You must have a conference

While a lot of conversation has taken place in recent months about the growing disparity in the size of Nevada High School compared to the remainder of the Southwest Conference institutions, not a whole lot of things can realistically be done to improve matters locally.

Some have gone so far as to suggest that Nevada go independent. That's about the worst idea I've ever heard. When schools are independent they seem to spend most of their time attempting to get in a conference. That's exactly what ruined the once solid Big 10 when McDonald County, Seneca and East Newton found themselves without affiliations and elbowed their way into the loop via an ad hoc committee sponsored by the state.

If you think independent is any good, take a look east at El Dorado Springs, which has tried to get in a conference for years. They tried the ad hoc committee route and were admitted into a conference which promptly disbanded and reorganized itself under a new banner, sans El Dorado Springs. It was all a matter of travel. Therein lies Nevada's major problem.

Nevada has long been a victim of geography. The closest school they ever play to the south is Lamar, some 26 miles distant. North lies Harrisonville, 30 miles farther than Lamar in the opposite direction. Other area schools that have been rivals of Nevada over the years don't face such travel difficulties. Look at Carthage. It's just a short hop west to Webb City and Neosho isn't all that far, 17 miles or so.

In the Big 8 you have that great Aurora, Monett, Mount Vernon triangle. It's about 11 miles from Aurora to Monett and about the same from Aurora to Mount Vernon. Nevada athletes can't even picture an 11-mile trip because none exists and never has.

If you look at the rest of the southwest Missouri area it isn't far from Neosho to either McDonald County or East Newton.

Carl Junction is what, maybe seven miles from Webb City?

A lot of people think of Nevada in terms of Southwest Missouri when it is actually much closer to West Central Missouri.

This is a situation that can't be rectified. No one could have known back when the conference split up that it would turn out this way. Neosho and Carthage always were much bigger than Nevada with more than 1,000 students each, but who could have known that McDonald County and Webb City would continue to grow by leaps and bounds while Nevada remains about the same size from year to year.

Sure, it would really be nice for Nevada if it could get into the Big 8 Conference, but that's not going to happen. The Big 8, after all, doesn't want Nevada. As far as the Southwest Conference is concerned, I'll bet those schools would prefer Carl Junction to Nevada due to proximity, which is really the most important factor when it comes to drawing up conference affiliations.

This may be one of those be-careful-what-you-wish-for deals. Nevada might not be competing too well overall, but at least they have someone to schedule. Imagine what a nightmare scheduling would be without a conference affiliation or chance to ever win league championships. Ouch!