MplsBison

If the Mid Con could convince Western Illinois to come over to the GW, the GW could be considered for an auto bid in 2010. That is not likely, though. IMO, the more likely scenario is UND and USD being added which would have the GW being able to be considered for an auto bid sometime around 2014 (I think). Then we have to have the DI-AA playoff committee actually want to expand the playoffs or take a bid away from another league.

Suprise, another UND fan who doesn't care about basketball.

I think the question now is when does the Mid Con add UND and USD? I'll say somewhere between the 2009 and 2011 seasons.

A lot of people on this board don't view "bouncyball" as a sport. I have to believe that a lot of the UND fans living in Denver are not bball fans.

I don't agree with the logic that because Denver and UND have played each other in men's hockey for many years, a DI UND men's basketball team playing at Denver would have a crowd greater than the average Sun Belt conference game. For the same reason, I don't see a DI UND men's basketball game at the U of MN or the U of WI drawing crowd greater than their average crowds against mid major teams.

But how many DI-AA schools know that every home game is going to get them 300k regardless of who they play? Montana is the only one I can think of.

Curious, how does playing nonconference games affect a team's chances of winning a conference title? As far as I know, Portland State, for example, can go 0-3 against DI-A teams this year and still win the Big Sky conference.

I believe the football schools could earn more money per school in basketball in an 8 team conference than the current 16 team conference. I think they know it and I think the basketball schools know it. I think a split is coming. Only time will tell when.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/d..._9265_brief.php Looks like NDSU is joining UND in the 3rd tier.

If it weren't for counting a road game at Washington State as a home game, Fullerton's wet dream of getting Idaho back in the Big Sky might actually have some legitimacy.

The only potential problem I see for USD (other than the need for a new bball arena down the road, just like NDSU) is that they have a 62% female enrollment. I believe that means that 62% of the athletic budget must be spent on women's programs. Right? Is that what title IX says? SDSU only has 52% women (NDSU 45%, UND 47%). I think that when USD annouces DI the money from alumni doners coming out of the woodwork will increase. IMO, the fate of NDSU, SDSU, UND, and USD seems to be bounded together in a dakota dominated Mid Con conference. Just like the NCC of old.

Way to go out on a limb, bin. With a prediction like that, you must be related to Miss Cleo.

The Indystar article is much more credible. Still, that article doesn't indicate anything more than the NCAA's willingness to study the concept. Just as Augustana is studying a DI move.

Nothing on this page resembles anything even remotely close to news that UBC has a chance to get into the NCAA. It might have well been a post on a message board.

Where is your source for this?

Until the win over Wisconsin, most NDSU fans would drop the entire athletic department if it came down to a choice between only football or only the rest of the sports. Now, if the men's bball team has another decent season and esp. if they beat Minnesota, I think you're going to see a sitation like Northern Iowa where fans follow football and men's basketball. If it came down to a choice between only men's hockey or everything else, all UND fans would choose hockey. I can admit that NDSU is football. Why can't UND admit that they're hockey?

Oh BS. Everything and anything that is UND is hockey. If the entire athletic department could be dropped, save men's ice hockey, the majority of UND fans would vote yes and not think twice.

This is the basic logic of most UND fans. Fullerton: Sorry, Grand Forks is just too far away. Sac, Portland, and NAU are just not interested at this time in traveling all the way out there. UND: Our Men's Ice Hockey team has won 7 national DI titles. Fulerton: *long pause* my....god......... *falls to knees, arms raised in the air* HEAR ME NOW......OH GREAT, GREAT LORDS OF ICE HOCKEY, UND! JOIN THE BIG SKY AND ALL YOUR DREAMS WILL COME TRUE, FOREVER AND EVER!

I won't lose any sleep over it knowing full well that of those 3 UND would be the only school to respond to an official request from the Big Sky to apply to the conference. If the Big Sky is going to request the UBC and DU apply to the conference, they might as well send requests to Notre Dame and the U of Washington.

If you trust anyone who claims that UBC (not in the NCAA), DU, and UND all have even a slight chance to join any conference at the same time, you should probably just disconnect your internet and save yourself the money.

Which is fine. The Dakota flagships (NDSU, SDSU, USD, and UND) have a unique oppertunity to literally take over a conference and make it their own. We have an oppertunity to make the Mid Con in terms of mid major basketball success and DI-AA football success what the NCC was for both in DII. With the help of Western IL, and the IUPU schools, we can have a real nice thing going.

And without the Montana schools, the Big Sky is a pretty worthless school for basketball and football.

That's fine with me. NDSU will get all the Minnesota football paydays and media coverage when we eventually upset them. UND will have to settle for the hockey games. That is until NDSU gets a hockey team and beats them out in that too.

NDSU moved first, so I think they'd be Troy.

Montana, a team I would at least hope you would look up to, is playing for a record amount. If it's good enough for Montana, it's good enough for NDSU.