Summit League Preview – Men’s Basketball

Since UNO is joining the Summit League, something new and unfamiliar to all of us, I thought it’d be helpful to take a look at the League and the Sports that they offer, and what UNO can expect.  For a list of all the posts on the different sports, please refer back to this intro.

Men’s Basketball History

Tournament and Regular Season History

Let’s start by addressing Regular Season History.  Western Illinois won the original conference regular season, going 9-3 in 1982-83.  They have not won a title since then.  Illinois Chicago would win the second year with a 12-2 record in 1983-84.  They would not win another title.  Cleveland State went back to back in 84-85 and 85-86, followed by 4 straight from Missouri State between 1986-87 and 1989-90.  The early 90′s saw 3 different teams win the title in 4 years.  Northern Illinois in 90-91, Green Bay in 91-92 and 93-94, and Cleveland State winning their 3rd title in 92-93.

Valparaiso had a long spell of dominance in the Summit League between 94-95 and 03-04.  They won the regular season every year except 1999-00, when Oakland won it.  Oral Roberts shared the title with Valparaiso in 98-99, while Southern Utah shared the title in 2000-01.

In the mid 2000′s, Oral Roberts rose to power winning 4 straight titles from 04-05 to 07-08.  IUPUI did share the title in 05-06.  North Dakota State won it in 08-09 followed by Oakland winning it the last two years.

The most wins in conference history is 17 by the 2009-10 Oakland team, who went 17-1.  No team has completed an undefeated Summit League Regular Season.   Valparaiso has won the most conference titles at 9.  Oral Roberts has 5, Missouri State has 4,  Oakland  and Cleveland State have 3, while Green Bay has 2.

The tournament was not held the first year of the league, but was held the next 4 years in Springfield, Missouri.  Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Cleveland State, and Missouri State won tournament titles.  Then in 87-88 it was not held again, before Missouri State won it’s 2nd straight title (over 3 years) at home in 88-89.

The tourney would visit 6 different sites in the next 6 years (Cedar Falls, Iowa, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Cleveland, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, and Valparaiso, Indiana).  It also had 5 different champions, including 4 teams who won it at home (Northern Iowa, Green Bay, Eastern Illinois (in Cleveland), Wright State, Green Bay (in Chicago), and Valparaiso).

Valparaiso would go on to win the next 5 tournaments, the first 4 held in Moline, Illinois, the last held in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Valparaiso would get upset the next year in Fort Wayne by Southern Utah, before winning the final tourney in Fort Wayne before it moved to Kansas City.  In Kansas City the next year Valparaiso was upset by IUPUI before winning it the next year.

The tournament then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, just as Oral Roberts was rising up. Oakland, the 7 seed (the lowest to ever win the conference tournament), upset Oral Roberts in the final the first year.  The next 3 years Oral Roberts held server at home.  The last 3 years the tournament has been held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The first year was won by North Dakota State, in their first year of NCAA Tournament eligibility.  The last two years have been won by Oakland.

Valparaiso has won a conference high 8 tournament titles, Oakland and Oral Roberts have won 3, Green Bay, Eastern Illinois, and Missouri State all won 3 conference tournament titles.  The conference tournament has been won 19 out of 26 tournaments, including 16 of the last 17.  The only time since 1993-94 when the conference tournament has been won by a team that didn’t win at least a share of the conference title was in 2004-05 when the 7th place team, Oakland, won the title.

Bryce Drew, famous for his shot to beat Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament, won 3 Conference Tournament MVPs while at Valparaiso (94-95, 95-96, 97-98). Only 2 other players have won 2 tournament MVPs, Ken Tutt of Oral Roberts in 05-06 and 06-07, Milo Stovall of Valparaiso in 98-99 and 01-02.  The conference tournament MVP has come from the tournament winner in all but 4 tournaments.

Award Winning Players

There has been only one player to win 3 straight player of the year awards, Caleb Green who played for Oral Roberts and won in 04-05, 05-06, and 06-07.  Keith Benson of Oakland has won the award the last 2 years, becoming the 4th player to win 2 straight (Bryce Drew of Valparaiso in 96-97 and 97-98, Tony Bennett of Green Bay in 90-91 and 91-92, and Jon Collins of Eastern Illinois in 84-85 and 85-86.

Several coaches have won multiple Coach of the Year Awards.  Homer Drew of Valparaiso and Greg Kampe of Oakland won four, Charlie Spoonhour of Missouri State won three,  Kevin Mackey of Cleveland State, Dick Bennett of Green Bay, Ron Hunter of IUPUI, and Scott Sutton of Oral Roberts won two.

Keith Benson won the 2010 Lou Henson Award, the Mid-Major Player of the Year.  Only two players in conference history have made a All-American Team (Bryce Drew of Valparaiso on the Basketball Times 3rd team in 97-98 and Ken McFadden of Cleveland State on the Basketball Weekly 5th team in 85-86.

Keith Benson was named to the 2009-10 CollegeInsider.com’s Lefty Driesell Defensive All-American Team.  Caleb Green and Ken Tutt of Oral Roberts were both named 3rd team Freshman All-American’s in 03-04.

15 Summit League Players have advance to the NBA, with 2 drafted in the first round (Bryce Drew of Valparaiso 16th overall in 1998 by the Houston Rockets and George Hill of IUPUI 26th overall in 2008 by the San Antonio Spurs).

NCAA Tournament History

The first team to make the NCAA Tournament from the Summit League was Cleveland State in 85-86.  Cleveland State was given the 14 seed in the East Region and matched up with Indiana.  In one of the bigger upsets in NCAA history, Cleveland State knocked off the 3rd seeded Hoosiers 83-79.  Cleveland State moved into a 2nd round match with the 6th seed, St. Joseph’s.  Cleveland State shocked everyone again, winning 75-69, becoming the lowest seed to ever advance to the Sweet 16.  In the Regional Semifinal they met the  7 seed, Navy, but came up just short 71-70.

In 86-87 Missouri State was the Summit League representative, placed as a 13 seed in the Southeast Region, and once again the Summit League provided an upset with the Bears knocking off Clemson 65-60 before falling to 5 seed Kansas.  Missouri State was back in 87-88, but this time was eliminated right away as the magic ran out and the 13 seed Bears lost to UCLA 54-50. Missouri State was again a first round victim in 89-90, losing 60-51 to Seton Hall as a 14 seed.

89-90 saw the league get two bids for the first time.  Northern Iowa won the automatic bid through the conference tournament and continued that run shocking Missouri as a 14 seed, 74-71.  They lost in the 2nd round 81-78 to 6 seed Minnesota.  Missouri State also got in, as a 9 seed, but lost 83-70 to North Carolina.  The league would have two teams in again in 90-91, but went 0-2 with 12 seed Green Bay losing 60-58 to Michigan State and 13 seed Northern Illinois losing 75-68 to St. John’s.

In 91-92 the league was back to one bid, Eastern Illinois as a sacrificial 15 seed.  They went down right away to Indiana 94-55.  In 92-93 it was even worse for the Summit League representative as Wright State was placed in as a 16 seed against Indiana and lost 97-54.

92-93 was a successful tournament for the Summit League as 12 seed Green Bay knocked off California 61-57 before losing to 4 seed Syracuse 64-59.  There was no representative in 93-94, and in 94-95 it was Valparaiso’s turn placed in as a 14 seed who was destroyed by Arizona 90-51. Valparaiso was back in 95-96 as a 12 seed losing 73-66 to Boston College.

96-97 was a magic year for the Summit League.  Fueled by a Bryce Drew 3 pointer at the buzzer against Ole Miss, the 13 seed Valparaiso knocked them off 70-69 to move into the 2nd round, where they met another upset team, Florida State – the 12 seed. In overtime Valparaiso prevailed 83-77 and moved into a Regional Semifinal against the 8 seed, Rhode Island.  This was the 2nd time a Summit League team had moved deep in to the tournament and faced a team who had pulled off a couple upsets.  Once again though the Summit League team lost in this match-up, falling 74-68.

The next years would see less success for Valparaiso.  They lost 82-60 as a 15 seed to Maryland and 65-38 to Michigan State as a 16 seed. In 00-01 Southern Utah, who had upset Valparaiso in the conference tournament, fell to Boston College 68-65 as a 14 seed.  In 01-02 Valparaiso was back and this time as a 13 seed.  Kentucky was the opponent and the Wildcats were far superior, winning 83-68.  Kentucky was again the opponent in 02-03, this time IUPUI the victim, and the seed 16.  The margin would be a 95-64 victory for Kentucky.

Valparaiso would be back in 03-04 as they were matched against another former tournament darling, Gonzaga, in the first round as a 15 seed.  Gonzaga defeated Valparaiso 76-49 to move on to the 2nd round.  In 04-05 Oakland was the Summit League representative, and for the first time in conference history, had to play in the Opening Round game.  They defeated Alabama A&M there and moved on to get their blowout against North Carolina, 96-68.

In 05-06 Oral Roberts won the auto-bid and moved up a bit from Oakland in the previous year, a real 16 seed, but still lost 94-78 in the first round.  The next year they moved up to a 14 seed but lost 70-54 to Washington State.  They took one step further up in 07-08 getting a 13 seed, but again couldn’t find any success losing 82-63 to Pittsburgh.  They haven’t gotten a chance since.

In 08-09 North Dakota State surprised everyone, winning the conference in their first year of NCAA Tournament Eligibility.  The prize?  A 14 seed and a date with Kansas in the first round.  North Dakota State put on a great show and nearly pulled it off, falling short 84-74 but gaining recognition nationally.  Oakland would be the 14 seed as well in 2010, playing Pittsburgh, but losing by 23, 89-66.

NIT (and other) Tournament History

Missouri State was given a NIT berth in 85-86, where they dispatched Pittsburgh 59-52 and Marquette 83-59 before being dispatched by Florida 54-53 in the Quarterfinals.  In 86-87 Cleveland State was in the NIT beating Tennessee-Chattanooga 92-73 and losing to Illinois State 79-77.  They came back to the NIT the next year and avenged their loss to Illinois State winning 89-84 in OT before losing 86-80 against Ohio State.

Green Bay made the NIT in 89-90, knocking off Southern Illinois 73-60 before losing to Saint Louis 58-54.  In 91-92 Green Bay was back, but lost 67-65 in the first round to Manhattan.

After a 11 year gap, the Summit League once again had a team in the NIT in 02-03.  Valparaiso made the field after losing the conference tournament and drew Iowa in the first round.  It was close, but the Hawkeyes prevailed 62-60.  Oral Roberts made it 2 in 3 years with a team in the NIT in 03-04 when they faced off with Maryland, but came up short 85-72.

Oakland played in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 08-09, hosting and defeating Kent State 80-74 in the first round before losing 76-75 in the second round at Bradley.  IUPUI played in the CBI tournament in 2009-10, winning at Hofstra 74-60 before losing a home game to Princeton, 74-68 in 2OT.

2011 Season

The 2011 regular season was won by Oakland, who went back-to-back years at 17-1.  They were followed in the top half of the league by 13-5 Oral Roberts, 12-6 IUPUI, 11-7 IPFW, and 10-8 South Dakota State.  The bottom half featured 3 teams in the conference tournament, 9-9 UMKC, 8-10 North Dakota State, and 7-11 Southern Utah, and two teams not in (2-16 Western Illinois and 1-17 Centenary).

In the tournament higher seeds prevailed in every match-up in the first round except one (5 seed South Dakota State upset 4 seed IPFW 85-75 in the first round).   Oral Roberts won a close game 83-77 over IUPUI in the 2nd round to advance to meet Oakland (110-90 winner over South Dakota State) in the final.  In the championship Oakland knocked off Oral Roberts 90-76 to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

In the NCAA Tournament Oakland drew the 13 seed, matched up with 4 seed Texas.  They had their best showing yet but still lost 85-81 in a tight game. Oral Roberts was invited to the CIT (Collegeinsider.com Tournament) but lost in the first round at Southern Methodist, 64-57.

As far as individual players go, Keith Benson of Oakland won his 2nd straight Player of the Year award and his first Defensive Player of the Year award.  Oral Roberts’ Steven Roundtree was the Newcomer of the Year.  Oakland won the other 2 awards with coach Greg Kampe winning his 4th Coach of the Year award and Larry Wright winning the Sixth Man of the Year award.

Future

One would have to imagine Omaha could push to host the tournament as Sioux Falls by all accounts has not been overly impressive.  That would be a nice get for the city and could be supported decently.  As far as success for UNO in the league, that will be interesting.  The league is obviously low on the totem pole in D1, but 6 teams finished with an above .500 record this year.  Of the 4 teams who had a record below .500, North Dakota State missed it by 1 game (and was in the NCAA tournament 2 years ago) and Southern Utah and Centenary are both leaving.  So the conference appears to have a decent set of teams for the future.  There will need to be some tournament success though to raise the conference’s profile as a whole.  I don’t foresee UNO joining this league and becoming dominant at all, but they can probably compete for top-half finishes fairly quickly.  It will probably be similarly competitive to the MIAA in the middle with a lot of teams closely packed between 3-8.

Summit League Preview – Baseball

Since UNO is joining the Summit League, something new and unfamiliar to all of us, I thought it’d be helpful to take a look at the League and the Sports that they offer, and what UNO can expect.  For a list of all the posts on the different sports, please refer back to this intro.

Baseball History

Tournament and Regular Season History

The Summit League has been playing baseball since 1984.  There was no regular season the first year, but Missouri State won a tournament amongst the 7 teams to end the year.  Northern Iowa, who went 12-18 on the year, was actually the league runner-up.  Missouri State would go on to win the first 6 conference tournaments. The first regular season champion was Eastern Illinois who went 8-0 in 1985.  They went on to win 2 other regular season titles (1987 and 1991).  Wright State saw a brief period of dominance in the early 90′s as they won 3 straight titles from 1992 to 1994.  Oral Roberts has absolutely dominated baseball since joining the league in 1998.  They won the league tournament in 1998 and have not lost the tournament since, 13 straight titles.  They have also won the regular season title every year since 1999, although South Dakota State tied them in 2010 at 19-9, the first time Oral Roberts had more than 4 conference losses since before the streak started.  The last undefeated season was by Missouri State in 1990, at 11-0, while the most wins in a single season belong to Oral Roberts, who went 26-1 in 2000.

The conference tournament was originally hosted in Chicago, Illinois, and has been hosted there 10 times, but none since 1997.  Other locations to host it have been Charleston, Illinois (twice), Troy, Alabama (once), Shreveport, Louisiana (once), and Macomb, Illinois (once).  Since 1998 the tournament has been held in Tulsa, Oklahoma every year except for 2.  However in 2011 the tournament will be in Sioux Falls and is presented by American Airlines.  The top four teams in the conference will participate in the tournament, a basic double elimination tournament.

The Summit League was split into two divisions at two different periods.  Between 1985 and 1992 there was a Blue Division and a Gold Division.  From 1995 to 1998 the league was split into an East Division and a West Division.  There are no plans to return to a Divisional system at this point.

Award Winning Players

David Castillo (2002-03) and Dennis Bigley (2004-05), both from Oral Roberts, are the only two-time winners of the Player of the Year award.  Brian Anderson of Wright State was a two-time winner of the Pitcher of the Year award in 1992-93, Mike Rose of Oral Roberts accomplished the same feat in 1999-00 and Dennis Bigley of Oral Roberts did it in 2004-05.  Keith Guttin of Missouri State has won five Coach of the Year awards (1985-89), Dean Refakes of Illinois-Chicago won two, John Mayotte of Troy won two, Sunny Galloway of Oral Roberts won four, and his successor, Roby Walton, has won four as well.  Stan Hyman of Western Illinois has won it twice.  There has never been a player who won multiple tournament MVPs.

There have been 17 All-Americans since 1992 (depending on what sources you accept).  Four of those have been 1st team selections (Brian Van Kirk of Oral Roberts in 2008 by the ABCA and Collegiate Baseball, Dennis Bigley of Oral Roberts in 2004 by the ABCA, Jeff Stallings of Oral Roberts in 1999 by Collegiate Baseball, and Brian Anderson of Wright State in 1993 by Collegiate Baseball.  There have been 15 Freshman All-Americans since 1990, and 7 Academic All-Americans since 1984.  14 Summit Leaguers have made it to the Big Leagues.

NCAA Tournament History

Missouri State made the 1987 West II Regional, but lost both games they played 9-5 to Arizona State and 10-4 to Pepperdine.  A Summit League team wouldn’t make the NCAA Tournament again until 1994 when Wright State made the Mideast Regional.  Wright State knocked off North Carolina State 14-12 to open the tournament, but lost to Arizona State 7-4 and saw North Carolina State get the last laugh losing 10-6.  In 1995 Wright State was back playing a Play-In Series with conference rival Troy.  Troy won both games 16-7 and 6-5 to advance to the Atlantic I Regional.  Troy was swept at that regional 18-3 by Florida State and 8-5 by Mississippi.

In 1996 Northeastern Illinois got the chance to play in the Play-In Series against in-state rival Northern Illinois, and swept the series 5-1 and 9-2.  The were sent to the West Regional where they were rolled 16-0 by Florida State and 18-1 by Northeastern Illinois.  In 1997 Troy got the Play-In Series chance and swept Detroit 7-4 and 5-4, but were swept out of the South II Regional, 8-2 by Alabama and 5-2 by Southern Cal.

1998 marked the first year of Oral Roberts and saw the league see its first postseason success outside the Play-In Series since 1994.  ORU knocked Butler out in the Play-in, 5-4 (10) and 18-5.  Getting sent to the Central Regional ORU was beaten soundly by Rice 11-1 to open play, but responded with a 20-13 victory over Charlotte.  Washington ended ORU’s season with a 13-6 win.  1999 saw Oral Roberts go straight to the Wichita Regional, where they were promptly sent home, swept 13-5 by Wichita State and 12-4 by Oklahoma State.

In 2000 Oral Roberts got to stay closer to home going to Oklahoma City where they met Oklahoma.  It took 11 innings, but the Sooners finally topped ORU, 6-5.  ORU beat Delaware 4-2 to stay alive, but once again couldn’t top Oklahoma falling 9-7.  In 2001 ORU was sent West to the Los Angeles Regional and was swept 12-4 by Southern Cal and 2-1 by Fresno State.  In 2002 Oral Roberts had the most successful Summit League postseason run so far in the Wichita Regional.  They dispatched the host Wichita State 6-1 in the opener, fell to Arkansas 7-6, but then rebounded to knock out Wichita State with a 15-8 win.  In the regional final ORU lost to Arkansas 11-6.

In 2003 Oral Roberts was sent to College Station, Texas where they lost to a pair of Texas teams, Texas A&M 6-3 and Houston 4-2.  In 2004 Oral Roberts went to Austin for a regional where they swept TCU 6-5 and 10-1, but were swept by Texas 6-5 and 7-3  to end their season.  In 2005 Oral Roberts made their second regional final, this time at the Clemson Regional.  ORU lost their opener 5-2 to the College of Charleston, but rebounded to beat North Carolina A&T 6-3 and CoC 6-0.  In the Regional Final they lost 8-3 to Clemson.

In 2006 Oral Roberts finally broke through, sweeping through the Fayetteville Regional.  They started things off with a 4-3 win over Arkansas in 11 innings, then knocking off Oklahoma State 5-4 to reach the final and beating Oklahoma State 9-2 again to win the Regional.  They were paired with Clemson (where their season had ended the year before) and were swept 11-8 and 6-5.  In 2007 Oral Roberts hoped to build on their success from the previous season, but were swept out of the Wichita Regional, 4-3 by Arizona and 11-4 by Wichita State.

In 2008 Oral Roberts was sent to the Lincoln regional, matched in the first round with UC Irvine who beat ORU 9-7.  ORU was able to stave off elimination defeating one-time Summit League member Eastern Illinois 8-7 in 10 innings, and then upsetting the host Huskers 8-0 to reach the final.  Unfortunately ORU fell by the same 8-0 margin against UC Irvine, a Cinderella team which made a run to the CWS.

In 2009 Oral Roberts put up a fight in the Tempe Regional beating Cal Poly 13-3, losing to Arizona State 4-1, beating Kent State 15-10, and finally losing to Arizona State again, this time by a score of 8-3.

2010 Season

In 2010 Oral Roberts’ Tyler Saladino won Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, Centenary’s Boone Whiting won Pitcher of the Year, and South Dakota State’s Ritchie Price was Coach of the Year.  Chris Elder of Oral Roberts was the Tournament MVP.  Boone Whiting of Centenary was named a 3rd team All-American by Ping!Baseball last year, while Trever Vermeulen of South Dakota State was named a 3rd teamer by the NCBWA.  Taylor Shaw of Southern Utah was named to Ping!Baseball’s 3rd team Freshman All-American team, while John Lee of South Dakota State was named to CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine’s 1st team Academic All-American team and Zach Wentz of North Dakota State was named to the 2nd team.

South Dakota State and Oral Roberts each went 19-9, with SDSU winning the tiebreaker to claim the #1 seed for the conference tournament.  Centenary went 17-9 to get the #3 seed while Oakland went 13-14, barely holding off 13-15 IPFW, for the #4 seed.  SDSU and Oral Roberts both won their opening games, and Oral Roberts pounded SDSU 21-6 to advance to the title game.  Oakland upset Centenary 7-2 in an elimination game before SDSU eliminated them 20-4 to move into the title game vs. Oral Roberts.  Needing to win twice South Dakota State wasn’t even able to get the first one, losing 12-2 to give Oral Roberts its 13th straight tournament title.

Oral Roberts advanced to the postseason and was sent to the Norman Regional, hosted by Oklahoma, as the 4 seed.  ORU put up a great fight, but fell in 10 innings, 7-6.  They were able to eliminated California the next day by winning 9-8, but lost to North Carolina 12-4 to finish 3rd in the regional.

In individual records, Billy Stitz of South Dakota State set a conference record with 111 hits and with 273 at-bats, Teammate Joel Blake set the conference record with 33 doubles. Oral Roberts’ Seth Frumanek set a record with 25 home runs.  Pitcher Trever Vermeulen of South Dakota State set a record with 35 appearances for the team.

2011 Season

Several players are climbing the career charts this year.  Billy Stitz of SDSU came into the year 15th with 670 career at-bats and could climb into the top spot.  Justin Kline of NDSU enters the year #8 in Career Batting Average at .389, while teammate Zach Wentz is 20th at .370 and SDSU’s Joel Blake is 18th at .372.  Stitz started the year 19th with 143 runs scored and could climb into the top 3, while his 234 career hits is 10th and he should mount a serious run at the all-time record.  Additionally his 48 career doubles ranks 10th and he should reach the top of that chart, except teammate Joel Blake has 54 already, ranking 4th, and will almost surely become the all-time leader this year.  Stitz starts the year 17th with 9 triples and could reach the top 10 in that category, starts with 357 total bases, 8th all-time, and could finish the all-time leader in that category as well.  On the RBI chart he’s currently 15th with 137, within range of a run at the top of the chart.  Jesse Sawyer’s 38 career home runs places him 6th, and the Jackrabbit will probably take over that category later this year.  His .700 slugging percentage is 4th best all-time, and his 29 times hit by pitch currently ranks 9th.  Finally Joel Blake of SDSU enters the year 20th in slugging percentage at .614.

As far as pitchers go, Justin Kraft of Centenary enters the year at 18th with 19 career wins, within reach of the top 5 with a good season.  Trever Vermeulen of SDSU had 13 career saves sitting at 9th, and within reach of the top 5, as is Stephen Tromblee who has 9 and sits in 17th.  Boone Whiting of Centenary has 251 career strikeouts, placing him in 8th, and has a shot at the top 3.

Oral Roberts is the pick to win the league again with SDSU to odds-on favorite to finish 2nd.  Oakland and Southern Utah finished tied in voting for 3rd, with Western Illinois, North Dakota State, Centenary and IPFW rounding out the poll.

Currently all the teams are under .500 except for Oral Roberts who is 8-7.  South Dakota State at 7-9 and Southern Utah at 7-10 have the look of contenders, while all the other teams have a winning percentage of .250 or less.

As a league the teams are 2-20 vs. teams from BCS conferences (Oral Roberts has defeated both Arizona State and Baylor) with 15 chances left this year.

Future

South Dakota does not participate in baseball, so the Summit League will be down to just 7 baseball teams with the loss of Centenary next year.  Southern Utah will leave in the Summer of 2012, but UNO will jump into their spot and the league will continue with 7 teams for now.  It will be interesting to see how the Mavericks compete from the start.  While ineligible for NCAA Tournament play, the Mavericks will be able to qualify for the Summit League Tournament and could push for that early on.  In 2009 if Centenary had been out of the league, 17-38 IPFW would have been the 4 seed in the conference tournament.  Already a top-level team in the MIAA, a league with several nationally ranked D2 baseball teams, it would seem UNO could push for a conference tournament spot fairly quick.

Summit League Introduction and History

Since UNO is joining the Summit League, something new and unfamiliar to all of us, I thought it’d be helpful to take a look at the League and the Sports that they offer, and what UNO can expect.

Here are links to the previews of the various sports.

Baseball
Men’s Basketball
Women’s Basketball
Men’s Cross Country
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Golf
Women’s Golf
Men’s Soccer
Women’s Soccer
Softball
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Women’s Swimming and Diving
Men’s Tennis
Women’s Tennis
Men’s Track and Field
Women’s Track and Field
Volleyball

History of the Summit League

The Summit League was founded in 1982, known at that time as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities.  At its founding, the league consisted of 8 schools, Cleveland State, Eastern Illinois, UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago), Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Western Illinois, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Valparaiso.  The league even sponsored football for a couple years until dropping it in 1984.

The name was later changed in 1989 to the Mid-Continent Conference. Additionally around this time in 1990 Akron and Northern Illinois joined the league, replacing Missouri State who left for the Missouri Valley.  In 1991 the league lost Northern Iowa to the Missouri Valley, but replaced them with Wright State.  In 1992 the league lost Akron to the MAC, replacing them with Youngstown State. In 1993 the league added Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 1994 the league lost Cleveland State, UIC, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wright State to the Horizon League.  This left the league with only 3 original schools (Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, and Valparaiso), and only 4 overall (the other being Youngstown State).

The league was forced to reorganize and did so by adding Buffalo, Central Connecticut State, Chicago State, Northeastern Illinois, Troy University and UMKC (University of Missouri-Kansas City).  This setup lasted only 2 years when the league lost Eastern Illinois to the Ohio Valley Conference.  After 1997 the league lost Troy as well to the Sun Belt, but replaced them with Oral Roberts and Southern Utah.  In 1998 they lost Buffalo to the MAC, Northeastern Illinois dropped their sports programs, and Central Connecticut State left for the Northeast Conference.  These schools were replaced with Oakland and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

In 2001 the league lost Youngstown State to the Horizon League.  They were replaced in 2003 by Centenary College of Louisiana.  This lasted til 2006 when Chicago State went Independent.  In 2007 the league saw another major shakeup as Valparaiso left for the Horizon League, but the league added North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Indiana University-Purdue University Forth Wayne(IPFW).  In June 2007 the conference was also renamed The Summit League.

There are currently ten schools in the Summit League.  Centenary College of Louisiana, is dropping out of the Summit League to move to Division III after this year.  South Dakota will replace them as a full member starting next year.  Southern Utah will be leaving the Summit League after next year to join the Big Sky Conference,  and UNO will replace them as the 10th school in the league once they join in the Fall of 2012.

The league will consist of IPFW, IUPUI, UMKC, North Dakota State (NDSU), Oakland (OU), Oral Roberts (ORU), South Dakota (USD), South Dakota State (SDSU), UNO, and Western Illinois (WIU) once UNO has joined.  Eastern Illinois (EIU) is an associate member in Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving and will be an associate member in Men’s Soccer starting in the fall.

The Summit League has seen some national success at times from its teams and even a few individual national champions in Track and Field, Swimming and Diving and Cross Country.   It will be interesting to see if this current group of Summit League members follows the pattern of the former members, moving on to something better once they find a spot, or if they are able to raise the profile of the league as a whole.