COLUMN: MIAA makes wise choice in expansion
Skye Pournazari
Jon Dykstra Managing Editor The Maryville Forum
When Lincoln left the MIAA, it was always fairly obvious that unless another member left, the league would be adding someone in the Blue Tigers’ place. That other shoe dropped Monday with the addition of Arkansas-Fort Smith.
From Maryville, it is just under a six-hour drive to Fort Smith — which sits on the border of Arkansas and Oklahoma. By comparison, Google Maps will tell you it is about 15 minutes farther than Northeastern State and slightly shorter than the drive to Central Oklahoma.
The Lions will join after the next school year in both men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, golf and tennis as well as volleyball and baseball.
The key omission from that list is football. Lincoln being off the football schedule has opened up a non-conference week for the rest of the league and my hope was that they would stay that way and potentially move closer to a 10-team league with a two-week non-conference season to begin the year.
Arkansas-Fort Smith being that addition helps keep that hope alive. An 11-team MIAA for football will remain awkward for the teams to find opponents during random bye weeks, but if it ever moves to 10 teams, I believe that will be the best thing for the league.
Two non-conference games moves the league closer to the mathematical advantage that the GLIAC has with only six conference games and five weeks to load up their strength of schedule. The GLVC has had a similar model with six conference games.
The MIAA, GAC and NSIC have all had closed schedules with 11 league games. The 2-game non-conference slate would be a middle ground which seems worth exploring.
That is all for the league office to decide though. In the meanwhile, let’s look at how the Lions will fit into the MIAA hierarchy in the sports they have.
Men’s Basketball
Last season, the Lions went 12-16 overall with a 8-14 record in the Lone Star Conference. They did play conference champion and NCAA regional top seed West Texas A&M to within six points in a 83-77 road loss.
The year before last, the team was 14-13 which broke a four-year streak with a losing record. From 2013-2018 as a member of the Heartland Conference, the Lions had over 20 wins in four of five years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in those four years. They have never won an NCAA Tournament game.
The MIAA is one of the nation’s best basketball leagues, so it is hard to see the Lions near the top early on, but the switch may be what the program needs to get the team back on track.
Women’s Basketball
Last season, the Lions were 10-18 overall and 8-14 in the Lone Star. Arkansas-Fort Smith did pick up a non-conference home win over Northeastern State, 81-78.
All time, they are 1-2 against Central Missouri, 3-9 against Central Oklahoma, 0-4 against Emporia State, 4-5 against Northeastern State, 1-1 against Missouri Southern, 10-3 against Rogers State, 12-10 against Newman and 3-4 against Pittsburg State.
The team has had five-straight losing seasons, but before that had four-straight winning years. Just like men’s basketball, the drop in success coincided with the move to the Lone Star. It will surely be tough early on in the MIAA as well.
Baseball
The Lions were 14-36 last year and 12-36 in the Lone Star. The last time they played an MIAA school was in 2021 when they beat Central Missouri 10-4. The Mules went 46-8 that season and made it to the Division-II World Series. The six-run margin was their worst loss until the World Series. The Lions finished 2021 with a 14-19 record.
Baseball is a sport that Arkansas-Fort Smith should be very good in as soon as they step into the league.
Cross Country
The Lion women were 17th and the men were 24th of 25 teams at the South Central Region Championships this past season. They also ran at the Missouri Southern Stampede where the men took 19th out of 21 teams and finished behind all the MIAA teams in attendance while the women were 17th and topped Emporia State, Newman and Central Oklahoma.
The women certainly appear more prepared to make an early impact in the MIAA.
Volleyball
The Lions went 16-14 overall and 8-8 in Lone Star play last season, but as recently as 2019 had a 27-7 record and made the NCAA Tournament.
They have a 0-2 all-time record against Central Missouri, 3-2 against Central Oklahoma, 2-1 against Emporia State, 1-0 against Fort Hays State, 5-0 against Missouri Southern, 0-1 against Pittsburg State, 2-0 against Northwest Missouri State, 2-1 against Missouri Western, 0-1 against Nebraska-Kearney and 0-2 against Washburn.
Volleyball definitely feels like a sport that the Lions could make an impact in very soon.
Golf
The Lions women’s golf team is coming off a season where they went to MIAA country and won the NSU Golf Tournament — beating six MIAA teams including MIAA third-place finisher Northeastern State on the RiverHawks’ home course.
The men’s team did not play in that tournament — but hosted a tournament with Fort Hays State and Central Oklahoma. They beat the Tigers but lost to the Bronchos. Central Oklahoma was fifth in the MIAA and Fort Hays State was eighth.
Both golf teams should be very competitive in the MIAA and the women could make some noise very quickly.
Tennis
In women’s tennis, Arkansas-Fort Smith was 1-18 last season and 0-10 in the Lone Star. They lost 6-1 to Northeastern State, who was 5-3 in the MIAA.
Men’s tennis was 6-12 and 3-5 in the Lone Star. They played all four teams in the MIAA/GAC Southern Division, going 1-3 in those matches but with all four being competitive.
