bincitysioux

Loyola Chicago makes move to Missouri Valley Conference official

True about the Horizon being on the brink for baseball. However, Oakland is a baseball playing school, another reason they are the best fit to be the first addition to the Horizon. Given the fact that both the Summit and Horizon are in dire need of baseball schools, I wonder if a merger in that sport alone would be an option?

The Summit League has a done a lot to bolster it's western presence over the years, adding USD, UNO, and now Denver. But that has back-fired to an extent with the losses of Oral Roberts and UMKC. I think there is going to be an interesting game of chess played between the Summit, the Horizon, and the WAC in the next two years. I think it behooves low and mid-major non-football conferences like these three to cap membership at 10. It keeps costs down, and increases the payout to each school from revenue sharing. The Horizon has the luxury of being able to factor in geography when considering future additions. They are going to be down to 8 with the loss of Loyola. Despite potential objections from Detroit, they almost have to add Oakland. If they take any other Summit school, I think they'd look first to IUPUI. Again, geography will be a large part of the criteria for the Horizon. They also like to play in large cities, and Indianapolis is by far and away the Summit's biggest market. A lot of chaos can be avoided if the MVC either stays at 10, or adds schools that are not currently in the Horizon.

I really don't think the Summit will just fold. Autobids don't die easily, as we saw with the WAC.

I had spoke in the past to former head coach Sami Strinz about playing in the Alerus. It is large enough to accomodate, but at that time, the rental fee the Alerus was asking was too high for UND to consider it. I'm sure it would be almost impossible to move games there on short notice, but I think it would be great if UND could work something out to host an early season tournament there in February each season.

Given how poor the run defense was last year, and how pedestrian the run offense was last year, I'm not quite sure how accurately either side of the ball can be evaluated come Saturday. Especially since neither Miller or Sparks will play...........

Conference cancels upcoming softball series

Title game getting lots of play on Sportscenter this morning. Yale winning is a great story, and it doesn't hurt that both schools right in ESPN's back yard. Haven't seen the Frozen Four get this much play on ESPN in the 9 years or so that I have had season tix........

I wish they would have included Hardee's salary in there. IIRC, he also makes more than Jones.

That's disgusting that the the women's hockey coach makes more than the head football coach. Also embarrassing that the first-year women's basketball coach makes more than his counterpart in the Men's program who has been here for 7 years, and has actually had some success.

I just consider travel. For baseball, if you cancel home games due to weather, they are fairly easy to make-up if the opponent is a bus ride away rather than an airplane ride away. We saw this in the NCC. With WAC affilitation I see cancellations. With Summit affiliation, I'd see postponements. As far as swimming, I admit I'd just see travel savings. I'm speaking from a purely financial perspective. These two sports generate absolutely zero income for the University unlike hockey, football, basketball, even volleyball. So in my eyes, mitigating expenses is paramount............

I understand completely what you are saying. Note that I said "small part". Make no mistake, though, that if South Dakota gave their University Presidents the same authority that North Dakota does, that USD would have just finished up their first season as a member of the Big Sky. There would have been no time for the 11th hour MVFC deal. IMO, the economic impact to the state of South Dakota and the city of Sioux Falls for having the Summit Tourney cemented there weighed heavily on the Regents. If Regent approval for a change wasn't required, North Dakota and South Dakota would have had joint press conferences with the Big Sky in November of 2010. Again, I said small part. I agree that USD is far better off financially in the Summit/MVFC. As far as tourney sites go, again, I agree with you. I think especially in the Big Sky's case, the campus site format works best due to the expansive geography of the league. If it did go to a neutral site, I would think ONLY either Salt Lake City, or Boise would be the best locations. Both locales are an easy drive for Weber, Montana, and Idaho. It has to be close enough for Weber and Griz fans to travel. Sioux Falls works well for the Summit because 4 schools are less than 3 hours away.

Folks, Breitbach left because he had a desire to become a head coach. He's applied for other jobs in the past. Mannassau left because of a great opportunity that he was well suited to him and that will allow him to spend more time at home with family. Mussman came close to leaving when he was OC 7 years ago for the Mankato head job. Dale Lennon left his DC post to be a head coach at UMARY. This is what those that have chosen the coaching profession do: try to move up in the ranks. I'm quite excited about the new coordinators. Kotelnicki has coordinator experience at the DII level and has been an assistant at an FBS program. Schleusner has been "passing game coordinator" (whatever that is) at both the DII and DI level. I think both are rising stars in the football coaching profession. Especially Kotelnicki. I don't expect him to be here much longer. He has bigger fish to fry..................

We don't need a "scheduling alliance" with anyone. We can play Big Sky schools in non-conference play like Portland St. last year and Montana this year. Just another benefit of Big Sky membership..........................

I do not know if North Dakota did or did not get an invite to the Summit for baseball. I would not be surprised if Douple refused to pursue UND even as an affiliate, given the crap-storm he created surrounding the nickname issue. If they did in fact extend an invite to North Dakota for baseball, I would not be surprised if Brian Faison and Robert Kelley told him to take a hike, given the crap-storm that Douple created surrounding the nickname issue. Faison has a lot of contempt for inept conference commissioners. He spear-headed the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and one of the reasons that he publicly stated for doing so was because he questioned the leadership of the WCHA. When UND chose to join the Big Sky one day before Douple and other Summit officials were to be in Grand Forks for the site-visit, one of the reasons he gave publicly for choosing the Big Sky was that he is "very impressed" with Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton. Now, we all know that the biggest reason that UND chose the Big Sky was for football. My point is that Faison has never been shy about criticizing conference commissioners in public, Tom Douple being one of them. I will say this though: If Douple was too proud to pursue UND for baseball affiliation, that is really too bad for the members of the Summit because if he did not, he's obviously letting emotions get in the way of improving the league. By the same token if Faison and/or Kelley were too proud to accept an invitation to the Summit for baseball, that is really too bad for North Dakota baseball, because they'd obviously be letting emotions get in the way of improving the baseball program. I've said many times that baseball doesn't work at North Dakota, but it would work far better in the Summit that it will in the WAC. And the Summit NEEDS baseball schools. Same could even be said for swimming. I believe the Summit is near the minimum for swimming members, and that would also be a better fit for UND than are the WAC and MPSF. I'm of the opinion that moving the Summit tourney to Sioux Falls for the long term was a factor in Oral Roberts departing the league. There were other factors, but that didn't help. I believe the Tulsa area hosted it before it was moved to South Dakota. On the other hand, I also think that played a small part into cementing South Dakota as a member, when they were ready to bolt. But by all accounts, the tourney in SF has been a smashing success as far as attendance goes. Tourney locations for low-major leagues like the Big Sky and Summit are a bit of conundrum. The Big Sky is looking at going to a neutral or pre-determined site as we speak. Both formats have their positives and negatives. I kind of like what Big Ten Hockey is going to do, rotating between St. Paul and Detroit.

You can't win if you can't run. That is a fact. Pass happy offenses are fun to watch but they rarely have long term sustainable success. Look what Cal Poly accomplished last year. Montana has always had a balanced style. Despite what many people say, you don't need go chuck it around every single down to win in the Big Sky.

I could be wrong, but I think you are thinking of USD when they got into the MVFC. Either way, there were 2 or 3 schools that would only vote to include the Yotes if they didn't have to travel to the Dakotas so often.

Also have to remember that out of 5 former NCC schools that applied for membership to the Big Sky, Fargo U was among 2 that never received an invitation...............

I always wondered how often the Bisonville Bullet Points were updated. It must be fairly often. I haven't heard the one about North Dakota's hiring practices yet..........................

I watched all of Florida GC's games in the tourney, and I honestly don't remember any 3 pointers being made. All I remember is tall, athletic guys slamming down alley-oop dunks. We only have one guy that can do that. FGCU had like 4 or 5 guys that could......................

Illinois-Chicago confirmed today that they've been in talks with the MVC.

Regarding the strength of the Big Sky vs. the Summit in basketball, it can also be noted that in addition to both conferences receiving an equal seed to the NCAA's, both leagues also had a total of 3 teams each participating in some type of post-season basketball. I really don't think there is as big of a gap between the two leagues as some would like to think.........................

I agree that all those would be more appealing to fans as far as a money-game goes. We played Kansas two seasons ago, and Wisconsin the year before. Obviously everyone would love to get Minnesota. I think that game will happen fairly soon now that the nickname debacle is over. I was just throwing out UCLA because of the Jones-Alford connection. Here are the "money games" we've played recently: 2012-13: Kansas St. 2011-12: Kansas & New Mexico 2010-11: Wisconsin 2009-10: Iowa St. & Texas A&M 2008-09: Wichita St. & Texas A&M 2007-08: Iowa St. Seems like Coach Jones tries to hit the middle of the country for our "money games" in addition to tapping into his personal connections for non-conference games. Northern Iowa, for example has been a pretty regular opponent recently. He is an alum and their last two head coaches have North Dakota ties. Played Iowa St. twice while their HC was a former UND assistant. Played New Mexico shortly after Alford was hired. My guess is that our "money game" this year will be against a Big 10 or Big 12 team, and/or possibly an outside chance against UCLA. I still think it would be cool to play UCLA..............................

I know we've all alluded to this topic in a couple other threads, but figured I'd start a dedicated one so we can update it as the schedule progresses throughout the summer. Season ticket renewals came today and it indicated that Fargo U. and South Dakota St. would be on the docket. I presume both will be at home. Here is a thought: How about a money game at UCLA? Coach Jones' mentor, Steve Alford recently took the job there. We travelled to New Mexico a couple years back shortly after Alford took over that program. That would be fun............

I think if the Big Sky had not already gotten Idaho to commit, then they may have pursued Denver in order to get to an even number for basketball.