Honestly, I think Denver is trying to cash in on the Denver market and get a semi big time basketball team going.

Otherwise (if they didn't really care about basketball) then they should drop down to D2 or D3 even and let Hockey continue to be the major draw and pay check.

Becoming an Independent you say? You got to be kidding, right? Denver must join a conference that represents its area like the Mountain West or Big Sky or the Pac-10. But I don't know about you thinking about this, guys. I'm just expressing a future re-alignment. That's all.

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

Denver in the MWC, PAC-10, WAC? ??? You have to be kidding right. You must not no alot about the University of Denver. It has no football, so that means no MWC or PAC-10. PAC-10 wouldn't add Denver. Big Sky is an I-AA conference but football is big for that league and they wouldn't take a non football school. It bascially leaves the Mid-Con, Big West, WCC, or MVC as close leagues for Denver. Big West likes it all California bus league now. MVC is becoming a league that challenges for the top spot after the BCS schools. So they are out. That leaves Mid-Con or WCC. I doubt WCC is going to add Denver, so that leaves the Mid-Con.

OK. You win. I'm sorry. I was trying to idealize a prediction, you know.

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

Believe it or not, Commissioner Benson of the WAC has publicly mentioned Denver as a possible 10th WAC school. With 9 football and 10 basketball members, that type alignment becomes very favorable for scheduling. Don't count Denver out of the WAC or even the WCC or MVC (but do count them out of the MWC). If Denver wins the SunBelt and makes the NCAA, they may get much more attention this spring. The Mid Con and the Big Sky are step downs that Denver has refused offers from.

As far as dropping down to D2 or D3, Denver's recent hockey championships have helped expand their financials - almost equivalent to getting to the BB round of 32. ONly Denver gets to keep their whole take, as it is not sent to the Sun Belt. If Denver was D2 or D3, the NCAA would only pay their expenses and not reward them financially from the DI hockey tournament, which pays more than any other NCAA tournament except men's BBall.

Ever since the Western schools (New Mexico State, Idaho and Utah State) left the Sun Belt, Denver has been looking for a new home. It seems that people who know nothing about DU place them in the Mid Continent. From everything that I have heard as a DU alum who has talked with a number of athletic department folks over the past few years there is no way that DU will join the Mid Continent. They have already turned down overtures from the Big Sky. I have heard that their dream conference is the WCC, but we have to prove that we can build our men's BB program up and draw decent crowds. The WAC commissioner has said that they would look at DU if they can build up Men's BB crowds. This is the year that DU could do it with a strong team returning that won the Sun Belt regular season title and went on to the NIT. If the WCC were to expand by 2 they could take DU and Pacific which are both strong private schools without football. Last year DU came in second among st all DI AAA schools (no FB) in the Sears Cup and had more points than anyone in the Rocky Mountain region. If the WCC doesn't workout then it will probably be the WAC, but a long shot could be DU adding DI AA football and going to the Big Sky. This would be great but with all the pro sports in Denver might be a hard sell, but it could work. This is the first year for our new AD and I bet we will have a new home no latter than 2007 and it won't be the Mid Con. Just watch and see for you have to remember that DU is a private school with lots of money and a strong local alum base that will support a winning DI men's BB program just like they do for a winning hockey program.

Just curious, it was mentioned that DU doesn't have to share its hockey money with the Sub Belt (which seems obvious as they are not in the Sun Belt for hockey).

But, do they have to share the money with the WCHA teams (the hockey conference they're in)?

The DI schools in my understanding get reimbursed without conference sharing provisions. (Most of the WCHA schools are non-DI, which are ineligible for more than travel expense reimbursement.) Last year's Frozen Four payouts to Denver and Minnesota was further fattened by the fact that the other two FF schoos, UND and Colorado College, are not DI.

That seems awfully unfair to the DII hockey schools since there is no Division II hockey championship.

Why is there no DII hockey playoffs?

There's DIII, right?


Is there not enough teams?

Because of the numbers, there's simply no Division II hockey... I believe there really aren't enough D-1 teams, much less enough D-2 teams.

Therefore, D-1 is scholarship, D-3 is non-scholarship.

I see.

It's a weird way to classify it, in my opinion. It allows fans of schools like UND and Colorado College to claim that they have DI national championship titles when they are in fact DII and DIII schools respectively.

BTW... Big Sky attendance averages for 2005:

Montana, 23,532 (a record, naturally).
Montana State, 13,624 (that may also be a record).
Weber State, 10,151.
Idaho State, 8,480.
Northern Arizona, 7,909 (only school in the Sky where attendance fell from last year).
Eastern Washington, 7,090.
Portland State, 6,597.
Sacramento State, 5,833.

May as well throw in Great West here:

North Dakota State, 14,160.
Northern Colorado, 7,510 (after stadium expansion).
South Dakota State, 6,972.
Cal Poly, 6,959.
UC Davis, 6,618 (with one game to go versus Northern Colorado).
Southern Utah, 3,264.

Interestingly, only NDSU and UNC improved on 2004... and Cal Poly made the playoffs.

I say that the Big Sky Conference and the Great West Football Conference should merged into one conference. And that's when UC-Davis join as an associate member for Big Sky football and Cal Poly join as a full member.

Prediction:

North Division

Montana
Montana State
Idaho State
Eastern Washington
Portland State
North Dakota State
South Dakota State

South Division

Weber State
Northern Arizona
Sacramento State
Northern Colorado
Cal Poly
UC-Davis (associate member)
Southern Utah

P.S.: That way the conference might have a possibility of 2 divisions for most of its sports (football, basketball, etc.). And for football, it's enough for the conference's first ever conference championship.

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!