Forgive me for my pretty lame title (that really isn't the point of this) but this is the first official topic I'm talking about. We all know about the recent conference alignment how how it has pretty much affected all of Division I athletics, we know most of the changes have been football driven because lets face it, that's where the big bucks come from. Now in the case of the Summit League the changes are more basketball, regional based, or out of necessity reasons. And this blog is to talk about what those changes have done and how Western Illinois holds the key to the future of the Summit League. Before I explain how, a bit of background.
In 2007 the former Mid-Continent Conference re-branded itself and turned into the Summit League. Since that has occured the League has lost a total of six members and if you include the year before seven.
Chicago State - They left in 2006 and became an independent before joining the Great West ( they did win the last conference tournament in that conference). These guys are currently in the WAC. Yeah the WAC which is another dying conference
Valparaiso - They left in 2007 to join the Horizon League and have pretty much become the flag-bearers in the conference before Butler a couple years ago, but Butler left and back at the top they stand
Centenary - They left in 2011 and believe it or not went all the way down to Division III. They also have by far the most unoriginal, yet proper nicknames Ladies and Gents (seriously, look it up)
Oral Roberts - Left in 2012 to join the Southand Conference, which make sense both regionally and competitively as most of those members are located in Texas and Louisiana (though they are the only school from Oklahoma)
Southern Utah - They also left in 2012 as they went to the Big Sky conference. Pretty much in the same boat as Oral Roberts, although it was kind of strange to me that they didn't join the Missouri Valley Football Conference seeing that three other Summit League members were apart of the same conference, but hey crossing time zones can really suck.
Oakland - They are one of the two teams that have just left this past year as they became the replacement for Loyola in the Horizon League. Oakland was usually one of the top teams is Men's basketball and when it came to swimming, they had no equal in the conference
UMKC - The other team to bounce out this year as they left or the WAC. The WAC now has members in Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Illinois, Missouri, Idaho, and Washington. And none of those states has more than one team represented in this conference...that is some crazy shit right there.
So with those departures, the league has now eight schools...Denver (the newest), South Dakota State, South Dakota, North Dakota State, Nebraska-Omaha, Indiana U-Fort Worth, IUPUI (seriously writing it out would take years), and of course Western Illinois.
I'm guessing the question that is floating in ur head (if ur still reading) is what's the f-ing point? Ok, WIU holds the cards to the rest of the conference and here is why. For starters, Denver is pretty much a fish out of water in the Summit League. Denver was a member of the now sinking ship, the WAC (in all sports except for Hockey and Lacrosse) and joined the Summit League mostly out of desperation. My guess is they would want out to a better conference because of some of the same issues SUU (Southern Utah) had. Travel is a hassle and of course there is the whole "drop in competition" as the WAC was 13th in RPI to the Summit League 19th and in overall power rankings the WAC was 14th while the Summit League was 24th. teamrankings.com if you want to look at the whole list. So, while Denver could stay a while and they probably will, eventually they will move on to a better or more regionally helpful conference. If I had to guess West Coast or Big West would be their top choices.
Now brings us to the star, good ol' WIU. They have been a member of this conference since its birth back in 1983 and have had it share of chances to leave, most notably when The Missouri Valley was created and wanted to invite them (missed opportunity). Western in my opinion has three major options.
1) They can stand pat and hope Denver doesn't leave and stick with the eight they got.
2) They can leave and join another conference
3) Raid Division II or other lower tier Division I conferences and pluck new member that way
1) They can stand pat and hope Denver doesn't leave and stick with the eight they got.
Well, if you think about it and read what I put earlier it really is only a matter of time before Denver says goodbye and goes to a west coast conference if only now to deal with the crappy travel and likely one bid league. But say they do stay, the boost the basketball profile of the league and gives it a third or fourth team that is likely postseason bound which can only mean good things, especially in those tournaments they win.
But, if likely Denver bolts after a couple years and leaves the Summit League with only seven remaining schools, the rest of the conference would scramble for new homes with the Big Sky, Ohio Valley, or the Horizon League the main targets for other teams. Which pretty much is the third scenario for Western anyway
This scenario easily has the biggest chance for bust for both WIU and the Summit League.
2) They can leave and join another conference
The are three parts to this scenario...one those leave both the MVFC and the Summit League, they try and become full MV memebers or they leave the Summit and join another non-football conference.
Leaving both the MVFC and the Summit League would be a huge risk. The only real conference that would make any sense to join would be the Ohio Valley Conference. Now most people who are Western football fans would hate this move because of the whole "lesser" conference. And seeing that MVFC usually has about 4-6 teams ranked every year and the two-time defending FCS champs...those guys would be correct. Not to mention the Ohio Valley hasn't won a playoff game since 2000. Oh and before the thoughts in your head get too loud, the likelihood of Western going to the MAC is a pipe dream. They would have to upgrade Western Hall and Hanson Field and those are things years away (the day will come when they update the press box side of Hanson Field and get a new scoreboard)
Trying to become full members of the Missouri Valley would be ideal and so freaking amazing. But a packaged deal would probably have to be the ticket in. Which means SDSU, NDSU, South Dakota, and Nebraska-Omaha would have to be included. Now most likely a sixth team would have to found to bring that non-football total to 16 but it would pretty much be a win-win. And of course Western not only joins a better basketball conference, it stays in the best FCS conference out there. If this happens, what would likely happen is that Denver would go out West to find a new home and IPFW and IUPUI would try and get into the Horizon or even the OVC.
Leaving the Summit and joining another non-football conference, the Horizon would be the main and really the only option. Western would probably try and bring along everyone except Denver into the Horizon fold. And then you would have six MVFC schools as Horizon members...that's half the football conference.
Now of course WIU could try and do this all on it lonesome, but it would really make things harder on itself and you have to factor in the fact that if you don't, SDSU, NDSU, South Dakota, and even Nebraska-Omaha would try and bolt towards the Big Sky. Which is bad for so many reasons and would cripple the MFVC
3) Raid Division II or other lower tier Division I conferences and pluck new member that way
You have to take into account a few things...region, it has to be a non-football school, and it has to be willing to step up in class. That in mind you don't have may options. All football school are out either because they aren't ready to make the jump or they don't want to. So honestly does that leave? A couple of stretches, maybe. So this scenario doesn't really have legs.
Scenario two has the best options available and with three different ways of getting it done, you can see why Western holds the fate of the Summit League in its hands. Now of course this is just my perception on the whole thing. Of course I could be totally wrong about everything and Western drops to Division II, doubt it but anything can happen of course. Like I said before any and all comments would be loved (it means you read something) So I'm gonna go back and take another swig of my beer, eat the rest of this pizza (no i haven't been eating this whole time, i'm ain't that fat), and find something to watch on tv. Until next time
In 2007 the former Mid-Continent Conference re-branded itself and turned into the Summit League. Since that has occured the League has lost a total of six members and if you include the year before seven.
Chicago State - They left in 2006 and became an independent before joining the Great West ( they did win the last conference tournament in that conference). These guys are currently in the WAC. Yeah the WAC which is another dying conference
Valparaiso - They left in 2007 to join the Horizon League and have pretty much become the flag-bearers in the conference before Butler a couple years ago, but Butler left and back at the top they stand
Centenary - They left in 2011 and believe it or not went all the way down to Division III. They also have by far the most unoriginal, yet proper nicknames Ladies and Gents (seriously, look it up)
Oral Roberts - Left in 2012 to join the Southand Conference, which make sense both regionally and competitively as most of those members are located in Texas and Louisiana (though they are the only school from Oklahoma)
Southern Utah - They also left in 2012 as they went to the Big Sky conference. Pretty much in the same boat as Oral Roberts, although it was kind of strange to me that they didn't join the Missouri Valley Football Conference seeing that three other Summit League members were apart of the same conference, but hey crossing time zones can really suck.
Oakland - They are one of the two teams that have just left this past year as they became the replacement for Loyola in the Horizon League. Oakland was usually one of the top teams is Men's basketball and when it came to swimming, they had no equal in the conference
UMKC - The other team to bounce out this year as they left or the WAC. The WAC now has members in Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Illinois, Missouri, Idaho, and Washington. And none of those states has more than one team represented in this conference...that is some crazy shit right there.
So with those departures, the league has now eight schools...Denver (the newest), South Dakota State, South Dakota, North Dakota State, Nebraska-Omaha, Indiana U-Fort Worth, IUPUI (seriously writing it out would take years), and of course Western Illinois.
I'm guessing the question that is floating in ur head (if ur still reading) is what's the f-ing point? Ok, WIU holds the cards to the rest of the conference and here is why. For starters, Denver is pretty much a fish out of water in the Summit League. Denver was a member of the now sinking ship, the WAC (in all sports except for Hockey and Lacrosse) and joined the Summit League mostly out of desperation. My guess is they would want out to a better conference because of some of the same issues SUU (Southern Utah) had. Travel is a hassle and of course there is the whole "drop in competition" as the WAC was 13th in RPI to the Summit League 19th and in overall power rankings the WAC was 14th while the Summit League was 24th. teamrankings.com if you want to look at the whole list. So, while Denver could stay a while and they probably will, eventually they will move on to a better or more regionally helpful conference. If I had to guess West Coast or Big West would be their top choices.
Now brings us to the star, good ol' WIU. They have been a member of this conference since its birth back in 1983 and have had it share of chances to leave, most notably when The Missouri Valley was created and wanted to invite them (missed opportunity). Western in my opinion has three major options.
1) They can stand pat and hope Denver doesn't leave and stick with the eight they got.
2) They can leave and join another conference
3) Raid Division II or other lower tier Division I conferences and pluck new member that way
1) They can stand pat and hope Denver doesn't leave and stick with the eight they got.
Well, if you think about it and read what I put earlier it really is only a matter of time before Denver says goodbye and goes to a west coast conference if only now to deal with the crappy travel and likely one bid league. But say they do stay, the boost the basketball profile of the league and gives it a third or fourth team that is likely postseason bound which can only mean good things, especially in those tournaments they win.
But, if likely Denver bolts after a couple years and leaves the Summit League with only seven remaining schools, the rest of the conference would scramble for new homes with the Big Sky, Ohio Valley, or the Horizon League the main targets for other teams. Which pretty much is the third scenario for Western anyway
This scenario easily has the biggest chance for bust for both WIU and the Summit League.
2) They can leave and join another conference
The are three parts to this scenario...one those leave both the MVFC and the Summit League, they try and become full MV memebers or they leave the Summit and join another non-football conference.
Leaving both the MVFC and the Summit League would be a huge risk. The only real conference that would make any sense to join would be the Ohio Valley Conference. Now most people who are Western football fans would hate this move because of the whole "lesser" conference. And seeing that MVFC usually has about 4-6 teams ranked every year and the two-time defending FCS champs...those guys would be correct. Not to mention the Ohio Valley hasn't won a playoff game since 2000. Oh and before the thoughts in your head get too loud, the likelihood of Western going to the MAC is a pipe dream. They would have to upgrade Western Hall and Hanson Field and those are things years away (the day will come when they update the press box side of Hanson Field and get a new scoreboard)
Trying to become full members of the Missouri Valley would be ideal and so freaking amazing. But a packaged deal would probably have to be the ticket in. Which means SDSU, NDSU, South Dakota, and Nebraska-Omaha would have to be included. Now most likely a sixth team would have to found to bring that non-football total to 16 but it would pretty much be a win-win. And of course Western not only joins a better basketball conference, it stays in the best FCS conference out there. If this happens, what would likely happen is that Denver would go out West to find a new home and IPFW and IUPUI would try and get into the Horizon or even the OVC.
Leaving the Summit and joining another non-football conference, the Horizon would be the main and really the only option. Western would probably try and bring along everyone except Denver into the Horizon fold. And then you would have six MVFC schools as Horizon members...that's half the football conference.
Now of course WIU could try and do this all on it lonesome, but it would really make things harder on itself and you have to factor in the fact that if you don't, SDSU, NDSU, South Dakota, and even Nebraska-Omaha would try and bolt towards the Big Sky. Which is bad for so many reasons and would cripple the MFVC
3) Raid Division II or other lower tier Division I conferences and pluck new member that way
You have to take into account a few things...region, it has to be a non-football school, and it has to be willing to step up in class. That in mind you don't have may options. All football school are out either because they aren't ready to make the jump or they don't want to. So honestly does that leave? A couple of stretches, maybe. So this scenario doesn't really have legs.
Scenario two has the best options available and with three different ways of getting it done, you can see why Western holds the fate of the Summit League in its hands. Now of course this is just my perception on the whole thing. Of course I could be totally wrong about everything and Western drops to Division II, doubt it but anything can happen of course. Like I said before any and all comments would be loved (it means you read something) So I'm gonna go back and take another swig of my beer, eat the rest of this pizza (no i haven't been eating this whole time, i'm ain't that fat), and find something to watch on tv. Until next time
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