Centenary Leaving the League!!!

[JackJD]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

The success NDSU and SDSU have had has to give the Summit League a boost in attractiveness to schools who may be looking to make a conference move. In times likes these, Commish Douple and Staff earn their keep. It seems logical that Centenary has not dropped this on the Summit League office without some advance notice. Makes me wonder if maybe the League office was given a "heads up" shortly before USD was announced as the next member. I thought at the time something occurred which advanced the USD announcement by a few months...it was good press: shows the Summits League is attractive and forward-thinking.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Sorry, your math was wrong again.

Stupid split-year school years.

[rcjacks]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I found this paragraph funny from the Shreveport newspaper article that was linked in this thread. Ouch.

"Centenary's departure is likely to have little effect on the Summit, since most of the Ladies and Gents teams rarely contend for league titles. The softball team, which has won two postseason league crowns, is the only sport of the major four to win a title. Baseball, along with men's and women's basketball, have advanced to the postseason, however."

[FargoBison]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

My ranking of the possible 12 member(I think UND is going to be added to complete the Dakota core no matter what)..

1. Denver- The best option, stable school that has quality academics and is right on the edge of the league's footprint but easy to get to. Can easily be paired with a number of members.

2. UVU- Nice athletics and could be a solid partner for SUU. That said SUU wants to go the Big Sky badly and with the amount turmoil going on in that league it is bound to happen sooner or later. If SUU bolts UVU becomes the same misfit SUU was.

3. Chicago State- This school is kind of like an old friend that had some issues and needed to go off to rehab. Their previous behavior was an embarrassment to the league and there is no doubt they would need to show some very positive signs that they are now going in the right direction. It is really a shame that they have had so many problems because they are geographically perfect.

4. Houston Baptist- Private school in a big market, might make ORU happier if added, and would bring another baseball program into the fold something that would be needed with Centenary leaving and UND's program not being on the most solid ground. They would also kind of be an outlier and would not answer any of the core member issues.

5. UTPA- Complete geographical misfit, probably just use the league as a parking lot until the Southland or some other league comes calling. Does solve the core issue but this addition would go against everything the league has been doing in terms of establishing a footprint. This is an emergency only option and lets just hope Douple doesn't have to go here.

[yotefan90]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I would vote for Utah Valley to get in. It's 3 hours from SUU (45 minutes from Salt Lake City) and I think they would compete well in the Summit. They have finished above .500 for 20some years in men's hoops, have an enrollment of 20,000+, play in a nice arena, etc.

I have always wondered about this. The league has shown no interest in UVU but I am not sure why. Is it because they do not fit the other members from an academic standpoint? If that is it, then so be it. Many on the boards seem to be of the opinion that SUU would bolt at the first chance if they could get into the Big Sky. If it is a known fact that SUU wants to leave, (I don't know if that is true or not) would some of the hesitation to consider UVU come from the fact that if UVU joined and then SUU subsequently got a Big Sky invite, the Summit would still be left with the same underlying problem: Who will we find to be a travel partner for our Utah school?

[joeboo22]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Does anybody think that they will look at a school that has a baseball and softball team? I like Denver a lot but I don't believe they have either, now maybe they would consider starting one if that is what it took to get into the league, but Centenary had both a baseball and softball team.....

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I have always wondered about this. The league has shown no interest in UVU but I am not sure why. Is it because they do not fit the other members from an academic standpoint? If that is it, then so be it. Many on the boards seem to be of the opinion that SUU would bolt at the first chance if they could get into the Big Sky. If it is a known fact that SUU wants to leave, (I don't know if that is true or not) would some of the hesitation to consider UVU come from the fact that if UVU joined and then SUU subsequently got a Big Sky invite, the Summit would still be left with the same underlying problem: Who will we find to be a travel partner for our Utah school?

Nobody's come out and said why UVU hasn't been considered. My guess is that it's a combination of academics (school has no professional programs and doesn't offer doctorates) and the identified problem if SUU goes to the Big Sky.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

On baseball: If it looks iffy, the Summit should be able to add an associate school--UNC for instance. Although if SUU bolts for the Big Sky they'll probably stay on as a baseball member--since the Big Sky doesn't sponsor baseball.

[EQguy]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Considering no other schools being added, what are the travel arrangements? Seems to me the best pairings are USD and UMKC and then ORU matching up with SUU.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Considering no other schools being added, what are the travel arrangements? Seems to me the best pairings are USD and UMKC and then ORU matching up with SUU.

I don't know, but I would look at the airports in Sioux Falls, Tulsa and Kansas City and see if any have regular, direct flights into Vegas. If any of them do, that's the one I would pair with SUU. I suppose even Fargo could be on that list, since we do have cheap, direct service to Vegas almost every day of the week. I'd hate to see it, but it could work.

NDSU/SUU
SDSU/USD
ORU/UMKC
the rest...

[joeboo22]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I don't know, but I would look at the airports in Sioux Falls, Tulsa and Kansas City and see if any have regular, direct flights into Vegas. If any of them do, that's the one I would pair with SUU. I suppose even Fargo could be on that list, since we do have cheap, direct service to Vegas almost every day of the week. I'd hate to see it, but it could work.

NDSU/SUU
SDSU/USD
ORU/UMKC
the rest...

unless things have changed pretty much every mid-size airport has regular flights to Las Vegas.....

[filbert]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I don't know, but I would look at the airports in Sioux Falls, Tulsa and Kansas City and see if any have regular, direct flights into Vegas. If any of them do, that's the one I would pair with SUU. I suppose even Fargo could be on that list, since we do have cheap, direct service to Vegas almost every day of the week. I'd hate to see it, but it could work.

NDSU/SUU
SDSU/USD
ORU/UMKC
the rest...

Or, leave SUU as a single game weekend for traveling teams to Cedar City.

Or, change the 2-team travel partners to 3 3-team travel partners somehow. OU/IPFW/IUPUI; WIU/UMKC/ORU; SDSU/NDSU/SUU.

Nine-team basketball league scheduling is not fun, but it can be done.

Or, go ahead and integrate USD into the scheduling mix to maintain a 10-team league format, with NDSU/SDSU, USD/SUU, ORU/UMKC, WIU/IUPUI, and IPFW/OU being the partners. (USD gets the SUU travel partnership because of direct LAS flights from either FSD (Allegiant) or OMA (Southwest)).

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Okay, given my by now obvious difficulty adding years together--is USD joining the year after Centenary leaves, or the year after that?

Assuming that UND will be in the Summit at the same time as USD, then I don't think you pair up USD with UMKC--you take it easy on the rest of the Summit and get rid of the grueling SDSU/NDSU road trip....

Then SUU is just an outlier, or it gets paired with Denver if Denver's added..... You just end up with an odd weekend where you need to schedule a midseason non-conf game.

BTW: Here's the Denver article:
http://www.duclarion.com/2.960/denve...erence-1.45899

I found this tidbit interesting:

Conferences that Bradley-Doppes mentioned that are currently on Denver's radar are the West Coast Conference, Mountain West Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley Conference and Big Sky Conference.

Judging by the list, I'd say Bradley-Doppes might fall into the class that Jed Clampett once described as "Too poor to paint and too proud to whitewash."

[OKC_Poke]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I found this tidbit interesting:
Judging by the list, I'd say Bradley-Doppes might fall into the class that Jed Clampett once described as "Too poor to paint and too proud to whitewash."

Speaking as a fan of the Mountain West, DU will never be able to join that conference. No football program.

The WAC on the other hand...........

[Hammersmith]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Speaking as a fan of the Mountain West, DU will never be able to join that conference. No football program.

The WAC on the other hand...........

The WAC has said the same thing; they are only looking for football members.