The Bobcat Nation

hokeyfine wrote:interesting how former div2 ndsu can have a schedule that will blow all big sky schools sos out of the water. yes, where they are located helps. to bad the presidents don't want them.

Which is a better market, Denver (UNC being a 90 minute bus ride after you land at DIA) or Minneapolis (and you can actually fly into Fargo)? I really wish Fullerton and his goons would have gone with NDSU instead.

Heck, CU is an hour and half from DIA!

For that matter, downtown Denver is a short flight from DIA.

Bleedinbluengold wrote:Heck, CU is an hour and half from DIA!

Bay Area Cat wrote:For that matter, downtown Denver is a short flight from DIA.

Its funny 'cuz its true

dont forget: Fargo-Moorehead metro is just about as big as denver metro

You piqued my curiosity with that comment. Did you mean population or area? Here what population figures I found:

Fargo-Moorehead: 159,000

http://www.bisonville.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1106246108

Granted, the source isn't official, but it summarized the info pretty well.

Denver metro: 2,400,000

http://www.denver.org/StaticPage.aspx?pn=facts#pop

Thing is, UNC is as much in the Denver "metro" area as NDSU is in the Minneapolis metro area. In fact, I'd bet that folk in the Twin Cities are more in tune to what happens in Fargo than people in Denver are with what happens in Greeley.

Cat Pride wrote:Thing is, UNC is as much in the Denver "metro" area as NDSU is in the Minneapolis metro area. In fact, I'd bet that folk in the Twin Cities are more in tune to what happens in Fargo than people in Denver are with what happens in Greeley.

I agree. I expect next to zero Denver metro attendance/attention for UNC, outside of a couple alums. I would have much preferred NSDU and SDSU. They have already proven that people care about and will attend games there.

Bay Area Cat wrote:

Cat Pride wrote:Thing is, UNC is as much in the Denver "metro" area as NDSU is in the Minneapolis metro area. In fact, I'd bet that folk in the Twin Cities are more in tune to what happens in Fargo than people in Denver are with what happens in Greeley.

I agree. I expect next to zero Denver metro attendance/attention for UNC, outside of a couple alums. I would have much preferred NSDU and SDSU. They have already proven that people care about and will attend games there.

I think what we get in UNC will be equivalent to what we already have in Suck-ramento State. We would have gotten so much more with the 2 Dakota schools.

Bay Area Cat wrote:You piqued my curiosity with that comment. Did you mean population or area? Here what population figures I found:

Fargo-Moorehead: 159,000

http://www.bisonville.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1106246108

Granted, the source isn't official, but it summarized the info pretty well.

Denver metro: 2,400,000

http://www.denver.org/StaticPage.aspx?pn=facts#pop

I'll quote myself, from another board.

theblackgecko wrote: By the way, for all the optimism over UNC being competitive, consider the quality of the Sac State program when it joined as compared to UNC. Sac State has two winning seasons in football in nine years, and did not win a conference road game in men's basketball (or make the playoffs) until 2003. It's 2005, and Sac (if one believes the Sac fans) is finally in a position to do something worthwhile in the conference after nine years of being the doormat in football, and men's and women's basketball.

It was a mistake for the 'Sky to add UNC. In December of 2010, when UNC still averages under 1000 for basketball and hasn't won 15 conference games in football (an average of 3 per year), and 20 games overall in football, we'll see how bad the 'Sky has fallen.
Meanwhile, NDSU and SDSU will be locked up in some other conference, with a couple of I-AA playoff berths, and a few NCAA B-Ball tourney berths.

Cat Pride wrote:Thing is, UNC is as much in the Denver "metro" area as NDSU is in the Minneapolis metro area. In fact, I'd bet that folk in the Twin Cities are more in tune to what happens in Fargo than people in Denver are with what happens in Greeley.

I grew up in the Minneapolis Metro area and there didn't seem to be too much interest in the Dakotas (other then UND hockey). I am sure that there is interest in the market, but most of the interest is in Big Ten sports. The one thing that the Dakota schools offer is the interest of the entire state. The Dakota schools have the same type of interest that our schools do; there are no professional teams to compete with and no larger colleges to compete with. The college teams are the main source of sporting entertainment in the Dakotas, but that is not the case in Colorado for UNC.

Hopefully when all the dust settles we will be with you in the Big Sky. I think the biggest threat to us not coming to the Sky would be getting an invite from either the Horizon or the Mid-Con. I would suspect that the Mid-Con would be the most likely. This would probably slam the door on the Sky as both the Mid-Con and Horizon would be decent homes for Basketball.

Despite the fact that Fullerton has us all pissed over only letting in UNC, UNC will be another vote in support of having NDSU in the Big Sky. Once UNC is playoff elegible it will not be possible for Sac and PSU to hold the Sky hostage as the Sky would still be able to hold on to the autobid for March Madness even if both schools left the conference (because of such strong opposition to NDSU being admitted). Also, the attitude of Sac towards NDSU could shift if Wanless, thier AD, were to be replaced. Wanless is a former AD at the University of North Dakota (that D2 school to the north of Fargo ) and he hates NDSU with a passion.

Pure speculation, but I suspect the votes on letting in NDSU would like up like this....

MSU - Yes
UM - Yes
Weber - Yes
ISU - Yes
EWU - Yes
UNC - Yes

NAU - ???
PSU - No
Sac - No

UNC has a strong tradition in playing both NDSU and SDSU and we will also be sharing the same wrestling conference. So, despite the fact that we are smarting from the second snub, there may still be hope that NDSU and Montana State are in the same conference in the end. If NDSU and SDSU are ever invited to the Sky it would mean that the Big Sky would have to finally acknowlege that the idea of expanding to a commuter school (Sac and PSU) in a major media market is indeed a failure and that it is far better to have a school that is a flagship for thier respective state (albeit a rural state). It would also mean that the Sky finally accept that Montana, Idaho, and rural location of some of the other Big Sky schools has a whole hell of a lot more in common with schools from ND and SD that schools in major metropolitain areas.

mquast53000 wrote:The one thing that the Dakota schools offer is the interest of the entire state. The Dakota schools have the same type of interest that our schools do; there are no professional teams to compete with and no larger colleges to compete with. The college teams are the main source of sporting entertainment in the Dakotas, but that is not the case in Colorado for UNC.

You said it much better than I. In the Denver area, they have CU, CSU, and Air Force - even Nebraska and WYO arent that far out of town compared to a drive to Greeley. Who in that metro area gives a rats ass about UNC except the people who go to school there. I'd bet (and this is purely speculation) that even the people of Greeley leave town to see the Buffs, Rams and Falcons play on Saturday.

I feel bad that NDSU didnt get the invite... but do I feel worse for them, or worse for us?

DF is an asshat with no business sense, never has never will, until a new commish comes in the BSC is screwed.

CatfaninGA wrote:DF is an asshat with no business sense, never has never will, until a new commish comes in the BSC is screwed.

I volunteer for the job. Not only would I grant huge favortism to the Cats I would make sure the griz got screwed at every opportunity. All in FAVOR?????

I don't like Fullerton either, but, was this a call that had to be made if Sac and PSU were going to bail had NDSU and SDSU got the invite. If that were the case then Fullerton and the Presidents had a gun to thier head because the Sky could not risk loosing the BB autobid. That autobid is worth some serious money.

PSU & Sac are more to blame then Doug- but Doug is still an idiot. I think that those two schools really have weakened the conference since their additions, and they continue to drag us down year after year. How is it that the two weakest schools are the ones making the decisions for the conference? That was a rhetorical question, I know the answer.

Nobody really thought the loss of BSU, Nevada and Idaho would be that big of an impact. But losing BSU hurt the most IMO. Boise is one of the few 1-AA teams that made the jump a success.

We don't know if the BSU thing is a sucess yet? Yes for 5 years but in 20 years? or 40 years? When I'm 80 and people are talking about BSU as an equal to Washington yes. U of Miami is the only school that I can think of that has really come from no place.

And what is sucess? U of Miami isn't a very good college that has let thugs take the University to national attention via football. I'd rather be Northwestern or Vanderbilt. ( A good academic University in a big conference that isn't any good in football)