The Big Sky Got Bigger

[SLCBengal]

It's official...

Big Sky Conference: Southern Utah, North Dakota Join Big Sky

The University of South Dakota figures to be the final piece in the Big Sky expansion. The Coyotes of Vermillion, S.D., also compete in the Great West Conference for football. South Dakota and North Dakota are formal Division II rivals in the North Central Conference.

Like North Dakota, South Dakota began the transition to Division I in 2007 and will be eligible for Big Sky and NCAA Championships starting with the 2012-13 season.

“We are negotiating with South Dakota,’’ Fullerton said. “They want to be part of the Big Sky Conference and we want them to be a member. They are just awaiting a final approval process. Approval processes are different at each school.’’

 

[Skippy]

Now a lot of questions to be answered: how will the divisions look, how many conference football and basketball games will each team play, how will a conference champion be chosen, what will the basketball post-season tournament look like, how will conference revenues be divided up? Etc., etc.

 

[biobengal]

Welcome to the Big Sky.

I'm still undecided about the impact (positive or negative) of this move on ISU... guess we'll see soon enough.

 

[bengalcub]

I am no expert on this matter, but a couple of random thoughts:

This really could make scheduling in basketball easier. It is tough to get teams to come to Pocatello, but having 14 teams in the BSC (12 in hoops) may open some partnerships and strategic scheduling in that regard.

If they split the divisions in football and Cal Poly, Sac State and UC Davis are all in the same conference, recruiting in the state of CA may become next to impossible for Idaho State.

I think Montana and Montana State are here to stay adding both the Dakotas was something that Montana really wanted.

I really like all of the new members. I am not smart enough to figure out what it means for Idaho State, but I am confident that ISU needs new leadership in its football program to be successful in the future of the BSC. Recruiting BSC level talent just got a whole lot tougher.

 

[biobengal]

Cub, I thought about the basketball scheduling angle as well. Bringing in SUU, UND and potentially USD for home games is much preferable to the dogs we bring in now. Twenty-two conference games would be great.... ISU fans don't get worked up until conference play begins anyway.

 

[biobengal]

I'd be curious to see how ISU's facilities stack up with the new members. I've been to SUU's basketball and football stadium, I would take em' both over the Holt in a heart beat. The others? I'll do a little research.

 

[biobengal]

Which would you prefer, a north-south or east-west configuration?
Obviously, the east-west configuration would be very difficult for ISU to navigate.

North
Eastern Washington
Northern Colorado
Portland State
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota
South Dakota

South
Idaho State
Weber State
UC-Davis
Cal Poly
Southern Utah
Northern Arizona
Sac State


East
Montana
Montana State
Idaho State
North Dakota
South Dakota
Northern Colorado
Weber State

West
Portland State
Eastern Washington
UC-Davis
Cal Poly
Southern Utah
Northern Arizona
Sac State

 

[Siouxfan]

I'd be curious to see how ISU's facilities stack up with the new members. I've been to SUU's basketball and football stadium, I would take em' both over the Holt in a heart beat. The others? I'll do a little research.

UND plays football in the city-owned Alerus Center, which was built in 2000. It holds about 12,000, plus another 1200 or so in suites. The Alerus can also be configured in a basketball configuration (the stands move for many different configurations for concerts) to seat 8-10,000.

The Alerus Center is part of an arena/convention center/water park/hotel/restaurant complex

Memorial Stadium is where the football team currently practices and is the track facility.

UND has been playing most of it's basketball games in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which is attached to the Ralph Engelstad Arena. The "Betty" holds around 3200 and was built in 2005 or so and is configured to be a four court practice facility.

Major BB games can be played at the Ralph, which seats 13,000 for BB and 11,700 or so for hockey. Most weekends from Oct - mid-March, either men's or women's hockey is playing.

The Engelstad Complex, which also includes an Olympic-size practice arena for hockey, is rather nice. This was opening night.