Mid-Con getting facelift following 2006-07 season - Tulsa World (3-3-2007)

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Mid-Con getting facelift following 2006-07 season

By JOHN KLEIN World Sports Columnist

3/3/2007

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The Mid-Continent conference celebrates its 25th anniversary this year but just one school, Western Illinois, will remain from the original eight after this season.

The league will shift once again next season, bumping up to 10 members, as Oral Roberts' conference home continues to change with the collegiate landscape.

"We get calls all of the time about membership," said Mid-Con Commissioner Tom Douple. "You would be surprised how many calls I've taken from people inquiring about our situation.

"Conference memberships are an ongoing process for everyone. Expansion is always a hot topic."

The Mid-Con Tournament opens on Saturday, with berths in the men's and women's NCAA Tournaments up for grabs, at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center.

The tourney is scheduled to be played in Tulsa again next season, the fourth and final year of the contract with the Tulsa Sports Commission.

"The reality of the situation is that there are changes all over college athletics," said Douple. "There is only one charter member left from our founding group of schools. We know there will be more changes in the future. That's the reality of what's going on these days.

"We just have to be proactive instead of reactive. We need to keep all of our options on the front burner."

That means never closing a door on future changes.

This will be the exit weekend for Valparaiso, a perennial power that put the league on the map with a stunning run to the NCAA's Sweet 16 in 1998.

Coming on board next year will be two state schools, South Dakota State and North Dakota State, along with Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.

The 10-member system is not the final solution. It might be, but Douple is not ruling out a shift in total members.

"The total number of members is all over the place across the country," said Douple. "But I think conferences our size are very attractive.

"I believe we're pretty pleased with the current arrangement in our league. But again, we have to always keep an open mind."

Many conferences have gone to 12 members, such as the Big 12 or Conference USA. There are very few that still have just eight, as the old Big Eight had before merging with four members of the formerly nine-team Southwest Conference.

"We hate to see an old friend like Valpo leaving the league," said Douple. "Valpo has done a lot of great things for this conference over the years.

"But we're also excited about the new members. We are bringing new members that have great fan support and facilities. They are bringing new strengths to our league that I believe will make us stronger immediately."

The best thing that could happen to the Mid-Con is for some team to get hot in March and make some news. Valpo did that when Bryce Drew hit his stunning buzzer-beater in Oklahoma City that sparked a run to the Sweet 16.

It happened in 1986 when Cleveland State reached the Sweet 16 from the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (the forerunner of the Mid-Con).

The Mid-Con, like any of the so-called mid-majors, needs any kind of publicity boost it can get. The men's championship game on Tuesday will be televised nationally on ESPN.

That's a start. But winning a game in the NCAA Tournament, which would be a relatively large upset, would be even better.

"We are one of the first four bids to the NCAA Tournament to be given out," said Douple. "That is great for us. It means we get almost a week of being mentioned in tournament talk on television and radio and in newspapers."

It is also great for Tulsa. It brings 16 teams to Tulsa along with the bands and cheer squads. The tournament generates "about 1,000 room nights for local hotels along with meals and transportation bought locally.

"To be honest, we're extremely pleased with Tulsa," said Douple. "We hope to have a bid from them when it opens again this spring."

ORU athletic director Mike Carter also hopes the city will get involved to keep the tournament.

"We think this has been great for the city and great for the conference," said Carter. "We're hopeful of getting something done to try to keep it here."