(01-12-2019 05:12 PM)ProfScott Wrote: What do you think the future traveling partners will be once Dixie State starts WAC play?
It seems like Seattle would be the odd team out with the partners being:
DSU & UVU
CSU & UMKC
NMSU & UTRGV
CBU and GCU
The above is an exercise in stupidity.
Travel partners don't truly exist in the WAC. NMSU is "short 11 3/4 hour" drive from UT-RGV. Cal Baptist is actually closet to Dixie State, and Grand Canyon is pretty similar drive to New Mexico State (5 3/4 hours) as Cal Baptist (just under 5 hours). Chicago to KC is one heck of a drive too. The only "almost" travel partners would be UVU and Dixie State which are a little over 3 1/2 hours drive apart.
Bottom line, you do not play one team and head on a bus to arrive at the next school before Midnight. You fly in, play your game and fly home. So it doesn't matter who you play next. The WAC could minimize lost class time with a Friday-Saturday schedule like the WCC, so you'd fly to the next school Friday night after your game and be there Saturday morning.
A much better way to look at the conference (taken from CGU's standpoint, but it applies to all) is by flight and bus time:
Dixie State: 1hr flight to St. George Regional Airport (small), 20 minute bus ride to campus
New Mexico State: 1hr, 10min flight to El Paso, 48 minute bus ride to Las Cruces campus
Cal Baptist: 1hr, 10min flight to Riverside, 6 minute bus ride to CBU campus
Utah Valley: 1hr, 30min flight to Provo, 12 minute bus ride to UVU
UMKC: 2hr, 25min flight to KC, 30 minute bus ride to campus
Seattle U: 2hr, 50min flight to Seattle, 18 minute bus ride to SU campus
Chicago State: 3hr, 10min flight to Chicago, 31 minute bus ride to CSU campus