HCA: Changes coming to the conference

The Pac-12 conference hosted their spring meetings on Monday afternoon and when it was all said and done, the conference made some changes that will hopefully give the conference more prominence. While the financial situation of the conference was talked about, the conference also made some changes to their scheduling in basketball.

After a down basketball season this past year Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott announced some changes that will impact future schedules as well as transfer restrictions that will span across all sports.

The presidents of all 12 schools approved three changes that were announced Monday; standardized non-conference schedules in men’s basketball, eliminating the loss of a year when transferring within the conference, and increasing funding towards student-athlete health and well-being.

As for the basketball schedule it means that the Pac-12 will now be required to play non-conference opponents who have a NET ranking of 175 or better over the past 5 years. The NET is the NCAA Evaluation Tool and is used to select and seed the teams that make the NCAA Tournament every year.

Conference teams will no longer be able to play non-Division I opponents and there will no longer be road games against a non-conference opponent with a NET rating of 200 over the past 5 years.

They will also no longer be allowed to have a buy road game which is when a team plays on the road without the return game being scheduled. The scheduling changes that were announced Monday join the increase of conference games to 20 in a season that was decided earlier this month.

When it comes to transferring within the conference, students will still have to sit out for a year but they will no longer lose a year of eligibility. That change will now equal the “penalty” of transferring outside of the conference. The goal of this change is to “provide student-athletes with a similar experience to any other student who decides to transfer” said the conference on Monday.

The final thing that was approved was the expansion of the $3.6 million in funding over the next 5 years for the student health and well-being initiative. The program will be reviewed in three years to make sure everything is still going as planned. They also increased the annual on-campus funding to $1.1 million which will be provided directly to each school to support those student-athletes that are in need.

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Basketball:

Pac-12 Conference revenue down; commissioner made $5.3 million
Pac-12 revenue fell for 2018 as it could not fully offset loss of Rose Bowl payout; commissioner Larry Scott's compensation up to $5.3 million.

Pac-12 revenue drops, but school payouts rise
Pac-12 revenue fell by $12 million in 2018 to $497 million because the conference could not make up for lost Rose Bowl revenue from when the game hosted a College Football Playoff semifinal after the 2017 season.

Pac-12 eliminates transfer penalty, strengthens non-conference basketball scheduling
Pac-12 eliminates transfer penalty, and strengthens non-conference basketball scheduling.

Pac-12 CEO Group votes to extend landmark student-athlete & well-being initiative & devote unprecedented resources to mental health | Pac-12
CEO Group also approves liberalized intra-conference transfer rule & new men’s basketball non-conference scheduling standards SAN FRANCISCO – May 20, 2019 – At its annual Spring meeting held today in San Francisco, the Pac-12 CEO Group approved measures to support student-athletes and to enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball program performance.

Pac-12 loosens intra-conference transfer rule – CollegeBasketballTalk
Plus, new non-con scheduling requirements

Leger-Walker Transfers Into Women's Basketball - Washington State University Athletics
The senior will sit out a year and be eligible in 2020-21.

Football:

Here’s Mike Leach’s plan for a 64-team college football playoff, and it’s wild - al.com
Washington State coach Mike Leach lays out his 64-team college football playoff.

Biggest game for each Pac-12 team in 2019: Oregon at Washington a must-win for both programs. - Pacific Takes
What’s the most-important game for each Pac-12 team this season?

Tennis:

Bayerlova Advances to NCAA Singles Championship Second Round - Washington State University Athletics
Cougar sophomore advances to Round of 32 for second-straight season.

Golf:

Armstrong Named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team - Washington State University Athletics
The honor is the second for the Cougar golfer in the last week.