Summit commissioner pleased with Jackrabbits

[ORUalum]

commissioner talks about the new members, summit league tourny sales, mascot fights, and schools interested in joining the league

Summit commissioner pleased with Jackrabbits

The Summit League commissioner talks about SDSU's progress and the basketball tournaments in Sioux Falls.

Ariy-El Boynton

(excerpt)

The biggest event annually for the Summit League is the women and men's basketball tournaments. This year the tournament will take place in Sioux Falls. SDSU was named the host of the tourney just days after officially joining the Summit League Conference.

"It's going to be really exciting. Ticket sales have already doubled from last year in Tulsa," said Douple. "We're going to take the top-eight teams; both (men's and women's championship) games we have on ESPN. We're excited to have them in Sioux Falls, and Sioux Falls is excited."

...

One of the "highlights" that stood out from the 2008 Summit League Tournament was the mascot fight during the men's basketball final game on March 13.

The mascots of IUPUI, "Jawz" the Jaguar, and Oral Roberts, "Eli" the Golden Eagle, had a "play" fight.

In the tussle, Eli's head came off, and an actual fight erupted.

Douple and staff have made measures to stop anything like that from happening again.

"That's a way to get publicity, but that's not the publicity we're after," he said. "If any one of them (mascots) crosses the half-court line, there's going to be some suspensions of mascots."

FULL ARTICLE:

http://media.www.sdsucollegian.com/media/storage/paper484/news/2008/12/10/Sports/Summit.Commissioner.Pleased.With.Jackrabbits-3576902.shtml

[ron]

I would love to see the University of North Dakota join the Summit League, but my reasons are purely selfish. This would give me a chance to see a basketball game and perhaps some baseball games much closer to home.