UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

posted by MICHAELSPAPPY , Booneville, Ark., 06-08-2005, 07:39, from 167.159.1.2
Some interesting material from ASU's message board


The Southland Conference Board of Directors has determined the league will continue potential membership discussions with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the University of Central Arkansas.

The institutions were among five invited to give presentations to the Board on May 21 in Houston. The Board of Directors, which consists of the presidents of Southland institutions, met again June 3 at the Southland Conference Spring Meetings in Galveston, Texas, to review the information from the May 21 gathering. Those discussions led to the decision to continue talks with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the University of Central Arkansas. The Board deferred decisions at this time on other institutions.

Edited by admin:

Per request, the story has been removed and replaced with this link.
http://www.tribalgrounds.com/index.php? ... ANN_id=405

Happy days are here again!!!!!!!

Burly Bear

The first post above was taken directly from the Soutland Conference's website. Here's the link.

We will start searching the Southland website and other I-AA sites for news and adding that to the newsstand as well.

Thanks for the info Last Bear.

I did some research on travel to Southland and Ohio Valley schools. Here's the comparison I got:

[table][row color=cccccc]Southland[col]miles[col]Ohio Valley[col]miles
[row color=cccccc]UTSA San Antonio, TX[col]615[col]Morehead, KY[col]648
[row color=cccccc]San Marcos, TX[col]567[col]Richmond, KY[col]612
[row color=cccccc]Thibodaux, LA[col]509[col]Charleston, IL[col]503
[row color=cccccc]Huntsville, TX[col]507[col]Jacksonville, AL[col]475
[row color=cccccc]Lake Charles, LA[col]459[col]Cooksville, TN[col]451
[row color=cccccc]Beaumont, TX[col]429[col]Birmingham, AL[col]400
[row color=cccccc]Hammond, LA[col]419[col]Clarksville, TN[col]374
[row color=cccccc]Arlington, TX[col]361[col]Nashville, TN[col]372
[row color=cccccc]Nacogdoches, TX[col]322[col]Murray, KY[col]322
[row color=cccccc]Natchitoches, LA[col]310[col]Cape Girardeau, MO[col]315
[row color=cccccc][col][col]Martin, TN[col]304
[/table]

Average travel to Southland games: 449 miles
Average travel to Ohio Valley games: 434 miles

I think you can forget about the Ohio Valley Conference.

I am told they have no interest in us whatsoever.

Burly Bear

Ohio Valley would be one more game which is what brings the average down. With out that game in Martin, the average travel to Ohio Valley would be 447 vs the 449 in Southland. Now if Burly Bear's source is correct, that would be a drastic difference in travel time... Personally, I feel there would be more fan following to Southland locations than Ohio Valley locations.

I have to say that the post from arkstfan is probably the most intelligent and kind thing I have ever heard an ASU fan say...especially about anyone other than ASU. That said, I don't think any school in Arkansas is trying to "take on" the Razorbacks....other than ASU. I don't think the next step for UCA is to determine if they want to be the team that everyone pays attention to when the Hogs aren't playing. Bear fans pay attention no matter who else is playing. Moving to D1 would be a great thing for UCA sports on many levels as well as for the school in general. I am a UCA alumni and fan, but I still like Hog sports, and I don't think there is a thing wrong with that. I'll keep supporting the Bears and the Hogs as long as I can...no matter what conference or division either of them are in.

I agree with you. I HOPE we don't turn into sniveling injuns whining, complaining, and griping that U of A won't play us, why can't we have their share of the pie... I really don't think we will do that, I havent seen that type of attitude publically at least from UCA or its Alums anywhere.

One thing the stAte fan left out was the fact we BEAT UAPB a couple of years ago in football, and then they pulled out of last year's game becauses someone at their school doesn't know how to read a calendar apparently, or at least that was my impression of the situation. I also not so sure BOTH our basketball teams wouldnt whip theirs this past season as well.

"The heat really started turning up when the Tribe began fielding truly competitive basketball teams, competitive enough to take the Hogs to overtime in Fayetteville, courtesy of the NIT. When ASU re-joined I-A full-blown hate developed for a program that was not content to stay “in its place”. "

It's funny the 2 of the 3 biggest games of stAte's basketball resume have been NIT games. One of them back in March for a women's NIT game with the Lady Backs. And on some levels being in the 1st round of the NIT doesnt really tell me you are trully competitive in the NCAA, it means you were just good enough to go over .500. Competitive means actually going to the NCAA Tournament and winning there. Which ASU has once I believe (I could be wrong on that number) and even UALR has actually WON a game in the tournament. So in that aspect they are behind the Trojans.

But back to my original point and I'll end this dissertation, we are NOT like injuns. We don't act like them, we don't sound like them, and we won't turn into them!

Preach it girl!

A few points.

1. Please don't cut and paste articles from the front page of TribalGrounds. While it is not a profit making venture by any stretch, visit counts impact our ad revenue. Please post a link instead, its good manners and not illegal.

2. If you have visited TribalGrounds you know it is not just me. The majority of ASU fans welcome UCA to Division I and expect that we will be meeting in a number of sports.

3. I'm well aware of UAPB pulling out of the series. If you ever visit anygivensaturday.com I told the story there, but it wasn't relevant to this piece.

4. If you think the pinnacle of ASU basketball was the NIT, you woefully lack knowledge of our history. Three consecutive wins over Memphis IN Memphis, four consecutive wins over Ole Miss, defeating #18 Iowa at Iowa. Defeating Stanford at Stanford. Defeating Eddie Sutton and Oklahoma State in Jonesboro. Defeating Houston and Cincinnati in Jonesboro all rank as bigger games in our history. I referenced the NIT game because it fit the subject. As to the women's resume. No WINNING the Women's NIT was bigger along with a number of wins over nationally ranked programs, including a Final Four bound La.Tech. The win over the Arkansas women wasn't nearly as important but it was fun and a lot easier.

5. You just think you can live in harmony with the Hogs. I suggest you visit the web sites of not only Sun Belt, MAC, and CUSA schools but those of you soon-to-be friends in the Southland. Just within the Southland you can see the anger of the Louisiana schools that LSU is forking out $400,000 to play I-AA Appalachain State instead of hosting one of them. The Texas schools have been disgruntled that Texas A&M played conference-mate McNeese State but not them.

This site would be filled with fury if UCA joins the Southland and ASU scheduled NW Louisiana but not ASU. You have never been in that position. For a decade when the media asked about ASU-Arkansas, the answer was "We don't play I-AA schools". The day ASU played its first game back in I-A Arkansas played a I-AA school. Hog fans trot out the "you aren't worthy" argument yet the schedule is littered with our conference mates. New Mexico State loses at home to ASU, yet they are worthy enough to host the next year. When it looked like the I-A criteria was going to be hard to meet (prior to the last NCAA meeting) Arkansas undertook to insure that Louisiana Monroe would remain I-A for a decade by signing a five game contract that made ULM the home team. ULM "worthy" but has lost three in a row all away from Jonesboro to ASU.

Your time will come.

Trey, in football the Bears would have an easier time transitioning to the OVC but the numbers just don't work. They have 11 basketball members so adding in basketball would make sense, but they have 9 football members and going to 10 makes no sense in I-AA. The NCAA rejected 12 games for I-AA so you are faced with either an 8 game schedule and everyone missing an opponent (could be really nasty if two teams tie for first and haven't met and only can get the automatic berth) or you go with a 9 game schedule which leaves only 2 non-conference games.

The Southland on the other hand with SE Louisiana moving in for football and adding UCA and TAMU-CC would be a 12 for basketball and 8 for football which works very well giving teams 4 non-conference dates to play with.

I see your point. I guess I've grown accustom to only have 2 non-conference as we do now in the GSC. The OVC could always split into East/West or N/S like the SEC or other big D1 schools.

Since I hadn't heard anything about OVC in a long time, I figured it was out, but I just wanted to let everyone know the comparison. Thanks for the insight though.

I'm sure there might be more 1-AA differences I'll realize I didn't know...

While there isn't a standard scheduling philosophy in I-AA just as there isn't in I-A, for the most part schools want at least three non-conference slots and several of the better I-AA leagues have four.

That gives enough room to go on the road for a check against a I-A which could range from $85,000 to $300,000 (there have been a few bigger I-A/I-AA checks but rare enough to be newsworthy) a Division II or NAIA tune-up game, and then a game against another I-AA. Some schools go for a fairly close-by I-AA (ie UCA might go for an OVC or Southern Conference opponent) some go for the easiest to beat that they can find (ie. a SWAC or Big South school) or a low or non-scholie team from a league like the Pioneer. Others trying to impress the selection committee will chase after a school like Montana, Southern Illinois, James Madison, Delaware, or Georgia Southern.

The flexibility is nice. With the contracts UCA has in place, it looks like the admin is locking in some easier games, which makes sense for a transitional school to do in those early years. The patsies scramble to play you in the hope you will be struggling, then when they see you aren't, they start asking for more money, if they will even play you.