Wells announces closure, conference changes for Hiram and LeTourneau, D3 WBB transfers update
Now is probably a good time for a quick recap on some of the recent news in D-III athletics when it comes to the movement of schools between conferences and closures heading into the next two years. I’ll have a Q&A piece with Chatham head coach David Saur tomorrow morning, but first, here’s a look at the way the conference landscape of D-III will change in the near future, based on recent news.
Just this morning, Wells College in Aurora, New York, announced its closure at the end of the semester. The AMCC institution wrote in an announcement on Monday morning that the board of trustees “determined after a thorough review that the College does not have adequate financial resources to continue.” Wells will shut down after 156 years of operation, despite the board having worked for years, “trying to find creative solutions to raise revenues in hopes of avoiding closure, including most recently having conversations with other academic partners.” Manhattanville College will be the preferred teach-out partner in addition to agreements with six other area institutions also serving as teach-out partners.
» Link to Wells College official announcement of closure
This is the most recent closure in what is unfortunately becoming a trend. We already have Birmingham-Southern (SAA) shutting down at the end of the current semester, and Fontbonne (SLIAC) set to close at the end of next year (no new students will be admitted for this coming year, so WBB would have just 10 on the roster if everyone returned). Additionally, we’ve seen recent news of financial challenges at Northland (UMAC) and Keystone (UEC). Certainly hoping for the best for Northland and Keystone, and it is definitely a sad day for those at Wells College.
The AMCC, of which Wells was a full-member institution, will be down to nine institutions (so nine total programs in women’s basketball) for 2024-25.
In less-negative news as we look ahead to the future of D-III, we had two conference changes announced within the last seven days, which will both take effect in 2025-26. Hiram is heading to the PAC and LeTourneau en route to the SCAC.
Hiram’s decision to leave the NCAC comes just a few months after John Carroll announced it had accepted an invitation to join the NCAC, starting in 2025. JCU, who moves from the OAC to the NCAC, will move into the league as Hiram is leaving, with no overlap in the timing. While it doesn’t appear that JCU’s decision affected Hiram’s, it will keep the NCAC at nine full members, only eight of which are co-ed institutions.
The NCAC produced a stellar year in WBB in 2023-24, with Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw both ending up in the NCAA Tournament, with Denison also regionally-ranked. The league’s top four teams each won at least 73 percent of their games overall, and Oberlin started the year strong before a couple injuries hit.
But getting back to Hiram. The Terriers were in the PAC for 18 years prior to joining the NCAC in 1989. Notably, this is an opportunity to return to a conference that will reduce travel, one of the main reasons for the move, cited in the PAC press release.
"Athletics has long been an integral part of the student experience at Hiram College with more than half of our students participating in one or more sports," said Hiram President Dr. Robert Bohrer II. "We are pleased to accept the invitation to again join the Presidents' Athletic Conference, which not only means that our student-athletes will compete with schools more locally and give our fans the opportunity to support our teams at away competitions, but also that our students will spend less time out of the classroom traveling for competition, helping to promote a balanced structure between athletics and academics."
This will increase the PAC to 12 institutions starting in 2025-26—the largest its been in its history of nearly 70 years—which could create an interesting situation looking at this from a basketball standpoint. There has been much conversation about football in the PAC once Hiram joins and how that schedule will work out with 12 programs and only 10 games. In basketball, the PAC has been playing a double round-robin schedule, which currently means 20 conference games and just five non-conference games. In the past, this has hurt the SOS of good PAC teams, making it nearly impossible to earn a Pool C bid to the NCAA Tournament (just look at W&J WBB in 2022-23). I’d be surprised to see the PAC go in the direction of continuing a double-round robin format with the addition of Hiram…but it is possible. Ideally, the PAC will go to two divisions and do double-round robin within the division (10 games) along with some type of crossover against the opposite division. Whether that’s what happens or not, who knows. But that is something that is worth noting in this discussion. Conference changes are important, and when it comes to teams qualifying for the NCAA Tournaments in any sport, the conference schedule format is critical as well. The MIAC has been another good example of the challenges that can come with playing too many conference games in the lens of the way NCAA Tournament selections are currently done, with an emphasis on SOS. You can only boost that SOS so much with more than 80% of your schedule being conference games.
As I think about this, another league that may have a different conference format for basketball in the very near future is the SCAC, which will expand to 12 schools in this coming year. Then back to 11 in 2025.
Currently a nine-team conference, the SCAC will welcome McMurry, Ozarks, and Concordia (TX) to its ranks this coming year. And as was announced in a release on Thursday, LeTourneau is also SCAC-bound, the latest institution to leave the dissolving American Southwest Conference, as the Yellowjackets will join the league in 2025, at the same time as Trinity and Southwestern are leaving for the SAA.
"This is a significant moment in the history of our institution as it aligns our athletic department perfectly with other like-minded institutions that are committed to providing a phenomenal student-athlete experience while pursuing excellence," said LeTourneau University vice president for athletics Dr. Tim Sceggel. "It is a joy and privilege to be counted among these elite academic institutions."
LeTourneau’s move not only puts the ASC in a tougher position moving forwards, but creates an interesting situation in the SCAC scheduling-wise. Do they go to 22 conference games this coming year, with just three non-conference matchups? Or do they split into two divisions of six? And when LeTourneau joins, creating an odd number of teams in the conference, you could see a situation similar to the current PAC with 20 conference games and just five non-conference games.
It’s worth noting that this could be another challenge the ASC faces moving forwards, considering the SCAC is the only true neighboring conference the ASC has. If the SCAC is playing 20 conference games in 2025, there won’t be many non-conference games to go around…especially if there are SCAC programs that decide to play in a holiday tournament/classic and face out-of-region teams. Which means the four ASC programs will be limited in the number of drivable D3 non-conference matchups. Even if the ASC played everyone in its league four times in the 2025-26 regular season, that would only be 12 games, and leave all four programs needing to find 13 non-conference games. And if the SCAC is playing at least 80% of its games in conference, it could be estimated that all four ASC programs will be left with eight or more non-conference open dates, all of which will need to come against opponents outside of reasonable driving distance (in the case that these programs want to get 25 D3 games rather than putting NAIA or D2 programs on the schedule). When you consider the fact that this situation doesn’t only apply to basketball, but to volleyball, soccer, baseball, softball, and other sports as well, the financial strain on an athletic budget could be very significant.
I’m rambling now. But you get the idea. You can only speculate so much, but point being, conference schedule formats are important, and in the case of the SCAC, could have an affect on the ASC as well. Both the PAC and SCAC will have some decisions to make on that front in the near future, and congratulations to both conferences on securing an additional high-quality member institution for each of their leagues.
A quick update on transfers, both coming and going, in D3 women’s basketball:
2023 Jostens Trophy winner, record-setting shooter, and four-time All-American Elyce Knudsen will head to the Division I ranks after a stellar career at Millikin. She announced her commitment to Illinois State on Saturday, after setting a Millikin record for points in a season (763) this past year and finished her time at the D-III level with 2,274 points. As a senior for the Big Blue, Knudsen averaged 26.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Webster secured a D2 transfer in Rylee Denbow on Sunday night, as the 5’10 guard/forward joins the Gorloks with two years of eligibility. In two seasons at Quincy University, Denbow saw limited action, but averaged 3.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. She reminds me of Julie Baudendistel, who was incredible in five years at Webster from 2019-2024, starting 117 games for the Gorloks and averaging in double figures in points for all five seasons. Denbow, like Baudendistel, is 5’10 and very versatile, with the ability to rebound at a high level, but also shoot it from beyond the arc with consistency. She could be one of the most impactful transfers we see in D3 women’s basketball this season.
Chatham has earned a commitment from Dominican Univeristy transfer Kameron Goodman, who should bolster what is an already very talented Chatham team heading into 2024-25. Goodman played two years at Dominican, starting 47 games while averaging 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. She averaged 50 steals per season at Dominican, and is a force on both ends of the floor. Chatham is a team you should be watching out for, not just in 2024-25, but in 2025-26 as well. They were young this past season and went to the NCAA Tournament with a 24-4 record. Now, they bring back almost everyone, plus Goodman.
That will wrap this up! I’m still putting together my Way-Too-Early Top 30, and it will be coming soon. Hope everyone has a great start their week!