Love from Mid-Con Press

[89rabbit]

He is an interesting story:

http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto...1_spor_02.html

Drop zone: Southern Utah and Centenary

Jan. 26, 2006

By Justin Breen / Post-Tribune deputy sports editor



The chaos that is the Mid-Continent Conference can be solved quite quickly, with a few minor tweaks.

Step 1: Say so long to Centenary and Southern Utah. Those schools won’t really be missed anyway. Heck, Valparaiso director of athletics Mark LaBarbera said VU spends between $70,000 and $125,000 per year just getting the Crusaders’ teams to those schools, which aren’t exactly competitive.

Step 2: Say hello to IPFW, South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

Step 3: Mid-Con presidents, directors of athletics and coaches can pop the champagne corks. Student-athletes 21 and over can do the same.

It’s that simple.

Really. . . . (read more)


Go State! ;D

[89rabbit]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

Here is a link to another story:

http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto...1_spor_01.html


Go State! ;D

[filbert]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

Hm. I wonder if something is really in the works, or if Justin Breen of the Post-Tribune just has a burr under his saddle . . .

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

to me it sounds as if we have supporters in both of our conference prospects, BSC (MSU and UM) and Mid Con (schools from this article). However, I don't think they can push the other schools within the conference to take any action. I don't know if i have ever seen two schools removed from a conference as the writer above is suggesting. Would S Utah and Centenary play as indys while they looked for other opportunities? I doubt they would choose that fate. I think our only chance is if they get an invite from somewhere else, or the conferences decide to go to 12 teams. As is in higher education, progress is about as slow as a snail.

[filbert]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

Well, lessee...

Valpo just traveled out to S. Utah and got beat 73-61, so perhaps some sour grapes from the hometown reporter?

Still, whatever the motivation, nice to see that some Mid-Con market media banging the drums for SDSU/NDSU.

[filbert]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

I'll also go on record as saying that IMHO Centenary should NOT be be in Division I.

The Shreveport paper has links to LSU and to Louisiana Tech. Not one to Centenary. You have to work, HARD, to find a link to an article in the Shreveport paper about Centenary athletics.

It is I believe the smallest school in D-I. The school's only got 1,044 students. And it's athletic programs, well, aren't very good:

Men's basketball: 4-14
Women's basketball: 2-17

SDSU's men's basketball team, as short-handed and under-talented as it is, could probabaly consistently handle Centenary.

[NDSU_grad]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

I think this is just a reporter spouting off. He has no inside information and nothing is necessarily on the horizon. And conferences don't just drop teams on a whim. I'm not saying the SU's won't get into the Mid-Con or there's not discussions going on; I just wouldn't read too much into these articles.

[Rabbit74]

Re: Love from Mid-Con Press

Remember that the new Commissioner of the Mid-Con came from S. Utah, so there status is pretty sound. Having said that, I think they may well be looking at going to 12 teams with SDSU, NDSU and either UVSU ro IPFW as the third team. Utah Valley would give Southern Utah a nearby foe. IPFW is in the center fo the current teams, but I would assume there is considerable resistance to then in the conference for some reason or they would already be in. SDSU and NDSU have more breath and stature in the academic community than any of the current schools other than IUPUI so would bring that to the mix.