wildcatter said:

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Wouldn't be the Southlands fault if a team with a losing record advances. But sure, narrow it down to 6 teams. Win and it doesn't matter.

Big boy wannabe's is funny though. I'm no homer, I know ACU isn't a world beater, but it's got a rich tradition with multiple Olympians and multiple famed athletic alumni. ACU was a founding member of the Southland and has arguably the best facilities in the conference now. Yeah football was bad this year but so be it, had plenty of success in our athletic department all around to show we belong.

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Of the three... ACU, HBU and UIW , ACU clearly can make the best case for being in the SLC. Best facilities? Football for sure with a new stadium. Beyond that I'd say each school has a couple of areas of strength. For SFA it would certainly be WRJ which IS likely the best in the Southland. Although it's old the Shelton Gym (home of LadyJack volleyball) provides a unique and frankly really cool atmosphere for VB. I give McNeese the nod in football. Sammie in baseball. SFA has plans to update Homer Bryce as usual it is really all about $$$'s. A $20 million check would solve some ills at Homer or build a decent on campus baseball facility. I personally would go for the baseball field as football is in trouble with all the CTE lawsuits etc. I expect football as a sport to change dramatically in the next 20 years as brain damage issues become further documented. The smart schools will get out of football altogether and avoid the legal issues.

Agree with Isaac and Purple above.....I think ACU is a good fit with this conference and will compete well in all sports. They were with us back in the old Lone Star conference and I'm happy to have them along....except for this upset of course.
I believe SFA is right where it belongs on the athletic level, we compete well in most sports and I would rather win some conference titles in the SLC then spend a multitude of years struggling in a FBS conference just to perhaps become respectable....Louisiana Monroe and Texas St for examples.
I think the SLC should drop the tourneys for the smaller sports as they can't possibly be bringing in any income and they often result in the SLC sending a poor representative to a national tourney for a quick exit...they could keep the BB tourneys of course as I'm thinking they have the most interest among fans, people actually attend and maybe the SLC even makes a dollar.

Well now, I also think ACU is a good fit for the SLC. We, of course, are very excited that our volleyball team pulled off an upset of Biblical proportion and for getting to be Cinderella for 2 days.

We are already highly competitive in every sport except football and baseball and there are big investments toward turning those around. I can tell you that around here the tournaments generate a lot of excitement. Of course when our women's basketball team wins a third straight regular season championship and we get upset in the first round of the tourney, I may change my mind.

Don't get too depressed. SFA in a lot of ways is who we aspire to be - men's and women's teams with a chance to win every championship every year.

I believe the tournaments should be reduced to six with the top 2 teams getting 1st round byes. (Except for baseball, softball which are double elimination) Regular season should be more valuable for sure. Face it, despite ACU winning 2 games, we backed into the tournament after losing 3 of our last 4 regular season games. We did not deserve to even be there. And I'm a huge fan.

Fortunately, we did not upset UCA. The Bears are really good and will represent the conference well.

BigJack85 said:

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wildcatter said:

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Wouldn't be the Southlands fault if a team with a losing record advances. But sure, narrow it down to 6 teams. Win and it doesn't matter.

Big boy wannabe's is funny though. I'm no homer, I know ACU isn't a world beater, but it's got a rich tradition with multiple Olympians and multiple famed athletic alumni. ACU was a founding member of the Southland and has arguably the best facilities in the conference now. Yeah football was bad this year but so be it, had plenty of success in our athletic department all around to show we belong.

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Of the three... ACU, HBU and UIW , ACU clearly can make the best case for being in the SLC. Best facilities? Football for sure with a new stadium. Beyond that I'd say each school has a couple of areas of strength. For SFA it would certainly be WRJ which IS likely the best in the Southland. Although it's old the Shelton Gym (home of LadyJack volleyball) provides a unique and frankly really cool atmosphere for VB. I give McNeese the nod in football. Sammie in baseball. SFA has plans to update Homer Bryce as usual it is really all about $$$'s. A $20 million check would solve some ills at Homer or build a decent on campus baseball facility. I personally would go for the baseball field as football is in trouble with all the CTE lawsuits etc. I expect football as a sport to change dramatically in the next 20 years as brain damage issues become further documented. The smart schools will get out of football altogether and avoid the legal issues.

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"Best" is a relative term. ACU can take pride in the fact that we have D1 facilities in every sport, unlike our sister private schools.
I think that we will see football players having to sign waivers of liability in the near future as a consequence of CTE injuries. But you are right. Football is going to change, somehow.

BigJack85 said:

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SFA has plans to update Homer Bryce as usual it is really all about $$$'s. A $20 million check would solve some ills at Homer or build a decent on campus baseball facility. I personally would go for the baseball field as football is in trouble with all the CTE lawsuits etc. I expect football as a sport to change dramatically in the next 20 years as brain damage issues become further documented. The smart schools will get out of football altogether and avoid the legal issues.

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I know this is a volleyball thread, but I totally agree with your football point. My wife and I were discussing it while watching the Texas game this weekend. I can get why Texas continues to sponsor football, they make quite a bit of money off it, but for schools like SFA, the paychecks will never outweigh the lawsuits that are coming in the next 5-10 years against all colleges & high schools that sponsor football.

Yes 'best' facilities was a reach other than football, but the money being put into all of our facilities across the board really makes for a good showing.

I agree with the opinion on the tournaments and their importance in regards to postseason advancement. At this 'mid major' level it is not beneficial to reward the tourney champ rather than the regular season champ. All I was trying to get across was that it's a standard format everywhere, not that I agree with it. Power 5 conference its no big deal to have a team 'steal a bid' but for us it is.

wildcatter said:

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Yes 'best' facilities was a reach other than football, but the money being put into all of our facilities across the board really makes for a good showing.

I agree with the opinion on the tournaments and their importance in regards to postseason advancement. At this 'mid major' level it is not beneficial to reward the tourney champ rather than the regular season champ. All I was trying to get across was that it's a standard format everywhere, not that I agree with it. Power 5 conference its no big deal to have a team 'steal a bid' but for us it is.

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Most P5 conferences do it because they're going to get multiple teams in, so it's not really stealing a bid from within their own conference, but from the number of overall bids. Also, they get plenty of money to have the tourney, whereas mid major conferences definitely do not.

They can still 'steal a bid' from someone in their own conference if that other team was on the bubble for an at-large bid, but that's not the point. We are in agreeance on the matter regarding our conference and postseason tourneys and others like ours.

A consolation prize is better than no prize. These talented ladies deserve it.

http://www.sfajacks.com/news/2017/11/20/womens-volleyball-ladyjacks-selected-to-play-in-2017-nivc-postseason-tournament.aspx

Another home match for the ladies would be nice.

Girls will play Ol' Miss Wednesday night at 6. It would be a nice postseason win to pick up that match.

Women just got their clocks cleaned by Ol Miss 0-3. They got dominated the first set, played tough in the second, and could not quite get a rhythm in the third. Great season with the league championship, but it's now the offseason.

Will we ever be THE All-Time leader?

It's going to take some time. I believe La Tech or Lamar have over 100.