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With the announcement that the Northern Sun would take in what is left of the NCC it got me thinking who were the winners and losers in all the shake ups to college athletics from a regional stand point.
Prior to the shake up it seemed that you had SDSU, USD, and Augie (to a lesser degree), followed closely by the University of Sioux Falls, and then the rest of the schools, from a media attention and casual fan interest stand point. USF was a fast mover and was getting a disproportional amount of attention (considering their NAIA affiliation), in my opinion, but it was understandable. After all when the "Big Schools" in the area are playing teams like Barton College (D-II Men's Basketball Champions this season), then why not get excited when USF plays York College. To the causal fans that hasn't heard of either and has no idea of either’s capabilities is there really any difference? With the shake ups I think the key word is separation.
Clearly (and not surprisingly I might add) I feel that SDSU is the biggest winner so far. We have created separation between us and every other school in the state. I feel that we have established our rightful place as leader of higher education within the state of South Dakota. The causal fan is aware of the majority of our opponents and knows there is a difference between Indiana, Barton, and York. Our acceptance into the Mid-Con and Gateway make the transformation complete. With our recent run in the WNIT, we are the big school in South Dakota.
I think USD is also a winner in this process. They are behind us (as they usually are) and may never catch up. But they too have separated themselves from the pack so to speak and given time will establish themselves as the other big school in South Dakota.
Augie is a winner in my opinion also. For even though they have lost their status as piers of SDSU and USD in the public eye, they were in danger of that before the shake ups occurred. By limping along as an also ran in the NCC they were starting to become a non-factor and were the most in danger by USF's emergence. They have now moved to the Northern Sun, a league that they can compete in. The Sioux Falls media is already dubbing the NSIC with the old title they had bestowed on the NCC "One of the best conferences in D-II". Now if they can compete they are a story again and have created separation from USF
The big loser in all of this is the University of Sioux Falls. They were on the verge or had already taken away the title of Sioux Falls' school. Too many was the time that I was home visiting the folks that the Argus' lead story was about the "Big Game" between USF and Northwestern. It seemed to me that USF was (and maybe still is) setting its sights on moving up to D-II and becoming officially one of the "Big Boys". Unfortunately for the short run there is no place for them to go with a full NSIC and a defunct NCC and the bar has been raised to achieve "Big Boy" status. USF benefited the most from fuzzy lines between the classes.
Northern State which played in relative obscurity in the NSIC will now get noticed because of Augie and the NSIC’s new status as the premier D-II conference in the upper Mid-west. Thus they are a winner.
Dakota State (which I hesitate to bring up as I am not sure that they deserve to have a separate mention, but had been making some noise about moving to the G-PAC or D-II) which may have had designs on moving up to D-II or a least a better NAIA conference may also be hurt a little with not much room for movement in the current scheme of things.
Then of course you have the rest and really they remain just the rest. At least that is my take.
Bottom line I think the public and the media have a much clearer picture about the separation between the different levels of college athletics (NCAA D-I, D-II, and NAIA) and I think that is a good thing. There is a difference between SDSU and USF (please feel free to change the names of the school in this example to suit your needs . . . I/E USD and Northern State etc.), and people need to understand and appreciate that. I am not saying one if better then the others (ok we all know that I think SDSU is the best of the bunch), as each has its unique purpose and place, and each does a fine job, but there are differences that people should be aware of and I think the shake up has done a nice job of reestablishing those differences.
I offer this up as an opinion and would like to hear what others think. I have started this thread in the College Athletics section of the board knowing full well that it may end up as smack but my hope is we can have a discussion without getting too smacky. What do you guys and gals think? Please share.
Go State!
Prior to the shake up it seemed that you had SDSU, USD, and Augie (to a lesser degree), followed closely by the University of Sioux Falls, and then the rest of the schools, from a media attention and casual fan interest stand point. USF was a fast mover and was getting a disproportional amount of attention (considering their NAIA affiliation), in my opinion, but it was understandable. After all when the "Big Schools" in the area are playing teams like Barton College (D-II Men's Basketball Champions this season), then why not get excited when USF plays York College. To the causal fans that hasn't heard of either and has no idea of either’s capabilities is there really any difference? With the shake ups I think the key word is separation.
Clearly (and not surprisingly I might add) I feel that SDSU is the biggest winner so far. We have created separation between us and every other school in the state. I feel that we have established our rightful place as leader of higher education within the state of South Dakota. The causal fan is aware of the majority of our opponents and knows there is a difference between Indiana, Barton, and York. Our acceptance into the Mid-Con and Gateway make the transformation complete. With our recent run in the WNIT, we are the big school in South Dakota.
I think USD is also a winner in this process. They are behind us (as they usually are) and may never catch up. But they too have separated themselves from the pack so to speak and given time will establish themselves as the other big school in South Dakota.
Augie is a winner in my opinion also. For even though they have lost their status as piers of SDSU and USD in the public eye, they were in danger of that before the shake ups occurred. By limping along as an also ran in the NCC they were starting to become a non-factor and were the most in danger by USF's emergence. They have now moved to the Northern Sun, a league that they can compete in. The Sioux Falls media is already dubbing the NSIC with the old title they had bestowed on the NCC "One of the best conferences in D-II". Now if they can compete they are a story again and have created separation from USF
The big loser in all of this is the University of Sioux Falls. They were on the verge or had already taken away the title of Sioux Falls' school. Too many was the time that I was home visiting the folks that the Argus' lead story was about the "Big Game" between USF and Northwestern. It seemed to me that USF was (and maybe still is) setting its sights on moving up to D-II and becoming officially one of the "Big Boys". Unfortunately for the short run there is no place for them to go with a full NSIC and a defunct NCC and the bar has been raised to achieve "Big Boy" status. USF benefited the most from fuzzy lines between the classes.
Northern State which played in relative obscurity in the NSIC will now get noticed because of Augie and the NSIC’s new status as the premier D-II conference in the upper Mid-west. Thus they are a winner.
Dakota State (which I hesitate to bring up as I am not sure that they deserve to have a separate mention, but had been making some noise about moving to the G-PAC or D-II) which may have had designs on moving up to D-II or a least a better NAIA conference may also be hurt a little with not much room for movement in the current scheme of things.
Then of course you have the rest and really they remain just the rest. At least that is my take.
Bottom line I think the public and the media have a much clearer picture about the separation between the different levels of college athletics (NCAA D-I, D-II, and NAIA) and I think that is a good thing. There is a difference between SDSU and USF (please feel free to change the names of the school in this example to suit your needs . . . I/E USD and Northern State etc.), and people need to understand and appreciate that. I am not saying one if better then the others (ok we all know that I think SDSU is the best of the bunch), as each has its unique purpose and place, and each does a fine job, but there are differences that people should be aware of and I think the shake up has done a nice job of reestablishing those differences.
I offer this up as an opinion and would like to hear what others think. I have started this thread in the College Athletics section of the board knowing full well that it may end up as smack but my hope is we can have a discussion without getting too smacky. What do you guys and gals think? Please share.
Go State!
, so just let me say that the analysis of the current situation by you three are excellent. The forward progress of SDSU will continue to snowball year after year. I look for the next couple of years to be even more exciting than the past year, as to milestones and changing perspectives.
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