We’ve heard discussion dating back months about the Great South and USA South, including possible mergers. The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer ran a story today stating that the USA South has spoken with Huntingdon, LaGrange and Piedmont.

Two years ago, four of the Great South members (the three above and Maryville, Tenn.) met with the USAC commissioner and were received favorably before the schools’ presidents shot them down. Since then, of course, the USAC has booted Chowan, which elected to leave D-III entirely. In basketball and in most men’s sports, they are down to seven members, the bare minimum to receive an automatic bid.

Those four GSAC members may still drop out of the conference and go elsewhere as a group. Perhaps they can pull Oglethorpe out of the SCAC or some teams out of the ASC and reach seven that way. But if the USAC adds the GSAC’s four in some way, shape or form, the league runs the risk of losing Shenandoah and Christopher Newport to travel issues.

In women’s sports, the conference is in good shape, with Peace, Mary Baldwin and most recently Meredith added to the league. There has been zero talk of what would happen with the GSAC’s women’s schools: Agnes Scott, Spelman and Wesleyan (Ga.). Add those three to Peace, Meredith and Mary Baldwin gives six teams to a South Region women’s conference, with Salem College in North Carolina in the D-III membership pipeline. Hollins or Randolph-Macon Woman’s College could be enticed out of the ODAC if needed as well.