NKU Still Waits For D-1

It's too bad that the Ohio Valley Conference said no to NKU joining and therefore delaying the Norse from becoming Division 1. The feeling I had was that the OVC would welcome the Norse. We know Eastern Kenbtucky, Morehead State, and Murray State were ready to bring in the Norse. But they did not get the needed 75 percent approval. Why? It appears a lot of schools felt the Norse would become dominant because of its facilities, possible geographical recruiting advantage, and funding of programs. I can't disagree with the OVC schools fearing the Norse. We were kicking this around the office last weekend and I felt strongly that NKU would dominate the OVC in basketball and have an excellent path to the NCAA tournament every year, men and women. The fact they have a new arena in a metropolitan area woul be huge. But forget the OVC for now. I had always hoped the Horizon League would be the destination for NKU. The Norse would fit well with these schools:Butler, Valpo, Cleveland St, Wright St., Detroit, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, Loyola, Illinois-Chicago, and Youngstown St. But that's an even 10, and the Horizon is not interested in expansion at this time. This means it may be the Atlantic Sun or the Summit League. Both recently lost teams to other conferences so it stands to reason they need to add schools. The Summit offers closer schools like IUPUI and IPFW. The Atlantic Sun has four schools in Florida, which might give NKU a nice recruiting boost by telling kids they'll actually be seeing the sun on some trips during the deep winter months of basketball season. I feel the Horizon or OVC are better options but right now it is not NKU's call. The Norse have to take the first step of getting into a Divison 1 conference. That will happen.