Bisonguy
07-05-2003, 05:14 AM
Some of the Sioux fans seem to think that DI hockey will help UND(would have helped NDSU) find a conference if they decide to move up to DI. I decided to break down the numbers and see if it would help. Here's what I found:
Currently, of the 60 schools that have a DI hockey team, only 35 have full DI athletic programs.
Of those 35 DI schools, 6 are Ivy league. We can eliminate them from accepting any school from the midwest or upper great plains, even though they play IAA football.
Of the 29 remaining DI schools, 5 are in the Big Ten for other sports. No chance for anyone with a football stadium with seating less than 50,000 will get into the Big Ten.
Of the 24 remaining schools, 18 are on the east coast in states such as New York, Mass., Conn., Vermont, and Maine. This would make travel costs outrageous.
The six remaining schools are, drumroll please:
Bowling Green(Bowling Green, OH), Miami of Ohio(Oxford, OH), Western Michigan(Kalamazoo, MI) - Mid-American Confernce- this is a conference that has IA football. The Mid-American also already has 14 teams.
Denver(Denver, CO) - Sun Belt Confernce- Denver does not sponsor football- The Sun Belt is a conference with IA football.
Notre Dame(Notre Dame, IN)-Big East/Independent in IA Football- The Big East is looking for teams to replace Miami and Virginia Tech, but I doubt the replacements will have "North Dakota" in their name.
Air Force(USAF Academy, CO) - Mountain West Conference- this is a conference that has IA football.
Now, let's look at three conferences of the above teams for geographical reasons(I left out the Big East for obvious reasons):
Mid-American- University of Akron -Akron *OH,Ball State University Muncie *IN,Bowling Green State University Bowling Green *OH ,University at Buffalo, the State University of New Buffalo *NY,University of Central Florida Orlando *FL,Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant *MI ,Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti *MI,Kent State University Kent *OH,Marshall University Huntington *WV,Miami University (Ohio) Oxford *OH,Northern Illinois University De Kalb *IL,Ohio University Athens *OH,University of Toledo Toledo *OH,Western Michigan University Kalamazoo *MI *
Mountain West- Brigham Young University Provo *UT, Colorado State University Fort Collins *CO, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Las Vegas *NV,University of New Mexico Albuquerque *NM, San Diego State University San Diego *CA, U.S. Air Force Academy USAF Academy *CO, University of Utah Salt Lake City *UT, University of Wyoming Laramie *WY
Sunbelt-Arkansas State University State University *AR, University of Idaho Moscow *ID, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Lafayette *LA , University of Louisiana at Monroe Monroe *LA, Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro *TN, New Mexico State University Las Cruces *NM, University of North Texas Denton *TX
Will DI hockey help UND find a conference sooner?
In one word, no.
Currently, of the 60 schools that have a DI hockey team, only 35 have full DI athletic programs.
Of those 35 DI schools, 6 are Ivy league. We can eliminate them from accepting any school from the midwest or upper great plains, even though they play IAA football.
Of the 29 remaining DI schools, 5 are in the Big Ten for other sports. No chance for anyone with a football stadium with seating less than 50,000 will get into the Big Ten.
Of the 24 remaining schools, 18 are on the east coast in states such as New York, Mass., Conn., Vermont, and Maine. This would make travel costs outrageous.
The six remaining schools are, drumroll please:
Bowling Green(Bowling Green, OH), Miami of Ohio(Oxford, OH), Western Michigan(Kalamazoo, MI) - Mid-American Confernce- this is a conference that has IA football. The Mid-American also already has 14 teams.
Denver(Denver, CO) - Sun Belt Confernce- Denver does not sponsor football- The Sun Belt is a conference with IA football.
Notre Dame(Notre Dame, IN)-Big East/Independent in IA Football- The Big East is looking for teams to replace Miami and Virginia Tech, but I doubt the replacements will have "North Dakota" in their name.
Air Force(USAF Academy, CO) - Mountain West Conference- this is a conference that has IA football.
Now, let's look at three conferences of the above teams for geographical reasons(I left out the Big East for obvious reasons):
Mid-American- University of Akron -Akron *OH,Ball State University Muncie *IN,Bowling Green State University Bowling Green *OH ,University at Buffalo, the State University of New Buffalo *NY,University of Central Florida Orlando *FL,Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant *MI ,Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti *MI,Kent State University Kent *OH,Marshall University Huntington *WV,Miami University (Ohio) Oxford *OH,Northern Illinois University De Kalb *IL,Ohio University Athens *OH,University of Toledo Toledo *OH,Western Michigan University Kalamazoo *MI *
Mountain West- Brigham Young University Provo *UT, Colorado State University Fort Collins *CO, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Las Vegas *NV,University of New Mexico Albuquerque *NM, San Diego State University San Diego *CA, U.S. Air Force Academy USAF Academy *CO, University of Utah Salt Lake City *UT, University of Wyoming Laramie *WY
Sunbelt-Arkansas State University State University *AR, University of Idaho Moscow *ID, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Lafayette *LA , University of Louisiana at Monroe Monroe *LA, Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro *TN, New Mexico State University Las Cruces *NM, University of North Texas Denton *TX
Will DI hockey help UND find a conference sooner?
In one word, no.