(06-09-2017 01:30 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  Denver fits fine with the Dakotas, Omaha and Oral Roberts. Just as well as they would in a western conference.

Agreed. The thing is, I think they like the idea of being with North Dakota and Omaha in all their other sports, as men's hockey is their main sports and those two are conference rivals in the NCHC.

(06-10-2017 04:34 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  MplsBison,

Denver likes the WCC, but they are an outlier. Its basically a Pacific Coast league with BYU such a big value they sacrificed that. Pacific (like Butler, started religious but no longer affiliated) and arguably Pepperdine (also pretty secular) are not Catholic either. Denver competes for and attracts many of the same Catholic HS kids (in CA these schools are only about 60% Catholic, as pretty much anyone who wants a stronger option than their pubic school sends their kids there) as students. Both DU and Seattle are on the same board of high choice privates as the WCC schools. Just look at any Catholic HS hall board of where kids applied and where they are attending (after the UCs and Ivy type schools, these next the next tier of students, the CSU schools get the bottom 1/2).

I don't think you understand Denver at all. If you look at their recruiting pattern, after the home base (Colorado and the Albuquerque area of New Mexico) which make up about half the student body, three other areas stand out for recruiting of both athletes and students: The major cities of the Great Lakes (almost 20%), California (about 10% if you add Seattle and Portland), and foreigners (10% as well). Half of what is left are from the Mid-Atlantic (Big East Lacrosse works for that). The really do not recruit anyone from the Summit. The Horizon would be a better fit from that standpoint.

Their Sports mix is weird, and reflects the uniqueness of the school. Lacrosse, Hockey, and Skiing are almost as big as Basketball, and none of them depend on the "core" conference affiliation. Academically they see the Big East and WCC schools as their primary peers. But they are outside the geographic sphere of either.

Good analysis and fair, thanks for the post.

Based on hockey being their primary sport, and Omaha and North Dakota being conference rivals, I think the Summit is the best they can do outside the Big East and WCC. All other options west of the Mississippi either require football or are one-bid leagues anyway.

(06-10-2017 04:59 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  That founding is the same as Pacific

Man, I'm striking out left and right on the WCC.

When I looked up Pacific, to reply to NoDak's earlier post, I went to the wrong Pacific! There's a religious affiliated Pacific U in Oregon, as opposed to the larger U of the Pacific in California that is not religious affiliated. Sheesh!