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Post by virginian on Oct 24, 2010 12:14:40 GMT -5
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Post by Grizzfan1 on Oct 24, 2010 14:49:21 GMT -5
Very interesting if it is indeed true!!!
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Post by blackandgold on Oct 24, 2010 15:15:59 GMT -5
Woo! I hope this is true. It would be such a better fit for Southern Utah.
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Post by virginian on Oct 25, 2010 10:37:32 GMT -5
The consensus opinion is that SUU joins for all sports the Dakotas for football only. The MVFC stands at 9 right now after including the Dakota States. Adding the Dakotas I think would be a strong move for the conference. Having four traditional rivals in fairly close proximity would add to the conference's competitiveness. Eleven, I am told, is not a desirable number for scheduling purposes, although the Big Ten has managed it for years. I don't know of any available FCS football programs or D2s who are moving up, but one more addition and the MVFC could move to a championship game and divisions.
In any case, SUU going to the BSC would be addition by subtraction for the Summit.
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Post by blackandgold on Oct 25, 2010 23:49:22 GMT -5
Agreed that UND makes much more sense than SUU at this point. Even though UND is bound for a rough season this year and likely into the future a bit, it's not like it will be that much worse than SUU. And that's not to knock SUU, I feel they can be a better program but just not with the travel and recruiting difficulties they likely face playing in the Summit League. If they move to Big Sky, I'll root for them everyday.
Only downside of having four Dakota schools as far as I see it is that they'll probably have a tough hold on the conference tournament for years to come. The fanbases are huge up there and with four schools within driving distance, it makes the most sense.
Finally, rumor swirling on some forums that SUU has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday for a big announcement. But also Terry Vandrovec of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported that according to the SUU SID, there has been no press conference scheduled. And so it goes.
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Post by Germane on Oct 26, 2010 9:13:43 GMT -5
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Post by blackandgold on Oct 26, 2010 9:24:10 GMT -5
This is an interesting shift in this discussion. As it stands, the Big Sky has 9 all-sports and 11 for football (two affiliate). They clearly want to get to 10 all-sports and 12 for football. Even though it would appear that SUU would be the best option for them in that regard, it really seems like they are not Big Sky's first choice. I'm pretty peeved at the Big Sky for attempting to poach a school (USD) that hasn't even started Summit League play yet. Either way, if USD were to leave, it seems to me that Big Sky would be done (highly doubt they'd go to 14 for football but who knows?) and leave Summit with SUU and then UND. Here is an update from Vandroved from Argus Leader: The Summit League began meetings for athletic directors and senior woman administrators Monday in Indianapolis. They'll conclude today. SDSU athletic director Justin Sell said that the situations of Southern Utah, South Dakota and North Dakota - all rumored to be in talks with the Big Sky in one form or another - will be on the agenda. He also said that the Summit football feasibility committee - set to receive some feedback from member schools today - has met just once so far, meaning that those three schools may have to make decisions about their conference affiliations before the future path of the Summit and/or Missouri Valley is clear. "There's a little chicken and egg going on because you don't know," Sell said of all the potential moves at the FCS level. "You're trying to prepare some of the information and look at some of the scenarios." Also a pretty good comment from someone after that snippet: "I once thought the Big Sky was preferable (early in the process). It isn't. Travel costs immense...not a single bus trip possible (unless you use USD's trip to the East Coast as busable). While football wouldn't be so bad, the budget costs for all other sports zooms. Throw in the Summit's $500,000 fee for leaving the conference and USD's decision becomes even more difficult." And finally an article from the UND perspective: www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/180812/group/Sports/
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Post by blackandgold on Oct 27, 2010 10:04:05 GMT -5
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Post by dantheman on Oct 27, 2010 11:28:24 GMT -5
My issue with this is the lowly place that he places the Summit League. He makes ORU jumping to the Southland seem like an upgrade, which it most certainly is not. It might be better geographically, but the Summit is a better conference by rpi than the Southland.
The problem is that most places which we would poach from are not geographic fits. I would say that if we lost UND and USD then we could try to poach from the Southland and add another travel partner with ORU. Also perhaps an Eastern Illinois who already competes in Swimming, or another over-matched Ohio Valley team. They really aren't that far ahead of us.
As far as him making it seem as though a move to the Horizon is completely out of the question, I would disagree, mostly because we do not know what the Horizon will look like in the future.
My final problem is that most of this hinges on one thing, and something I do not think he focused on enough: SDSU and NDSU moving to the Missouri Valley. You would think that UND and USD would rather be with the other Dakotas to create better rivalries, etc. If SDSU and NDSU were to bolt, then this carrot would no longer exist. This is the true doomsday situation.
All that said, as long as we keep winning and make ourselves attractive as a program, I do not doubt that we will be an attractive expansion target for someone in this age of expansion. The bottomline is to keep winning.
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Post by sportsdoctor05 on Oct 27, 2010 12:43:01 GMT -5
Yeah I agree w/ dantheman, that he makes the Summit seem sooo lowly. Why would ORU leave for the Southland? That's not a step up. They've dominated the league over the last few years, and have an opportunity to make it to the NCAA tourney generally on an annual basis. I think the only benefit for them to the Southland is savings on travel costs.
In my gut, I just don't believe any of the Dakota schools will go to the Big Sky. The Summit gave the Dakotas their first opportunities to participate in a DI conference (Excluding Great West BC of no opportunity to play in NCAA tourney). We bought a conference championship tourney to South Dakota, and the first nationally televised sporting event in the history in that state. I think bc we gave them those type of opportunities they will be more abt to stay. In regards to the MVC, why would they want more bottom feeders in their league? I don't see them extending an invite to any of the SL schools.
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