Summit Expansion?

[THEsocalledfan]

Was actually a pretty impressive season for the Vikes. 18-11 finish while starting 4 true freshmen and a true sophomore for the majority of the season with significant/season-ending injuries to our would-be-starting D1 transfer bigs. And we were still in the discussion to make the regional up until this Crookston game (we were 9th in the voting in the final regular season regional rankings). Playing good enough defense to keep Crookston from going 18-23 from three would've been helpful to keeping our season alive though. Really unfortunate way to end the year.

In general, if the Vikings can keep this group together in spite of the D1 conversation, they have a chance to make some noise for the next few years.

You promise to bring Crookston too? Hell, hope we can get Morningside! Dare to dream!

[MrAugustana]

You promise to bring Crookston too? Hell, hope we can get Morningside! Dare to dream!

Well that would just be silly. The Crookston media and corporate sponsors are nowhere near as eager to bring the Golden Eagles up to D1 as the Sioux Falls media and corporate sponsors are to see Augie move up.

[THEsocalledfan]

Well that would just be silly. The Crookston media and corporate sponsors are nowhere near as eager to bring the Golden Eagles up to D1 as the Sioux Falls media and corporate sponsors are to see Augie move up.

Well, we can hope the Sioux Falls media and corporate sponsors remember the teams they should support are USD and SDSU, and not Augie. We don't want tiny private colleges in our league; nor the NCC reformed, thank you.

[HerdBot]

Tom Douple was on the Insiders today, not sure if he talked about it

[MrAugustana]

Well, we can hope the Sioux Falls media and corporate sponsors remember the teams they should support are USD and SDSU, and not Augie. We don't want tiny private colleges in our league; nor the NCC reformed, thank you.

Golly... I hope somebody remembered to mention that to Augie's administration or we might have a problem on our hands in a couple of years.

[THEsocalledfan]

For those who are not following the story closely, the plot has thickened. Sanford's desire to have Augustana in the Summit is now clear. They want them to be a major tenant in the Sanford pentagon. They have now announced they will be playing conference games there. I always knew none of this was for altruistic reasons as Augustana is and never will be a legitimate Division 1 School.

[Yote 53]

For those who are not following the story closely, the plot has thickened. Sanford's desire to have Augustana in the Summit is now clear. They want them to be a major tenant in the Sanford pentagon. They have now announced they will be playing conference games there. I always knew none of this was for altruistic reasons as Augustana is and never will be a legitimate Division 1 School.

I believe they signed a 10 year agreement with Sanford to play conference games at the Pentagon.

Just Say No to Augustana.

[HerdBot]

Pros. The Summit which was once one of the most unstable leagues in the nation, will be rock solid stable. The conference has been so close to losing auto bids, scary.

Cons. Its Augustana. It looks like the NCC. Not the sexy name everyone is looking for. Makes the conference look less big time.

Overall this should be good for travel cost savings, help with attendance between the 5 Dakota schools.

I really wish we could snag a team like Kansas City or New Mexico state to at least create the illusion we're big time

[MrAugustana]

Pros. The Summit which was once one of the most unstable leagues in the nation, will be rock solid stable. The conference has been so close to losing auto bids, scary.

Cons. Its Augustana. It looks like the NCC. Not the sexy name everyone is looking for. Makes the conference look less big time.

Overall this should be good for travel cost savings, help with attendance between the 5 Dakota schools.

I really wish we could snag a team like Kansas City or New Mexico state to at least create the illusion we're big time

I understand that I am an Augie fan, so maybe I just have a skewed perspective on this, but if anyone is willing to explain to me why this is SUCH a horrible thing, I would love to better understand it. Even if the response is condescending in nature, helping me get some clarity on why this is an issue would be good. (Although a non-condescending answer would be even cooler.)

Does anyone really think partially resembling the NCC lowers the profile of the conference nationally? Do people think there are analysts or sports fans out on the coasts or in other parts of the country who are going to say, "Wow, that league sure looks a lot like the old Division II NCC. It must really suck."? I would assume the answer to that question is no, but I have been wrong before. It just seems very unlikely to me.

I keep reading on here that people don't want the "old NCC" back. How can it be any worse than adding a historically bad Kansas City team, or even having a team as consistently bad as Western Illinois in the conference?

To be clear, I completely understand other reasons that have been listed for not wanting the Vikings to join the Summit League. I am specifically wanting to understand the argument about how adding a former NCC member is a bad look or is less "big time," particularly if Augie does come in and manage to compete at a high level before too long. And I don't mean to direct this specifically at you, Herdbot. I'm asking for a general understanding from whoever on here wants to respond.

The only people who are going to even refer to or make mention of the old NCC will be the local media, and even that might stop after a year or two when everybody is over it. But it's not like is Summit League is going to announce that it is renaming itself the North Central Conference or something. At least, it would be very surprising if it did. So why is this such a big issue for so many fans of the other Dakota schools?

[Bison"FANatic"]

My concern would be would Augie be a penny pinching team when it comes to the outlay of money for coaching and scholarships. Are they going to be a team that is all in on things that come along like full cost of attendance or are they going to be the "well we are just a small school" we don't have the budget to cover increases that other teams in conference may want to implement. They would be the smallest college by far in the Summit I believe.