EVANSVILLE — Bon voyage, Bellarmine.

The Knights will test NCAA Division I waters, as the Atlantic Sun Conference announced Tuesday morning Bellarmine has accepted an invitation from the league and will join for the 2020-21 academic year to kickstart a four-year transition period.

In the ever-changing college athletics landscape, the D-II Great Lakes Valley Conference continues to move west — away from the Great Lakes.

That, in turn, is leaving the University of Southern Indiana without geographic rivalries, which are critical to developing fan interest and driving attendance.

“You’re happy for them if that’s what they think is best,” USI Athletics Director Jon Mark Hall said Tuesday afternoon, “but at the same time, you hate to lose an institution you’ve been affiliated with for so long.”

USI already had two of its longtime rivals, Kentucky Wesleyan and Northern Kentucky, leave the GLVC in 2012. The three competed in 11 consecutive men’s basketball national championships in the ‘90s and ‘00s.

Now, USI's other rival from the Bluegrass State has decided to depart.

“The initial reaction from some of our fans is, ‘This kind of stinks, we enjoy when they come to play,’” Hall said. “But now we have to be more creative in how we develop those rivalries.”

The GLVC recently capped its 40th-anniversary campaign. In two more years, only two of the original six original members will still be around: USI and Indianapolis. (The league offices are in Indianapolis, which is now the easternmost city, ironically.)

Previously:If rival Bellarmine goes Division I, where would that leave USI?

The GLVC, however, will expand to 16 schools for the upcoming school year with the addition of Lindenwood and Southwest Baptist. Bellarmine’s exit will later drop the league to 15.

GLVC Associate Commissioner Jeff Smith said the league will remain proactive in seeking out “like-minded institutions” that could fit. They just likely won’t be within USI’s geographic footprint, and travel could become costly and inefficient for the Screaming Eagles’ teams in the long term.

“Everyone would like to wave the magic wand and make Division II institutions appear in the states of Indiana and Illinois that take up the eastern part of our conference,” Smith said. “We continue to monitor the landscape; that’s all you can do.”

So, where does that leave USI? Is losing yet another rival going to serve as the spark to also explore a move? Would jumping to Division I even be fiscally responsible for a public school with more than 11,000 students? Bellarmine, after all, is private and about one-fourth the size.

Bellarmine also will pay a $1.6 million application fee to the NCAA, and President Susan Donovan estimated another $1.7 million will be paid to the ASUN Conference, according to Louisville Business First.

Neither Hall nor USI President Dr. Ron Rochon are inclined to change, at least not right now.

“I understand why people have to ask the question, I just think at this time, it’s best for us to be in Division II,” Hall said.

Rochon added: “I’m happy for Bellarmine that they have decided as a campus community to pursue Division I, and that obviously will be healthy for them, but as I evaluate the parameters ... that is a hefty ticket.

“I want everyone to remember that USI has a very significant number of students who work many hours a week to make ends meet. We don’t have that kind of resource at my fingertips to identify a payday for any entity or organization to move us to that kind of membership.”

Louisville’s Courier-Journal reported at least eight D-II schools have either started the reclassification process or announced their intention to do so: Augustana, Bellarmine, California Baptist, Dixie State, Merrimack College, North Alabama, the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University and the University of California-San Diego.

Don’t expect USI to join them. Rochon said “we’re in a sweet spot” with where the university is in regard to athletics and academics. Smith noted essentially the same sentiment about the GLVC.

“Everything is going to be just fine for the GLVC,” Smith said.

The Screaming Eagles will continue to compete for conference and national championships. The focus won’t change, Hall said. Plus, there’s the new 4,800-seat arena to promote interest.

Except, the great rivalries on the other side of the Ohio River will soon be left to history.

“It doesn’t change the thought process at USI,” Hall said. “We’ll do what we’ve been doing for years, where every once in a while, you take a step back and evaluate where you are and make sure you feel like you’re in the right spot.”

Contact Courier & Press columnist Chad Lindskog by email, clindskog@gannett.com, or on Twitter: @chadlindskog.