Friday's Game

[RabbitAlum2001]

I'm a first-timer...be gentle.

I thought I'd be the one to start the thread for tonight's game. Although it was very disappointing to lose to the U, I wanted to make sure the discussion about Friday's game got started on the right foot. I'm sure Grain Bin goers are on top of the world and think their program is top notch right about now. Before we talk about disappointment lets review the end of this so-called rivalry. Arguably, the rivalry exists in 3 sports. They are Football, and Men's and Women's basketball. I wanted to make sure that any yote fan that may post on this thread was aware of some numbers. In those 3 sports over the last 4 years including the current academic year, here are the numbers:

State: 16 Wins
The U: 5 Wins

My intention is not to dispute the validity of the rivalry (although based on the numbers, the yotes aren't much competition), rather it is to discuss the game on Friday. I just wanted to keep everything in perspective, especially if Mr. Powers posts on this thread. Just make sure you're aware of your lowly 5 wins before you start flapping your crusty Chee-Toh mouth about your win tonight.

[RabbitAlum2001]

Re: Friday's Game

About the actual game, I didn't make it to Omaha but our foul shooting was terrible.  Gotta fix that...

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Friday's Game

Welcome aboad RabbitAlum2001:

Good to have the recent grad check in and express whats on your mind.

I would agree there is only three sports where there is any rivalry.  Plus I have been to games where the USD grain bin was half full.  USD did not fired up about the rivalry until SDSU made its announcement to go D1.

Note all the bylines in Saturday's Sioux Falls Argus, they all seem to be SDSU putdowns. They are trying to get us angry, but to no avail.  Let the Argus and USD gloat over our defeats such those of last night while they can. Next year they will not be able to do that.


About last night, both our women and men have had problems with the NCC post tourney. If you are on top after two round robins or near the top, playing a conference tourney, is kind of pointless.

The NCC tourney exists because we have a large bank Wells Fargo that can use it for advertizing and the NCAA rules give the winner of the tourney an automatic bid in the playoffs.  While I can understand Wells Fargo and their sponsorship, what I can not understand is the emphasis that a team that wins two or three consecutive wins in a tourney over, a team that has been successful in a double round robin of 14 games such as it is now in the NCC.

As a fan I would prefer going back to a Holiday NCC tourney and let selection committee pick the true conference champ for the regionals.

Oh well, next year different opponents and different situation.

[goyotes]

Re: Friday's Game

Chusby - I actually agree with you on - I would like to see the post season tournament done away with and go back to the old Holiday tournament. The post season tournament has been no friend to the Yotes.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Friday's Game

GO COYOTE SINCE YOU POSTED MY NAME WHAT IS YOURS? I sure would like to know.

You can worry about the NCC tourney, thats a dead issue for us. We are now on our way D1. ;D ;D ;D ;D

[jackmd]

Re: Friday's Game

A few odd posts regarding last nights loss. Bottom line: this was a terrible loss for the Jacks and a great win for USD. USD really played as a team last night getting contributions from all of their key player. They kicked our butts, plain and simply.

The 2 NCC teams that have been playing the best at the end of the year are now playing for the tourney title. SDSU simply didn't deserve to win either the regular season or tourney title. We didn't play well enough.

The only possible way to salvage this season is if the selection committee grants us a bid to the regional and we make a repectable showing. Best we can hope for is a #6 seed behind Metro, UNK, NSU, UNO and USD. We may be a #8. Worst case scenario would be upsets in both the NSIC and RMAC tournyes in which case we would be the odd team out.

If we are selected to the regional I would like to see this team win at least 2 games. Its not reasonable to expect much more than this.

[Crashola]

Re: Friday's Game

Goyotes -- I agree with you regarding conference tournaments. The Yotes were royally hosed a few years ago when they won the regular season NCC crown but stayed home during the playoffs.

Unfortunately, conference tournaments are here to stay. They are a big moneymaker and, sadly, money has become the big focus in college sports -- even in Division II.

I wouldn't gloat too much about leaving the NCC tournament behind. The Ivy League is the only Division I conference left that uses its regular season standings to determine their NCAA bid. Every other Division I conference uses their moneymaking conference tourney to determine the NCAA selectee. I can easily see the Jacks get into a situation where they win a Division I conference regular season crown and then have to win a postseason tournament in order to get to the big show. For the major conferences that get 4, 5, or 6 teams into the tournament, its no big deal. If you're in a mid-major conference, however, the automatic bid is probably the only ticket to the show and the rest of the conference can forget about an at-large bid.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Friday's Game

Cashola:
No gloating here but if I left that impression fine and I apologize.  I do understand what you are saying about confernece tournaments and their importance in D1. SDSU has not won many conference tournaments in the NCC lately. It  just seems like its not a game they want to win or its one that they seem to feel they can lose and then come back and do big things in the regional the following week.  With a more competitive D1, maybe that attitude will no prevail and our ladies and men will take the conference tourney more serious.  We dont seem to do that now.

[MadJack]

Re: Friday's Game

The one difference I see between DI conference tournaments and DII conference tournaments is the money issue. I'm not sure how DI conferences handle the profits (if there are any), but I've asked Keith Mahlum a couple years ago about how the NCC's tournament money is handled.

In a nutshell here's how he explained it to me: For the first couple of years Wells Fargo paid next to nothing to sponsor the men & women's tournaments (something in the $10-20,000 range). Not sure if that's gone up in the past two years. Then, depending on who hosts, gate revenue can be either great (if SDSU, UND, or NDSU hosts) or poor (if UNO or SCSU hosts). Not saying that those schools put on a bad show, just the pure number of fans that can be at a game. Apparently the schools that host get expenses paid and traveling teams get expenses out of the total take, and what's left over goes to the NCC. Not that it's a lot, but the schools themselves don't see a dime.

This may have changed in the past two years, but I would doubt it. Basically the NCC tournament gives a chance for a team to play into the regional and a chance for a team to play themself out of the regional (see USD a couple years ago). Thankfully it doesn't matter to SDSU at this point. And in future years when we are in a conference, the tournament will have significant meaning.

Let's just hope that our last four games don't hurt our chances at a regional birth. In the old six team format we could have been screwed, but with an eight team regional we should be OK considering 26 wins.

[RabbitAlum2001]

Re: Friday's Game

jackmd,

This was no doubt a terrible loss for us and the combination of the two losses came at absolutely the worst time.  I agree wholeheartedly.  I'm just as disappointed as anyone, especially because I think it just fuels the fire for USD fans and the media.  However, I wanted to thwart a response similar to Mr. Powers post the other day by outlining the big picture.  I'm very upset, but at the same time very proud that we are 16-5 over the last 4 years.  On the other hand, without our recent struggles it could have been 18-3.  The last week was as disappointing as I can remember at least in recent years.