The thing is, it’s not a “make 1 tournament every 10 years” situation in basketball. It’s a “make 1 tournament never” situation. We’ve been in the Mid-Con/Summit since the early 80s…40 years…and we have made the tournament zero times, and by the looks of things, that trend would have continued for the foreseeable future against the Dakota schools.leathernecks1 wrote:I would rather make 1 tournament every 10 years and compete in the tournament instead of making 5 and knowing that I am going to face a top 10 team and get blown out.
Moving to the OVC gives us much closer opponents (less travel costs and less time on the road for student-athletes), potential for actual rivalries (and the return of one that used to be pretty big), and better odds to actually make the NCAA tournament.
If we make a habit of winning games, making the tournament, and having large numbers of students and fans show up at games, then we can start talking about a conference that sets us up to compete in the tournament. For now though, I’d just like to see us make the tournament.
And with football…is it better to try to compete with the best teams in the FCS who spend twice what we do on football and continue to barely eek out 1-2 wins a season (which would pretty much ensure that attendance and financial support would completely disappear in a few years)…or…compete with teams that spend about what we do and that we can actually compete with, and actually finish in the top half of the conference?
This isn’t the 90s anymore. Our old conference-mates have blown past us on spending and facilities. We don’t have the money to compete on the same level as them, so we need to be in a place where we can, and save a TON of money on travel costs in the process.
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