Conference Expansion?

[vikingfaithful]

UCM has found a nice niche in baseball with many players from eastern ND and NW MN. With MSUM not sponsoring baseball and Bemidji struggling they have the region to themselves. Good for the War Dam Eagles.

[unknown]

Bemidji is apparently not a baseball school...woof that's bad. I'd think you could accidentally win more games than 2 out of 50

I just checked and since 2018 they have a combined record of 34 wins and 202 losses. I feel like recruiting baseball in the upper midwest has got to be hard with all the bad weather that hits every year. Tough to play for a school that you know will have to cancel or move most home games. I think Northern only managed a whopping two home games this year.

[Thunder]

I'm not sure expansion (more teams) is what most would want..considering how big the league has been. Considering the weather during the winter months, I'm not sure the non ND teams would be thrilled about another trip up to NoDak. On the completive front Jamestown is kinduva mixed bag but I'm not sure they'd be viewed as high performing but instead more of a filling in the gap for a departing UIU. That said, if the Jimmies do make advances towards D2, one would think they'd have to be getting some reassurance that the NSIC would possibly take them..otherwise what conference could they possibly go to given their geographic location..? A fair amount of things to consider here..but I'm saying now that I think we'll see activity on their end sooner than later....but, I might've been wrong before..haha!

I mostly agree with this. If Jamestown does make a D2 announcement in the future you can bet they have secured the NSIC invite. I can't say expansion is the best option either, but I do think some change is inevitable. The scheduling issues with an odd number of teams will need to be addressed. It's fine for football if you are one of the 6 teams to have your noncon game in Weeks 1-4, but if you are one the 7 that do not it makes it tough to schedule a game. And it is only going to get tougher with the GLIAC and GLVC adding an 8th team to even out their schedules. Perhaps something can be done with the MIAA, but I'm very doubtful Mike Racy will stand pat with 11 schools there either. The scheduling in other sports can be done with 15, but it's a pain I'm sure the ADs would rather not deal with. I do not think Jamestown would be overly competitive in football, but I do think they could compete in other sports. Short of Morningside accepting the rose from the NSIC, Jamestown is probably the best option. (Unless you could somehow strongarm St Cloud into resuming football and casting Crookston off to D3 where they belong).

[Stanger86]

I'm not sure expansion (more teams) is what most would want..considering how big the league has been. Considering the weather during the winter months, I'm not sure the non ND teams would be thrilled about another trip up to NoDak. On the completive front Jamestown is kinduva mixed bag but I'm not sure they'd be viewed as high performing but instead more of a filling in the gap for a departing UIU. That said, if the Jimmies do make advances towards D2, one would think they'd have to be getting some reassurance that the NSIC would possibly take them..otherwise what conference could they possibly go to given their geographic location..? A fair amount of things to consider here..but I'm saying now that I think we'll see activity on their end sooner than later....but, I might've been wrong before..haha!

I think it's a lot like the UMary and Minot additions. As you said, there's nowhere else to go. In Jamestown's favor is the number of trips that really aren't that bad. Yes it's "another trip" but it could be a lot worse from a travel perspective.

The teams may not all be to the NSIC's standards yet, but I think they have the potential and the infrastructure to become solid, much in a similar place as Upper Iowa was here.

[Thunder]

No offense meant, but why do you think those individual schools you've listed wouldn't vote to instill Jamestown? Do you have some inside man at these schools? Or is it simply the travel issues?

To be clear, I know nothing. This is just message board speculation from a fan of the NSIC. The vibe I have gotten from fellow posters lead me to believe Mankato, Augie, and (to a lesser extent) Duluth believe Jamestown would be far to inferior to join the conference. I feel like USF would have a similar view in relation to football but being fairly new to D2 themselves perhaps USF would be more willing to vote yes. I think Winona would be a hard no due to geography. I think Wayne would also like to see possible expansion come further to the south.

The list of 6 came from Witt's comment that he doesn't think Jamestown would get 10 votes. Obviously, Minot and Mary would be yes. I think Northern and Moorhead would be too. I don't think Crookston would be in a position to say no to anyone. Bemidji could object to more western travel too I suppose, but it seems like a reasonable trip for them. SMSU and CSP seem to me that they would want the NSIC to remain as stable as possible which would mean getting to an even number of teams. And if the new team is below them in the pecking order that might be ok too. I almost included St Cloud on my list of no as well as they would fall in line with their former NCC brethren, but without football their pull within the conference might be diminished somewhat.

[NSU4LIFE]

No offense meant, but why do you think those individual schools you've listed wouldn't vote to instill Jamestown? Do you have some inside man at these schools? Or is it simply the travel issues?

Read it again

[zimmy21]

Who do you see as the most likely holdouts? My guess would be Mankato, Winona, Duluth, Augie, USF, Wayne perhaps. I'm honestly not sure what the Northern administration would think. It would be an interesting conversation to listen to, but I'm guessing the scheduling problems will end up convincing 10 to admit the Jimmies.

No offense meant, but why do you think those individual schools you've listed wouldn't vote to instill Jamestown? Do you have some inside man at these schools? Or is it simply the travel issues?

[Matt Witwicki]

Who do you see as the most likely holdouts? My guess would be Mankato, Winona, Duluth, Augie, USF, Wayne perhaps. I'm honestly not sure what the Northern administration would think. It would be an interesting conversation to listen to, but I'm guessing the scheduling problems will end up convincing 10 to admit the Jimmies.

I'm not sure expansion (more teams) is what most would want..considering how big the league has been. Considering the weather during the winter months, I'm not sure the non ND teams would be thrilled about another trip up to NoDak. On the completive front Jamestown is kinduva mixed bag but I'm not sure they'd be viewed as high performing but instead more of a filling in the gap for a departing UIU. That said, if the Jimmies do make advances towards D2, one would think they'd have to be getting some reassurance that the NSIC would possibly take them..otherwise what conference could they possibly go to given their geographic location..? A fair amount of things to consider here..but I'm saying now that I think we'll see activity on their end sooner than later....but, I might've been wrong before..haha!

[Thunder]

I'd expect for Jamestown to announce their intentions to pursue D2 in the coming months. Not real sure they'd get a 2/3's vote as needed by NSIC members for the Northern Sun..but given their lot in the GPAC as a northern outpost..I think they will go after this.

Who do you see as the most likely holdouts? My guess would be Mankato, Winona, Duluth, Augie, USF, Wayne perhaps. I'm honestly not sure what the Northern administration would think. It would be an interesting conversation to listen to, but I'm guessing the scheduling problems will end up convincing 10 to admit the Jimmies.

[Matt Witwicki]

I'd expect for Jamestown to announce their intentions to pursue D2 in the coming months. Not real sure they'd get a 2/3's vote as needed by NSIC members for the Northern Sun..but given their lot in the GPAC as a northern outpost..I think they will go after this.

[SW_Mustang]

Bemidji is apparently not a baseball school...woof that's bad. I'd think you could accidentally win more games than 2 out of 50

What's odd about Bemidji baseball is they have zero draft picks and two major leaguers on the books - which is unusual, and more major leaguers than most NSIC schools.

Just a random bit of info I learned yesterday that I wanted to share, haha.

[Dan Brookens]

Bemidji is apparently not a baseball school...woof that's bad. I'd think you could accidentally win more games than 2 out of 50

[SW_Mustang]

In the Reusse column over the weekend in the Minneapolis Star Tribune talking with retiring SMSU coach Paul Blanchard, I thought this quote from Blanchard was interesting...

"We have a league that keeps getting better. I mean, Crookston, since they gave up football and have some resources, is really good, and Augustana's a power … [Minnesota State] Mankato, St. Cloud State, they're always good.

Crookston baseball caught my eye a few years back with the Zach Seipel situation given how unusual that was.

We can say what we want about the other sports, but their baseball team has become very competitive in a very short period of time.

[Stanger86]

Speaking of UMC.......the Golden Eagles finished third (3rd!!!!) in the final NSIC baseball standings

1. Augustana (39-16, 28-7)
2. Minnesota State-Mankato (35-13, 25-8)
3. Minnesota-Crookston (36-18, 26-10)

In the Reusse column over the weekend in the Minneapolis Star Tribune talking with retiring SMSU coach Paul Blanchard, I thought this quote from Blanchard was interesting...

"We have a league that keeps getting better. I mean, Crookston, since they gave up football and have some resources, is really good, and Augustana's a power … [Minnesota State] Mankato, St. Cloud State, they're always good.

[Thunder]

Speaking of UMC.......the Golden Eagles finished third (3rd!!!!) in the final NSIC baseball standings

1. Augustana (39-16, 28-7)
2. Minnesota State-Mankato (35-13, 25-8)
3. Minnesota-Crookston (36-18, 26-10)
4. St. Cloud State (28-17, 20-10)
5. Southwest Minnesota State (27-15, 19-13)
6. Minot State (29-17, 20-14)
7. Wayne State (24-24, 18-16)
7. Winona State (22-27, 18-16)
9. Mary (23-27, 16-19)
10. Upper Iowa (19-27, 15-19)
11. Concordia-St. Paul (17-28, 13-18)
12. Sioux Falls (15-35, 14-22)
13. Minnesota-Duluth (19-28, 12-22)
14. Northern State (11-31, 6-25)
15. Bemidji State (2-46, 1-32)

Baseball has been the one sport in which Crookston has been competent over the years.