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Super Region 1 – Northeast (42 teams)
New England/New York (10 teams)
American International, Assumption, Bentley, LIU Post, Merrimack, New Haven, Pace, St. Anselm (Transitioning to D3 in 2017), Southern Connecticut, Stonehill
This is basically the Northeast-10 Conference. Not much to change here as the eight New England schools and the two Metro New York schools remain intact. In other words, as the old New England saying goes, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
Eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland (11 teams)
Bloomsburg, Bowie State, Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Lincoln (Pa.), Lock Haven, Millersville, Shepherd, Shippensburg, West Chester
Western Pennsylvania and ‘Upstate’ West Virginia (11 teams)
Alderson Broaddus, California (Pa.), Clarion, Edinboro, Fairmont State, Gannon, Indiana (Pa.), Mercyhurst, Seton Hill, Slippery Rock, West Liberty
I’m effectively keeping the PSAC East in place, but added the two northernmost CIAA schools to get the league to 10 teams. Same with the PSAC West, but adding the three northern West Virginia schools from the Mountain East (Fairmont State, Shepherd and West Liberty) plus Alderson Broaddus to get to 12 teams. At least that was the original plan.
After much debate, I decided to keep the PSAC concept in place, with two equally-sized divisions of 11 teams each, allowing for an 11-week schedule, consisting of 10 divisional games and a rotating crossover game, hence the addition of Shepherd to the East (giving Bowie another natural rival).
Ohio (10 teams)
Ashland, Central State, Findlay, Lake Erie, Malone, Notre Dame (Ohio), Ohio Dominican, Tiffin, Urbana, Walsh
There had long been talk about a unified D2 league involving all 10 of the Ohio schools. While it came to fruition in part with the formation of the G-MAC, Central State, an HBCU located near Dayton, opted to join the SIAC, NDC and Urbana initially joined the G-MAC before moving to the West Virginia-centered Mountain East, and Ashland and Tiffin opted to remain in the GLIAC. In my hypothetical proposal, the Ohio-only league becomes a reality. I thought about moving the two Erie, Pa. schools – Gannon and Mercyhurst – out of the PSAC and into this Ohio league, but ultimately decided against it.