dakota fairways

Will Miami stay in the National Conference if the nearest schools are 700 miles to Omaha & 750 miles to Duluth, when its only 200 miles to South Bend and 250 miles to Kalamazoo? I wonder if Miami had the same thing happen to them as the Sioux did when invited to the Big Sky and Notre Dame is pulling a South Dakota. The MAC connection to WMU will be a good foundation to keep both teams happy. WMU's commitment to maintaining a top-tier program should keep them at the top of the list. I think WMU would be a better pick than Notre Dame and wouldn't think they can throw their prestige around to get whatever they want from the other conference members. Agreed that Notre Dame is probably looking to either Hockey East or starting a new conference with eastern schools, but the Irish could easily pull both Western Michigan and Miami. Travel partners are not a necessity, since a weekend is Friday-Saturday between the same teams. Seven teams (2 east, 2 west and 3 in the middle) would be a nice number for a full home and home conference schedule with plenty of time for out of conference scheduling.

The real positive coming from Notre Dame deciding in favor of the National Conference would be that they (and possibly Western Michigan) would be a bridge for Miami. Otherwise, they are a long ways from the rest of the conference and travel may be too expensive for a small school like Miami. If Notre Dame & Western are also in the conference, it would be four games that would not only be shorter road trips for them, it would be four home games each year that have the potential to have good attendance by fans of the visiting teams.

Sac State, Weber & Northern Colorado are the other Big Sky golf teams. Since they are also American Sky members I hope that conference/federation stays afloat. American Sky will lose Seattle to the WAC and South Dakota to the Summit, though. What about baseball?

Big Sky sposors Women's Golf, but not men's. Can the men's team get an invite to the WAC?

With Baseball and Men's Golf the only teams without a conference in a year, is there any possibility of them following the Women's Swimming & Diving Team to the WAC? The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation does not sponsor either of these sports. Both the Missouri Valley and the Summit do, but seem unlikely homes.

10 leagues with 6 or 7 teams would certainly open the landscape to add more programs as they develop. That would be great for growing the sport.

Why don't they apply to the WCHA?

Whether it happens in the next couple of years or not, UND and NDSU will play each other, maybe every year (eventually) or maybe every other year with USD and SDSU on the off years or maybe even a three year rotation with all 3 Dakota schools. Iowa/Iowa State, Colorado/Colorado State, Florida/Florida State all manange to play OOC games with each other every year. Granted, they are all BCS teams with extra games. Idaho State has managed to survive without playing Idaho since 2008, Utah & Utah State haven't met since '09. While some, like Missouri/Missouri State, Indiana/Indiana State, apparently do not play each other at all. Bottom line, if UND doesn't schedule an annual or semi-annual game with NDSU, it will make meeting them in the playoffs that much more special Although, with the FargoDome being almost twice as large as the Alerus, it would, sadly, probably be in Fargo unless its a National Championship game. The NCAA would be rubbing their Ebenezer Scrooge hands over the thought of a playoff game that would be the first onfield meeting between these two teams in ## years!. Right now, the Bison have the upper hand since they have had 5 more years of D-I exposure, so they want to hold on to that advantage as long as they can. As soon as the Sioux beat them, if there is any perceived advantage of NDSU over UND (especially in recruiting), that perception will no longer be something the Bison can brag about.

The BTHC (Alvarez, I think it was, or maybe it was Delaney) has already said they are not willing to do that.

This is good news! Lets get out while we can!!!

Actually, I do miss the old WCHA - UND, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Denver, Colorado College, Minnesota Duluth and Notre Dame - from the 70s and early 80s. But times, they are a changin'. All of these teams except MTU have now moved on to new conference homes and almost half of them have already committed to the new National Conference. Who knows, maybe Notre Dame will come and maybe not. Michigan Tech will also cycle through their down time and have shown their long term committment to their hockey program. Actually, UND was not a power in this league until Gino took over the reigns in '78 and now look what has happened.

plus, Universal (NBC) was recently bought by Comcast, so Universal is no longer the parent company.

2 Questions for your discussion: Since Coach Blashill left Western Michigan for the Red WIngs, will WMU still be considered for a slot in the NCHC? If Notre Dame is looking for a 7 team league, would admissions to the league stop at 7 if the Irish joined?

So, why is Western Michigan no longer part of the new conference plan? Their choice or the new conference's? If their committment is all that the powerpoint says it is, they have the vision the new conference should be looking for. It will also be a better footprint, not leaving Miami out on an island all by themselves. Come on, Western & Notre Dame make it 8!

Today's PC crowd will give UND some non-offensive weather phenomena type name, like Blizzard, Flood, Northern Lights, or some inanimate thing, like Flame or Spirit. Seems like they are the ones with the power in this 'controversy'.

This is exactly what the problem with "politically correct" is. It is the imposition of the desires of the few on the rights of the rest of the world. 20 people may not be a lot, but that is more than the Standing Rock Tribal Council, and not all of them are against the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

was thinking the same thing... The WCHA with 12 teams was too big. no full round robin home-and-homes. (kinda like the new Big Sky might be until the 14th team joins)

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free!

Gov/Sec'y Schafer did a very nice job of presenting expectations of what the NCAA will do on the 25th:

Sorry, Jedi. I was not questioning your comment, the intent was agreement and emphasis.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ !!!!!!!

+1 +1

not a legal eagle, but a very interested observer... this response is in the spirit of star's premise in starting this thread. (sorry, when I proofread this it is longer than I expected, but I sometimes tend to get wordy) The Fighting Sioux bill presented by Mr Carlson and passed by the legislature was the first round in Carlson's attempt to disband the ND State Board of Higher Education. Carlson led the Fighting Sioux bill as an attempt to put the SBoHE on their heels and force them into a corner with this highly emotional issue in anticipation of his later bill to eliminate the SBoHE. If the Board has fought against this bill and put the active Sioux name supporters against the Board, Carlson's bill to disband the Board would have had more support from the people of the state who would have been screaming for the heads of the board members for fighting against the treasured Sioux name. I would have been one of them. Fast forward a month, and the bill to shut down the State Board of Higher Education fails. The board retains the support of the people of ND, at least partly, because they did not take a stand against the retention of the Fighting Sioux name. The ploy blew up in Carlson's face and control of higher education in ND remains out of the legislature's hands. Now, here we are in June of the following year: the Big Sky Conference has, for whatever reason you want to assign to it, thrown the last straw onto the back of the camel. For many of us, it is a dealbreaker and makes the fight to keep the Fighting Sioux name too expensive. For some, the fat lady has not yet sung but even those supporters hear the orchestra warming up behind the curtain. Carlson will make a politician's last gasp effort to make the NCAA see the light and allow UND to keep the name. In the meantime, he is not going to go down alone and has implicated Dr Kelly as the Wizard of OZ behind the curtain pulling the ropes that are making everything go his way. Not sure if I do or do not believe that Kelly is complicit in the stuff going on behind the scenes, but truly feel that Carlson was trying to use this issue as a way to injure the SBoHE before actually trying to take them down a month later. What happens if the SBoHE and UND don't follow the law? Probably nothing, since there is no penalty spelled out, and it has been revealed to be a law that is detrimental to UND and the state of North Dakota, however the SBoHE is a state agency and as such will follow the law as long as it is in effect. The recourse the state has is either to repeal the law during the special session, or for the nickname supporters, to put the name up for a statewide referendum and use the vote of the people as an argument with the NCAA. If the vote of Sioux County could be represented as a vote of the members of the Standing Rock (I have total confidence that the precincts of Benson County that are part of the Spirit Lake reservation would ratify their previous vote), maybe the NCAA would allow the Fighting Sioux to be removed from the hostile and abusive list. At this point in time, since the three years have passed, the NCAA does not even have to listen to a vote, but merely stand on their previous agreement with UND. I know the nickname supporters will go to the last bell in support of the name, but at this point, there is no incentive for the NCAA to change their position, and to even allow UND an extra few months to get the bill repealed in November's special session without putting UND on the hostile and abusive list in the meantime is a compromise on the NCAA's part. They hold all the cards, and they do indeed hold the signed agreement as the trump card.

The Nokota is a mighty fine lookin' horse...