NLA: Zim on Sac State MAC fleecing, FBS options down road for SDSU/USD, Summit League looking not-so-stable

"It's about money! Just g*****n money!"   The fictitious coach Pete Bell — played by Nick Nolte — said that about high stakes college basketball in the 1994 film about the sport and its scandals, Blue Chips.   There's no scandal at Sacramento State, but anybody with a brain able to compute deductive reasoning can strongly surmise that the Hornets' acceptance into the illogical geographic non-fit of the Mid-American Conference — elevating an also-ran FCS program into the FBS — was first and foremost about the money.   The MAC is charging SSU an $18 million entry fee and the Hornets are also paying the FCS-to-FBS fee to the NCAA while agreeing to cover the travel costs of MAC teams that reside 2,175 to 3,000 miles away when they visit Sacramento.   This is the price of poker when you are desperate to join the FBS and the geographic fits — the retooled Pac 12 and Mountain West — said "no."   Sioux Falls Live's Matt Zimmer wrote about this on Monday, and there was plenty more to unpack over beers at the Gateway Lounge during the weekly "Nobody's Listening Anyway" podcast for "Happy Hour with John Gaskins."   What kind of poker hands do the South Dakota Div. I schools have now that North Dakota State is in the Mountain West and the MAC gladly takes in high enough bidders?   SDSU athletic director Justin Sell continues to employ the holding pattern approach, but also braces to be ready in case the Jackrabbits get a call. In his Happy Hour interview last week, USD's Jon Schemmel gave that general stance for the Coyotes.   They're not selling out. But when might they ever have a chance to buy in?    Can they just sit back and hope "the big split" of the Power Four leagues from the Group of Six conferences is going to just happen, bringing the waves all the way to SDSU and USD (and Montana and Montana State, for that matter) and everyone can just slide into a new "second tier" FBS ocean?   Again, plenty to unpack.    By now, anyone who follows college athletics understands the only constant is change, especially when it comes to conference affiliation.   The Summit League has spent most of its 40-plus years in constant flux of teams, but the current stable of teams seems to make the most sense for, well, stability in both the opinion of Zim and the host.   And yet, there's a horse that appears to be huffing and puffing to leave its stable again. Omaha brought in representatives from the Horizon League and Missouri Valley Conference in recent years but did not receive an invitation. But according to its well-connected play-by-play announcer, the public school in the heart of the largest city in Nebraska is well-positioned again to attract a different league.   Considering Denver is on its way out and dropping the basketball affiliation to eight teams next year — and considering at least a couple of the schools not in the Dakotas are reportedly displeased about being shut out of a non-conference basketball event featuring teams from the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho next year — should we consider the league to be on shaky ground?    A couple of guys who have been covering the Summit League and its annual March gathering in Sioux Falls have their thoughts and what a future without the Summit League Tournament in the city would mean for SDSU and USD.