DI Conference Hunt

[JACKGUYII]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I would love to see UNO and UND move up but haven't seen much to believe they will in the near future. Maybe you know something we don't?

[FargoBison]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

UND is taking the we are looking at D1 privately approach, but they are one schollie cut away from moving D1, that I'm sure of. And you have to wonder how long UND can hold out in D2, every year they wait the further away they get form NDSU, and thats not goint to sit well with some alumni. And if UND leaves UNO has two options go D1 or go MIAA and I think if the conference like I just mentioned opened up UNO would go there in an instant.

 Also if D2 cuts schollies down to 24 all hell could break lose, whats the NCAA going to do with all the D2 powers that will probably flee D2. They are either going to have to add a new conference and an auto-bid or restructure everything completely. Theres been talk at the Sioux site about restructuring but I don't know how it would all work out. Whatever happens SDSU and NDSU will find a home and it could potentially be a better fit then the Sky.

[Crashola]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

This is definitely bad news, but the two State Universities need to look forward rather than back. So long as they keep competing well and making it impossible for the Mid-Major conferences to ignore them, good things will happen. However, if I were Montana, Montana State, or any of the other schools at the top of the Big Sky, I would be seriously concerned about the direction my conference was heading. It was an incredibly short-sighted decision to spurn the two flagship schools in the name of chasing a pie in the sky belief that Northern Colorado will open a huge media market.

[filbert]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

All you really need to know about the fundamental stupidity of the BSC's invite to only UNC:

What was the attendance at the SDSU-Denver game?

Tell me again how UNC delivers the Denver market? CU, CSU, and Air Force are all Denver cares about. Well, let me take that back . . . the Broncos, the Avs, the Rockies, the Nuggets, CU, CSU, and Air Force are all that Denver cares about.

Not Denver U. Certainly not UNC.

Oh, well. I'd still rather see us in the Missouri Valley Conference ten years down the road than stuck playing out west in the Big Sky.

[OKC_Poke]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

All you really need to know about the fundamental stupidity of the BSC's invite to only UNC:

What was the attendance at the SDSU-Denver game?

Tell me again how UNC delivers the Denver market?  CU, CSU, and Air Force are all Denver cares about.  Well, let me take that back . . . the Broncos, the Avs, the Rockies, the Nuggets, CU, CSU, and Air Force are all that Denver cares about.

Not Denver U.  Certainly not UNC.

Actually you're half right. All Denver gives a damn about is CU and the pro teams there. Denver doesn't give a flying leap about Air Force nor Colorado State.

Sorry you guys don't get into the Big Sky. Personally, I think the BSC royally shot themselves in the foot with their decision yesterday. It's basically the WAC16 mess all over again.

[filbert]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Actually you're half right.  All Denver gives a damn about is CU and the pro teams there.  Denver doesn't give a flying leap about Air Force nor Colorado State.

Sorry you guys don't get into the Big Sky.  Personally, I think the BSC royally shot themselves in the foot with their decision yesterday.  It's basically the WAC16 mess all over again.

You're correct of course, I just didn't want to overstate my point ;D

[Crashola]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

It's basically the WAC16 mess all over again.

It sure looks that way. At some point, Montana may decide to take their toys and play somewhere else, like in I-A.

[OKC_Poke]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

You're correct of course, I just didn't want to overstate my point  ;D

I completely understand. Besides with Joe Glenn at the helm at Wyoming, we'll surpass CU, CSU, and AFA in the next several years anyway.

You all have a fan in me, a Wyoming Cowboy fan in Oklahoma. GO JACKS and POKES! Go Pokes, destroy UCLA in the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl!

[OKC_Poke]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

It sure looks that way.  At some point, Montana may decide to take their toys and play somewhere else, like in I-A.  

The funny thing about Northern Colorado's claim to fame, their TWO Division II National Championships, ware during Joe Glenn's tenure and he's in Laramie now. ;D LOL

[ActionJack]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I've got to say that I'm just as disappointed as everyone else about the BSC announcement, but it's starting to sound like a bad night at the bar with most of these posts. Those nights where your friend is eyeing up the hot chick in the corner all night, finally nuts up enough to go talk to her, and she completely blows him off. Then he comes back saying she's not that hot, she's a sl@t, etc. Yes, not everything works out, and maybe we created our own hype for the most part. But life will go on and everything will be OK. Patience.

Oh, and I mostly wanted to show off my new avatar since I hadn't posted in a while.

[89rabbit]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

Highlights from the Argus:

http://www.argusleader.com/sports/We...article1.shtml

Rejected, SDSU looks elsewhere
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com

published: 12/15/2004

After Big Sky says no, Jacks renew search for conference

What a bad time for Fred Oien to catch a cold, a double whammy after the Big Sky Conference told South Dakota State for a second time that it was not interested in adding the school.

The Big Sky's announcement on Monday, that it would only be looking at Northern Colorado for possible membership, means SDSU's roller coaster ride into Division I has hit another dip.

"We were prepared for them to come out of the meeting saying there would be no expansion or to come out with one school," a congested Oien said on Tuesday. "We're disappointed, obviously, because we wanted to be a part of it."

Once again, the Jackrabbits received rave reviews from those in the Big Sky who turned them away in February of 2003, only to be continually doomed by geographical issues.

Once again, the names of other conferences that SDSU can look toward for potential membership have cropped up, alliances like the Mid-Continent, Missouri Valley and Horizon League.

And once again, it's back into sales mode for Oien and President Peggy Miller.

"Before we made the decision to go Division I, we had talked to some conference commissioners and the people at Carr and Associates about what the process was like," Oien said. "They prepared us for this, that it wasn't one of those decisions like going shopping and picking out what you want and buying it.

"That prepared us fairly well for the ups and downs in the process. Reflecting back, they were exactly right." . . .

The Jacks won't become a full-fledged member of Division I until the 2008-09 school year, when they will have the ability to compete for NCAA postseason competition at the new level. That means there is time for them to get into a league in time.

Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton said both SDSU and NDSU had support at Monday's meetings, but that the league required all eight presidents to agree on a school in order to arrange a site visit.

"When you talk about the institutions," Fullerton said, "(the presidents) liked the institutions, they liked the people, they liked what they're doing. For some people, they just can't get past where they are (geographically)."

So where does that leave SDSU now? The closest and most logical option would be the Missouri Valley Conference, but that also is the most prestigious basketball conference of the four the school has been linked to and has always been the most unlikely home.

Last June, the Missouri Valley's presidents announced that they were content with their current 10-school make-up. Mike Kern, the league's director of communications, said Tuesday that the topic of membership frequently comes up often when the presidents meet, but that they won't have another official get-together until June 2005.

The Jackrabbits' best hope comes from the Mid-Continent Conference, a nine-school league that includes Great West member Southern Utah. Since it often is a home for fledgling Division I schools, the Mid-Continent doesn't garner much respect when it comes time for the postseason since it's on the lower end of the Division I spectrum.

The Mid-Continent Conference presidents met in early July and said they would continue to examine expansion. Kristina Petersen, the Mid-Continent's director of media relations, said the presidents' next official meeting is slated for June 2005, adding that they usually informally gather at the conference basketball tournament in March.

SDSU teams have played a number of Horizon League opponents this year in various sports. Often seen as one of the more powerful mid-major basketball conferences in Division I, the Horizon's nine schools are located mostly in relatively close proximity to one another and dot such major Midwest media markets as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.

Calls to Horizon League offices on Tuesday weren't returned. . . .

And then, there's always the chance that the Big Sky could come calling for a third time. With how much movement there has been from the East Coast to the Midwest in recent years, the West Coast conferences haven't really seen a ton of movement of schools.

With talk that Sacramento State could elevate to Division I-A or drop football entirely, that would present the Big Sky with membership issues. If Montana, which is in the I-AA title game this weekend, decides it is time to join I-A, that could really drive the league to look farther to the east to avoid losing its automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Conferences must have seven members to retain the automatic qualifier. . . .

SDSU officials have said for a year that the process could take as long as two or three years. But clearly, Monday's snub had their stomachs churning like a corkscrew loop, using as much positive spin as possible.

"The staff handled it fairly well," Oien said of the Big Sky news. "Now that we're in competition, getting a chance to play some Division I schools makes life easier. We're starting to see how the student athletes are reacting to the experience they're getting. It makes it a lot easier knowing there are going to be some peaks and valleys, and that they're going to level off for us."

Go State! ;D

[SDSUFAN]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I suspect I am repeating myself, but there are so many questions about Monday, that only access to the minutes or tape of the conversation amongst the presidents, would the real truth be revealed as what everyone is thinking in terms of member expansion.

Even then the presidents may have been cryptic about what they said and what they are thinking. I think we can conclude that we cant depend on rumors and the facts are yet to be revealed.

Its a long haul for SDSU and so far so good. ;D ;D

[SDsportsFan]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

[quote author=SDSUFAN


Its a long haul for SDSU and so far so good. ;D ;D[/quote]

Were you joking in this comment? I don't want to come across as too negative but I really don't think it has been so far so good. To me that would mean that everything that we've experienced since being D-I has been good. We haven't won a men's basketball D-I game yet and the conference we really wanted to get into just rejected us in favor of UNC. I understand trying to be positive, but lets just tell it how it is. Not everything is coming up roses for us right now, but hopefully that will change.

[sdman]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

I agree that everything isn't coming up roses either but things aren't as bad as the naysayers say it is. Attendance is up, interest is up, we had a good fb season, the women's bb and vb teams are very respectable. So things are looking good in many areas.
I believe the men's bb will come around sooner rather than later and that conf affiliation will work itself out eventually. What does concern me in the short run is our partnership with ndsu. Now that the bsc option is done ndsu is more of a negative than a positive. We are a lot more attractive to the mid cont bc of our bb heritage and our location than ndsu and having them as partners when they really only need one school to get to 10 is an albatross around our neck. I wish dr miller and dr o. would call gene taylor and say we enjoyed our partnership but it is now time to part company and go our separate ways in conf affiliation. Looking for one slot is hard enough but 2 is a monumental task. A travel partner in that conf is overrated bc the schools are urban areas that are easy to fly in and out of. Go State!

[JACKGUYII]

Re: DI Conference Hunt

My thoughts any setbacks we have experienced in DI still beat the alternative of being in a diluted DII. Even without a conference for all sports we have some tremendous highs with our wins in Football over Southern,NDSU and battling Montana State to the end. Our Volleyball team had a very successfull year and the womens basketball continues to impress. We all knew the mens basketball team would struggle regardless what level we played at.