Here’s what the league office really needs to understand, and I think they do by the sound of this statement. “The problem is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
The real problem is that the NEWBIE has 2 teams that simply don’t matter. 10-10 with 4 wins against Georgetown and DePaul is not the same as 10-10 in any other major league. Those 4 games are like playing in the NEC-Big East Challenge. Ridiculous on its face, but not far from inaccurate. For some perspective on how bad those teams are, look at NET or really any of the other rating services. If it were possible to trade conference members, we would have been better off from a NET perspective with Central Connecticut (NET 249) and Fairfield (161) than Georgetown (205) and De Paul (320). In fact there were 5 teams from the NEC, Central’s league, with a better NET than DePaul, including LeMoyne which is in its first year of D1.
So rather than complain about the system, or the committee or some nefarious plot against the Conference, they should be looking to the Hoyas and Blue Demons. Playing 2 teams in conference that are in essence low mid majors does a huge damage to bubble teams so you have to counteract that by playing, and beating, good non-conference opponents. The League must push those teams either must significantly improve and everyone else to schedule assuming they won’t, or bubble teams from the NEWBIE will be in trouble again and again.