bincitysioux

I agree that unfortunately baseball and softball will be the first casualties of a DI move. But if the Big Sky is the ultimate goal, I think golf and tennis will remain.

I don't think that USD would try to gain membership in the MIAA. They were one of the four the schools that voted in favor of a DI NCC. I tend to believe that their preference would be to stay with the state-named schools, which means they'll follow whatever UND does. If UND, SCSU, and UNO did end up leaving the NCC for either a different division or conference, and USD decided not to move to DI, I think they'd stand pat in the NCC/NSIC, as they would become the dominant program. I also think it is unlikely that Augustana would pursue MIAA membership. If UND, SCSU, USD, and UNO were out of the picture, they could become a force in a league made up of the NCC and NSIC teams. I think Auggie would fit very nicely into the current NSIC.

Would the MIAA consider adding 3 schools?

When is the NCC meeting? Next week?

I agree that I love seeing the football team or the women's basketball team on ESPN when they make it to the championship game. That's awesome. But I don't know how much more national recogintion that provides UND than would regularily playing against DI programs, i.e. Monanta, Montana St. I'm just a casual college basketball fan, and I know that the Sioux women are ranked #2 in the country, but I couldn't tell you one other program in the country that is in the poll. I couldn't tell you one other program that has ever won a DII womens basketball championship other than UND or NDSU. Off the top of my head, I could probably tell you 5 of the top 10 DI men's basketball teams. I can only name one DII program in the entire DII top 25. And when march madness comes around, I can nearly guarantee that I'll have seen on local TV/news or read in the local paper about at least 60-70% of the DI field. But in the DII tourney, if there are no teams from the NCC, NSIC, or someone we played in football or hockey, I won't recognize them. I couldn't even tell you one DII men's basketball national champion, other than Metro State, and that is because they won it at the Ralph last year. I think if we were DI, and played 2 or 3 regular season games every year on a combination of a Fox Sports Regional channel, or on CSTV, or one of the 9 ESPN networks, our basketball and football programs would garner just as much if not more national attention than they do now playing on ESPN once every 4 or 5 years.

I don't know how detrimental any indecision by UND on this issue is to recruiting, but I think that the fact that regional recruits now may have a DI option in the area that was never there before has the potential to be very damaging to UND recruiting in the future.

Just wondering what the Siouxsports.com members really think!

I thought we knew from the start that our fall sports teams would be o.k. for this year?

This could be good.

UND football had four television broadcasts this year. NDSU's game with their presidentially mandated "rival" wasn't even on TV. I believe there is even a thread on Bisonville.com discussing how unhappy NDSU fans are that UND seems to get just as much if not more media coverage both in Fargo let alone throughout the state. I agree about the top ND football recruit, and I think that will be more common place as long as NDSU competes in a higher division. UND's men's basketball program is just simply in disarray. It is a down year, and not necessarily an indication of a huge gap between the programs. UND won 20 games last year. 4 years ago NDSU went 11-15 and finished 8th in the conference, that was a down year. That is the type of year UND is having.

Denver's Lacrosse team will fly five times this season, and one bus trip from Denver to Air Force. They'll have two trips with two games on the same weekend, and both times will have to travel by bus between games. If UND started lacrosse, and joined the Great Western conference, it is possible that a 16 game schedule would include 9 or even 10 away games for the first several years, if not for even longer, due to our remote location. There would not be any bus trips, not to Notre Dame or Ohio State. If UND flies its baseball team to Kansas, it isn't going to drive a lacrosse team to Columbus. Lacrosse requires 35 to 40 players, while baseball requires 20 to 25. Whether they are on scholarship or not, more student-athletes means more expenses. Again, I like the idea of Lacrosse, and I agree that baseball has not and never will work well at UND given our climate and facilities. I just don't think it pencils out, and neither does baseball, but baseball is already in place. The reality is, in my opinion, that baseball is not going to be a part of DI athletics at UND (if we move) whether we add lacrosse or not.

I believe the Denver series will be on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, if you have DirecTV or Dish Network. Most sports bars will be able to pick it up.

According to this year's Equity in Athletics Disclosure website http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/index.asp UND's athletic budget is $10 million. Avg Big Sky budget is $7.9 million. (Ranging from $5.2 million to $12.1 million) Avg Great West budget is $7.5 million. (Ranging from $4.3 million to $12.2 million, NDSU @ $7.7 million) Avg NCC budget is $6.5 million. (Ranging from $4.3 million to $10 million) NCC budgets are probably near the top of DII because five of the seven members support hockey. USD and Augustana have the lowest budgets in the NCC. Despite the hockey argument, I think it is interesting that UND's budget is right in line with both the Big Sky and GWFC, even when hockey is not factored in.

My take on the original Lacrosse discussion was that it was possible replacement, something to swap with baseball and softball, not just an addition. If we do move though, I'm 99% sure that we will be adding Men's Tennis.

I'd have to agree. I liked the idea of Lacrosse when it was first thrown out, but after looking into it, I realize that it is not feasible. If UND did start up Lacrosse, and joined the Great Western conference, it would still likely require 5-7 flights to the eastern seaboard every year. I doubt that any attendance revenues could offset the costs of this. Baseball and softball may not be money makers or self-sufficient, but I think they are probably losing far less money than Lacrosse would.

You are a dedicated fan dakotadan! So only 5 of those schools have better attendance for football than UND, and only 8 have higher enrollments. Here is how UND stacks up against the Big Sky schools, demographically. UND Enrollment: ~13,000 FB Attend: 9,426 BB Attend: 2,791 (2004-05) Big Sky Enrollment: 17,042 FB Attend: 10,281 BB Attend: 2,290 (2004-05) DI NCC (including UND, USD, NDSU, SDSU, SCSU, MSU-M, and UNO) Enrollment: 12,401 FB Attend: 7,293 BB Attend: 2,464

If UND were DI in all sports, then we would share in the revenues from making it to the Frozen Four just like Minnesota, Denver, etc.

http://www.diaafootball.com/ This site tells what year each school started its I-AA membership. But it doesn't say which division the school played in prior to I-AA.

There are 58 Division I hockey schools

Pitt St. should have been in the slot that Mesa St. is in, they are, or were open for that date in 2006 according to D2 Football.com. They're open on the same weekend in 2007, Bunning should try to get that game, home or away. South Eastern Oklahoma St. is also looking for a home-and-home deal for the future. They would be more intriguing than Mesa or Ferris.

I was referring to the quality of the competition. I was at the Mayville St game this week. That is not the type of competition that I think should be on the floor with the Sioux Women.

If you're worried about that sort of thing, look at Montana St. They won the DII title in 1976, and then won the I-AA title 8 years later in 1984. How many years did it take UND to go to its first National Championship game in football? A long time. How about women's basketball, have we been a national power since the program's inception? Nope. Everything takes time. Dale Lennon could be offered a coordinator job at a Big 10 school and the football program could easily end up where Minnesota State is at. Probably won't happen, but it could. Gene Roebuck could retire, and the dominance of the Sioux Women's program could come to an end. Don't forget, the men's bball team wasn't always what it is now. There was a time when they were a force to be reckoned with.