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For a minute I thought SDSU landed a great 7 footer.

Here's my take, FWIW: 1. I was glad ORU went to the Southland when it did. The Summit appeared to be on the brink of extinction, with Oakland looking to bolt, UMKC and Southern Utah already headed out the door, and The Dakota States flirting with The Valley and other mid-major leagues. The league was contemplating adding the likes of Kentucky State, Mankato State, and SIU-Edwardsville to survive. Moving to a more-stable league in Texas and Louisiana just seemed to make sense at the time. That is, until the Southland did a D-II dip of their own by adding Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, Houston Baptist, and New Orleans. 2. Upon arrival, I was surprised at the level of athleticism in ALL sports in the Southland. No one nationally realizes that they play a good brand of basketball down there, with particularly tough guard play. The problem is that most (all?) of the schools play regional non-conference games, (which are ignored by the local media in those football-crazy states at that time of year), then spend January and February beating each other up in conference play, resulting in ravaged RPI's and poor NCAA seeds. And in the spring sports such as baseball, tennis, golf, and track, Southland schools have the advantage of signing tough Southern kids who, thanks to the climate, have played their respective sports year-round since they were tykes. 3. I was also stunned to learn that, despite previous assertions, the travel distances in the Southland were similar to those in the Summit. In many cases, the travel was actually more arduous due to bussing so far to many sites without major airports nearby. Case in point: Tulsa is only 50 miles closer to Katy, TX (home of the Southland basketball tournament) than it is to Sioux Falls, SD (where the Summit League basketball tournament is entrenched). The supposed cost savings for travel by switching from the Summit to the Southland was a myth. The only travel benefit was avoiding hazardous weather conditions during the winter sports, but that was about it. 4. I was impressed that the Summit League was able to land Denver while shoring up the relationship with The Dakota States (adding the University of South Dakota helped in that regard). It didn't hurt that the last two years the league had quality teams at the top in their marquee sport (men's basketball) to draw national attention. Omaha and South Dakota have also proven they are up to the task in building quality programs (but frankly, the jury is still out on IUPUI - they have slipped). 5. I do not blame ORU for going back to the Summit. Tom Douple made ORU a sweetheart of a deal to return, and it just makes more sense from a competitive standpoint, especially in the spring sports where ORU was overwhelmed in the Southland. 6. Given all the factors mentioned, I don't have a problem with ORU returning to the Summit. Am I glad? Not particularly, but not because I have any animosity toward the Summit - I will enjoy renewing the old rivalries, and I expect ORU will become instantly competitive again in several sports. I just would have liked to see how ORU might have fared over time in the Southland with better teams on the court/field. The question, though, was whether ORU was going to be able to recruit the kind of athletes necessary to compete in the Southland if the Golden Eagles kept performing so poorly in conference play. It's probably for the best that the switch was made, if for no other reason than to stop the bleeding from Southland play.

Was not trying to disparage the Summit League. Just trying to establish that anyone who thinks ORU's frustration in the Southland was simply due to their own shortcomings, is not giving the Southland enought credit. In almost every sport, it was a combination of BOTH factors: ORU fielding less competitive teams than in their Summit League days, AND facing stronger competition day-in-and-day-out in every sport in the Southland. As for the basketball RPI disparity between the two leagues, that is an anomaly caused by the number of schools in the respective leagues, as opposed to the quality of play (particularly at the top) in either conference. Specifically, the large number of bottom-feeders in the Southland pulled down their league RPI, while the small total number of schools in the Summit allowed the better RPI's of its top teams to prop up the league RPI as a whole. After closely following both leagues all season long, here's how I would rank their top men's basketball teams from 2013-2014, using the "eye test" instead of RPI: 1. Stephen F. Austin (Southland) 2. North Dakota State (Summit) 3. Fort Wayne (Summit) 4. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (Southland) 5. Sam Houston State (Southland) 6. South Dakota State (Summit) 7. Northwestern State (Southland) 8. Denver (Summit) 9. Oral Roberts (Southland) 10. Incarnate Word (Southland)