The Sicatoka

You mean like the B1G (10/14 fit my template and if you give me Indiana U it's 11) or the PAC12 (9/12, it's 10 if you give me UCLA)? When like schools align they get stronger and stay aligned. In this "Big North" concept (and this really, really hurts to say), Denver would be our "Northwestern" or "Stanford": high-end pricey, solid academics, and private to make conference meetings not subject to open records.

Better school. However, uh, Summit move, uh, travel costs? Anyone? Anyone?

Interesting ... Does UND have a renege clause with the Summit/MVFC? With IUPUI leaving, if UND had such a clause, pulling out right now would completely destabilize a shaky situation. Or is that the plan all along ...

My concerns: IPFW is now on an island and can not feel warm about it. Their main Summit rival is gone to the Horizon. And they now sit in the heart of the Horizon. IPFW now wields tons of power in the Summit. They have both men's soccer and baseball. If they go they put two Summit men's sports under the minimum of six teams, meaning the MBB autobid is on a two-year clock. Tom Douple. Seeing that IPFW can put the Summit on a two-year clock, hearing Douple say "DIIs" are a backfill option tells me he is clueless. And he admits he was blindsided. Heck, I knew this was coming for a week and all I do is surf various posting forums. As I've already shown, a DII announcing a move to DI today is not a full DI school until June 1, 2022. That's unworkable. You can say "exception" but the NCAA has given Douple that in the past once already (baseball). Douple asking for an exception again screams incompetence to (you, me, and) the NCAA and who knows if the NCAA will grant another exception to someone that can't manage his league. IUPUI leaving destabilizes what was starting to be a stable group. As I've said, IPFW can't be waking up feeling comfortable this morning on their island. And WIU is now closer to the periphery of the footprint and there's an open OVC slot now too (Valpo to MVC which started this chain reaction). And no matter what they say, ORU will always have one eye on its options to the south (as I'm sure their BB loves the Dakotas in January). All that said, SIU-E is not a solution; UMKC is not a solution; it's more of the same. A DII moving up (and full DI no sooner than June 1, 2022) is not a viable option at this time. All of that said, my best hope is that either Douple just plays the fool (he's doing marvelously) and has a real master strategy (history would point to otherwise), or, UND was delivered to the Summit to lure in the western, research university flank to align with the northern, research university flank of the Big Sky the next time the Summit shakes (and that time is now).

There are the links for SV's statements about real concerns from Kolpack and Garry.

So, correcting my prior statement, announce now and the four year transition starts 6/1/2018 ... 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 ... so on June 1, 2022, today's DII can be a DI.

Ooh-eee-pooh-eee is what the morning crew on KFGO calls them. They might actually be saying ewe-eee-pooh-eee. And you cow college guys know all about ... ewes.

Wow. Just ... wow. It's effectively July 1, 2017. That's a deadline to announce a transition (DII to DI). So, no one is making that date right now unless they've said nothing and will be hand-delivering surprise paperwork to Indianapolis by close of business Friday. If a DII announced they'd more likely start the five year process on July 1, 2018 ... 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 ... Yes, on July 1, 2023, they'd be a DI.

< obligatory snark question here about "next century" starting in 2100 or 2101 >

Let's see ... IUPUI is pronounced ooh-eee-pooh-eee. So is SIU-E ... soo-whee!

< see VMeister's avatar >

Call me greedy, but I'd like a conference where a super-majority of the schools are named either: University of < state name > or < state name > State University

So who'll be the first to schedule into next century?

Now that IUPUI has announced it's going to the Horizon immediately, how do you view where the Summit is (before and after).

If I knew why sometimes an off team finds its way I'd bottle it and sell it. And if I knew why a team on its game trips up I'd ban it (at least from Alerus Center; I'd ship it all to FargoDome ). Is it having a real, true two-deep where if one guy is having an off day the other comes in seamlessly? I don't know.

First half Richmond. Second half NAU. Cal Poly.

When UND was playing the way Bubba would have them play, yes, and maybe more (like top 5). When they were "off", they weren't top 25. Consistency is something that needs to be worked on now that some of the core issues (like plain old having the personnel and scheme that works) have been dealt with.

As things sit today, yes, Montana and North Dakota will be non-conference in 2024 and 2025. But tell me what things will look like in 2024.

And now we break from our regularly scheduled thread to cut live to a Tom Douple press conference already in progress.

I wonder if UND has words in its agreement to join the Summit about "changes in membership" between the signing of the agreements and the actual joining.

MBB plus FB or MBB plus 2 men's team sports is the requirement to be a core conference. You must have core conference status to be awarded a MBB autobid. The only thing that matters is that MBB ($$$$$!!!) autobid.

FIB&T has a presence in GF already, just not a store front. https://firstintlbank.com/locations-hours/

Not enough. Only three Summit schools play hockey so it wouldn't count as a conference sponsored team sport.

TEAM sports. Basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer. What you list are considered individual sports.

I see six centers: Gardner, Bowen, Simonson, Hoff, Jones, Kawaguchi. Gardner and Simonson will be two most nights. Whoever is playing well of the other four at the position will be the other two; however, don't be surprised if Jones isn't one of them most of the time. Remember, Jones is effectively a junior.