bincitysioux

Not much more I can add to this thread. One of the best games I recall in the history of the Alerus. Glad I was there to see it.

Women's hockey, men's and women's swimming/diving, men's golf. Anything the Big Sky doesn't sponsor, and probably anything it doesn't require.

That's the point, the savings is unclear. Several fans, yourself included, have been saying all week that UND "can't afford" to be in the Big Sky and the travel savings in the SumValley would save so much money that we could pay coaches more and blah blah blah...... Sorry to burst YOUR bubble, but the real savings and benefits would come from dropping sports, not switching leagues.

Love it. Excellent article and homework by Miller. Hope this puts to bed the idea that the SumValley is some sort of big box store/discount conference.

My stance is based on the idea that I want UND to compete regularly against a mix of the best and most intriguing competition possible. I am not saying I never want to play NDSU or other SumValley teams for that matter. We play NDSU and the other Dakota schools quite frequently, and that is great. I've attended every UND-NDSU basketball game in GF since the turn of the century. I enjoy the rivalry with the Bison, but not so much that I am willing to support slamming the door on emerging relationships with Big Sky schools, specifically Montana, Montana St, Idaho, Weber, Cal Poly, and UC Davis. As members of the Big Sky we will still have games frequently with the other Dakota schools. As members of the SumValley, we would rarely, possibly even never play most Big Sky schools again.

I'm not negatively biased toward NDSU, I am just not infatuated with them. I feel that North Dakota can succeed without being conjoined twins with them. A lot of fans would seemingly trade a national championship trophy for a Nickle Trophy. I would not.

I think that remains to be seen given the fact that he is willing to support 20+ programs, most of which the University cannot possibly fund at a high level.....................

I've got an uneasy feeling about this game. NAU is solid in all phases of the game. They've won 4 in a row, including games against Weber and the Jizz.

iramurphy & Sioux95 get it. Big picture people, look at the big picture.

That's debatable IMO. Take out NDSU's recent run, which has been extraordinary and props to them for it, and what makes the MVFC so great competitively? It is a fact that when we were DII we were on par with UNI who ruled the MVFC before the XDSU's got there. For me anyways, the fact that NDSU & SDSU both have done so well in that conference since they joined tells me that it is really over-rated. Especially when you look at SDSU, they sucked for 100 years, but now they are awesome apparently. They've made the playoffs in DI 5 times but a Big Sky team ended their season 3 of those 5. Personally, I think moving from the Big Sky to the SumValley would be like a Big 10 school moving to the Big 12, or an SEC school moving to the ACC. It's not a huge drop off competetively, but it is definitely a down grade in competition, visibility, and stature. What irritates me most about the whole proposition is the fact that if the roles were reversed, and NDSU were the only Dakota school in the Big Sky and UND were in the SumValley along with the other ex-NCC schools, I am 100% confident that nearly every UND fan that currently prefers the SumValley, would actually be pushing for a move to the Big Sky.

Is anyone really surprised though?

Excellent post, very well said. Post of the year nomination.

College sports madness bracket has North Dakota v. Western Illinois in the first round.

Nobowls.com bracket

Sagarin Ratings - 11-6-16 NDSU EWU UNI James Madison Jacksonville St SDSU Youngstown St Chattanooga Central Arkansas Montana Sam Houston Richmond Citadel Samford Villanova Illinois St Coastal Carolina Western Illinois Lehigh Northern Arizona Wofford Cal Poly North Dakota Charleston Southern Princeton Liberty New Hampshire South Dakota North Caronlina A&T Southern Illinois Grambling Southern Utah Tennessee Martin Colgate Harvard Albany Indiana St San Diego Kennesaw St Furman St Francis Stony Brook Penn Weber St.

Lets just simmer down for a moment, and some can just agree to disagree and leave it at that. My own personal opinion is that youthfulness is no excuse for stupidity.

Well that will all change with a move to the SumValley. All those folks that can't seem to find the Sioux Center are all salivating over the thought of a trip to Vermillion.

The article cited a return text from Douple to Faison indicating an upcoming conversation with the Big Sky commissioner. This news helps explain, to me anyways, why the WIU AD was on Fargo radio two weeks ago publicly fawning over the idea of UND being in the Summit.

7,000

I am going to go ahead and speculate that this means UND is possibly bringing back baseball. The Summit wants 10 basketball schools, but what they need is another baseball school as a cushion to protect the autobid for basketball in case of a defection since they are at the bare minimum required. So after all the budgetary turmoil of the last year, we are going to end up right where we started with 21 sports in a big fat bloated athletic department. That big fat bloated athletic department is going to chew through the travel savings that the SumValley can offer within 5 years and we will be right back to toeing the line.

He said a few posts later he lives in North Dakota. I disagree that this move is going to result in a flood of UND fans at road games.

My own personal meltdown is enough for me.

I am guessing this is why the 9 game schedule the Big Sky was about to adopt was tabled.....

42-21 EWU 4 minutes left

35-21 EWU end of 3rd