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Conference Realignments - Take 2


The Sicatoka

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regarding previous posters, i agree that any signal saying denver isn't interested should be taken with a grain of salt.

WSU to DU - 517 miles

WSU to FU - 724 miles

nothing says intellectual honesty like comparing the closest school to DU to the not nearly closest school to NDSU, or including a school that is allegedly leaving as evidence to support that most schools have direct service to denver. The 30 minute flight to chicago or msp and hour layover to fargo is hardly a big deal compared to the cost of a plane ticket over a short bus ride. The travel situation between fargo and mvc schools is little different in practice than denver to mvc schools. Both will require a flight in a bus-league.

490 miles fargo to cedar falls.

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regarding previous posters, i agree that any signal saying denver isn't interested should be taken with a grain of salt.

nothing says intellectual honesty like comparing the closest school to DU to the not nearly closest school to NDSU, or including a school that is allegedly leaving as evidence to support that most schools have direct service to denver. The 30 minute flight to chicago or msp and hour layover to fargo is hardly a big deal compared to the cost of a plane ticket over a short bus ride. The travel situation between fargo and mvc schools is little different in practice than denver to mvc schools. Both will require a flight in a bus-league.

490 miles fargo to cedar falls.

Not sure about the intellectual honesty bit... I was being a bit of a smart ass and I simply took the comparison you provided. The crux of our exchange is that you think connecting flights are fine and I think that they are a pain. Light'n up, I still want to have a beer with you tailgating this fall.

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regarding previous posters, i agree that any signal saying denver isn't interested should be taken with a grain of salt.

nothing says intellectual honesty like comparing the closest school to DU to the not nearly closest school to NDSU, or including a school that is allegedly leaving as evidence to support that most schools have direct service to denver. The 30 minute flight to chicago or msp and hour layover to fargo is hardly a big deal compared to the cost of a plane ticket over a short bus ride. The travel situation between fargo and mvc schools is little different in practice than denver to mvc schools. Both will require a flight in a bus-league.

490 miles fargo to cedar falls.

Yep. Averages to the 9 MVC schools excluding Creighton:

Belmont - 410mi

NDSU - 710mi

Denver - 845mi

Wonder which one has the edge?

Denver is staying in the Summit because the Summit is the only palatable conference that won't require Denver to add sports. Denver isn't running around cheering that they got a Summit invite, but it's better than the WAC and that's their only other option. I have no doubt that Denver was one of the top-three choices for the Valley, and that they got an informal phone call sounding them out to gauge their interest, but I'm convinced that Belmont was already their first choice and the gap between them and Denver has widened into a chasm after the Denver phone call. And unless there is a second news report out there that I haven't seen, Belmont never denied interest in the Valley. Belmont just said the Valley hadn't (officially) contacted them, and that they were happy with the OVC. What else would they say on the eve of their first OVC conference tourney appearance? Belmont's going to get a Valley invite within a week of Creighton giving official notice that they're leaving and Belmont is going to accept it.

As for Oakland, the only way they get into the Horizon is if Detroit* gets poached by the A-10. On paper, that seems like a real possibility considering the current A-10 footprint. But take a look at the A-10 footprint after you remove the schools that are already leaving and the ones that will probably be poached by the new Big East. If the NBE ends up taking all four of Butler, Xavier, St. Louis and Dayton, then all of a sudden the A-10 will once again live up to its moniker. It will consist of 10 members and will be entirely Atlantic based; every school will be from a state that has Atlantic coastline**. In this new A-10, Detroit would be the geographic outlier. Of course that doesn't preclude the A-10 from reaching west to take Detroit, but the conference will need to do some thinking about staying tight and east to create better long-term stability. So don't be surprised if rumors of the Summit's demise prove to be greatly exaggerated. I'm willing to put money that the only change to the Summit two years from now will be the addition of a 10th member. But I'm poor, so that bet isn't worth much. ;)

*Remember, Detroit has veto power over Oakland because they're in the same city and Detroit has had no problem using that power in the past.

**I'm counting Pennsylvania's part of the Delaware Estuary as part of the Atlantic.

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It will be interesting to see how the AD handles the Denver fans. Here is one of the bloggers thoughts. It appears that he has already talked to several people associated with the DU Athletics Department. Overall, he has some interesting information. Some that supports Hammersmith comments above about adding sports.

http://milehighmids.tumblr.com/

"If true — and the sourcing seems awfully solid — this is an utterly stunning development. When I learned yesterday that Denver was reportedly a front-runner to join the Missouri Valley Conference, I wondered if the MVC would ultimately pick DU, but it never seriously occurred to me that DU would summarily reject the MVC. That seemed, and still seems, absolutely insane."

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Creighton won't be moving until 2014.

Butler, Dayton, Xavier to join Big East next season

The Big East cleared its last hurdle Tuesday with the announcement it had reached an agreement with Notre Dame that allows the Irish to leave July 1 for the ACC. So where does the Big East and the yet-to-be named conference that will be anchored by Cincinnati and Connecticut go?

Dayton will join Butler and Xavier next season in the new Big East, which is said to be looking at corporate offices in the metropolitan area. Creighton and St. Louis come on board for 2014-15

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Creighton won't be moving until 2014.

Butler, Dayton, Xavier to join Big East next season

Now people are saying next year right away.

Omaha World-Herald

Other media sources, including the Chicago Tribune, also were reporting that Creighton's entry into the 10-team league was imminent. The Tribune reported that Creighton will join the league for the 2013-14 school year, the move becoming official by Wednesday or Thursday.
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http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2013/02/university_of_detroit_mercy_at.html

Feinstein mentions one scenario that could see "Catholic 7" school officials court Detroit Mercy if the can't get basketball powerhouse Butler to join their new conference.

"If Butler decides not to leave the Atlantic 10 — which it joined only this season — or if the presidents decide to go with Catholic schools only, the University of Detroit Mercy would come into the picture," Feinstein wrote.

You know Oakland cannot wait to see Detriot out of the Horizon. Douple would be outraged.

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someone is still mad about the no MVFC/Summit combo invite.

We'll see what happens with Detroit.

Why would I be mad about not being invited into the MVFC/Summit? I don't lose a wink of sleep over it. Sorry to get your hopes up.

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http://www.omaha.com/article/20130319/BLUEJAYS/130319254/1685

College presidents of the new Big East athletic conference are to assemble in New York City at 11 a.m. eastern time Wednesday to reveal “significant progress” in the ongoing development of a multi-sport conference....

...Creighton officials said they would announce a “special event in the history of the University and Creighton athletics” at 10 a.m. central in the D.J. Sokol Arena. The public is invited.

In case there was any doubt, Creighton is gone.
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George Mason leaving CAA for A-10.

I've said this for a while now, but this could finally be the window for Youngstown to CAA for all sports. I've heard they have been waiting for a while for this to happen and they make a lot of sense geographically.

Thoughts?

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YSU going to the CAA hypothetically opens up a spot in the MVFC, though they would be able to go back to each team playing everyone once a year without them. We know that there are always spots open in the Summit. Would the MVFC allow the Summit to pick up a team that also has football? Or does the MVFC stick with 9 to get back to even schedules? Adding a team to both the Summit and the MVFC would give the Summit teams 5 out of 10 votes in the MVFC with the other 5 being in the MVC. Would the MVC teams want to give up that decision making power?

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Would Oakland have a shot as their (Youngstown's) replacement in the Horizon League? or maybe Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne? more issues for the Summit? just asking...

I believe that Detroit would have to sign off on Oakland joining the Horizon, which they have not been willing to do in the past. Oakland has made it very clear they would like to join the Horizon. Here's an article from last year that kind of touches on all of it.

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ysu would probably be target #1 should the caa look for a football school. Furman or wofford or both could lobby hard, especially if davidson leaves the socon, though i think their lack of hoops cred would be a big problem. The caa could go after a basketball only school to replace the george mason, though i don't think that would happen. Really hard to see how this works out.

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Would Oakland have a shot as their (Youngstown's) replacement in the Horizon League? or maybe Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne? more issues for the Summit? just asking...

That would be more damaging for the SL. We all know Oakland wants out, but if FW goes before Oakland you know Oakland and maybe IUPUI will be on their heels and the SL becomes the Great West 2.0

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