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UND Leaving BSC/D1?

siouxfan512 said:
There it is folks. UND to the Summit in 2018.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4204979-sources-und-set-leave-big-sky-conference
Click to expand...

In my humble opinion this is the best move UND could make. Their travel costs had to be killing them, plus now they will have natural rivals built in oh and travel partners. UND has been a good school in the Big Sky, competitive in football and basketball and I wish them nothing but the best in their new Conferences.
 
ajwildcat said:
siouxfan512 said:
There it is folks. UND to the Summit in 2018.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4204979-sources-und-set-leave-big-sky-conference
Click to expand...

In my humble opinion this is the best move UND could make. Their travel costs had to be killing them, plus now they will have natural rivals built in oh and travel partners. UND has been a good school in the Big Sky, competitive in football and basketball and I wish them nothing but the best in their new Conferences.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it has been fun to watch Big Sky competition, but this seems to make sense. Especially logistically. Maybe we can seem some non conference games in the future for football and/or basketball.
 
siouxfan512 said:
There it is folks. UND to the Summit in 2018.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4204979-sources-und-set-leave-big-sky-conference
Click to expand...
UND is a good institution with a solid athletics department but geographically its been a mismatch from the beginning. UND will save money being in the Summit/Missouri Valley and both are superior conferences to the Big Sky (can Weber join them? :lol:). Good for them.
 
I thought UND was headed to the WAC as part of a move of going FBS. LOL

Regardless, this is a great move for UND. I wish them luck and will always cheer for them as long as they aren't playing Weber. I will miss the basketball battles that are starting to develop between the two schools, but this is the best move for the Fighting Sioux!

So...with UND leaving, will the conference return to a format where each team plays each other twice during league play? I don't see why it shouldn't return back to that format. That is a far better arrangement. No arguments over who is the conference champ. Everyone plays everyone home and away. Also, with UND leaving there goes one of the arguments for having the post-season tournament. No longer will we have to hear about how ISU had to bus their women's team to Grand Forks, and one of the conference's favorite reasons behind "needing" a post-season tournament. Does the conference try to get another team to replace UND? Personally, I hope not. The Sky is too big now.

UND leaving does hurt the Sky. Other than distance and climate, UND is a good member. It is a solid academic institution, has real facilities, and is competitive. Most importantly, they act like a Division I program, something we struggle to do all the time. Mostly, they are another team that gives the Sky legitimacy. I've enjoyed the football games we played against the Sioux. The three games have all been close and competitive. And, there is a brewing basketball rivalry. I will be somewhat sad to see them go. Double edge sword for sure.
 
Be kinda sad to see them go. I have really enjoyed the games we have played with them both football and Basketball, but it is the logical choice for them to make.

Now as far as will the Big Sky ask anyone to join, if they will it will most likely be a team from the starting to collapse WAC conference, certain teams are having money problems in the WAC and may be dropping thier programs or lowering a level which will cause the WAC to lose it's automatic berth to the NCAA's. Which will then cause the other teams from the WAC to want to bolt for stability. Is UVU in the Big Sky a possibility in the near future?

All i'm gonna say is I'd hate to be New Mexico State, they really have nowhere to go if the WAC folds.
 
IMO, we should go back to a full HnH conference schedule. 20 conf.games is a good round number.

Also, I wouldn't bring another school in unless they already have D1 facilities and better fit the geographic footprint of the BSC. We don't need to add any more Jr high gyms to the BSC.

I don't have an opinion on UNC. They do need to upgrade facilities, but they fit in a lot of other categories. Beginning in 2018, they will be without a travel partner. Scheduling could become interesting. :coffee:
 
oldrunner said:
IMO, we should go back to a full HnH conference schedule. 20 conf.games is a good round number.

Also, I wouldn't bring another school in unless they already have D1 facilities and better fit the geographic footprint of the BSC. We don't need to add any more Jr high gyms to the BSC.

I don't have an opinion on UNC. They do need to upgrade facilities, but they fit in a lot of other categories. Beginning in 2018, they will be without a travel partner. Scheduling could become interesting. :coffee:
Click to expand...


They will be the new Sacramento State "lone wolf team"


As far as bringing in teams the best fits are Denver, Grand Canyon and UVU. All three have decent basketball teams lately and all three have 7000+ seat arenas. Plus Denver would be an IDEAL travel partner for UNC, though I don't see them leaving the Summit despite me thinking they are a better fit for the BIg Sky conference.

UVU is already probably banging on the door to the Big Sky, especially with the possible instability of the WAC, besides the Big Sky is a conference they have always wanted to be in and has the best chance of the three of a possible football team.
 
IMO, if the BSC was to seek a replacement, they would look for a school with an active football program. They might consider a non football school, but that is the least likely. Dixie might be a better fit than UVU. I'm not sure how long it would take UVU to put together a football program. New Mexico State would fit in every way except location. They would have the same problems as UND for travel. Maybe UC Davis or another Cali school.
 
Too bad. I know it was a pain to travel up there, but they were competitive in both football and basketball. I can't blame them for wanting to be in a conference with the other Dakota schools, and I hope we can still play them.

A 20 game conference schedule would be good. I really dislike that some years we play teams only once and on the road.

Will we go to divisions in football? I don't know. My guess is that we will continue to have years where we don't play some teams.
 
http://www.inforum.com/sports/4205195-ndsu-ad-summit-league-wants-even-number-teams

Interesting read about the benefits of having an even number of teams for scheduling in basketball. According to this article this is the main reason the Summit is adding UND. My initial thoughts were that the conference wouldn't need to add a 12th team, that 11 teams is still too many. But now looking at it from a scheduling perspective, I can see the conference attempting to add another school. Problem is, there are no schools out there with a football program that fits well or would want to join. So, more than likely if a school is added it will be a non-football playing school, most likely from the WAC. I would think Grand Canyon and UVU would top the list. But I'm not so sure that Grand Canyon would be interested, to be honest. A big problem that the conference will have, imo, is that it's men's basketball status is so bad right now that schools with basketball as their focus, i.e. Grand Canyon, won't see the Big Sky as a great option.
 
SWeberCat02 said:
http://www.inforum.com/sports/4205195-ndsu-ad-summit-league-wants-even-number-teams

Interesting read about the benefits of having an even number of teams for scheduling in basketball. According to this article this is the main reason the Summit is adding UND. My initial thoughts were that the conference wouldn't need to add a 12th team, that 11 teams is still too many. But now looking at it from a scheduling perspective, I can see the conference attempting to add another school. Problem is, there are no schools out there with a football program that fits well or would want to join. So, more than likely if a school is added it will be a non-football playing school, most likely from the WAC. I would think Grand Canyon and UVU would top the list. But I'm not so sure that Grand Canyon would be interested, to be honest. A big problem that the conference will have, imo, is that it's men's basketball status is so bad right now that schools with basketball as their focus, i.e. Grand Canyon, won't see the Big Sky as a great option.
Click to expand...

They will if the WAC implodes, which is likely.

But I don't think the Big Sky needs to rush to find a new member. It will just be like when Sac was the lone wolf team, everyone else in this conference will have a travel partner. Plus with UND leaving it opens up a best chance to return to a complete home and home conference slate with 20 conference games each. The only downside is there may be a few weeks when teams only play one game a week and we may need to shorten the preseason. But what would you rather have, a complete H&H conf schedule or more pre conf games?

so something like this.


Weber / ISU
@ UM / @ MSU
@ MSU / @ UM

EWU / UI
UI / EWU

@ UNC / open
open / @ UNC

ISU / @ WSU
open / open

@ NAU / @ SUU
@ SUU / @ NAU

PSU / SAC
SAC / PSU

MSU / UM
UM / MSU

@ UI / @ EWU
@ EWU / @ UI

open / UNC
UNC / open

open / open
@ ISU / WSU

SUU / NAU
NAU / SUU

@ SAC / @ PSU
@ PSU / @ SAC
 
talhadfoursteals said:
I tried to tell our resident UND Troll last year that UND was headed for a major budget shortfall. They had put too much emphasis on oil money that was drying up. Who cares if someone builds you a stadium, guess who gets stuck with the maintenance fees? He kept claiming that UND was part of this "group" that was moving the Sky towards FBS and that UND was naturally going to be leading the charge. Two years ago one could see the writing on the wall. UND wouldn't be able to keep up with the astounding costs. Being in a local conference would be the best bet for UND. Missouri Valley isn't an option and I don't know if the Summit will allow them to join. But those are better options and closer, than the Big Sky. If UND left, it would save them money and it would save the Big Sky money. Win win in my opinion. But I doubt we see that happen. UND will have to figure things out. It would be a shame for them to lose another DI program.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure I know who you are talking about, and its kind of a running joke on the und forum. Big theory about the BSC turning into a revived WAC.

Good move for UND, and makes sense for the BSC too. Hopefully we see some non conference matchups.
 
sacstateman said:
I wonder why the UND forum has no posts about this move??
Click to expand...
No chatter on the UNC forum either.

UI will be added in football, but UNC does need a travel partner for BB.

If a FB playing school is added, that gives us 14, we should split into divisions.
 
talhadfoursteals said:
New Mexico State...that is the only school I would want.
Click to expand...
We end up with another travel problem with them. I've been there, it isn't close to anything and it certainly isn't anybody's garden spot. If you added them, would UNC be their travel partner for BB?
I would think that NMS has the same issues for the BSC as UND. On the other hand, if you add a Cali school, they become a travel partner with Sac, PSU partners with EWU, UI partners with UM, MSU partners with UNC, and everything else stays the same.
 
It's a win - win for UND & the BIG SKY. The logistics were bad from the get go on North Dakota (and remember Fullerton's plan was for South Dakota to join at the time as well). This isn't hard to understand.

Oldrunner makes a valid point, why not look to UC Davis or Cal Poly to become full time members by joining their basketball programs up with the BSC. Would leaving the Big West for the Big Sky be so bad?

New Mexico State should strive to become invited to the Mountain West. New Mexico should push for that! That would even up the MW to an even 12 members. A better fit for them.

The Big Sky should not rush into adding a new member, especially if it would be a non-football playing member. UVU? - their President has said that the expense of adding a football program isn't agreeable to him and he seems to have support on that. There has been little push in that direction presently, nor even to get into the Big Sky.

Not sure where the info on the WAC imploding is coming from, but if it's fact then a "merger" of sorts some years ahead may be happening with some Big Sky members. Looking ahead a ways, changes are likely but for now it's totally a guessing game. :twocents:
 
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