WYOBISONMAN

Refresh my memory......what is the date the UND Committee is going to have a report out on a DI-move?

Not even the Mountain West Conference is on satellite radio.......it is pretty much limited to BSC conferences right now.......

Well......I hope Kuppy surprises everyone and jumps to DI, but I doubt that is how it will go......

Sure....it will be a hell of a lot better than your game against CROOKSTON............Jesus.......why even say such stupid !@$!.......

They can't. According to the bylaws of the Big Sky you must have 6 of 8 voting for admission to the conference (UNC is not yet a member). In the past there have been votes that were not unanimous in getting conference members, but lately the Sky has elected to go with "unanimous" picks to enter the conference. I suspect strongly that for any of the Dakotas to get in the Big Sky will need to be confortable with a less than unanimous vote. So.....with only 4 presidents meeting there can be no vote on conference affiliation.

No question the rules on moving up are clearly made to discourage the move.....or at the very least do it after much thought about the pain. In the end those that survive will be better off, but clearly with the rules that exist.....it is a real challenge for a program to jump.......

Did anyone from the UND Admin actually state they did not know the date?.......I am not sure that I have read that......I would think that they would have known that.

I posted this on Bisonville and thought some of you guys might want to see this........ Since I am from Williston I found this article interesting. It was in the NY Times Magazine on Sun., April 9th. My sister just forwarded a compy of it to me. Wow.......reading it really makes one feel pretty melancholy about rural North Dakota.... Here is the link to the story....free registration to view it....and they don't send you a buch of junk mail, so it is safe to register...... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/magazine...b&ex=1148011200 Here is a bit of the story.......... THE NEW YORK TIMES April 9, 2006 Not Far From Forsaken By RICHARD RUBIN It is as you imagine it: Vast. Open. Windy. Stark. Mostly flat. All but treeless. Above all, profoundly underpopulated, so much so that you might, at times, suspect it is actually unpopulated. It is not. But it is heading there. In our national consciousness, America is a land of perpetual growth. But for the past half-century or more, much of the middle of the country has been slowly, quietly emptying out. A few people left, then more and more, until it started to resemble an organized exodus. For a while, it looked as if the area might indeed one day resemble the Great American Desert it was mistakenly labeled on early maps. That didn't happen. At some point, throughout middle America, the population hemorrhage stopped, bottomed out. But not here, in North Dakota. North Dakota has continued to lose people. And it didn't have that many to begin with. In 1930, its population peaked at 680,845. In 2000, it was down to 642,200, and by 2004, the last year for which statistics are available, it had dropped to 634,366. (By comparison, the national population more than doubled, to 294 million from 123 million, during the same period.) Of the 25 counties nationwide that lost the largest portions of their populations in the 1990's, 12 were in North Dakota.

.......and that works too......just a matter of personal preference......but, as a Bison Fan........I personally would love a clash between DI NDSU and DI UND......it would be a classic!

And I am supposed to give a sh1t? Bottom line is that that conferences will be looking and right now NDSU is one of the hottest dates to the Prom......

Much as it pains me to agree with a UND guy.........you are right.....

I think a key factor is just how far a team is from post season eligibility. That is why an institution needs to just make the move and get the clock ticking.......

I would hate to see NDSU and SDSU go to different conferences, but who knows with the crazy world of conference politics. I would still think it unlikely that the Sky will be able to make a move prior to the MidCon. There are still the politics of Sac State and Portland State not wanting to travel to the Dakotas......they claim it will cost to much money.

Maybe the GSU game was deer opener or something.........Call me a heathen.......but hunting seasons do dictate what games I am able to attend.....

It is not "bad" for Bison Fans.....NDSU and our sucess in DI has little to do with what UND does. I would have just enjoyed a DI level matchup between the Bison and the Sioux.....No need to get smacky over that.......

Back on topic..........it is too bad this is the direction the D1 debate in grand Forks is heading.....I guess the issue is pretty much resolved for the near future now.....

If Kuppy wanted to maintain a credible process he could not have done that. I would be surprised if they only surveyed the hockey folks. There is too much at stake to have done something like that which would have blatently skewed the process and made the credibility so suspect.......

That is a legit concern about the alumni being left out. I can tell you that the increase in donations to NDSU is largely coming from the alumni that are excited about the move. I do think that this survey will lead Kuppy to say no, but there are a lot of alumni out there that will be unhappy and push for a new President.... Of all the UND alumni I know, not a one wants to stay D2.....anectodatal as that is, it may show that D1 has some traction with the UND alums.

However, given the locations of both UND and NDSU I don't think having a conference home for all sports is realistic. You gotta take some risks in making the jump.....investing in the future so to say. In the end, the conference will work out for NDSU and it would work out for UND too. I just can't see UND staying D2 if the division is seeing schools like Mary and potentially Minot State moving up to D2. I love to dish $hit out to the UND fans as well as any Bison fan, but in no way can one seriously consider the Mary's and Minot States peers of UND. Hell, Winona isn't really even a peer. Anyway.......I am sitting here in Wyoming quite stunned by these results......

I am shocked and would have to say that this surely gives Kuppy more than enough cover to not make the jump........

I do have to say, my preference is the Big Sky in all sports.......may not happen, but it is choice #1 for me.......

I suspect the rivalry will continue once UND is beyond the transitional year in a move to D1.

I would have to agree, that after the transitional year, there would be some decent opponents traveling to GF for football. Basketball scheduling seems to be tough for both the transitional year and year one as most D1 programs won't play you until year 2 (as that is the first year you can count as a D1 opponent).

Weather is a killer for NCAA baseball in ND. A tough issue to overcome....