Who Says There's No News In Mid-May?

A quick look at some key pieces of info for a May afternoon...

• Old Dominion is, after much deliberation, departing the Colonial Athletic Association for Conference USA effective with the 2013-14 season (Hampton Roads Daily Press). They'll have to eventually upgrade to FBS in football, but again, since this is a basketball blog, here's what the news means for this coming season. The CAA Tournament in Richmond (that is, if it's indeed held there, Towson has proposed Baltimore as a replacement site, contract be damned) may feature as few as seven teams. The Monarchs and Georgia State will be ineligible as departing members and the Tigers and UNC Wilmington may be out because of APR issues. As for the medium-term, the CAA will now need to replace three members (don't forget about VCU), The most often rumored schools include Boston University, College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, and Stony Brook. In other words, expect more dominoes to fall soon.
• The NCAA finally announced a site for the 2013 East Regional on Wednesday, and in a bit of an upset, the Division I Men's Basketball Committee selected Washington, D.C. over Brooklyn, Newark, and Syracuse. The other second weekend sites are Los Angeles (at the Staples Center for the first time), Indianapolis, and Arlington, Texas.
• Finally, the Charleston Classic field is now set, according to Andy Katz at ESPN.com, as Murray State will join Baylor, Boston College, College of Charleston, Colorado, Dayton, St. John's, and (EDIT, thanks to Patrick Marshall for reminding me) Auburn, who replaces Southern Illinois. That move gives the Racers a chance to grab some decent neutral-court, non-conference wins to pad their at-large profile. Remember, the OVC race will get a bit tougher in 2012-13 with Belmont's arrival from the Atlantic Sun.

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