vu75
Bench Warmer
Posts: 157
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Post by vu75 on Nov 10, 2010 0:21:21 GMT -5
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet but Southern Utah finally got into the Big Sky. The Big Sky also added North Dakota which was assumed to be joining the Summit, and invited South Dakota, which decided to stay with the Summit League only after a last minute offer to join the MVC Football Conference.
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Post by valporun on Nov 10, 2010 0:48:04 GMT -5
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet but Southern Utah finally got into the Big Sky. The Big Sky also added North Dakota which was assumed to be joining the Summit, and invited South Dakota, which decided to stay with the Summit League only after a last minute offer to join the MVC Football Conference. Southern Utah and North Dakota both joined the Big Sky because they could get into a football conference too. The Summit wasn't going to sponsor football, and they were both in a conference that was too spread out with schools that offered scholarships, but no geographic center in the Great West Conference, much like the Summit League. South Dakota may follow as well, but they haven't decided for certain yet. The loss of SUU in cross country finally gives the other teams in the Summit a chance to have a real competitive conference meet. Centenary didn't do anything for the Summit but give the league another team. |
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Post by agibson on Nov 10, 2010 6:57:49 GMT -5
I did see the news when it came out.
I wasn't 100% sure of the implications for basketball. How many more teams can they lose and preserve their auto-bid? 1? 0?
Partially answering my own question, here are the eligibility rules:
1)Seven "core" institutions, meaning they've been active D1 members for the eight preceding years.
2)Six of those core members have to have been playing together for the previous five seasons.
3)There's a two year grace period if you lose teams, so long as you maintain at least six teams.
So, how's the Summit doing?
Losing Centenary and Southern Utah, I guess they'll only have five core members with five years experience playing together? Will the 2007 additions qualify before the grace period expires? I guess so, but maybe not by much?
And, then I guess the Summit can actually sustain yet another loss, down to seven teams, before jeopardizing the auto-bid.
Still, seems pretty marginal!
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Post by zvillehaze on Nov 10, 2010 9:03:13 GMT -5
I've got a kid attending a Summit school, so I hope they find a way to hold this thing together.
agibson - do you know if the same auto-bid rules apply to sports other than basketball?
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Post by agibson on Nov 10, 2010 10:41:40 GMT -5
They've gone through a lot of subtractions and additions before, so I guess they'll manage. But, it will be interesting to see what comes next.
No, sorry, I'm not sure if these same rules apply to other sports. I'm not even _that_ sure I have them correct for basketball. It was based on a small amount of googling, but seems roughly the same as descriptions I've seen before.
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Post by valporun on Nov 10, 2010 11:58:31 GMT -5
It will be tough to know if they'll make it in 2011-2012, due to the transition period that North Dakota State and South Dakota State might still be under from moving from D-II to D-I. Once Centenary and SUU leave the Summit League, that leaves them with 8 teams, 6 of which have played against each other for the requisite 5 years, but they don't have the 7 "core" institutions yet. Depending on the transition time left for both NDSU and SDSU, the Summit League may not have an auto-bid for a couple of seasoons?
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Post by stlvufan on Nov 10, 2010 13:15:26 GMT -5
Both NDSU and SDSU have played in the conference tourney the past 2 years, and NDSU made the NCAA tourney in 2009. Both transitions are finished.
I think the Summit League is safe.
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