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Harrison & McCutcheon Joining Sagamore Conference


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Not a bad move given the circumstances and (lack of) options.  Harrison has already played Tri-West in the undercard games, so there's some activity already there.  Given about three additional slots to fill, it may provide some addition interest from others to round that out.  Still provides Harrison the ability to pick up an additional five games out of conference right now which they will need to help them compete in their move to 6A.  They will be facing West Lafayette this year for a third consecutive season and that has to be a benefit for both in terms of having an extra "home" game even if if they are away.  They may still put Jeff on their schedule too, which both teams need, but frankly given that Jeff voted Harrison out of the NCC, I'd almost like to see Harrison find another 6A opponent to scratch that itch; especially if West Lafayette will be a continued opponent locally.  Harrison also has Brebeuf this next season which is also a nice pick-up.  Don't know if that's just going to be a home-and-home, but would be interesting to see if that evolves.  Harrison has actually played several of the Catholic schools on undercards including Chatard and Cathedral as well as now getting Brebeuf and playing Roncalli in the past as a varsity fill-in game during COVID.  Those schools aren't going to leave the Circle City, but as non-con games for Harrison, they would be nice matches.

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2 hours ago, foxbat said:

Not a bad move given the circumstances and (lack of) options.  Harrison has already played Tri-West in the undercard games, so there's some activity already there.  Given about three additional slots to fill, it may provide some addition interest from others to round that out.  Still provides Harrison the ability to pick up an additional five games out of conference right now which they will need to help them compete in their move to 6A.  They will be facing West Lafayette this year for a third consecutive season and that has to be a benefit for both in terms of having an extra "home" game even if if they are away.  They may still put Jeff on their schedule too, which both teams need, but frankly given that Jeff voted Harrison out of the NCC, I'd almost like to see Harrison find another 6A opponent to scratch that itch; especially if West Lafayette will be a continued opponent locally.  Harrison also has Brebeuf this next season which is also a nice pick-up.  Don't know if that's just going to be a home-and-home, but would be interesting to see if that evolves.  Harrison has actually played several of the Catholic schools on undercards including Chatard and Cathedral as well as now getting Brebeuf and playing Roncalli in the past as a varsity fill-in game during COVID.  Those schools aren't going to leave the Circle City, but as non-con games for Harrison, they would be nice matches.

I mentioned on another site that I could see West Lafayette entertaining the possibility of moving to the Sagamore to be a 6th member. Doing so would then put the Hoosier Conference at 8 members.  West Side would still have room in their schedule to keep Central Catholic and at least 1 more rival from the Hoosier, plus potentially get Lafayette Jeff back on the schedule.  They fit competitively in the Sagamore and the natural rivalries with Harrison and McCutcheon would make it worth considering a move.  Here’s an example of what the opponents could look like for Harrison, McCutcheon, West Side, and Jeff.  I listed non-conference opponents first, but these aren’t necessarily in order since this is definitely hypothetical.

Harrison

Plainfield

Brebeuf

Lafayette Jeff

Kokomo

West Lafayette

McCutcheon

Lebanon

Tri-West

Danville

 

McCutcheon

Guerin Catholic

Kokomo

Terre Haute South

Lafayette Jeff

West Lafayette

Lebanon

Tri-West

Danville

Harrison

 

West Lafayette (Sagamore)

Central Catholic

Rensselaer Central

Twin Lakes

Lafayette Jeff

Lebanon

Tri-West

Danville

Harrison

McCutcheon

 

Lafayette Jeff

Cathedral

West Lafayette

Harrison

McCutcheon

Kokomo

Marion

Muncie Central

Anderson

Richmond

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Considering two of those schools, Danville and Tri-West, were relative newcomers to the Sagamore it still sticks in the craw of many that these three schools were able to pry the venerable conference name away from the remaining five members.    And those five schools, along AFAIK with a still unnamed sixth school,  still haven't announced what this new conference will be called.

 

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They already have an 8 team conference with Greencastle, Cascade and North Putnam, though still unnamed,  and the reason the 3 kept the conference name, is the 5 decided together to leave, and not attempt to remove the 3 that remained. At least that was the reasoning given.

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11 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

I mentioned on another site that I could see West Lafayette entertaining the possibility of moving to the Sagamore to be a 6th member. Doing so would then put the Hoosier Conference at 8 members.  West Side would still have room in their schedule to keep Central Catholic and at least 1 more rival from the Hoosier, plus potentially get Lafayette Jeff back on the schedule.  They fit competitively in the Sagamore and the natural rivalries with Harrison and McCutcheon would make it worth considering a move.  Here’s an example of what the opponents could look like for Harrison, McCutcheon, West Side, and Jeff.  I listed non-conference opponents first, but these aren’t necessarily in order since this is definitely hypothetical.

Harrison

Plainfield

Brebeuf

Lafayette Jeff

Kokomo

West Lafayette

McCutcheon

Lebanon

Tri-West

Danville

 

McCutcheon

Guerin Catholic

Kokomo

Terre Haute South

Lafayette Jeff

West Lafayette

Lebanon

Tri-West

Danville

Harrison

 

West Lafayette (Sagamore)

Central Catholic

Rensselaer Central

Twin Lakes

Lafayette Jeff

Lebanon

Tri-West

Danville

Harrison

McCutcheon

 

Lafayette Jeff

Cathedral

West Lafayette

Harrison

McCutcheon

Kokomo

Marion

Muncie Central

Anderson

Richmond

If WL leaves the HC, it would likely singularly shift the dynamic of the conference to a small school conference even with HH and Western still in the conference.  For a while, it was often seen as a conference that punched above its weight class.  If WL left, and with RCHS going back to 2A and with BC dropping down from 3A to 2A a few seasons ago, that would leave no one in the West in the "bigger school" moniker in the West.  Even with HH and Western in the East, that would be seen as a circumstance as opposed to a feature of the conference.

That Harrison schedule that you've laid out is a much better set of matchups than they had annually in the NCC, although probably still problematic for a 6A school.  The schools that benefit most from a WL move and the schedules you've laid out are WL and McCutcheon.  Jeff mainly benefits not from the schedule, as they still get to hang out in the NCC primarily, but from the fact that they are moving down to 5A.

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A bit of a surprise, but I thought they'd go after a league with bigger schools.  But their location is almost as bad as Terre Haute: two big schools with limited local options.  I guess the only other option would be the Northwest Crossroads, and that's a bit of a stretch.

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Expanded Indiana Crossroads will be the final spot for TW.  10 team league split into big/small school. Danville and Lebanon will double the size of TW in the next 10 years.  Danville will eventually end up in the Mid-State.  Lebanon, who knows.

ICC Big School- Tri-West, Beech Grove, Monrovia, Speedway, Indian Creek

ICC Small School-  Triton Central, Lutheran, Scecina, Ritter, Covenant Christian

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3 hours ago, 1st_and_10 said:

The new conference name will come at some point.  It's just a name.  Not overly worried about what it's called

I've always liked Sagamore, but the Tecumseh League could be a swell improvement.

 

Imagine the protests...

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5 hours ago, superjay said:

Expanded Indiana Crossroads will be the final spot for TW.  10 team league split into big/small school. Danville and Lebanon will double the size of TW in the next 10 years.  Danville will eventually end up in the Mid-State.  Lebanon, who knows.

ICC Big School- Tri-West, Beech Grove, Monrovia, Speedway, Indian Creek

ICC Small School-  Triton Central, Lutheran, Scecina, Ritter, Covenant Christian

I don’t see it happening, but if it did, go a step further and make it 14 schools. Split them into private and public divisions with a crossover/playoff in week 9.  That gives all teams a 7-game conference schedule and still leaves 2 weeks open for non-conference games.

ICC Private: Heritage Christian, Cardinal Ritter, Scecina, Park Tudor, Covenant Christian, Lutheran, Greenwood Christian

ICC Public: Beech Grove, Danville, Indian Creek, Tri-West, Speedway, Monrovia, Triton Central

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13 hours ago, Jbk2 said:

New conference name comes out February 22nd 

https://t.co/BDbNPGaKiS

From the article:

Quote

Harrison (West Lafayette) and McCutcheon announced Wednesday through the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation that both will join the Sagamore Conference as full members.

*sigh*  Basic journalism at the Indianapolis Star continues to go downhill.

 

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14 hours ago, Gipper said:

I like the move.  Travel costs and times won't be near as bad and hopefully there will be (to borrow from the illustrious DT) competitive balance.    

I’ve seen Marion on film.  We (TW) will be better competition than them for sure.  And most likely better than Tech, Anderson and Richmond.  

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@foxbat @HoopsCoach @superjay

Hypothetical scenario for you. If Conference Indiana ever falls apart as it has been rumored for the past few years, could you see a scenario where the Sagamore grabs the two Terre Haute schools? I know that’s a two hour drive from Lafayette but the overall travel for them would still be shorter per season in a Sagamore with the Terre Haute schools than in the NCC.

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16 minutes ago, Frozen Tundra said:

@foxbat @HoopsCoach @superjay

Hypothetical scenario for you. If Conference Indiana ever falls apart as it has been rumored for the past few years, could you see a scenario where the Sagamore grabs the two Terre Haute schools? I know that’s a two hour drive from Lafayette but the overall travel for them would still be shorter per season in a Sagamore with the Terre Haute schools than in the NCC.

Harrison used to have THS on its non-con calendar back around 2020-2021, so it's not a foreign concept.

If I were the Sagamore though, I would hold off on grabbing the Terre Haute schools as I suspect they might have better options; especially if someone like West Lafayette joins.  With that, you'd only need a couple of other teams to make an 8-team conference, and you could almost afford to be pickier at that point.  I suspect that the NCC, which claimed it kicked Harrison and McCutcheon out due to travel and "competitive balance" will likely turn their sights on Jeff once they realize that they look just like the two folks they kicked out.  Jeff might not be too far off from being #6 or #7.  If West Lafayette joins and Jeff's a potential, I suspect the TH schools would be in the running only if the conference wanted to get to 10 teams ... which I'm not sure they would want.

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59 minutes ago, superjay said:

Nobody wants the Terre Haute schools.  Northview would be a better option.  The addition of the Terre Haute schools and/or Jeff would probably force TW to look elsewhere.

Why are the Terre Haute schools being shunned? 

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On 2/16/2024 at 11:46 PM, superjay said:

I’ve seen Marion on film.  We (TW) will be better competition than them for sure.  And most likely better than Tech, Anderson and Richmond.  

Go Kokomo Wildkats.

 

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47 minutes ago, Gipper said:

apparently, you have never been there.

Meh, I spent my college years there.  It wasn't that bad. Better than someplace like Muncie.   And IMHO the area, at least around the ISU campus, has been cleaned up considerably over the past 10-20 years.

 

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2 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Meh, I spent my college years there.  It wasn't that bad. Better than someplace like Muncie.   And IMHO the area, at least around the ISU campus, has been cleaned up considerably over the past 10-20 years.

 

noted.

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