Summit League Countdown

[89rabbit]

Re: Summit League Countdown

I have two things to celebrate today THE SUMMIT LEAGUE and CANADA DAY

Happy Canada Day!  When it falls on a Sunday, do you get Monday off?







Go State!  

[bballfan54]

Re: Summit League Countdown

Yes, we get tomorrow off, so there are lots of celebrations in the park today, Fireworks tonight. But after you have seen a 4th of July Fireworks these are very er shall we say small in comparison LOL

Also today I watched on TV 68,000 people in WEMBLEY STADIUM LONDON watch a 7 hour concert , In the memory of Princess Diana, it was very good.

[jackrabit1]

Re: Summit League Countdown

Yes, we get tomorrow off, so there are lots of celebrations in the park today, Fireworks tonight. But after you have seen a 4th of July Fireworks these are very er shall we say small in comparison LOL

Also today I watched on TV 68,000 people in WEMBLEY STADIUM LONDON watch a 7 hour concert , In the memory of Princess Diana, it was very good.

Of course, fireworks don't work so well in cold weather! LOL! Just kidding, Mrs. W!

I saw a little bit of that concert on VH1, Ricky Gervais looked a little unfocused, didn't he! Or perhaps unprepared!

[NorCalJack]

Re: Summit League Countdown

Here is another article from Fargo about SDSU, NDSU, IPFW being added to the Summit League.

Summit League gains new members and direction
By JEFF LATZKE AP Sports Writer
The Associated Press - Sunday, July 01, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY

The Summit League has three new members, a new name and a new logo. More importantly, commissioner Tom Douple believes the conference has a new direction.

North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne will officially join the conference on Sunday in the biggest addition to the membership since six teams joined in 1994. And while the league will say goodbye to Valparaiso, a charter member and one of its most recognizable faces, Douple sees a promising future for the former Mid-Continent Conference.

"We have a lot of schools that now want to join us to get in the league. We have a lot of people calling on us," said Douple, who took over as commissioner in 2005. "I think the future looks very, very bright for us."

Douple envisions the renamed conference becoming "one of the more competitive and premier mid-major conferences," a niche role that's been filled at the NCAA tournament the past few years by the Missouri Valley, Horizon and Colonial leagues and personified most famously by George Mason's Final Four run last year.

But Douple understands there's plenty of work to be done for his conference to emerge from near the bottom of the pack in RPI to earn more than its one automatic bid in postseason play each year.

That's why teams in the league have been asked to sign on to The Summit Plan, aimed at improving graduation rates and academic success, home attendance and RPI - which, in turn, means an increased commitment in athletic budgets for scholarships, recruiting and staff.

The conference's Presidents Council agreed in principle to the plan last week. The next step is for athletics directors and college presidents to submit improvement ideas for their individual schools.

"Some of our schools are doing a fantastic job in maybe one of any of those areas, and others are doing good here but maybe not in this particular area. ... They're taking internal looks, and the commitment's there," Douple said. "We've increased the scholarships in our core sports. I think it's a statement from the presidents that we are going to improve."

Douple said he wants to see the Elmhurst, Ill.-based league get into the top half of the NCAA's 31 conferences in home attendance and RPI in the next five years.

"What we've done is solidified our membership, we changed our name and our logo, and we've also changed the commitment level," Douple said. "That's part of The Summit Plan. It's given us a new image and perception, but also it's given us a plan of commitment from the presidents. It's very exciting."

The conference was left with only seven committed teams last year after Chicago State became an independent and Valparaiso announced plans to join the Horizon League. Conferences must have eight teams to earn automatic NCAA tournament bids.

Western Illinois is the only remaining member from the league's formation as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982. Other members are Centenary, Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis, Missouri-Kansas City, Oakland (Mich.), Southern Utah and Oral Roberts, which last season won nine conference titles, including those in men's and women's basketball and baseball.

"What we were looking for are good fits into our current membership, schools and communities that are committed to improving their athletic programs and their academic profiles," Douple said. "We feel with the addition of those schools, it gets us to 10 right now and quite frankly we're as strong as we've ever been."

The Summit League announced this week that it would move its premier events, its men's and women's basketball tournaments, to Sioux Falls, S.D., in 2009 and 2010. Tulsa, the home of Oral Roberts, has hosted the tournaments the past three years and will also have the 2008 events.

Read More ...

You can read the entire article here

Go State!!! 8-) 8-) 8-)

[bballfan54]

Re: Summit League Countdown

[quote author=bballfan54 link=1179001889/75#76 date=1183329884]Yes, we get tomorrow off, so there are lots of celebrations in the park today, Fireworks tonight. But after you have seen a 4th of July Fireworks these are very er shall we say small in comparison LOL

Also today I watched on TV 68,000 people in WEMBLEY STADIUM LONDON watch a 7 hour concert , In the memory of Princess Diana, it was very good.

Of course, fireworks don't work so well in cold weather! LOL! Just kidding, Mrs. W!

I saw a little bit of that concert on VH1, Ricky Gervais looked a little unfocused, didn't he! Or perhaps unprepared![/quote]
I think they had him on a little too long they were waiting for Sir Elton John to end the concert....

By the way it was 90 degrees F today

[Haldersham]

Re: Summit League Countdown

Since the count down to joining the Summit is completed, perhaps we could start a count up that is the number of days of membership in Summit league. I believe today will be the second day in the league.

[89rabbit]

Re: Summit League Countdown

http://www.thesummitleague.org/ViewA...ATCLID=1060909

IPFW, NDSU and SDSU Join The Summit League

ELMHURST, Ill. - Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), North Dakota State University (NDSU) and South Dakota State University (SDSU) officially became members of The Summit League today. The three schools will begin competition in the league during the 2007-08 school year. IPFW will be eligible for post-season championships immediately, while NDSU and SDSU will be eligible in 2008-09.

IPFW is the largest, most comprehensive university in northeast Indiana, offering more than 190 programs. After many years of offering courses at separate locations in Fort Wayne, Indiana University and Purdue University opened the combined campus of IPFW in 1964. . . .

Established in 1890 as the North Dakota Agricultural College, North Dakota State is located on the eastern border in Fargo, North Dakota’s largest city. The university strives to be a leader in information systems, technology, economic development and lifelong learning, and encompasses a broad spectrum of curricular offerings, scholarly activity and service. . . .

An act of the territorial legislature created Dakota Agricultural College in 1881. South Dakota’s only land-grant college has gone through many name changes in its 126-year history, finally becoming South Dakota State University in 1965. Located in Brookings, SDSU has an enrollment of more than 10,000 students, making it the largest university in the state.


During the 2005-06 academic year, more than 50 SDSU student-athletes earned academic recognition at the conference or independent level, including 10 who were selected to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams and one who was named to an Academic All-America squad. It also marked the seventh consecutive year that a Jackrabbit student-athlete had been awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship.


South Dakota State offers programs in baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s equestrian, football, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, women’s volleyball and wrestling. Of those sports, equestrian, football and wrestling are currently not sponsored by The Summit League. . . . (read more)


Go State!

[89rabbit]

Re: Summit League Countdown

Here are a couple of stories from IPFW's neck of the woods

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/p...0305/707010369

‘They're ready': IPFW at Summit
School officially joins D-I league today

Published: July 1, 2007 6:00 a.m.

By Steve WardenThe Journal Gazette

July 4, of course, is Independence Day; a national holiday and not to be mistaken with the alien invasion movie of the same name.

But today is another independence day, of sorts, at least locally. And forgive any fireworks that might be set off a few days early.

IPFW, founded in 1964 and which moved from NCAA Division II athletic status to Division I in 2001, will no longer be an athletic independent and today, officially, becomes one of 10[ch8194]members of the Summit League, formerly known as the Mid-Continent Conference.

The Mastodons enter with two other conference first-timers in North Dakota State and South Dakota State. The three new institutions join Centenary, IUPUI, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), Oakland, Oral Roberts, Southern Utah and Western Illinois to form the new league, which is headquartered in Elmhurst, Ill.

Except for the men’s volleyball program, which competes in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, all IPFW varsity athletic teams will begin their conference competition this coming year. And the school isn’t entering as a wallflower. IPFW will play host to the Summit League women’s volleyball tournament Nov. 16 and 17, as well as the men’s and women’s tennis tournaments April 25-26, 2008. . . . (read more)


and

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/p...0305/707010379

Q&A with Summit League commissioner Tom Douple

Q. What do you anticipate to be IPFW’s biggest transition as it enters the Summit League?

A. Any time a school comes into a conference you’re going to have to get used to the conference schedule. In this case, because we’re spread out a little bit, it’s taxing the teams that are in our conference, who have been used to the travel and the schedule. But for the new teams, that will be a major adjustment.

Q. Other than NCAA regulations, are there any special rules within the league that IPFW must adhere to?

A. We don’t have any standard other than adhering to the NCAA standards. What we want to do is take a step up and be above just average in our APR scores as a conference. That’s dedication upon each school to make sure they have the academic support in place to make sure their student athletes can be successful. … That requires each school to look at their own plans they have in place. Obviously graduation rates are very important, and that’s an area that is an emphasis, also.

Q. What does the future look like for the league?

A. We want to increase attendance in all of our conference sports, but we want to concentrate on men’s and women’s basketball attendance and see where we’re at now – out of the 31 conferences – and where we want to be in the next five years. So we set some goals. That’s part of the plan, is to create some marketing.

Q. What kind of marketing?

A. We’re going to start doing the game of the week, trying to create some excitement and enthusiasm to help market our games to increase attendance. Another area that each institution will be looking at is staffing, to make sure we’re staffed adequately. I’m sure we’ll want to start in men’s and women’s basketball. That’s our highest priority. …

The other goal is to increasing our competitiveness in the RPI and set a goal of where we want to be in the next five years and make a commitment to get there. . . . (read more)


Go State!

[valleyrabbit]

Re: Summit League Countdown

Interesting acticle. I think Douple is a gift from God for this conference. I really like the direction he is leading the league. It sounds like he is pro-expansion.