What school would be most beneficial to WIU to join Summit?

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Western_101
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I was pondering what would be best for Western. I hate that I have to consider OVC as perhaps our best option. However, If we stayed the course with the Summit and MVFC for football what addition to the Summit would be most beneficial to Western?

The list I came up with includes the following:

University of Missouri St. Louis
Lindenwood University
University of Central Missouri
New Mexico State University
UMKC

I couldn't find even a remote reason for any of the current Horizon Membership to want to switch affiliation. I do see a couple of WAC schools that might want to join (re-join). I'm sure Denver and Oral Roberts would get behind any of the five Universities I have listed.

Curious what other people think? We need an addition to the league that is NOT centered around the Dakotas.
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Western_101
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Not sure why I threw New Mexico State in the Mix. That wouldn't help our travel budget or translate into a regional rivalry. I know they are looking for a home.
leatherneckcountry
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For the league I say New Mexico St but not for WIU I would probably say UMKC would be the most beneficial
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ST_Lawson
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RedNeck wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:28 pm Not sure why I threw New Mexico State in the Mix. That wouldn't help our travel budget or translate into a regional rivalry. I know they are looking for a home.
I highly doubt we'll see NMSU join up with the Summit and/or MVFC. They want to stay FBS for as long as possible, but even if they drop down, I think they're more likely to push the WAC to start FCS football and maybe pick off a couple of the more southern Big Sky teams. Summit-wise, like you said, travel would suck (like having SUU back).

UMKC is ok...they don't bring a ton to the table, but they're a good travel partner with Oral Roberts and they're another non-Dakota school.

There's strong rumors that Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD) is wanting to go DI and join the Summit. I think it's a dumb idea for a school that small in a state that small that already has two DI schools, but it looks like it's likely to happen at some point. It would add another baseball team, which has been a concern. if we drop below a certain number of teams in a sport...5, I think...we lose our auto-bid for baseball, which could jeopardize our conference auto-bid for the NCAA basketball tournament. I think they'd likely take their football team to the Pioneer League if they did this.

My personal choice for a possible addition to the Summit would be to try to get SIU-Edwardsville. Probably not very likely, but they play baseball, they're pretty close to us, so travel would be easy (and give us a travel partner that isn't 2 states away). Plus, no football team to have to find a home for. Alternately, if a DII team in the St. Louis area wanted to move up to DI. You mentioned Lindenwood or UMSL...I think UMSL would fit the profile a bit better...they're a bit larger than Lindenwood, public university, have a baseball team, and don't have a football team to find a place for. They also have all the location advantages of SIU-E.
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leatherneckcountry
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ST_Lawson wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:28 am
RedNeck wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:28 pm Not sure why I threw New Mexico State in the Mix. That wouldn't help our travel budget or translate into a regional rivalry. I know they are looking for a home.
I highly doubt we'll see NMSU join up with the Summit and/or MVFC. They want to stay FBS for as long as possible, but even if they drop down, I think they're more likely to push the WAC to start FCS football and maybe pick off a couple of the more southern Big Sky teams. Summit-wise, like you said, travel would suck (like having SUU back).

UMKC is ok...they don't bring a ton to the table, but they're a good travel partner with Oral Roberts and they're another non-Dakota school.

There's strong rumors that Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD) is wanting to go DI and join the Summit. I think it's a dumb idea for a school that small in a state that small that already has two DI schools, but it looks like it's likely to happen at some point. It would add another baseball team, which has been a concern. if we drop below a certain number of teams in a sport...5, I think...we lose our auto-bid for baseball, which could jeopardize our conference auto-bid for the NCAA basketball tournament. I think they'd likely take their football team to the Pioneer League if they did this.

My personal choice for a possible addition to the Summit would be to try to get SIU-Edwardsville. Probably not very likely, but they play baseball, they're pretty close to us, so travel would be easy (and give us a travel partner that isn't 2 states away). Plus, no football team to have to find a home for. Alternately, if a DII team in the St. Louis area wanted to move up to DI. You mentioned Lindenwood or UMSL...I think UMSL would fit the profile a bit better...they're a bit larger than Lindenwood, public university, have a baseball team, and don't have a football team to find a place for. They also have all the location advantages of SIU-E.
I agree on SIUE but I just don’t see a benefit for them they have very minimal success in a league that is probably worse than the summit outside of the top two schools.
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Western_101
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As Scott mentioned. SIUe would be by far the best addition. I just can't see them wanting to switch to a D-I league that requires travel to four Dakota Schools. I really like the idea of UMSL, however, is sure seems schools in Missouri are very content to stay at the D-II level, probably smart on their part collectively.

This Auggie think seems like it is being rammed down our throat. It's ridiculous to think that a State with a smaller population than DuPage County needs 3 D-I schools. If the SUMMIT isn't interested in anything but Dakota I think it is time WIU departs and finds a new home with the OVC. It's only a matter of time before Fort Wayne bows out of D-I or somehow sustains it and goes Horizon. I think Denver would prefer to be in the Big Sky. I don't have and answer for Oral Roberts. They already tried Southland. Maybe WAC or Sunbelt.
leatherneckcountry
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So UMKC is officially back in the summit next summer.
wiu712
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leatherneckcountry wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:57 pmUMKC is officially back in the summit next summer.
As noted above, this is the Summit League's press release:
http://thesummitleague.org/general/2018 ... 0620sts1tx
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sealhall74
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So are we moving to a 10 team hoops tournament bracket? Just need a couple of play-in games added.
Embrace the pace of the race.
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Tere North
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sealhall74 wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:05 am So are we moving to a 10 team hoops tournament bracket? Just need a couple of play-in games added.
Should be the top 8.
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