Big Sky Conference Announces Schedules/Formats

[SuperHornet]

?

[SDHornet]

[Darell1976]

And when UND beats Sac State you will hate us even more.

Kind of like how you guys beat us in hoops this year?

Hey....that's uh different. Our bball team forgot how to win on the road.

[Herky]

UND is a terrible outlier in the conference, UND doesnt belong in the Sky!

And when UND beats Sac State you will hate us even more.

We'll just have to see in September when it's nice an hot here in Sac... You do know what hot is don't you?

All razzing aside, I actually respect UND... Oh wait, I was thinking Notre Dame, your guys' logos look similar, my bad.

[Wildcat Ryan]

Anybody smell a Sac/UND rivalry brewing???

[clenz]

Don't like the PING!?

Not only to I think that cr@ppy PING is unholy, I can't stand the idea of someone hitting one JUST RIGHT and decapitating the pitcher.

I even use wood bats for slow pitch softball. Sometimes, people freak out about how it's somehow "illegal" (generally because they've never seen it before), or they think I'll "never get a hit." Well, as far as I'm concerned, getting one of those "top of the line" carbon composite bats would just be a waste of $500 because I'm never going to put one out anyway. I'd rather drop one in front of the outfielder and be happy with a single or (rare) double. I generally play for the walk, too, so I'm happy either way.

How long have you been using the same bat?

[SuperHornet]

Given that I haven't found a team since I got out of the Navy back in '07, I've probably been using the same bats for about ten years. I picked up the oldest of my current bats while I was in the base league at 29 Palms during the early 2000s.

[SDHornet]

Anybody smell a Sac/UND rivalry brewing???

Yeah it's going to rival that Sac-UNC rivalry that was born 8 years ago.

We've been getting a lot of negativity from UND posters when Bradly posted his "kick UND out of the Big Sky" article on his website last year. I think the UND folks took it personally and couldn't realize that "anti-UND" view is strictly from a financial one. I'm sure UND is a fine institution but that doesn't mean we have to care about and/or accept them with open arms when their addition to the BSC will cost us some good coin.

[SuperHornet]

Anybody smell a Sac/UND rivalry brewing???

Yeah it's going to rival that Sac-UNC rivalry that was born 8 years ago.

We've been getting a lot of negativity from UND posters when Bradly posted his "kick UND out of the Big Sky" article on his website last year. I think the UND folks took it personally and couldn't realize that "anti-UND" view is strictly from a financial one. I'm sure UND is a fine institution but that doesn't mean we have to care about and/or accept them with open arms when their addition to the BSC will cost us some good coin.

That said, we should recognize that in general, UND is represented here by good fans pretty much uniformly, as opposed to a certain someone else I won't name that gave us two trolls amongst the batch of otherwise good guys they sent us.

[Darell1976]

Anybody smell a Sac/UND rivalry brewing???

I hope so. I hope UND can get into some good rivals in the BSC. UND used to play Montana State all the time back in the 70's up to 1983 (the last meeting), and UND renewed its meeting with Montana in 2010, so old foes are coming back. Of course we are used to UNC being from the same conference in DII. Its going to be fun to play teams you haven't seen in decades (I remember UND getting crushed by NAU in 85), and playing new teams like EWU, PSU, Sac State, and Weber State (we won't see Weber St until 2014 I think). We may be the new team on the block along with SUU, Cal Poly and UC Davis...but don't take us GWFC teams lightly.

[Darell1976]

Yeah it's going to rival that Sac-UNC rivalry that was born 8 years ago.

We've been getting a lot of negativity from UND posters when Bradly posted his "kick UND out of the Big Sky" article on his website last year. I think the UND folks took it personally and couldn't realize that "anti-UND" view is strictly from a financial one. I'm sure UND is a fine institution but that doesn't mean we have to care about and/or accept them with open arms when their addition to the BSC will cost us some good coin.

That said, we should recognize that in general, UND is represented here by good fans pretty much uniformly, as opposed to a certain someone else I won't name that gave us two trolls amongst the batch of otherwise good guys they sent us.

Thanks for the compliment. We are good group of fans.

[Wildcat Ryan]

I would watch Weber State baseball and what better place to watch it than in the stadium of my favorite baseball team, the Ogden Raptors

Linquest Field would be good for Weber State baseball, if started. It would be the converse of the relationship between UVU and the Orem Owls, where the Owls play in UVU's stadium.

Maybe if the Big Sky sponsored baseball, UVU might possibly be added to the conference. UVU baseball finished the season nationally ranked this year with the highest win-loss percentage in the nation (but against a very low SOS).

In all honesty, I think there are two things that have so far kept UVU from getting a BSC invite.

1. Idaho (the prospect of them rejoining)

2. Lack of a football program (I know I remember hearing that UVU would create football if they got an invite, maybe the Big Sky wants them to already have one before throwing the invite out there)

[SDHornet]

If the BSC were to add an Oly only member (assuming Idaho doesn’t come), I’d prefer Bako over UVU as it would give us a much needed travel partner and offer the BSC more exposure to CA recruits. Adding a school because “they might” add football is dumb. I’m not sure what UVU or Bako offers in terms of sponsored sports they have and how that lines up with BSC sponsored sports.

Under the Bako plan, the travel partners would be as follows:

• • Sac-Bako: flight into Sac or LAX depending on which team is played first, then a bus ride through the valley to the second school and then a flight out of Sac or LAX. Flying into Fresno might be an option but I figured flights in and out of LAX would have the best flexibility and cost options.
  • PSU-EWU: flight into Portland/Spokane and visa versa on the way out
  • NAU-SUU: Not sure how travel is typically taken to get to Flagstaff. Flights in and out of Vegas and Phoenix with corresponding bus travel for this trip?
  • WSU-ISU: Not sure on the details but not a new travel configuration here.
  • UM-MSU: Same as above.
  • UNC-UND: By far the worst travel pair but that is the result of the UND add without USD.

Plus a 14 school would allow for divisional play further minimizing travel expenses. As a side note, if either UVU or Bako is added, that would give the BSC 5 baseball playing members. The school not added could be offered affiliate membership for baseball and the BSC could then sponsor baseball.

[dbackjon]

NAU usually flies out of Flagstaff on charters for football.
Some Oly sports fly out of Flag, some bus to Phx

[SDHornet]

NAU usually flies out of Flagstaff on charters for football.
Some Oly sports fly out of Flag, some bus to Phx

Yeah I wasn’t sure. I know we charter our football flights as well, but I assume non-charter is cheaper and therefore the preferred option for Oly sport travel.

[SuperHornet]

That might work out for the best, SD. But if we're going to talk about D-II call-ups (which Bako pretty much is), one might also want to talk to Central Washington as a full member. From what I understand, they're fairly good across the spectrum, though I don't know how that spectrum would mesh with BSC-offered sports.

I'll admit, though, that for Sac's purposes in terms of non-Football sports, Bako would probably be better. They had a pretty good D-II hoops program before they made the precipitous move without having a conference lined up. They wanted the Big West bad, but the Big West slammed the door rather hard on them, sort of like what the Sky did to the XDSUs.

[Darell1976]

That might work out for the best, SD. But if we're going to talk about D-II call-ups (which Bako pretty much is), one might also want to talk to Central Washington as a full member. From what I understand, they're fairly good across the spectrum, though I don't know how that spectrum would mesh with BSC-offered sports.

I'll admit, though, that for Sac's purposes in terms of non-Football sports, Bako would probably be better. They had a pretty good D-II hoops program before they made the precipitous move without having a conference lined up. They wanted the Big West bad, but the Big West slammed the door rather hard on them, sort of like what the Sky did to the XDSUs.

I remember UND playing them towards the ending of the NCC in the 2000's...They thumped us at home in 2002, but we beat them from 2004-2007. I think they would be a nice addition. Of course a team closer to us would be better...(NDSU??).

[SDHornet]

I'm impressed, this many UND posts and not one lakes/JBB rant.

[Darell1976]

I'm impressed, this many UND posts and not one lakes/JBB rant.

I heard Lakes got banned from cs.com

[clenz]

I'm impressed, this many UND posts and not one lakes/JBB rant.

I heard Lakes got banned from cs.com

Twice.....and I think he has now quit ags

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[Darell1976]

I heard Lakes got banned from cs.com

Twice.....and I think he has now quit ags

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

He'll be back.

[kemajic]

Montana and MSU both played varsity baseball historically, but the newly formed BSC never bought in and it was dropped in about 1970 or so. Admittedly, good baseball weather is rare in Bozeman in April. Only MSU-Billings (formerly Eastern MT College) curerently plays baseball collegiately in the state. There is not a lot of high school baseball; it is mostly American Legion sponsored baseball in the summer. And it is quite good.

[Mike Johnson]

If the BSC were to add an Oly only member (assuming Idaho doesn’t come), I’d prefer Bako over UVU as it would give us a much needed travel partner and offer the BSC more exposure to CA recruits.

Good arguments. In my opinion, both schools are very similar athletically, thus differences such as those mentioned would stand out. That said, I think UVU is growing faster (in terms of its athletics) and has a bright future. It may be academic, however, if the WAC, in desperation, adds both of them this week.

Adding a school because “they might” add football is dumb.

Agreed. UVU has club football right now. That may not mean anything, but some see it as the foundation for the intercollegiate program. I wonder if membership could be made conditional on starting a football team.

I’m not sure what UVU or Bako offers in terms of sponsored sports they have and how that lines up with BSC sponsored sports.

UVU:
Baseball/Softball
M&W Basketball
M&W Golf
W Soccer
W Volleyball
M Wrestling
M&W Cross Country
M&W Track & Field

CSU-B:
Baseball/Softball
M&W Basketball
M&W Golf
M&W Soccer
W Volleyball
M Wrestling
W Cross Country
M&W Track & Field
W Water Polo
W Tennis

• NAU-SUU: Not sure how travel is typically taken to get to Flagstaff. Flights in and out of Vegas and Phoenix with corresponding bus travel for this trip?

The Grand Canyon gets in the way of busing between NAU and SUU, making a fairly long transit either to the east or west of the Grand Canyon. Might be best to fly.

Another intriguing possibility is that Grand Canyon University wants to move up and has the athletics program to do so. Grand Canyon and NAU could be travel partners and SUU and UVU could be travel partners. CSU-B and CSU-S could be travel partners. 16 basketball schools (perhaps 2 divisions) and 15 football schools.

Distances:

213 miles (3:19) from SUU to UVU
283 miles (4:40) from CSU-S to CSU-B
138 miles (2:15) from NAU to GCU
All with interstates almost the entire way.

309 miles (5:46) from NAU to SUU (pretty much no interstate, unless you go through Vegas 420 miles and 6:43)

We'll see. I suspect, however, the WAC will offer all three of these schools this week with the presidents meeting. I think doing so is their only hope right now.

[Mike Johnson]

You can fly roundtrip from Sacramento to Cedar City (through Salt Lake) on Delta for about $250 right now. This is about $75 cheaper than flying roundtrip from Sacramento to Flagstaff on US Air ($327 is current cheapest flight).

[SuperHornet]

If there was griping on this board about my idea of calling up CSM to be a travel partner for nearby UNC, they're going to have greater issues with calling up Grand Canyon, a D-II private Christian school sans football. It was bad enough getting the conference to accept Cow Poly and UCFE, which were already D-I AND had football, and that was just as football-only associates. Accepting a D-II callup WITHOUT football will prove problematic at best, even with the idea that they would partner NAU.

Not to mention the fact that the moniker CSU-S is ludicrous. For athletics, we are Sac State, and academically, we go as CSUS (WITHOUT the stupid hyphen).