I believe the NSIC was closing in on the NCC in most sports except football and maybe womens bball. I don't think the old NCC would compete in the last years with mens bball with Winona or Vball with Concordia St. Paul. These sports have been stronger for a couple years previous to UND's move. Now with Bemidji's trip to the frozen 4, it looks like a great year for them as a DII conference(granted Bemidji is DI hockey). What I have heard is there will be some more additions to their conference, including Morningside and University of Sioux Falls, with that said, their conference will become tougher to schedule with because of the size of the conference, causing more scheduling difficulties for the Sioux for non conference games. I think the NSIC will become very popular because the local kids will be playing in this conference, be it Northern State University, UMD, or Bemidji State. They are competitive nationwide as a conference, and the locals love to see the local kids do well and the NSIC has done very well with national champions in Vball, womens bball, mens football, and who knows....Bemidji hockey..Yo, Walrus, gotta love the volleyball right?