Centenary Leaving the League!!!

[FargoBison]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I believe the UVU AD has said the Summit League has no interest in them. I really don't think SUU has a place in the Summit long term, they want out and I think most Summit schools would be glad to see them leave. They are a fine school but the league has to shrink it's footprint, Centenary was a good first step to that and SUU leaving would be last step. Of course the trick is to shrink the footprint while at the same time maintaining the league's autobid.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

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.

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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.

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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.

Okay, now I get your meaning. I can agree that, competitively, NDSU/SDSU is a tough road trip. I can't agree that that should be a basis for selecting travel partners, though. Competitiveness can change from year to year, the locations of the universities does not.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

The best case for the Summit would be if Chicago State got their house in order and we invited them back in. They would help protect both our MBB and baseball autobids, and they could easily be partnered up with several current schools due to their excellent geography and travel connections. The perfect scenario would be to lose SUU and add CSU, UND and one other Midwestern school. Now, I wouldn't touch CSU with a ten-foot pole at the moment due to the academic, athletic and political messes they're in the middle of, but the future could hold changes. The best realistic choices would be Denver and UND.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

Competitiveness can change from year to year, the locations of the universities does not.

Which is sort of where the "UND will be in roughly the same time USD is in" assumption comes in.

I think that if USD comes in before UND.....But that's just not going to happen. The nickname is a dead issue at UND as of Oct. 1, 2009, which means they could be invited to the Summit by mid next year.

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I wouldn't touch CSU with a ten-foot pole at the moment due to the academic, athletic and political messes they're in the middle of, but the future could hold changes.

They're also hemorrhaging enrollment.... down 33% since 1994 with a 16% six year graduation rate as of 2007..........

I'm going to guess that Illinois' university oversight board isn't as powerful as the ones in the Dakotas.

[joeboo22]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

UVU has a new arena? I thought they played in the McKay events center..... it was built in 96.... and from the webcast of there Dleague games there it isn't anything fancy.....

I like UVU, I just think if the league was serious about adding them they would of took them over USD, because they would of matched up well with SUU, and would of counted right now....

[rcjacks]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

The best case for the Summit would be if Chicago State got their house in order and we invited them back in. They would help protect both our MBB and baseball autobids, and they could easily be partnered up with several current schools due to their excellent geography and travel connections. The perfect scenario would be to lose SUU and add CSU, UND and one other Midwestern school. Now, I wouldn't touch CSU with a ten-foot pole at the moment due to the academic, athletic and political messes they're in the middle of, but the future could hold changes. The best realistic choices would be Denver and UND.

We do not want to add Chicago State. They already left the conference, and that was a blessing.

[Rabbit74]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

I spent a great deal of time with a Chicago State administrator this past week. They have gone through 4 president's/interim presidents in the past year. This person thought that they wanted to rejoin the conference but did not have any real insights into that.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

To me all of this talk just strengthens my belief that if UND eventually does get invited into The Summit League that a few years down the line the 4 dakota schools will be the cornerstone of this conference.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

To me all of this talk just strengthens my belief that if UND eventually does get invited into The Summit League that a few years down the line the 4 dakota schools will be the cornerstone of this conference.

IMHO, this is the NCC move-up, but instead is a take over of an existing conference. The 4 Dakota schools make a STRONG anchor for a conference, as was well demonstrated at the D-II level from 1923-2003. Too bad that we didn't hold onto UNI/UNC to be fellow members of the same conference.

[Nidaros]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

IMHO, this is the NCC move-up, but instead is a take over of an existing conference. The 4 Dakota schools make a STRONG anchor for a conference, as was well demonstrated at the D-II level from 1923-2003. Too bad that we didn't hold onto UNI/UNC to be fellow members of the same conference.

I know this is ancient and old but before the Big Sky was formed and way back when Hilton Briggs was the president at SDSU in the 1960's, and the NCC had a part time commissioner, the four Dakotas, along with Montana and Montana State, Idaho and Idaho State presidents met in the Twin Cities to consider forming a new conference. After one meeting, the idea of forming a new conference was dead on arrival based on travel costs. This would have been a great opportunity, but a budget buster no doubt. The Argus Leader jumped all over SDSU and USD for attending the meeting and the Argus thought the NCC with only seven members then should add some more members and so that what did happened a few years later. It was an idea way before its time. You would have to hit the microfilm to find the articles but it did happen. The four dakotas stayed with the NCC and the other four went back home and formed the Big Sky. Its ironic that now the BSC thought travel to the Dakota's was cost prohibitive just recently.

[LakeJack]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

They are going D-III after they leave the Summit League in two years:

http://www.gocentenary.com/ViewArtic...B_OEM_ID=17900

[zooropa]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

The website URL?

"GoCentenary"

Well, it looks like they went....

BTW, I hope whoever superintended a 20% decline in endowment got his walking papers--along with the guy responsible for supervising him, and possibly also his boss.

[Nidaros]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

The website URL?

"GoCentenary"

Well, it looks like they went....

BTW, I hope whoever superintended a 20% decline in endowment got his walking papers--along with the guy responsible for supervising him, and possibly also his boss.

Endowment decline has to do more with the recession than anyone's individual choices or actions. Name an investment that has not declined by 20 per cent or more since last October and you probably have a guy named Madoff running it. Centenary was on a tight budget even before the bubble burst in last October, so I am not surprised, as no doubt the endowments earning helped supplement the budget and many operations. Their tuition had to be high as most private schools are but with an enrollment of 910, that does not go very far. I suspect a number of private and public college foundations are facing the same problem. Their endowments are starting to come back some, but they got hit awfully hard as we all did. I think that they are unique in attempting to support a D1 budget under these circumstances.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: Centenary Leaving the League!!!

IMHO, this is the NCC move-up, but instead is a take over of an existing conference. The 4 Dakota schools make a STRONG anchor for a conference, as was well demonstrated at the D-II level from 1923-2003. Too bad that we didn't hold onto UNI/UNC to be fellow members of the same conference.

Perhaps Mankato and Omaha should reconsider a DI move and we could bring a couple of other former conference comrades back into the fold eventually. Then it would really start to feel like getting the band back together.

The reason I single out these two is the Division I hockey at both schools gives them already a taste of Division I athletics. Omaha has recently accepted a bid to the WCHA hockey conference so they are obviously looking at opportunities to increase their athletic profile.

http://www.omavs.com/news/2009/6/26/...626095740.aspx

I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'.