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UND to the Summit


rabbit74

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There was a report in the Grand Forks Herald that North Dakota is Having serious talks with the Summit League and Missouri Valley Football League about joining.  UND could join in 17/18 or perhaps more likely 18/19

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-football/4153154-und-negotiating-missouri-valley-football-conference-summit-league

There is a lot of discussion on this on the SDSU, USD and NDSU boards.  My take is that it is a done deal with only the timing to be worked out based on the article.  UND recently cut baseball but might reinstate if they join the conference.

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Why can't the Summit have a football league? They have a number of teams that play.

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It makes so much sense.  I have wondered why UND competed in the Big Sky conference instead of the Summit League.  The travel would have to be very difficult and expensive.  

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You expected the Summit League to be courting Hawaii???..don't be shocked though if Alaska-Anchorage is next.......:-P

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  • 2 months later...

This provides even more stability for the Summit League.  It also means that either 2 teams will not make the postseason basketball tournament, or there will be a change to how teams qualify for the tournament such as 2 play in games.

I say just leave it like it is and the last 2 teams won't make it in and the advantage goes to the top 2 teams.

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On 1/24/2017 at 7:15 PM, ORUJason said:

This provides even more stability for the Summit League.  It also means that either 2 teams will not make the postseason basketball tournament, or there will be a change to how teams qualify for the tournament such as 2 play in games.

I say just leave it like it is and the last 2 teams won't make it in and the advantage goes to the top 2 teams.

I doubt this will happen, for revenue sake:  if all four Dakota schools are assured they will be in the tournament in some fashion every year, they are more likely to buy all-session tickets in advance each season for Sioux Falls, as opposed to taking a wait-and-see approach to see if their team will qualify.

The conference might use the same format as other 10-team leagues, such as the Big XII - the first six spots get a bye, Seeds No. 7-thru-10 have play-in games.

That format would add a new advantage for the 3, 4, 5 and 6 seeds in the future, as all top six seeds would now require 3 wins on consecutive days for the title, unlike the current bracket where the 1 & 2 seeds get a day off along that trek.  It would also pose an even greater challenge for the bottom four seeds, who would require wins on four straight days for the crown (which has, however, been done before in other leagues).

What the increase to 10 teams in the bracket MAY mean in a larger sense is a move of either the men's or women's tournament to the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, with the other bracket staying at the new arena, or some combination of games played between the two venues.  There simply may not be enough time in a four-day window to play 18 games between the two brackets in one location.

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Don't forget that the Sioux Falls arena ( prior SF venue for tourney) is available and connected to the new Sanford Premier Center.   

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15 hours ago, USDCoyotes said:

Don't forget that the Sioux Falls arena ( prior SF venue for tourney) is available and connected to the new Sanford Premier Center.   

No doubt that venue would figure in the mix as well (I thought they tore it down).

No guarantee the men would rate the nicer facility over the ladies; the fair thing to do would be higher seeds in men's and ladies games get the Sanford Premier Center court, with the other games relegated to Sioux Falls Arena.  Championship Tuesday games could still be held at the SPC for both guys and gals.

With SDSU and USD having such strong women's programs these days, the question remains which title game (in most years) will likely have greater attendance:  the men's, or the ladies?

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Sounds like this will be travel partner setup....

NDSU-UND

SDSU-USD

Fort Wayne-IUPUI

ORU-Denver

WIU-Omaha

League games will be Thursday-Saturday instead of the current hodgepodge of Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday games.

 

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Makes sense that Denver and ORU would be paired - though they are the furthest-flung schools from the other eight, their metropolitan airports arguably make them one of the easier Thursday-to-Saturday travel legs in the league for visiting teams. 

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On 1/27/2017 at 9:15 PM, Old Titan said:

Makes sense that Denver and ORU would be paired - though they are the furthest-flung schools from the other eight, their metropolitan airports arguably make them one of the easier Thursday-to-Saturday travel legs in the league for visiting teams. 

The travel partners make for easy trips except for Omaha-Western Illinois.  UND and NDSU are 60 miles apart, SDSU and USD are 110 miles apart and IUPUI and Fort Wayne are about 120 miles apart.  Denver-Oral Roberts has good airline connections as you indicated.  Omaha and Macomb are about 350 miles apart and no easy air connections near Macomb.

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  • 1 year later...

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