okiesooner Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I think the big winner here was Valpo who got out long before ORU, Oakland and UMKC. When Valpo left, the Summit took a big hit. (only school from the conference with a NCAA tournament win and true national name recognition) Then the only two respectable teams left (ORU and Oakland) bailed. I know many in the HL were not happy to add Oakland. (Even though their RPI is much better than Loyola, who left for the MVC). Fans of the HL were hoping for Northern Kentucky and Belmont. The HL needs to be aggressive and pick up a big fish or they will be losers with the summit league. MVC almost got Valpo and then the HL would be without the back to back baseball league champ, back to back b'ball league champ, softball league champ and a 2011 mens soccer league champ. The HL wants strong soccer programs as well as bball programs. In the past, its not uncommon to have ranked mens soccer teams and at large bids into the soccer ncaa tournament. I predict one more mid-major relignment. St. Louis and Dayton will go to the Catholic big east resulting in A10 taking Detroit from the HL. The HL will have to pull one from the OVC. I think Denver will leave the Summit in short time notice and then the Summit league is history. What happens to WIU, IUPUI, or IPFW? The best bet for ORU is step up scholarships and number of sports and try for the MVC. Or they can try for the C-USA but it would be more travel and I don't know if the budget is there. I would like to see the mid-west have an all private league with similar academic and endowments. It would be like the Big east on a lower scale. I tried to choose schools that have the same flagship sports and no football. The student body is similar. Travel partners would be side by side. (I think travel partners are a big deal and cut down on cost) The HL used to have this before the exit of Butler. Endowments are next to the school. Bradley University 237 million Drake University 169.0 million University of Evansville 117.7 million St. Louis University 970 million (all the Jesuit schools have huge endowments) Loyola University 430 million Valparaiso University 140.8 million Oral Roberts University 37.8 million Drury University (move from Dii-Di) 74.1 million Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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