Ohio Valley Conference Rejects NKU

A fear that Northern Kentucky University would be too powerful for other Ohio Valley Conference members will keep NKU out of that Division I conference, NKU said Thursday. NKU still says it should receive an invitation by the end of the year and be playing Division I sports by fall of 2012. After a four-year probation, that would make it eligible for the “March Madness” men’s basketball championship and other national tournaments. But the expansion to Division I won’t be in the OVC, leaving the Georgia-based Atlantic Sun and the Illinois-based Summit League as the top possibilities.