the .standard equipment list is long: all-wheel drive, premi um hudio system, 10-way power front seats, automatic dual climate control, cruise control, driver information center, electroluminescent optitron gauges and power moonroof. Yes, the price of admission is a tad high, but this sporty sedan is crafted like a fine jewel. I just wish it didn’t cost as much. 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May 18, 2006, edition 1
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