MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hickory_cornhusker]

I first stuck this on the football page, but remembered Superior doesn't play FB.  Anyone seen this news?


UW-Superior moves to leave WIAC for Minnesota conference

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/statecolleges/uw-superior-moves-to-leave-wiac-for-minnesota-conference-b99252592z1-256049331.html#ixzz2zXtQImt5

I'd welcome Superior to the UMAC based on a competitive standpoint.  They're obviously within the geographical footprint of the UMAC, but maybe there are logistical challenges from having an odd number of total teams and an odd number of teams along the big lake, making it hard to play them all in one trip.

Looks like a problem for the WIAC in baseball losing the AQ.  Anyone remember why Eau Claire dropped baseball?

If the UMAC wants an even number of teams on Lake Superior, Finlandia is only a phone call away.

Edit: WIAC could call up Finlandia as well for their baseball team if they want to hold on to the AQ.

[wcbsas]

Wow. What happens to the WIAC?  Can they survive as a conference?   Might there be a public-private school merger? Could a couple of schools look to go D2? Something's got to change? Could the state legislature get involved?

[cubs]

Wow. What happens to the WIAC?  Can they survive as a conference?   Might there be a public-private school merger? Could a couple of schools look to go D2? Something's got to change? Could the state legislature get involved?

Nothing I would guess...  Only sport it MAJORLY affects is baseball.

[chmarx]

Baseball is fairly expensive, and its hard to get games in.  UWL came close to dropping it.  The sport is currently being subsidized by private donations.

[badgerwarhawk]

Wow. What happens to the WIAC?  Can they survive as a conference?   Might there be a public-private school merger? Could a couple of schools look to go D2? Something's got to change? Could the state legislature get involved?

Superior leaving the WIAC isn't going to have much, if any, impact on the WIAC's survival.    While it complicates things somewhat we'll be just fine with or without them. 

[Greek Tragedy]

No more byes in the WIAC.  The teams will be able to schedule (if anyone wants to play them) two more nonconference games. If you read the article, the WIAC commish is actually in favor of it and has no plans of adding a school.

[Just Bill]

If they could find an associate member that was willing to join just for baseball, I think the WIAC would do that. Other than that, I don't think it changes much.

So if UWS leaves the UMAC commissioner said the earliest they could join would be 2015-16 and the WIAC drops to six baseball teams. The NCAA allows a two-year grace period on AQs when a conference falls below 7 members. So the WIAC won't lose an AQ in baseball until at least 2018. So they have a solid four years to either find an associate member or see if UWEC or UWRF wants to restart baseball. UWEC is probably closer to doing that since they have a fairly solid club program (as solid as a club program can be anyway). UWEC is also in the middle of an athletics director search so who that person is and what they want to do would have a big effect.

Even if they can't get back to seven members I don't know if it changes the fortunes of the league that much. UWW and UWSP are nearly Pool C locks every year anyway. Now they would be considered in Pool B first, and then Pool C if they didn't get in. Last year there were four Pool B bids. With the addition of six WIAC schools to Pool B, that might raise it to five Pool B bids for the country. For the foreseeable future it's going to be hard to imagine that the top two WIAC schools aren't among the best 4-5 Pool B teams in the country. But again 2018 looks like the earliest that could happen.

Hurts more for the rest of the league who are often playing for the "one good shot" entry through the WIAC Tournament and the AQ. Those schools are now going to have to get in based on an entire season of work which, of course, is much harder.

[Gregory Sager]

I hadn't realized until I read the article that over half of UW-Superior's student-athletes are Minnesotans. With that in mind, as well as the travel issue and the huge enrollment disparity between UW-Superior and the rest of the WIAC that makes it harder for the Yellowjackets to compete in terms of segregated fees, the move to the UMAC makes a lot of sense. And, since the UMAC is already a private-public mixture in terms of membership, that's not going to be an issue for anyone in terms of that conference switch.

[Pat Coleman]

If they could find an associate member that was willing to join just for baseball, I think the WIAC would do that. Other than that, I don't think it changes much.

You would think so, definitely. Of course, not sure the WIAC's recent history of affiliation decisions has been great. (See hockey.)

[Pat Coleman]

Even if they can't get back to seven members I don't know if it changes the fortunes of the league that much. UWW and UWSP are nearly Pool C locks every year anyway. Now they would be considered in Pool B first, and then Pool C if they didn't get in. Last year there were four Pool B bids. With the addition of six WIAC schools to Pool B, that might raise it to five Pool B bids for the country.

By then the seven SAA teams will be out of Pool B because they'll have an automatic bid starting in 2015. Pool B in just about any sport is a moving target.

[sac]

I first stuck this on the football page, but remembered Superior doesn't play FB.  Anyone seen this news?


UW-Superior moves to leave WIAC for Minnesota conference

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/statecolleges/uw-superior-moves-to-leave-wiac-for-minnesota-conference-b99252592z1-256049331.html#ixzz2zXtQImt5

I'd welcome Superior to the UMAC based on a competitive standpoint.  They're obviously within the geographical footprint of the UMAC, but maybe there are logistical challenges from having an odd number of total teams and an odd number of teams along the big lake, making it hard to play them all in one trip.

Looks like a problem for the WIAC in baseball losing the AQ.  Anyone remember why Eau Claire dropped baseball?

If the UMAC wants an even number of teams on Lake Superior, Finlandia is only a phone call away.

Edit: WIAC could call up Finlandia as well for their baseball team if they want to hold on to the AQ.

Finlandia is a 4 hour drive to just Superior, WI.

Neat tidbit, Finlandia will not play any home games this season.

[sac]

Would UW-Parkside consider going D3?

[havej]

Parkside has been really good the last few years in basketball - I know they made the D2 tourney this year.  Hard to believe they'd want to drop to D3.  However, know nothing about other sports at the school and if D3 would make more sense.

[Just Bill]

Would UW-Parkside consider going D3?

Almost certainly not. They've got their niche in the state recruiting scene and they like it. They're not under any severe financial duress which would have them looking to cut budget. They're not setup to be a D-II power, but they're built to be a very sound all-around program.

[Gregory Sager]

Would UW-Parkside consider going D3?

Almost certainly not. They've got their niche in the state recruiting scene and they like it. They're not under any severe financial duress which would have them looking to cut budget. They're not setup to be a D-II power, but they're built to be a very sound all-around program.

UW-Parkside doesn't appear to fit the "very sound all-around program" description at the moment. A glance at the UW-Parkside athletics page tells me that the Rangers are only good in men's basketball right now; the rest of the school's teams look like they're struggling. But I don't know if it's written in stone that the Rangers are forever doomed to lack all-around competitiveness in the GLVC. Frankly, I don't know enough about the particulars of the GLVC to get a read on that.

It doesn't appear to me that UW-Parkside gets a lot of local fan support by D2 standards. Carthage, which is located three and a half miles east of UW-Parkside, typically outdrew its' D2 neighbor in terms of men's basketball home attendance by about a 2-to-1 ratio until this past season, when UW-Parkside outdrew Carthage for the first time in ages (if not the first time ever), averaging 855 fans to Carthage's 749.