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Saturday halftime interview...

P

PBP

Active member
My Saturday halftime interview LIVE from Weber will be with Lea (Lee) Williams of the Big Sky Conference.

I'll be asking him things like what next year's basketball schedules will be like (how many games; balanced or unbalanced schedules?), with UND leaving and only 11 teams what will the travel partner situation be like (lone wolf again?), why Boise for the post season tournament? How referees are assigned and how are the conference schedules made in the first place and who does it.

Game tips at 2:05 from Ogden on FM 91.1 and I'd think halftime will start around 2:35 or so if anyone is interested in hearing what Lea has to say.

PBP
 
Lea had some interesting things to say about next year's conference schedule during my interview with him.

Said basketball will remain at 18 conference games (unbalanced) next year but it will be moving to a 20 game format in the near future. Couldn't immediately shift to that for next year because schedules were already set.

Also was a little vague on the idea of travel partners for next year (with only 11 teams) basically saying the issue would be looked at and hinted that it would not just be a single "lone wolf" team (like was done in the past) but a combination of teams.I don't know how they could do that but that's the impression I got from him.

Should be an interesting schedule next year when it comes out.

PBP
 
I know Fullerton never liked or pushed the idea of associate members. Is Williams more receptive about the idea of associate members, or willing to push the presidents for it? It just seems like an even number for basketball is perfect, but finding the right member is another. UVU? Seattle? I wouldn't want to see the WAC hurt either though. The stronger the western conferences are, the better for everyone.
 
PBP said:
Said basketball will remain at 18 conference games (unbalanced) next year but it will be moving to a 20 game format in the near future. Couldn't immediately shift to that for next year because schedules were already set.
Click to expand...

I wish they would stay at 18. Having only 9 non-conference games sucks.

Spudhead said:
I know Fullerton never liked or pushed the idea of associate members. Is Williams more receptive about the idea of associate members, or willing to push the presidents for it? It just seems like an even number for basketball is perfect, but finding the right member is another. UVU? Seattle? I wouldn't want to see the WAC hurt either though. The stronger the western conferences are, the better for everyone.
Click to expand...

I've been pushing UVU from time to time for years. They're in a big metro area and have a nice, big basketball arena. Having an even number of conference teams also makes things so much easier. Seattle U is a private Catholic school, however, so they wouldn't really fit the Big Sky.
 
Spudhead said:
I know Fullerton never liked or pushed the idea of associate members. Is Williams more receptive about the idea of associate members, or willing to push the presidents for it? It just seems like an even number for basketball is perfect, but finding the right member is another. UVU? Seattle? I wouldn't want to see the WAC hurt either though. The stronger the western conferences are, the better for everyone.
Click to expand...

There are associate members right now in the conference for football and I know of at least one A.D. who thinks that issue needs to be revisited because of the size of the conference and the fact that with an unbalanced schedule you don't really have a "true" champion in any sport.

Utah Valley from a facilities and from a geographical standpoint would be a great fit. They have been brought up in the past but the Big Sky has always turned them down because of their academic standards, the Montana schools in particular in the past, have been dead set against them. Supposedly UVU had been stashing away a million dollars a year for a decade and told the Big Sky "if you take us, we'll immediately start a football program..."

Anything is possible but I don't see Utah Valley ever getting in unless something were to cause some current "all sports" schools to leave.

And Utah Valley isn't the only school that had shown interest. I've read where a few years ago Alaska Fairbanks told the Big Sky they'd like to join as well. Opened a brand new basketball arena a few years ago. From a travel / weather fit that would be a big risk in my opinion...as big a risk as North Dakota who is now leaving.

PBP
 
PBP said:
There are associate members right now in the conference for football and I know of at least one A.D. who thinks that issue needs to be revisited because of the size of the conference and the fact that with an unbalanced schedule you don't really have a "true" champion in any sport.
PBP
Click to expand...

Men's golf also has 2 associate members -- Binghamton and Hartford.
 
PBP said:
There are associate members right now in the conference for football and I know of at least one A.D. who thinks that issue needs to be revisited because of the size of the conference and the fact that with an unbalanced schedule you don't really have a "true" champion in any sport.
Click to expand...

I really hope an AD wouldn't go to the mat over the unbalanced schedule thing. Most conferences nowadays play unbalanced schedules (especially in basketball), and the competitive advantage/disadvantage is pretty minor & evens out over the long term. The Big Sky is also a multi-bid conference in football, so who actually gets the auto-bid to the playoffs isn't usually that important since a good-enough team is gonna get in anyway.

The idea of kicking out teams to shrink the conference in football seems short sighted, too. Everyone is just gonna schedule the kicked-out teams out-of-conference anyway, so the Big Sky will end up incredibly incestuous. That's the way things were in the latter half of the 2000s—the Big Sky had almost no FCS non-conference games against conferences beyond the Great West.


And Utah Valley isn't the only school that had shown interest. I've read where a few years ago Alaska Fairbanks told the Big Sky they'd like to join as well. Opened a brand new basketball arena a few years ago. From a travel / weather fit that would be a big risk in my opinion...as big a risk as North Dakota who is now leaving.

PBP
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sure the budget-makers would loooooove that. :roll:
 
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