(12-01-2017 06:39 PM)LatahCounty Wrote: (12-01-2017 06:00 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote: The trouble with any sort of Big North, Dakota/Montana/Idaho/Omaha/Denver league is what do you do with ORU, WIU, and IPFW?
Unless the Horizon feels benevolent and sweeps in to take WIU and IPFW the Summit is crowded and has some geographic baggage that is unattractive for any Mountain time zone teams. There's also the question of wether Idaho and the Montanas would even find it attractive.
It's actually an open question whether any of these schools find it attractive. I mean, I like it, but I'm a just a guy on a message board and so is NoDak. The only thing I've heard from Idaho's AD is that he wants to stay with the Montanas from here on. No mention of any Dakotas at all.
There is no question that the Montana, Dakota, Denver and Idaho Presidents find it academically attractive. Think they see it as athletically attractive too.
UND and NDSU fans absolutely hate each other.
Same goes for the Montana's and South Dakota's too but maybe not so much.
The Montana / North Dakota rivalry has always been strong especially in western ND and eastern Montana.
UND ties in Denver and Omaha by way of hockey, as that is the centerpiece sport for each of them and they want and need that in other sports. Montana and NDSU fb fans always seem to be talking about each other.
UND and NDSU have built budgets that dwarf the Montana's and Idaho but not overpowering like the MWC budget.
The Montanas are bound to each other.
SDSU will follow NDSU like a little lambs or rather like good bunny rabbits, as they always have.
USD needs SDSU and Omaha.
Idaho knows it needs the Montana's after its experience with Boise St, which has renounced their former rivalry.
EWU needs Idaho and the Montana's for attendance and relevance. EWU without them is almost unthinkable. Portland St would be a booby prize in comparison.
The only school left in the Big Sky that could roll with this group is Weber St.
The league is would be one of the most stable ones out there except the P5 minus the B12 and the Ivy League. Its just a matter of time and only one of IPFW, ORU, or W Illinois needs to leave so the votes are there. Its a slam dunk easy prediction. Yet Jacksfan still complains because Sioux Falls won't host so much.