Leatherneck Nation

That time of year when I have my rant about where Western places in the different Summit conference award rankings. Listed below appear to be final 2015-2016 standings, since baseball is over-taken from the SDSU board.

It seems year after year Western is near last when evaluating head to head success in the Summit conference sports. I don't like to appear negative,and many factors might account for the dismal success year after year. However, it appears Western has a hard time being successful year after year.

Commissioner's Cup

SDSU 98.5
NDSU 79.5
USD 75.5
ORU 72.5
UNO 66.5
IUPUI 65.5
Denver 62.0
WIU 42.0
Fort Wayne 41.0


Men's Award

SDSU 40.5
ORU 32.5
IUPUI 30.5
NDSU 28
UNO 27.5
Fort Wayne 22.5
Denver 22.5
WIU 18
USD 16

Women's Award

USD 59.5
SDSU 58
NDSU 51.5
ORU 40
Denver 39.5
Omaha 39
IUPUI 35
WIU 24
Fort Wayne 18.5

I know I'm supposed to know this, but, can someone fill me in on exactly what the Commissioner's Cup is and how points are assessed?

BTW I like Rants.

basically points are rewarded on where you finish in the conference for each sport so if you win the conference you get however many points it is for winning in that sport.

RedNeck wrote:What is the Commissioner's Cup and how are points assessed?

The Commissioner’s Cup is given annually to the member institution that collects the most combined points in relationship to placement in league-sponsored sports between its men’s and women’s athletic programs.

For example: Baseball

Placement / Points
1st Oral Roberts = 6
2nd Omaha = 5
3rd IPFW = 4
4th South Dakota State = 3
5th North Dakota State = 2
6th Western Illinois = 1

Here's the official release from the Summit League showing the standings for each sport and points awarded for each placement.
http://static.psbin.com/g/g/icf7ed2vv3h ... -s_Cup.pdf

At the bottom is a chart that shows all the points also. Makes it easy to see that we did well in Men's Golf, decently in Women's Basketball and Softball, but were pretty low in most other sports. Last place gets you 1 point and there's one point for each placement higher, with the highest points for the sport being the number of schools that sponsor that sport, and half point for ties.
For example, all 9 schools have women's basketball, so the first place team gets 9 points (second gets 8, etc.).

So what sport will deliver out next league champion? That is a tough one. I am going with men's golf mostly because the uphill climb is just a tad easier.

sealhall74 wrote:So what sport will deliver out next league champion? That is a tough one. I am going with men's golf mostly because the uphill climb is just a tad easier.

It or men's soccer would be the best bet.

ST_Lawson wrote:At the bottom is a chart that shows all the points.

In looking at that chart, we have ten 1's (last place finishes).

Lots of factors play in to this: Location, facilities, budget, rivalries, weather, ...
Any school can have a mulligan season now and then. But a long-lasting downward or even upward trend always boils down to one thing: recruiting. Take NDSU softball for example. Lousy weather in Fargo early in the season. However, they have 10 players on their roster from California or Florida where you can play softball year round. Another thing that sticks out IMO is that the schools which have the largest rosters seem to be faring the best. Scholarship limits are the same for everyone. Walk-ons and overall participation level is not. Are we "ALL IN" in all sports? I dont think so.

Obviously baseball and basketball were disappointments this year on the men side and volleyball and soccer hurt on the women's side.