The State of the Conferences--Part 2

Here's the second installment of the "State of the Conferences" covered by D2SS, with a look inside the Peach Belt Conference.

First, here's what the basketball coaches in the "Belt" had to say about how their teams will fare in 2010-2011.

Women

Men

Analysis: For most of its 20-plus years of competition at the NCAA Division II level, the Peach Belt Conference had been one of the most stable conferences in the nation.  That all changed in 2005, though, as Kennesaw State University from metro Atlanta, and the University of North Florida, both left the PBC for the NCAA Division I ranks, with USC Upstate from South Carolina following suit two years later. 

Still, that didn't stop the "Belt" from adding some solid schools to fill the void left by the aforementioned three schools, and then some, as North Georgia College & State University joined the conference in 2005, followed by Georgia Southwestern State University in 2006.  In 2009, the PBC expanded to its current 13-school membership, with the addition of Flagler College out of St. Augustine, Fla., as well as the University of Montevallo from Alabama.

With the Gulf South Conference likely disbanding after this season, the PBC could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the ongoing conference realignment at the D-II level, as the "Belt" could expand to as many as 16 institiutions, spreading from the eastern Carolinas and Georgia, to Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.  Don't be surprised if current GSC members Alabama-Huntsville and West Florida eventually re-unite with former rival Montevallo in the coming years.

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