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DI or DII Poll


bincitysioux

DI or DII  

76 members have voted

  1. 1. Should we stay or should we go?

    • UND should go DI with I-AA football
      43
    • UND should stay in DII
      33


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UND is as good or better than NDSU in every conceivable area than NDSU except for athletics. Not too long ago we were the premier athletic program in the state, but with their D-1 move they've surpassed us in many peoples eyes. For me this is unacceptable as I'm sure it is for many Sioux fans. I for one don't want to go back to the years when they beat us 12 straight years in football. That was bad for the entire athletic program and it was bad for the university. If we stay where we are I guess we are the big fish in a small pond, sadly though it will be a pond that the majority of sports fans in this state don't care about. UMary and the DAC-10 schools don't belong on the same playing fields as us and neither do the Mesa States, Winona States, and UMC- Crookston's of the world. UND athletics and athletes deserve the chance to shine on a bigger stage.

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Although it is most likely DII will continue to be watered down I think it's better to be getting national recognition by playing on ESPN in that National Championship game. By having strong football teams in DII and with hockey's rich tradtion, when people think of UND they will think of a winning institution.

I agree that I love seeing the football team or the women's basketball team on ESPN when they make it to the championship game. That's awesome. But I don't know how much more national recogintion that provides UND than would regularily playing against DI programs, i.e. Monanta, Montana St. I'm just a casual college basketball fan, and I know that the Sioux women are ranked #2 in the country, but I couldn't tell you one other program in the country that is in the poll. I couldn't tell you one other program that has ever won a DII womens basketball championship other than UND or NDSU. Off the top of my head, I could probably tell you 5 of the top 10 DI men's basketball teams. I can only name one DII program in the entire DII top 25. And when march madness comes around, I can nearly guarantee that I'll have seen on local TV/news or read in the local paper about at least 60-70% of the DI field. But in the DII tourney, if there are no teams from the NCC, NSIC, or someone we played in football or hockey, I won't recognize them. I couldn't even tell you one DII men's basketball national champion, other than Metro State, and that is because they won it at the Ralph last year. I think if we were DI, and played 2 or 3 regular season games every year on a combination of a Fox Sports Regional channel, or on CSTV, or one of the 9 ESPN networks, our basketball and football programs would garner just as much if not more national attention than they do now playing on ESPN once every 4 or 5 years.

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I agree that I love seeing the football team or the women's basketball team on ESPN when they make it to the championship game. That's awesome. But I don't know how much more national recogintion that provides UND than would regularily playing against DI programs, i.e. Monanta, Montana St. I'm just a casual college basketball fan, and I know that the Sioux women are ranked #2 in the country, but I couldn't tell you one other program in the country that is in the poll. I couldn't tell you one other program that has ever won a DII womens basketball championship other than UND or NDSU. Off the top of my head, I could probably tell you 5 of the top 10 DI men's basketball teams. I can only name one DII program in the entire DII top 25. And when march madness comes around, I can nearly guarantee that I'll have seen on local TV/news or read in the local paper about at least 60-70% of the DI field. But in the DII tourney, if there are no teams from the NCC, NSIC, or someone we played in football or hockey, I won't recognize them. I couldn't even tell you one DII men's basketball national champion, other than Metro State, and that is because they won it at the Ralph last year. I think if we were DI, and played 2 or 3 regular season games every year on a combination of a Fox Sports Regional channel, or on CSTV, or one of the 9 ESPN networks, our basketball and football programs would garner just as much if not more national attention than they do now playing on ESPN once every 4 or 5 years.

I am at best a casual college basketball fan and probably know a similar level of teams. I probably watch more games during March Madness than the rest of the year combined. But can you name any of the teams ranked from 150 to 318 that don't belong to a big name conference, i.e. ACC, Big Ten, Pac Ten? That is where we would be in men's basketball most years. How many men's college basketball games are televised all over the country and on how many networks? Are casual basketball fans watching very many of these, even if we actually got to play even 1 game per year on anything other than Fox Sports North or the FSSN? I know that I watch very few of these games unless I have a specific team interest. How many DI women's basketball teams can you name that aren't in the top 25 or a major conference? How many people watch any of these games on TV with the possible exception of UTennessee and UConn? The only increase in exposure UND would get in most years would be from scores scrolling across the screen and most people only read those to catch their team's score. Or maybe a highlight on Sportscenter that 1 time a year we play a noteworthy team (and usually lose). The only time UND would get more exposure would be if they were in a conference with an automatic bid and won the right to get that bid so they go to the Dance. And the odds are against that happening more than a time or 2 per decade.

My opinion on going DI has been the same since the schools south of us started looking at the subject. UND needs to have a conference affiliation in place or in the works (and a plan to cover the increased costs) before making the move. If they can find a way to cover both of these challenges I would be interested. If they can't overcome both challenges then it probably isn't the right time.

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My opinion on going DI has been the same since the schools south of us started looking at the subject. UND needs to have a conference affiliation in place or in the works (and a plan to cover the increased costs) before making the move. If they can find a way to cover both of these challenges I would be interested. If they can't overcome both challenges then it probably isn't the right time.

That's pretty much where I'm at on this issue. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Until UND can come up with a way to move up a level that makes it beneficial academically, athletically and economically, then it shouldn't move.

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I think one area that is likely overlooked when it comes to funding is the segment of the alumni or "hard cores" that will likely up the ante when it comes to giving. I, for one, will certainly give more funds if we are DI versus DII. This is not based on my income or what is in my checkbook, it is based solely on believing in something. I love Sioux sports but I want to see us be on a better and more challenging playing field in the future. I am having a tougher and tougher time getting excited to play the Mankato's, Augies, and UMD's. Although I think it is great we had a share of the NCC crown this year in football, I am probably the least excited in the fact that we shared it with teams that I would never consider a contender (except for UNO). Men's hoops?? Moving up won't hurt us at all, considering how poor this program is, it's not like we will lose any more games than this year. In my opinion the only sport that will suffer will be Women's hoops. (Instead of 17-0 at his point in the season I am guessing 14-3). Don't ask me why. The entire Sioux athletic department (with the exception of Grandall and crew) have a solid nucleas to build on with this transition to DI and I think the timing is right to make the move!!!

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Hey, where is the option of "UND should go DI with I-A football"?

Your answer is in a quote of Dr. Phil Harmeson by Fargo Forum columnist Mike McFeely from fall of 2004:

"What we really need is 4,000 more seats at the Alerus Center. That would put us over the 15,000-seat mark, which is the threshold for Division I-A (for football)," Harmeson said. "If you're going to make a move, maybe you want to make a big move. Why not really move up to Division I football?"
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Here is another Thought....

I feel that When UND goes Div1 it will be a Academic Issue, has much as a Athletic one, The UND Alumni, Administration, and Community has always prided itself in being the Flagship Institution of Higher Educational Learning in the State of North Dakota.....These Alumni, and the Policitcal Influence of UND will not Lets its School fall behind anyone in the State......does that make this move, now more obvious...?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay, I know that there is more than 63 Sioux fans on this board that have an opinion about this.

Considering how often this issue has been discussed the last couple of years, I am surprised that there haven't been more people that have voted on this.

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It was put in the community forum, not that many people go thru here often I guess.

UND better not move up anytime soon. I'll have half of GVF on here taunting you guys about how GVSU has scared you out of D2. ;)??? And then I'll have to deal with the Malcontents amoung my people about how GVSU should move to D1-AA all the more, its bad enoungh as it is. :lol:

But in all seriousness, D2 needs its top level programs to stick around for the good of the division.

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