From: LaxPower.com
Loyola University-Maryland has accepted an invitation to join the Patriot League at the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic and athletic year. Loyola's men's lacrosse team played in the Eastern College Athletic Conference alongside the University of Denver.
Loyola University-Maryland has accepted an invitation to join the Patriot League at the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic and athletic year. Loyola's men's lacrosse team played in the Eastern College Athletic Conference alongside the University of Denver.
Maybe DU should join them in the Patriot League for all sports.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather be playing Colgate and Lehigh than Utah Valley or Cal-State Bakersfied in a call-up-the-dregs of D-I WAC...
The Patriot League must be one of the most geographically compact NCAA conferences (check out the map on league wiki page). Hard to believe they would want a member in the Mountain Time Zone. Any chance DU could convince Air Force to consider joining as travel partners?
ReplyDeleteDU is really getting screwed by conference realignment. It would only be fitting if a hockey team left the new conference at the rate this is going.
ReplyDeleteDU doesn't want to be in a conference two time zones away with the expense and missed class time.
ReplyDeleteThe better solution would be for DU to gather some unhappy midwestern privates into their own conference -- Creighton, St. Louis, DePaul and Seattle are all ticked off at where they are now. That's a great nucleus to build around...
well we have to travel to play lax, we are the only show west of the mississippi, but for sports other than lax and hockey, anon 11:47 makes a good point, plus those are academically comparable schools
ReplyDeleteNo schools want the expense of their non-revenue teams flying around the country.
ReplyDeleteAnd no conference wants new members that can't bring a football team to the party.
DU has to fly non-revenue teams anyway. There are only 6-8 DI teams within 500 miles of Denver.
ReplyDeleteThat's why DU needs to be with teams that don't have scholarship football. Either WCC to the west or Creighton, St. Louis, DePaul, Loyola, Marquette, Bradley, Drake to the East.
I think most of us had always hoped for affiliation with the WCC. But the group Anon 11:46 mentions doesn't sound like a bad fit if you could get everybody together.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure the WCC is entirely out of the question.
ReplyDeleteThe issue right now is one of geographics. Given the current landscape, WCC teams would have to fly to Denver to play ONE game. That kind of travel budget is extremely hard to justify...particularly for non-revenue sports.
However...
If Air Force football is REALLY on its way out of the Mountain West, then I could see Air Force and DU as travel partners (and natural rivals) in the WCC.
A stretch, I know, but probably as likely as DU starting a football team...
Everyone thinks Air Force will end up in the Big East with Army & Navy.
ReplyDeleteEither way, the only way they leave the Mountain West is to join up Army & Navy.
6There is a fundamental flaw that D.U. has that can not be fixed. We are a high priced private school out here in the vast western U.S. If we were back east we would have multiple options. out here there is not even one good one. The schools that fit our model are from 1,000 to 2,000 miles away. The transportation costs are unacceptable. I can recall reading about out womens soccer team spending a week down in Florida playing schools I never heard of. Think of the costs involved for those games that had miniscule revenue.Then we have the football non football conundrum.
ReplyDeleteTher is no fit--period!
We should focus on what, we more or less, are doing. Fit our individual sports into what's best for that team. A perfect example is our hockey team joining the premier hockey league in the country. An excellent fit. Our new stars,mens laCrosse, are in the premier lacrosse league with enough attendence revenue to help defray the some of the costs.Our premier ski tea is in the only top tier ski league(?) in the country.
In summary ,there is no one size fits all solution for a private institution out here in the western mountains.Forget that and let's all go drink beer and root for our top flight hockey teams. Be thankful for what we have.
Great news for Ryder. He signed AHL contract with the Texas Stars based in Austin.
ReplyDeletefIf anyone needed more evidence that the WAC has completely self-destructed it is found in this article, where the WAC Commissioner suggests that for-profit, NASDAQ-traded, online-focused Grand Canyon University would be a great fit with the WAC, if only they could be DI-ready sooner. For the sake of DU's athletic future let's hope they can find an alternative soon.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.azcentral.com/sports/heatindex/articles/20120826grand-canyon-university-could-solution-wacs-uncertain-future.html
http://phoenix.fanster.com/2009/09/05/a-grand-plan-athletics-are-driving-expansion-at-grand-canyon-university/
Glad to hear about Ryder, I loved his style of play with DU. Is there anyone on the horizon with the potential to be a banger like Ryder?
ReplyDeleteRyder's partner on the blueline last year Josiah Didier gets my vote. It seemed like the Truck was teaching Didier the fine nuances of running over people.
ReplyDeleteWhy not the Summit League. Sounds awful to me also, but sounds better then independent. Midwester Div 1 league currently with 9 Teams and 3 in the Dakotas.
ReplyDeleteIt probably will never happen, but here is a list of possible schools for a West of the Missippii new conference similar to the Patriot. Besides Denver a few already have DI lacrosse. If they all added lacrosse this would be the West of the Miss. lacrosse league. Most already have soccer.
ReplyDeleteFrom this list and maybe a few move ups a 8-12 team new league could be created that would be a multiple bid Men's BB league. Some of these teams just changed to this is a message board fantasy vs. reality.
New Private DI Non-Football (Midwest to West)
Denver
Creighton
Drake
Bradley
Evansville
Loyola (Chicago)
Marquette (if leave BE)
Xaiver
St. Louis
Butler
DePaul (if they would leave BE)
Oral Roberts
Wichita State
BYU
Tulsa
Pacific (a non-Catholic in WCC)
Pepperdine (a non-Catholic in WCC)
Rice
SMU
Air Force (not private but similar academics)
Universiity of San Diego
Seattle
Gonzaga
Mayfield's the new tough guy for DU Hockey in my opinion. He's not as much as an open-ice hitter as Rides is; because Scott seems to always moving in the play...but within about 3 feet of the boards or so is where he's lethal. He's just got to learn to walk the fine line between making a dirty hit or cross checking from behind vs. throwing out a good clean hit on someone along the ends.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing he does exceptional well, is cover guys after he's flattened them out on the ice. With his big frame he just stands there, over them, looking the guy right in the eyes the whole time, just daring the guy to try and get up.... much like a pit bull does when it fights. lol
In my opinion, there are only two good options. First, make a big pitch to the Mountain West Conference (along with Seattle) to make an exception for two non-football schools. The benefit would be direct access to two of the largest metros in the western US. Or, beg the WCC and throw in a few dollars to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason we would not be an asset in both scenarios.
A Denver, Seattle, Drake, Creighton, St. Louis, Loyola core wouldn't be half bad for travel (all cities with decent airports). And, not that it could obtain a tv deal or anything, but those aren't bad MSAs to own either. Add Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota and you get a nice little NCHC voting block, too. But what does DU know about starting be conferences...
ReplyDeleteI still think MWC makes more sense and is less impossible than forming a new conference with those groups might be, though. DU's academics (better than all but one in MWC) and tv market (UNC is NOT Denver), plus it's athletic success, facilities, and driving distance to UNC, AFA, and WYO makes it a very attractive addition even without D-I Football. and although people keep saying we have been told "no," it seems like more o an assumption than solid fact.
It's not an assumption. It's fact. The MWC has shown NO interest in DU without football.
ReplyDeleteIf we could be in there, they would have reached out by now.
The conference options are bleak right now, and recruiting is going to be affected unless Peg can pull a (better) rabbit out of a hat.
Agree with previous poster. No way in heck does DU ever get into the Mountain West.
ReplyDeleteIn 1999 the Mountain West schools left the WAC. The last thing they are going to do is add DU & Seattle.
Denver is the third largest metro in the west with Seattle 7th. Any western conference that doesn't take that into account is not looking to the future. Plus, transportation costs to these cities are generally direct and easy.
ReplyDeleteI may be overly optomistic but I think DU has a lot of positives to influence a conference to bend their rules and/or geography.
Time will tell...
University of South Florida started a football team from scratch, as a state school (basically a commuter school, like Metro) ... booked the Tampa Bucs stadium (okay, the bottom half) and morphed into a D-1 team. Is that totally impossible in Denver?
ReplyDeleteBig West!
ReplyDeleteTim -
ReplyDeleteThe Mountain West is a non-starter for DU.
DU may be located in Denver, but they can't deliver the Denver TV market. Same with the University of Seattle.
And the last thing CSU wants is DU stealing recruits in what they consider their backyard. Just like the University of Florida doesn't want Miami or FSU in the SEC.
I would love for DU and Loyola Chicago (one of my alma maters) to be in the same conference. The smaller private school angle, e.g. LUC, Creighton, etc., has a lot of validity in my opinion.
ReplyDelete