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Post by fargobison on Nov 27, 2012 13:02:13 GMT -5
What's next for the Great Plains Conference? (Thanks, OUGuy) Chaminade University? Tsinghua University? Glad to see that the conference doesn't care about the eastern teams one bit. Douple and the Summit really wanted NKU and couldn't get them and with ORU now gone we have 9 teams which isn't great for scheduling. Now the eastern teams at least get two games when they fly to KC, all it requires is a short and easy flight to Denver.
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Post by blackandgold on Nov 27, 2012 19:34:55 GMT -5
What's next for the Great Plains Conference? (Thanks, OUGuy) Chaminade University? Tsinghua University? Glad to see that the conference doesn't care about the eastern teams one bit. Douple and the Summit really wanted NKU and couldn't get them and with ORU now gone we have 9 teams which isn't great for scheduling. Now the eastern teams at least get two games when they fly to KC, all it requires is a short and easy flight to Denver. Who can blame Douple for looking for more schools out that way? The geographic midpoint has been heading toward the Great Plains for the last 5 years, that is where the Summit's future resides. Denver is a great addition by any measure except distance to Oakland. It is the first school Douple has added in many years that is not coming from a lower division. DU has been getting better in hoops under Joe Scott. They play SLOW, though, like Western Illinois slow. All of Scott's teams, dating back to his time at Air Force, have averaged under 60 possessions per game. It will be a huge tempo clash whenever Denver plays Oakland, if that actually happens. I just can't be mad about this addition when it is an established Division I school. Oakland is used to traveling like crazy during conference season. That hasn't hindered the program from being incredibly successful. If anything, Denver is an easy destination to get to, and it's actually a destination city as well. This is the best the Summit League could do to get back to 10 for next season assuming everyone else stays. I've grown to love this league even with the axis firmly in the Dakotas. I like that these schools have fanbases that talk about their teams and attend games, beat writers who cover the programs, etc. I hope the Denver fans, who have come off as very condescending on their various comment sections, will come to realize that the Summit is not as bad as they anticipated. When they come to Oakland or South Dakota State or Western Illinois, there will be actual coverage of the teams they can read and fans discussing the games and players. That will not be true in whatever the WAC is becoming. I hope there is an endgame featuring Oakland in the Horizon, but in the meantime this is about as solid of an addition we could get unless we wanted to go to a transitional school again.
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Post by fargobison on Nov 27, 2012 21:38:26 GMT -5
I heard that Douple said today that he could have taken the league to 16, I wonder who the other candidates were?
I will say Denver was by far the best school out there and they are the school I've always wanted in the Summit. Their fans don't seem to respect the league but they will after being here a few years. Some Bison fans said similar things, then they watched the games and everything changed.
It should be fun watching the Princeton offense that DU runs. But what I like the most about DU is that they are seriously committed to being successful on the hardwood. Scott is paid a legit salary and their hoops budget is well over $2 million. You don't get that kind of commitment from a transitional school.
I do hope Oakland sticks around for a while longer but I can't be mad at you for going to the Horizon.
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Post by rsd on Nov 27, 2012 22:02:40 GMT -5
I heard that Douple said today that he could have taken the league to 16, I wonder who the other candidates were? South Dakota School of Mines, University of Guam, East Dakota State, Alaska-Fairbanks, Colorado College, Dakota High School in Macomb, MI (Which was an understandable accident.) and the University of Phoenix, Cheyenne, WY campus. [Edited because while I knew Guam University was imaginary, who knew there was a U of Guam?]
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Post by dantheman on Nov 27, 2012 23:25:26 GMT -5
rsd, I understand your disapproval with the Denver move in terms of travel, but I don't know what else the Summit can expect right now in terms of teams to add. Other than D-1 transition schools that is. I agree with B&G's assessment that this is a good move for the Summit and a lousy move for Oakland. Though I also think he right about Douple likely not caring about what Oakland wants considering our open courting of the Horizon. I really believe that one day we will be in the Horizon League. But in the meantime, this is a move which makes us a stronger conference, not a weaker one.
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Post by rsd on Nov 27, 2012 23:42:05 GMT -5
Whoops, my bad. I meant to post my snark on the Golden Grizzlies Proboard, not the Summit League Message board.
Bonus snark aside: Fair enough, although unless it is a known fact (Like official, just not announced as opposed to how certain we all seem to be) behind the scenes that OU is gone, maybe the conference commissioner should have taken the occasional step in the past, let me count, five expansions to have made at least one or two attempts to replace the Midwestern schools that the conference has lost since OU got there.
Chicago State, Valpo, and Youngstown have all been replaced with Dakotas and now Denver.
Yes, this is absolutely a good move for the Summit League. They now have a school that makes the asinine name change make sense. I don't care about the Summit League. I care about OU Basketball. It's apparent that the league does not.
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