Feb. 22, 2010
The Long and Winding Road
by John Stansberry
This feature also appeared on
FoxSports.com
The Great West Conference might have a very specific
geographic reference in its title, but it's truly a
league with a national scope.
By stretching from New Jersey to the Dakotas and
down to Utah and Houston, the Great West has made
sure that none of its members have the cushy road
trips that are a hallmark of other less expansive
leagues.
In the ACC, North Carolina and Duke are separated by
about 15 miles, and for either school it's a short
drive over to NC State. Mississippi State is roughly
75 miles away from both its primary SEC rivals,
Alabama and Ole Miss. And while the Big East has
some monster trips, Seton Hall only has to drive 14
miles to play St. John's in Madison Square Garden
and just a couple miles more to play Rutgers.
The shortest road trip you'll find in the Great West
is the 348 mile round trip from South Dakota to
North Dakota. Houston Baptist benefits from the
league's second shortest distance between Great West
rivals, it's a 582 mile round trip to play Texas-Pan
American.
After that, the miles start piling up in a hurry.
When you throw in non-conference road games against
the likes of Boise State, Michigan and Middle
Tennessee, here's how things stack up this season
for Houston Baptist:
From Houston, TX to Ann Arbor, MI - 2,160 miles
(round trip)
From Houston, TX to Natchitoches, LA - 386 miles
(round trip)
From Houston, TX to New Orleans, LA - 634 miles
(round trip)
From Houston, TX to Boise, ID - 1,491 miles
From Boise, ID to Omaha, NE - 1,359 miles
From Omaha, NE to Houston, TX - 792 miles
From Houston, TX to Memphis, TN - 972 miles (round
trip)
From Houston, TX to Dallas, TX - 225 miles
From Dallas, TX to Arlington, TX - 18 miles
From Arlington, TX to Houston, TX - 227 miles
From Houston, TX to Chicago, IL - 1,880 miles (round
trip)
From Houston, TX to Orem, UT - 2,344 miles (round
trip)
From Houston, TX to Edinburg, TX - 582 miles (round
trip)
From Houston, TX to Murfreesboro, TN - 1,336 miles
(round trip)
From Houston, TX to Newark, NJ - 2,822 miles (round
trip)
From Houston, TX to Grand Forks, ND 1,258 miles
From Grand Forks, ND To Vermillion, SD - 348 miles
From Vermillion, SD to Houston, TX - 911 miles
That's 19,745 miles worth of travel...and that
doesn't include another trip to Orem for the Great
West Tournament in March.
John Stansberry is in his thirteenth season as
a senior writer for collegeinsider.com. Check out
John's blog
LonelyTailgater.com.
EMAIL JOHN
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