This move has been on the Summit's radar for a long time. For WIU, it's a good move into a more geographically and financially appropriate conference.

For the Summit, it's a move that most league schools are probably happy about, as Macomb, Illinois was a tough travel (and usually pretty dreary) destination for all of the league's schools.

Summit Commissioner Josh Fenton likely knew this move was coming when he took the job, and I'm sure he's been laying the ground work to find new both full members (and sport-specific affiliates) to fill the hole.

The fact is that there is likely nothing very exciting for the Summit to add, due to its mostly under-populated geographic footprint as a Dakota-centric, I-29 based league.

Augustana and Northern Colorado are both fairly unattractive additions for the current Summit members - Augie complicates the South Dakota market with a tiny school, a market which the league already owns. And UNC is a low budget, underfunded rural directional school with a problematic NCAA probation hoops history that brings few eyeballs and is a 90-minute bus ride from Denver airport.

Minnesota D-II school upgrades to full D-I are unlikely due to budget constraints, and the Missouri directional schools seem uninterested. Perhaps there's a Wisconsin-Green Bay that might bite, but overall the Summit is a league of necessity, rather than of desire. All of the schools in it probably wish they could perform in a better league elsewhere, but it's mostly a beggar's league and not a chooser's league.