Centenary Leaving the League!!!

[Hammersmith]

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:
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."

USD and Centenary will never be in the conference at the same time. Centenary's last year is 2010-11 and USD's first year will be 2011-12. This doesn't take into account USD swimming & diving or that USD won't be eligible for most championships and tournaments until 2012-13, but that's just quibbling.


Also, the NDSU/SDSU roadtrip is "grueling"? How so? I would say it's one of the easier ones.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

the NDSU/SDSU roadtrip is "grueling"? How so? I would say it's one of the easier ones.

Well, it's easy if you're the bus driver.... Pretty hard on the players, though.

"Toughest Road Trip in the Summit" came up on one of TV's chats a few weeks ago. I'd say the toughest is having to play SDSU and NDSU in the same weekend in most sports.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Well, it's easy if you're the bus driver.... Pretty hard on the players, though.

"Toughest Road Trip in the Summit" came up on one of TV's chats a few weeks ago. I'd say the toughest is having to play SDSU and NDSU in the same weekend in most sports.

But it's only about 2.5 hours by bus. The roads are in good shape, too. Now, if it's blizzarding or something, then I could see it being rough, but not on a day with decent weather. Oak/IPFW is over 3 hours, IUPUI/WIU is over 4 hours, ORU/Cent is over 6 hours. There are no two travel partners in the Summit that are closer together than NDSU & SDSU(for now, at least). Even the bus ride from Vegas to SUU is only a couple minutes shorter than the ride between NDSU & SDSU. And since you basically fly right into or out of NDSU's campus when you use Hector, I'm going to have to say you've been smoking a bit too much of the 420.

Now, I'm assuming that a team flies into Fargo or Sioux Falls, buses between the schools, and the flies out from the other city. If you're suggesting busing from, say, ORU to SDSU to NDSU to ORU, then I could see where you're coming from. But do any of the Summit basketball teams actually do that? I guess a few of the non-revenue teams might, but is it really a significant number? I don't know, which is why I'm asking.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I'm going to have to say you've been smoking a bit too much of the 420.

Notice I said playing SDSU & NDSU in the same weekend.

I'm talking about a road trip where 2-0 is almost impossible, where 1-1 will be a good turn for a league leader, and 0-2 will be the fate of most teams--and that in most sports, not just basketball. Look at the other pairings in other sports: IPFW/Oakland, ORU/Centenary, SUU/UMKC, IUPUI/WIU-----not in soccer, not in VB, not in basketball (both women's and men's) are you looking at a combo as tough as SDSU/NDSU.

---

Assuming UND has their ducks in a row, USD & SDSU are closer than SDSU & NDSU, and NDSU & UND are a heckuva lot closer than SDSU/NDSU.

Then it's WIU/IUPUI, UMKC/ORU, IPFW/OAK, Denver/SUU (assuming Denver joins)--otherwise SUU ends up being an outlier.

---

Regarding busing/flying, I think the conference wants a maximum of one plane flight per road trip---hence (according to TV) the combination of UMKC & SUU--UMKC is pretty centrally located, so that several schools could bus to KC and then fly to Vegas. SDSU, I know, buses to KC.

[filbert]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Vandrovec article.

TV says it's "addition by subtraction" which in the long run is probably right. The Summit League will be stronger in the long run with USD and without Centenary, IMHO.

Add Denver and UND and you have a much more geographically sensible conference.

If you want Southern Utah in the conference for the long run, add Utah Valley too to make that trip more sensible--otherwise, in a couple of years, start trying to convince the Big Sky to take the T-Birds.

Also somewhere in the mix might be Oklahoma City, who announced intent to go D-I but didn't actually file the paperwork before the NCAA moratorium started. I think they'll still move up, and would give Oral Roberts a much more attractive travel partner than the other alternative now, UMKC.

The wild card is what the NCAA will do to change the criteria for D-I schools in the future. Of the remaining Summit members, I'd say UMKC is probably next closest to take a hard look at staying D-I. There have been occasional rumbles in KC about UMKC's lack of D-I success. Perhaps having four state flagship schools in the conference (granted, they're small states, but still . . .) might be enough to raise the profile of UMKC and keep them in D-I.

Magic 8 Ball says "Ask Again Later."

[Jacks-02]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

What are the chances that Southern Utah leaves in the next few years and UND gets added? Then we'd still be at 10 teams and would get rid of the two out of the way teams in Centenary and Southern Utah and would get a regional conference in the midwest.

[Alum-Ni]

Centenary announces plan to leave Summit League

http://www.argusleader.com/article/2...13/1002/SPORTS

[jackmd]

Re: Centenary announces plan to leave Summit League

http://sdsufans.com/board/showthread...215#post123215

We began discussing this yesterday. Please refer to the link above. Mods can merge the two threads when they find time.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Ok City U did express interest in going back to D-1 but have since decided against it due to cost and the fact that they wouldn't be able to compete for chamionships for so long (they've won the last two NAIA titles in hoops).

I like Utah Valley over Denver.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Here is my .02 for travel partners (assuming UND and either UVU or Denver is added in 2011)....

Ther next two years:
SDSU/NDSU - 2.5 hours apart
ORU/CC - 6 hours
UMKC/SUU - 17 hours
IUPUI/WIU - 6 hours
Oak/IPFW - 4.5 hours

20011 and beyond:
SDSU/USD - 2 hours
NDSU/UND - 1.5 hours
ORU/UMKC - 4 hours
IUPUI/IPFW - 2 hours
Oak/WIU - 7.5 hours*
SUU/UVU - 3 hours OR SUU/Denver 8.5 hours

I would make IUPUI and IPFW travel partners, given they are only two hours apart. That would mean that WIU and Oakland would have to pair up. That would be the one and only long trip btw travel partners (unless Denver was added). I would prefer a 2 hour distance and 7.5 hour distance as opposed 6 hours and 4.5 hours. Just my opinion.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

So, with Centenary leaving we can see how we become a much better (and friendlier) geographic conference.

I would vote for Utah Valley over Denver b/c of....
1.) It's a much better travel partner w/ SUU.
2.) It would give SUU an automatic, in-state rival.
3.) Even though UVU has only been a D1 independent, they have a successful basketball program, a nice new arena and seem committed.
4.) It would help Summit League stability in that it would probably keep SUU on board and I doubt UVU would always be looking for the next best opportunity like I feel Denver would.

If UVU is added that means there are suddenly four travel partners within 3 hours of each other and 5 travel partners within 4 hours of each other.

Also, how about when teams make the SDSU/USD trip they just stay in Sioux Falls the entire time and make the hour long trips to USD and SDSU on the day of the games? Either way you slice it you're going to have to spend 4 hours on a bus. And for that matter the same could be done for the NDSU/UND trip. Just stay in whichever city you flew into (and are most likely to fly out of....unless you plan on flying into GF and out of Fargo, or vice-versa).

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

My understanding is the Summit has no appetite for Utah Valley based on academic reasons and don't see that changing in the near future. I think if there is any future expansion to the West than Denver is more likely.

[OKC_Poke]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

A quick side question to this discussion.....

Do any of you think the Big Sky will ever add 3 schools to go to 12 members?

Also where is Centenary going now? Down to Division III status?

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I have no knowledge of the situation but I would guess if the Big Sky were interested in expansion they would want at least two of the teams to be from California or Wash/Oregon. That way they could do a east/west split.

I think the best guess for Centenary is DIII. It makes sense...plus, who else wants them in their conference in DI?

JackGuy - I suppose you're right about UVU or we probably would have heard rumblings by now.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I like Utah Valley over Denver.

I don't. They have similar athletic stature while Denver has a significantly better academic profile. Plus Denver isn't in the middle of nowhere if/when SUU leaves.

To hear UVU people say it, the Summit has no interest in them.