ORU confirms talks with Southland Conference

[Old Titan]

Two completely different angles when it comes to conference realignment being "all about the $$$": with the big boys, it's about greed, and wanting to dominate.

In our case, it's about stewardship, and wanting to survive.

Big difference.

[theeagleman5]

Amen to that....there is surely a big difference between TCU and ORU..... ......we have to spend our dollars wisely.....

[ORUalum]

I wonder how if there are more ORU alumni are in Texas compared to North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Michigan and Missouri combined. Plus, alumni tend to donate more if they catch a game or two.

the power of google...based on the URL this is as of 4 yrs ago.

[Hammersmith]

Just a question, but does the average Tulsa resident consider themselves a southerner or a midwesterner? It seems like Tulsa might be close to that line like Fargo is between the midwest and the west. If you grew up in western North Dakota, you tend to identify with Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. If you grew up in eastern ND, you identify with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. (both sides identify with South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas). Since most Fargoans grew up in eastern ND and northwestern MN, it makes sense in this particular case for NDSU to be in a midwestern conference as opposed to a western one like the Big Sky. I'm wondering how Tulsa breaks down. If the average Tulsa resident identifies with Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, then the Southland might help boost attendance and draw in new, casual fans. If the average Tulsa resident identifies more with Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska, on the other hand, then you might not see much of a bump. Your MBB attendance has taken a pounding in the last few years*, and maybe your admin hopes that TX, LA & AR schools might help bring that number back up some.

As a Bison, I would prefer to see you stay in the Summit, but it wouldn't be world-ending for either of us if you were to leave. Losing you would hurt the Summit's MBB RPI, but getting rid of Cent & SUU will more than make up for it. It will just mean a minor bump up instead of the significant improvement we were expecting. It will trash our baseball RPI, but you guys are really the only school in the conference that takes baseball seriously(an obvious reason why the Southland is attractive to you). It will improve our travel budgets a bit(especially if we get a midwestern school like NKU to replace you), and improve yours a bit more. You'll go from an average distance of around 610 miles to around 485. I guess one other question I might have is how a move to the Southland might impact your seeding in the NCAAs. The Summit is getting strong enough(with you) to have a legit shot at a 12-13 seed. Will that be possible with the Southland's SOS?

Whatever your admin chooses, most Bison fans(including myself) wish you the best and hope you will be sucessful whatever your home. The level of competition you have provided has been a major factor in the early sucess of our transition to DI.

*low/mid 6k in 06-07 to sub 3.5k last season

[tmh8286]

I think it would depend on what classification method you chose, and who you talked to, but, to me, having come here from the Pacific Northwest almost thirty years ago, I feel like Oklahoma has it's greatest ties to the south - although if you look at that map that ORUalum posted it would seem that ORU's greatest attraction has been from the Midwest. The move to the Southland WOULD provide us with better regional ties, would, as you say, improve travel, and would give our teams greater exposure in the area where nearly all teams do most of their recruiting.

With regard to attendance, such things nearly always have multiple factors figuring into them, but I think the biggest factor in the drop over the past several years was the loss of our star duo, Ken Tutt and Caleb Green. The teams those guys were on led us to the NCAA tournament three times, while the conference tournament was being held in Tulsa, providing us with maximum exposure in the community. Winning games, star players, championships, home-town tournaments. All of those help boost exposure and attendance.

[Old Titan]

Oklahoma is an odd duck when it comes to demographics, due to our designation as Indian Territory while other territories developed around us.

Border states Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico were all settled before Oklahoma was opened to the public. Even when that happened, it was gradual: the western half of the state was designated Oklahoma Territory for settlers, while the eastern half was divided up among several Native American tribes before finally succumbing to western expansion.

The Five Civilized Tribes, scattered throughout the eastern Indian Territory, sided with the South in the Civil War, consequently Eastern Oklahoma has traditionally been "Dixiecrats" who leaned toward Arkansas and Missouri politically and philosophically. The western half of the state, on the other hand, might as well be part of Texas or Colorado as far as their sensibilities lie: much more conservative ranchers, oil and gas men, and wheat farmers.

To answer your question: eastern half leans more "southern", with the exception of the oil & gas conservative base in Tulsa County.

The western half is, as the name implies, "western" (i.e. "cowboy"), more like west Texas and eastern Colorado.

And NONE of them consider themselves "midwestern".

This whole conversation feels vaguely familiar, and now I know why: "The Great Sweet Tea Debates", involving Oklahoma's place in the Southern/Southwestern/Midwestern pantheon of iced beverages:

[theeagleman5]

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