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Super Region 3 – Midwest/Central/Northwest (42 Teams)
Michigan (10 teams)
Davenport (NCAA Provisional Year One), Ferris State, Grand Valley State, Hillsdale, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Northwood, Saginaw Valley State, St. Joseph’s (Ind.), Wayne State (Mich.)
For all intents and purposes, this conference keeps all nine of the Michigan schools together while adding St. Joe’s, located in Northwestern Indiana. It was a toss-up between pairing St. Joe’s or Indianapolis into this league. While UIndy would have kept all the schools in the same time zone (Eastern), St. Joe’s more northern location makes them a better fit despite being in the Central Time Zone.
Illinois/Kentucky/Eastern Missouri (10 teams)
Indianapolis, Kentucky State, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lincoln (Mo.), Lindenwood, McKendree, Missouri S&T, Quincy, Southwest Baptist, Truman State
This conference might have been one of the most difficult to piece together. As I noted above, it was difficult to choose whether to place UIndy or St. Joe’s, but, after factoring in the Kentucky schools, it made my choice a little easier. The Missouri schools in this side also proved to be a challenge. While Southwest Baptist was closer to the schools along the I-29/49 corridor in the western part of Missouri, the numbers just didn’t add up. Hence, SBU is placed here.
Minnesota/Iowa/Sioux Falls (12 teams)
Augustana, Bemidji State, Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota-Crookston, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato, Minnesota State-Moorhead, St. Cloud State, Sioux Falls, Southwest Minnesota, Upper Iowa, Winona State
I was going back-and-forth as to whether to include Augustana and Sioux Falls in the revamped Northern Sun or keep them with the other D2 schools in the Daktoas. The relative proximity of the city of Sioux Falls to the state of Minnesota made this decision a little easier. And it balances out the rest of the region as well.
Dakotas/Northern Nebraska/Pacific Northwest (10 teams)
Black Hills State, Central Washington, Chadron State, Mary, Minot State, Northern State, Simon Fraser, South Dakota Mines, Wayne State (Neb.), Western Oregon
One of the biggest challenges in putting this region – and, for that matter, the Western regions as well – together was figuring out what to do with the five-team Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Instead of retaining the five as a group along the West Coast, I split the two California schools into Super Region 4 (more on that shortly) while putting the three northwestern schools in with the North Dakota, South Dakota (excluding the two Sioux Falls schools) and upper Nebraska schools.
