Conference Realignments - Take 2

[The Sicatoka]

7 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Well UND won't be joining a Summit League if it doesn't exist come 2018.

Interesting ... 

Does UND have a renege clause with the Summit/MVFC?
With IUPUI leaving, if UND had such a clause, pulling out right now would completely destabilize a shaky situation. 

Or is that the plan all along ... 

[bincitysioux]

Sadly, threads like this one will be a regular occurrence on this site for as long as UND is in the Summit League.  Everyone wants out of this league,  so the next new member will always be a lively topic of conversation........

[North Dakota]

Lots of panic and the sky is falling talk on here by the same folks who never wanted to leave the BSC to begin with isn't surprising. There isn't a need for mass hysteria yet IMO. I think everyone knew the Indiana schools were gone as soon as they got the opportunity. I see it as addition by subtraction. The Summit has shifted west and will be much more geographically appealing to better schools then the bus league loving eastern block. Never wanted to be associated with IUPUI or IPFW to begin with so no real loss on my part. As long as the Summit adds the right schools moving forward I think it will only get better. My first preference to replace IUPUI would be NMSU.

[jdub27]

There has been rumblings about NMSU looking at the Summit (and Big Sky) for well over a year now. They aren't exactly thrilled with who they are associated with in the WAC. They help with the baseball problem, but not the soccer problem and are out of the geographic footprint. On the other hand, they are a land and space grant school, which is a positive.

[North Dakota]

8 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

There has been rumblings about NMSU looking at the Summit (and Big Sky) for well over a year now. They aren't exactly thrilled with who they are associated with in the WAC. They help with the baseball problem, but not the soccer problem and are out of the geographic footprint. On the other hand, they are a land and space grant school, which is a positive.

The soccer thing can probably be solved with an affiliate easy enough. As far as the geographic footprint, I'd say they would be better off in the Summit (minus the Indiana schools) then they are in the WAC. The WAC is crap for schools and geography.

[Yote 53]

17 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:

Call me greedy, but I'd like a conference where a super-majority of the schools are named either:

University of < state name >
or
< state name > State University

It's natural.  Because having a collection of schools like that together means stability.

[The Sicatoka]

39 minutes ago, North Dakota said:

My first preference to replace IUPUI would be NMSU.

Better school. However, uh, Summit move, uh, travel costs? Anyone? Anyone?

[UNDBIZ]

NMSU.... interesting....

#ButtTimeZones

[The Sicatoka]

1 minute ago, Yote 53 said:

It's natural.  Because having a collection of schools like that together means stability.

You mean like the B1G (10/14 fit my template and if you give me Indiana U it's 11) or the PAC12 (9/12, it's 10 if you give me UCLA)? 

When like schools align they get stronger and stay aligned. 

In this "Big North" concept (and this really, really hurts to say), Denver would be our "Northwestern" or "Stanford": high-end pricey, solid academics, and private to make conference meetings not subject to open records. 

[North Dakota]

14 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Better school. However, uh, Summit move, uh, travel costs? Anyone? Anyone?

Their travel costs would be less in the Summit then the WAC.

[Yote 53]

The baseball and soccer problems could be solved very easily by schools like USD starting up programs.  We have a brand new soccer complex so the infrastructure is there to start a men's program.  Now, this program would be a bare bones program, but it is one that would fill the requirement.  Same can be said for baseball.  Prentis Park could use a facelift, though I would prefer USD built a new baseball park if we were to jump back into that sport.

Maybe we collaborate on this and UND restarts baseball while USD starts men's soccer.  Either way, these schools are not going to risk losing the MBB autobid.  If we have to all get together to figure out who needs to offer certain sports than that is what we have to do.  I'd rather some of the current Summit schools start up programs to fill the gaps then adding crappy schools like UMKC.

I mean, think about it, you only need 6 schools for a conference.  We could have the Dak 4, WIU, and Omaha and all still survive if we all offered a very similar set of sports.  That and we'd only split up that March Madness money 6 ways instead of 8,9,10, or 12.  I know, not practical for scheduling, I'm talking pure survival mode here.

[jdub27]

29 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

The baseball and soccer problems could be solved very easily by schools like USD starting up programs.  We have a brand new soccer complex so the infrastructure is there to start a men's program.  Now, this program would be a bare bones program, but it is one that would fill the requirement.  Same can be said for baseball.  Prentis Park could use a facelift, though I would prefer USD built a new baseball park if we were to jump back into that sport.

Maybe we collaborate on this and UND restarts baseball while USD starts men's soccer.  Either way, these schools are not going to risk losing the MBB autobid.  If we have to all get together to figure out who needs to offer certain sports than that is what we have to do.  I'd rather some of the current Summit schools start up programs to fill the gaps then adding crappy schools like UMKC.

I mean, think about it, you only need 6 schools for a conference.  We could have the Dak 4, WIU, and Omaha and all still survive if we all offered a very similar set of sports.  That and we'd only split up that March Madness money 6 ways instead of 8,9,10, or 12.  I know, not practical for scheduling, I'm talking pure survival mode here.

You actually need 7 full D-1 schools for a multi-sport conference.

I agree, the Summit will do whatever it needs to do to maintain the autobids, even though it may involve taking steps that no one wants to through invites or affiliates that aren't exactly desirable. However at this point in time, UND restarting baseball is an absolutely non-starter. They would undoubtedly have to bring back another women's sports and those two things aren't happening after they just got done revamping the budget to a place they can operate efficiently and effectively at. The only thing that would even remotely change it would be if the OCR's report came back stating that men's athletics were being under-represented to the point that another sport should be offered and I don't see that being the case.

I really hope Douple is on the phone with UNC finally asking if they would like to be affiliates for baseball. I don't know enough about soccer programs in the Midwest to know who would be a good choice for an affiliate. Convince SIU-E to change its affiliation from the MAC to the Summit? See if the Air Force Academy is interested in being the same conference as Denver rather than that WAC?

[The Sicatoka]

7 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

I really hope Douple is on the phone with UNC finally asking if they would like to be affiliates for baseball. 

Why would NoCo want to move their baseball north?
I don't seem NoCo moving out of a predominantly south baseball league unless they have to (meaning WAC folds). 

WAC baseball
Summit baseball

[jdub27]

Just now, The Sicatoka said:

Why would NoCo want to move their baseball north?
I don't seem NoCo moving out of a predominantly south baseball league unless they have to (meaning WAC folds). 

WAC baseball
Summit baseball

I'm not certain they do, but at one point they were interested (desperate?) for an affiliate home in the Summit before they ended up in the WAC. There just aren't a lot of great options.

[UNDBIZ]

Chicago State has baseball.... 

[UNDBIZ]

Obviously, the "Great North" concept would be ideal.  However, with Douple leading the charge, I fully expect the Summit to poach Chicago State and UMKC from the WAC.  Basketball tourney will rotate between Sioux Falls and Kansas City to sweeten the pot for UMKC.

[jdub27]

7 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

Chicago State has baseball.... 

I actually thought about them, but they are full-fledged members of the WAC, so doubt they would be able to pull their baseball team out of there to be an affiliate elsewhere. 

 

1 minute ago, UNDBIZ said:

Obviously, the "Great North" concept would be ideal.  However, with Douple leading the charge, I fully expect the Summit to poach Chicago State and UMKC from the WAC.  Basketball tourney will rotate between Sioux Falls and Kansas City to sweeten the pot for UMKC.

I mean, he managed to get Oral Roberts to come back, why stray from a strategy that worked last time? 

[tnt]

11 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Read back a few pages.

Douple was simply tone deaf on issues.  He gave an interview to Kolpack and he said Kelley's crew wanted the Sioux nickname to be an issue for conference affiliation.  The Herald rushed in to say that Douple was lying and Bresciani wanted his head in the next review.  He doesn't understand fake news and politics well enough to be a commissioner.

Guess I don't see anything in those articles about IPFW, WIU and Oral Roberts being panic stricken.  I see concern expressed by some, but some of that comes from the writers themselves.  You also have people like Faison saying they are confident in the league, so are those sources to the contrary?

[Yote 53]

If the choice is restarting baseball (for both USD and UND), starting a men's soccer program, or effectively losing D1 status (if you aren't in a MBB autobid conference you aren't D1, sorry) then these schools will bite the bullet and find a way to make it happen.  Don't say it is a non-starter.

[UNDvince97-01]

1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

Better school. However, uh, Summit move, uh, travel costs? Anyone? Anyone?

Both are flights, correct?

[UNDBIZ]

To think much of this concern could've been avoided if Douple hadn't ignored UND's baseball affiliate request a few years ago....

[UNDBIZ]

What was eweypooey's buyout from the Summit?

[North Dakota]

2 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

What was eweypooey's buyout from the Summit?

$1 million I think

[The Sicatoka]

8 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

To think much of this concern could've been avoided if Douple hadn't ignored UND's baseball affiliate request a few years ago....

That sums up why Douple terrifies me right now. He seems to have no vision beyond his nose. 

[North Dakota]

Not sure why some of you act as though Douple is the only one running the show. He answers to the member school presidents just as Fullerton did in the BSC. No school gets in without a vote of the presidents.