North Dakota - Welcome to the Summit

[GoYotes]

Per the Grand Forks Herald, UND will join the Summit League in the fall of 2018 and the MVFC will vote this Wednesday to have UND join the MVFC in 2020

[Yotes]

This is an improvement in the level of competition, re-introduces the idea of having rivals, and will save them a ton of money on travel costs. The Big Sky only ever made sense if no one else would have them. I'm happy to see the core of the NCC back together again at the D1 level.

I'd go over to their board and welcome the fans, as I did when rumors on this picked up, but last time I did that they lashed back and called me a troll.

[Yote 53]

Vast improvement. MVFC is going to chew them up. Fortunately for them they have enough lead time to prepare and, more importantly, recruit using the MVFC brand. They should be able to hit the ground running in conference play by 2020. UND would have gone from going to the playoffs this season to winning three conference games in they were in the MVFC this season. We see first hand what this gauntlet will do to a team.

[coyotecrazie5]

UND had a good football team this year and in recent years. Yotes should have beat them this season, but they will compete from day 1.

[Yote 53]

Yotes should have beat them, on the road, had the game in hand...and we won 3 conference games.

UND tied for the Big Sky conference championship at 8-0.

See the difference in conferences?

[Yotes]

Jan 24, 2017 16:16:40 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Yotes should have beat them, on the road, had the game in hand...and we won 3 conference games.

UND tied for the Big Sky conference championship at 8-0.

See the difference in conferences?

Their instant oust in the playoffs does nothing to help the image of the Big Sky.

[sd4ever]

Their win over the Coyotes was probably the biggest 'gift' they have received in the last ten years if not forever. And next best one was when the Yotes wrapped one for them and probably finished off the Meierkort era. I'm glad they are coming in here to where the big boys of FCS play. I hope they get kicked around for decades. Just makes the MVFC that more interesting. I hope the Bison and the Jacks just punish them.

Good for The Summit too! They will be looking up to the Yotes for a long time.

[Coyote Fan]

Since the beginning of the 4th quarter in the game against the Coyotes the Hawks were simply the better team throughout the rest of the season, Big Sky or not. Prior to that the Coyotes were the better team. I believe that UND would have managed at least 3 wins in the MVFC because they improved a lot from the beginning to the middle of the season. They had a very good season. Undefeated in the Big Sky is better than 3 wins in the Valley despite the Valley being the better league. I believe any of the top 8 seeds would equate to at least 3 Valley wins but probably more.

Today's announcement is great for the Summit and the MVFC for the other 3 Dakota Schools despite how much some stubborn fans will say to the contrary (many of them Bison fans). It's like the family being together again. I am glad we no longer have to spend our non conference schedules on them because they were, are and should always be in the same conference. I am very happy they are coming back home.

[Yote 53]

The legit beef of all the MVFC schools in the west is if unbalanced scheduling remains the norm, and if UND makes the issue worse, the road in the West is going to be a gauntlet while the East is going to be easier to win a conference title.

[kiyoat]

10 teams is the perfect size for a basketball conference. Should make scheduling easier, plus proximity is great for the Dakota teams. 5 teams along the I-29 corridor just makes sense. If we had UMKC back it would be a 6th team along that corridor.

[kiyoat]

www.geomidpoint.com/?ml=42.51664&mn=-95.70917&l=47.925257|46.877186|44.311357|42.779442|41.252363|39.739236|36.153982|40.459208|41.079273|39.768403&n=-97.032855|-96.789803|-96.798388|-96.92921|-95.997988|-104.990251|-95.992775|-90.671797|-85.139351|-86.158068&a=Grand+Forks,+ND,+USA|Fargo,+ND,+USA|Brookings,+SD+57006,+USA|Vermillion,+SD+57069,+USA|Omaha,+NE,+USA|Denver,+CO,+USA|Tulsa,+OK,+USA|Macomb,+IL+61455,+USA|Fort+Wayne,+IN,+USA|Indianapolis,+IN,+USA&cl=42.31398&cn=-95.0648&z=5&x=1&c=1&p=1&r=0&w=0

Check out the link above. It's a site called the "Geographic Midpoint Calculator". I put in all the Summit League Teams (including UND) and came up with a midpoint close to Sioux City. That puts USD as the program closest to the center, and further validates the SLT being in Sioux Falls, IMO. Omaha would be an ideal place for other sports' tourneys, if they can draw a big crowd like we do in SF. I think they would be the center if you take drive time. I-80 and I-29 connect about everyone.

[dave]

Jan 25, 2017 13:19:07 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

www.geomidpoint.com/?ml=42.51664&mn=-95.70917&l=47.925257|46.877186|44.311357|42.779442|41.252363|39.739236|36.153982|40.459208|41.079273|39.768403&n=-97.032855|-96.789803|-96.798388|-96.92921|-95.997988|-104.990251|-95.992775|-90.671797|-85.139351|-86.158068&a=Grand+Forks,+ND,+USA|Fargo,+ND,+USA|Brookings,+SD+57006,+USA|Vermillion,+SD+57069,+USA|Omaha,+NE,+USA|Denver,+CO,+USA|Tulsa,+OK,+USA|Macomb,+IL+61455,+USA|Fort+Wayne,+IN,+USA|Indianapolis,+IN,+USA&cl=42.31398&cn=-95.0648&z=5&x=1&c=1&p=1&r=0&w=0

Check out the link above. It's a site called the "Geographic Midpoint Calculator". I put in all the Summit League Teams (including UND) and came up with a midpoint close to Sioux City. That puts USD as the program closest to the center, and further validates the SLT being in Sioux Falls, IMO. Omaha would be an ideal place for other sports' tourneys, if they can draw a big crowd like we do in SF. I think they would be the center if you take drive time. I-80 and I-29 connect about everyone.

Cool link, I played around with it and removed Macomb, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis and added Greeley Co, Mankato and St Cloud and the center of the conference is between Tyndall and Tabor. Then I added Kansas City and Duluth for a 12 team conference and the center is near Wakonda, it keeps getting closer to Vermillion.

[Yotes]

What's the center look like if we add Las Cruces and KC? Just in case Chicago State closes and the WAC collapses.

[Yote 53]

Who cares if the WAC collapses? I see no reason to take in a bunch of refugees. That is the whole point of adding UND, it gives the Summit even more stability and the ability to be selective if we decide to expand.

UMKC can rot. Just another commuter school in a big market with zero following. Chicago State is practically DOA as a college, much less an athletic program. New Mexico State is too far out geographically. You think the Indiana schools have a problem with UND, sell them on trips to New Mexico.

If anything we are setting ourselves up in a position to overtake the Valley in the next couple of decades. Why not look at targeting Valley schools for future expansion someday rather than taking somebody else's leftovers?

[Yotes]

Jan 25, 2017 15:42:09 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Who cares if the WAC collapses? I see no reason to take in a bunch of refugees. That is the whole point of adding UND, it gives the Summit even more stability and the ability to be selective if we decide to expand.

UMKC can rot. Just another commuter school in a big market with zero following. Chicago State is practically DOA as a college, much less an athletic program. New Mexico State is too far out geographically. You think the Indiana schools have a problem with UND, sell them on trips to New Mexico.

If anything we are setting ourselves up in a position to overtake the Valley in the next couple of decades. Why not look at targeting Valley schools for future expansion someday rather than taking somebody else's leftovers?

If we were to ever overtake the MVC and be in a position to invite their members the Summit would have to seriously increase its profile. If a very consistent program in NMSU was available we should go for it.

I say forget the Indiana schools if New Mexico State was an option. It would raise the profile of the Summit League and is in a state bordering member schools in Denver and Oral Roberts. I threw UMKC in there just because they are somehow the 2nd most desirable school in the WAC, and want absolutely nothing to do with the remaining schools. IUPUI and IPFW may bring the Summit stability, but only because no one else would take them aside from maybe the WAC. They bring nothing that UMKC wouldn't. None of the three are good options for increasing the profile of the Summit League so if we made a move to bring in an upstanding member to the conference it wouldn't bother me one bit if IUPUI or IPFW left.