star2city

Aff: Even you can understand that there is at least an 12-18 month time delay between accepting a conference bid and actually participating in one. USD (and SIU-Edwardsville) will receive a MidCOn bid early in its transition and join the conference in the middle of its transition. Mark it down.

It's the same mushrooms that said NDSU would never be in the Big SKy, that predicted the Great West formation, and said a more than a month ago that NDSU/SDSU to the Gateway is inevitable. Not bad mushrooms.

Aff, you really can't be that slow can you? The Big SKy and MidCon prefer teams later in their DI transition. The conferences also want to protect themselves from the 5% chance that things will not go as planned.

The NCAA leadership is too prideful to settle with a "hick", no-name, non-elitist school like UND. IMHO, impugning Engelstad's character and mocking the REA are more important NCAA goals than getting at UND itself. The NCAA wants to send a message to all potential major athletic donors, especially at mid-major schools, that it will not tolerate threats to the current power status. The NCAA and its power schools do not want lower level schools "buying" championships with facilities (that exceed theirs). Ironically, UND hasn't won a championship since the REA was built.

That's NDSU's next stop - they are UMinn's rivals.

Actually, it will happen in about two years. If you hadn't heard, they did reach a consensus, and the answer was no, no, no. (Three times). As USD's ICAC consultant said, don't move to DI unless you have a 90-95% certainty that a conference is awaiting you. Strangely enough, he says USD should move up. Wow, Aff, even you must have enough brain cells to figure that one out, considering all your USDSU / Illinois / Minnesota degrees.

It just royally grates your nerves that USD is heading to the MidCOn, doesn't it? So now you are arguing that conferences don't have strategic plans beyond next month?

Augie could not get any type of assurance that they would get a conference invite within the next decade, even with a possibility of a new arena. The MidCon does not want three teams from South Dakota, as USD already has a firm gentleman's agreement from the MidCon, IMHO. (USD & SIUE are MidCon bound, UND is Big Sky bound.) If Augie really wants a taste of DI, they should consider hockey in the CHA. With SDSU and USD needing major facility upgrades, Augie is the only SD school now that even conceivably could start a hockey program. Doubt that will happen though.

There was this story last week in the Omaha paper: UNO official: MIAA meeting positive (reg. required) UNO to the MIAA is now a mere formality.

The NCAA's modus operandi has been to put the screws to schools that dare challenge their authority. What makes it worse is that the NCAA administrators have a long memory and will likely show no mercy toward any perceived UND minor indiscretion. UND adminisitrators, athletes, and fans will be constantly under close scrutiny if the NCAA maintains there past behavior. Wait and see what happens with the women's team in March: the NCAA will do everything in their power to mess with the Sioux hosting a regional in that one. The selection committee should be subpoenaed for this spring's trial.

Considering Dakota H is actually an NDSU grad, her battleaxe views are, unfortunately, deeply rooted. Doubt the Alumni Association would take her.

MplsBison is actually correct. There are two different criteria: meeting the minimum core members requirement (7 schools) and meeting the continuity of membership with a lesser number of core members (six schools). Both criteria must be satisfied. These rules make reconfiguration of conferences nearly impossible. The only feasible way a new conference can now be created is with a conference split of a 12 school conference or greater, with additional core members added to each half. The fact that UTPA and Savannah State are the only remaining DI independents that are also DI core members shows just how poorly those schools are viewed by the DI community.

Why do I even respond? Its suicidal for a conference to have the bare minimum to meet autobid status: good they don't have you as commissioner. Things can happen: Chicago St leaving, Valpo leaving, the Horizon poaching more members from the MidCon because the Atlantic 10 steals from them. (Practically every Horizon member except Detroit and Loyola were once MidCon members.)

IPFW is a already core DI member (was grandfathered in before the new DI transition rules apply). How long until IPFW is a core member? See above. Because if the Mid Con could hold out until IPFW is a core member, they'd be ok with losing 1 more member, which would likely be SUU to the Big Sky. See above UTPA, being a core member, is practically a lock to receive a MidCon invite if any core members leave. NDSU and SDSU can't leave, without the $500,000 penalty.

We've been through this before, MplsBison. UTPA is both a core and an active DI member. By 2009, NDSU and SDSU will be active DI members, but it would still be another seven years, 2016, before they are core DI members. DI conferences need to maintain two requirements: 7 DI core members plus of the 6 DI core members must have been together for five years. Aff is actually correct. If the MidCon loses another core member, it will practically be forced to add UTPA (assuming no other core DI member will join.) New move-ups to DI will only get invited to the MidCon if it goes to 12 members.

The membership overlap of the WCHA and NCC gave UND a rather ideal situation for continuity of rivalries between sports. With the move to DI, that will not be the case, as neither the MidCon nor the Big Sky (unless Denver joins) will have any common members with the WCHA. If UND was to join the MidCon, effectively UND would have three separate groups of conference opponents for all three revenue sports of hockey, football, and basketball. It becomes much harder for the average fan to even identify if the opponent is a conference team. A WCHA / Big Sky combo gives UND's conference opponents a much clearer identity than a WCHA/MidCon/Gateway (or even Great West) triad. That is important both for marketing the UND athletics brand and for defining UND as an institution.

And the MidCon is filled with schools with long pedigrees. Strange how NDSU and SDSU being aligned with a bunch of former junior colleges who are 500-1000 miles away is now such a wonderous choice. In the history of the Big SKy, the addition of Boise St probably caused the most academic consternation, because they were just a few years from JC status, and look where they are now. BTW, Idaho State received four year status in the '20's while, BSU moved in the '60's. How long have IPFW, IUPUI, Oakland, UMKC, and Oral Roberts U been around?

Big Sky - PROs Better fit for alumni

So your long winded response in essence is: the MidCon was concerned about the finanical stability of the SDSU athletic program. So now you are changing history to fit your view of the world? State this same garbage on a Big East, CUSA, or WAC board, and you would be laughed off it. There was never public knowledge of these changes - schools and conferences didn't issue press releases - unlike the NDSU/SDSU situation with the MidCon. There was message board chatter, speculation, and rumors by sports columnists, exactly what you are criticizing here.

So apparently, by your logic, SDSU athletics is so weak financially speaking or has such a tenuous commitment to DI that the MidCon needed assurances from the Regents that the money would be there? I actually give your school more credit than that, 89rabbit. The truth of the matter is: if SDSU drops out of DI, the MidCon will receive a $500,000 exit fee. That is all the assurance that the MidCon needs. Tthese schools recently gained conference memberships through closed meetings: The University of Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Marquette, DePaul, St. Louis, Charlotte, UTEP, Central Florida, Marshall, New Mexico State, Utah State, Idaho, Valparaiso Central Arkansas, Albany, Binghampton, Kennesaw St, Florida Gulf Coast, SC-Upstate, UC-Davis, Winston-Salem St, Seattle How many times do these names need to be repeated to sink into thick skulls?

undsportsfan: While I am often skeptical of a new poster on this site, thanks for coming. A couple of points: There have been extremely civil ways in which a decision has been made on this matter: state appointed officials have said the name stays. That decision, by definition, was civil. The civil way to respond is in the voting booth: make it an issue for your state officials. The NCAA has taken the opposite approach: incivility. They corrupted their own rules, an act of incivility in itself, for their version of creating "greater good". The State of North Dakota reacts with an act of civility: a lawsuit is a major avenue of how this civilization deals with conflict. As far as sensitivity, a basic accusation that nickname opponents make is that nickname supporters are racist. Reasonable people see those accusations as being more than insensitive.

Bison Dan: You really can't accuse me of wishful thinking here. While I wish USD the best, in many respects, with UND moving to DI, I would rather USD stay DII so there is less recruiting competition locally.

Argus-Leader: USD ponders D-I move USD's consulting firm, ICAC, has stated that USD should move up, and that USD should have a 90-95% assurance of getting into a conference. Those two statements taken together are totally illogical, unless the ICAC's Fellingham knows "something." Fellingham, who stated that he didn't have "inside" knowledge that USD has a bid from the MidCon, most assuredly has second-hand knowledge that they do, otherwise, he would never would have stated that USD should move up. North Carolina Central, which is in its exploratory year, does not yet have a formal conference membership, but most assuredly, they have informal assurances from the MEAC of conference membership. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize: USD already has strong informal membership assurances from the MidCon. The South Dakota Board of Regents paved a path for USD getting into the MidCOn when the Regents met with the MidCon reps in August.

http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/2006103...RTS09/110310115

Eastern Michigan's Solution for averaging 15,000 attendance