AP Article: Big Ten Looking At Summer Baseball?

[CrnhskrBob]

Monumentally MORONIC idea.

The biggest reason Big 10 teams can't compete is not allowing over signing. That's a dirty word in football but a necessity in baseball.

Basically turning baseball into a club sport will not help. It will kill it. Granted, the Huskers would be a better summer draw than the Saltdogs but it basically amounts to raising a white flag. Who are you going to recruit? Players will want to compete at the collegiate level...not the club sport level. And they want to play in the wood bat leagues in the summer....competition that, quite frankly, is better than the big 10 is now and would be infinitely better if the Big 10 went that route.

That's weak and I'd be shocked if NU was in favor of it. Good example of a northern school that has been able to compete when given a level scholarship playing field. The big 10 should just pull their heads out of their butts and get that corrected.

Sometimes the Big 10 is very small minded.

On the money! We're not quitters! The ultimate in college baseball is Omaha and the College World Series!! Summer League? Whaddup with that? Are we a farm club for college teams??? NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CrnhskrBob]

All that needs to be said is that this is an idiotic, stupid, wave the white flag, moronic, dumb idea.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rockonsign:

 

[BraskyMan]

Great Idea !!!

I like it, hate MLB anyways, would make sense and even the playing field in baseball. Southern teams wouldnt have
such a HUGE advantage due to the weather.

You do realize that if they formed the summer league, they would be breaking away from the NCAA and it would not include the southern schools, right?

I don't see how that would level the playing field.....in fact, the gap would only get larger for all of the reasons posted above.

 

[Glendale Husker]

I personally like the idea of NU being in the Big10. Big fish in a small pond. Get more shots at playing in the NCAA tournament which will get you more shots at making the CWS.

NU can recruit that 500 mile radius with the "best team in the Big10 attitude" and get kids who would go to Iowa or Minnesota or Notre Dame. Play an aggressive non-conference schedule in Arizona, Texas, Florida and California and then dominate the B10.

If the B10 doesn't want to play in the spring with the rest of the NCAA then NU should play as an independent or affiliate themselves with teams who'll remain in the spring. It isn't unheard of to have some sports affiliated with a different conference (hockey for example).

I like your thinking...need more positive guys like you!

 

[Glendale Husker]

Again, I'm not suggesting that this is the route to go, what I'm saying is: Nebraska is in a league where a coach is suggesting this is the route to go.

If that doesn't tell you the mindset of some of the teams in the league, nothing will.

Nebraska needs the Big 10 to step up and become a player nationally. It needs all the schools to be committed to that. What it doesn't need is schools saying, "we can't get it done, so were not going to try"

My point in defending this plan is: If all schools aren't committed to winning, and winning big, this sounds like a good route to me!

Great post...agree completely!

 

[Glendale Husker]

I would just like to see how the season plays out before we all keep making assumptions.

 

[wcbsas]

This was a lot easier to do when the sales pitch was, "come to Lincoln and play in a premier baseball conference against some of the best southern teams in the nation". NU locked down kids from Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, etc with this.


Now the pitch has changed to, "come here and play against lessor talent and teams, in fact, the exact same teams you could stay at home and play against"

I'm interested to see if the Colorado and Minnesota pipeline drys up. NU got a lot of great talent from these states. Now, why would a CO kid or MN kid want to come to Nebraska?

Not sure I agree. Will some kids from Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri go south to warm weather teams? Sure, it is going to happen. But there is not an overwhelming number of scholarships for every capable athlete. Some kids will choose NU because it is close, because it has great facilities, because it has great coaches, because it is well supported, because it has a chance to compete for a CWS berth.

Is playing at Nebraska with an opportunity to compete against Baylor, Texas and A&M (with less of an opportunity to qualify for the CWS) better than playing at Nebraska with an opportunity to compete against Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio State (with a better chance at qualifying for the CWS? Not so sure.

NU has great resources invested in baseball. It has great support. It is home to the CWS. They'll play a competitive non-conference schedule. I'd rather try a sell baseball at NU than I would at Iowa State or Colorado or KState.

This isn't true. Some years a 6th or 7th place finish in the Big 12 could land you in the tourney. Last year in the Big 10 if you didn't win the conference tournament, you weren't in.

Some years 6th or 7th in the Big12 will NOT get you into the tourney and most years more than one BIG team does get into the tourney. Part of being a big fish in a small pond means you do have to still earn your stripes by winning the Big 10!

 

[Husker Eponymous]

Is playing at Nebraska with an opportunity to compete against Baylor, Texas and A&M (with less of an opportunity to qualify for the CWS) better than playing at Nebraska with an opportunity to compete against Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio State (with a better chance at qualifying for the CWS? Not so sure.

How are you arriving at this conclusion? If the B1G "had a better opprotunity at qualifying for the CWS", why hasn't there been a team in there since 1984? While in that same time, Kansas, Texas, A&M, Baylor, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State have all been to the CWS?

Some years 6th or 7th in the Big12 will NOT get you into the tourney

You may want to check your facts on this.

 

[Husker Eponymous]

Part of being a big fish in a small pond means you do have to still earn your stripes by winning the Big 10!

This year NU better count on winning the conference tourney, because the way things are going, I don't see a whole lot of at-large bids being handed out in the Big 10

 

[Husker Eponymous]

Not sure I agree. Will some kids from Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri go south to warm weather teams? Sure, it is going to happen. But there is not an overwhelming number of scholarships for every capable athlete.

First off, there aren't any real scholarships in baseball. IF, and this is a big IF, a school is fully funded, they have 11.7 schollies to spread over 27 kids, with the minimum amount being 25%. So, point is, wherever a kid is going to school, he is paying. Even in Alex Gordons last year, he still wasn't on full ride.

Second, Nebraska had a great sell to kids in these states when they were in the Big 12. Now, that sell has changed. If I was a kid in Colorado, I'd be looking long and hard at the Pac 10, WCC, and others. If I was a kid in Missouri or Kansas, why would you leave the state schools to come to Nebraska now? Like I said, the "sell" has changed.

Minnesota and Iowa kids Nebraska may be able to still get. I remember Tony Watson a few years ago. With Nebraska in the B1G now, do they still get that kid?

I'm not making predictions, I'm just saying things have changed, and I don't think for the better.

 

[Husker Eponymous]

I'm not quite sure that some people are fully grasping the challenge Nebraska Baseball has in returning to national promenence.

Remember, this isn't 2005, when NU was coming off a CWS and switched conferences. This is 2012, when NU failed to qualify for the conference tourney three years in a row, and hasn't won a regional since 2005.

Nebraska's a northern school, and regardless of global warming, that isn't changing anytime soon. What was one of Nebraska's biggest recruiting assets, the conference opponents, now is its biggest liabilty. Getting quality kids to come here is not going to be easy. Is it impossible? No, but like I said before, the sales pitches to the kids in the surrounding states drastically changed.

If you were Brad Hill at KSU, or Rich Price at KU, or Tim Jameson at Mizzou, and an in-state kid was thinking about going to Nebraska, what would you be saying to them? I have a pretty good idea, I'd say, "hey Johnny Dirtbag, come for an official visit this weekend, we play Texas, or you can go to Nebraska, I think they have Penn State in town"

I've talked before about the "wichita state" model for Nebraska. But its going to take more than that model to get Nebraska back near the top. Heck, even the Shockers get plenty of help from their fellow schools in raising the SOS and RPI's.