Air Force to the MVC?

[Aargh]

Air Force's 9-year average kenpom rating is 117. That's decent, but most of the good years were when Bzdelik was there. In 4 years under Jeff Reynolds, their average rating is 188. Last year, the Valley averaged a 139 rating, which is about what Reynolds has done in his best years.

The MWC and MVC are generally fairly even conferences in basketball, so there would not be a recruiting advantage if Air Force changed conferences. Recruiting at Air Force is completely different, so their relative success or failure seems more based on coaching, rather than recruiting. (Nobody over 6'8" and no one at that height can bulk up past 250 is a recruiting restriction at AFA).

I don't see the upside.

[bigdawg]

I don't see the downside. So Air Force isn't a national power in basketball. You know what? Neither are most of the Valley teams. This is a national brand and you will sell tickets when AFA comes to town.

[beltwaybluejay]

WHAT T V COVERAGE (DENVER?) MIGHT THIS INVOLVE RE MVCTV?

[DoubleJayAlum]

I don't see the downside. So Air Force isn't a national power in basketball. You know what? Neither are most of the Valley teams. This is a national brand and you will sell tickets when AFA comes to town.

The downside is that NCAA money, TV money etc. is divided up further and each school gets a smaller share. SIU, due to their money issues, should be especially concerned with these issues. I also don't see selling more tickets when they come to town. You know what sells tickets? Good teams and BCS teams, not service academies. Omaha has a huge AFB just outside of town that serves as home base to many AFA grads. However, even with that, I don't think there would be much of a bump in ticket sales.

Unless we are going to add a team that either increases our NCAA tourney money, causes a substantial increase in conference reputation or that brings a TV market that would lead to additional TV contract money, I don't think it is worth it.

If we are going to consider adding schools but have them play FB in another conference, we could do better than Air Force. Hell, maybe we should aim for the moon and make an offer to Notre Dame right now.... (I do like the strategy of leveraging D1 FB to get future members. A similar strategy allowed the WCC to get BYU. Air Force just isn't worth it.)

[SubGod22]

With the thought of bringing in someone who would leave football in another conference, are there any that would make sense? Any that would make sense and maybe actually be a possibility or at least think about it? I'd love to be able to pull Tulsa back in doing that, but it isn't going to happen.

[Aargh]

I don't see the downside. So Air Force isn't a national power in basketball. You know what? Neither are most of the Valley teams. This is a national brand and you will sell tickets when AFA comes to town.

The downside is adding a home-and-away series against an RPI and SoS killer. Adding AFA would dilute the quality of basketball played in the MVC and probably lower the conferences overall standing and reputation. I'm quite confident the MWC would gladly welcome their departure.

[SubGod22]

I don't see the downside. So Air Force isn't a national power in basketball. You know what? Neither are most of the Valley teams. This is a national brand and you will sell tickets when AFA comes to town.

The downside is adding a home-and-away series against an RPI and SoS killer. Adding AFA would dilute the quality of basketball played in the MVC and probably lower the conferences overall standing and reputation. I'm quite confident the MWC would gladly welcome their departure.

There's a reason the MWC is ok with keeping their football and getting rid of everything else. This would be a BAD move for the Valley. Let the WCC take them or let them stay in the MWC. Maybe they should join the WAC instead. That might be a more fitting conference for them right now.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I don't see the downside. So Air Force isn't a national power in basketball. You know what? Neither are most of the Valley teams. This is a national brand and you will sell tickets when AFA comes to town.

The downside is adding a home-and-away series against an RPI and SoS killer. Adding AFA would dilute the quality of basketball played in the MVC and probably lower the conferences overall standing and reputation. I'm quite confident the MWC would gladly welcome their departure.

There's a reason the MWC is ok with keeping their football and getting rid of everything else. This would be a BAD move for the Valley. Let the WCC take them or let them stay in the MWC. Maybe they should join the WAC instead. That might be a more fitting conference for them right now.

I don't think MWC would be keeping AFA's football. I think the idea was that AFA's FB would play in the Big East, but all of their other sports would move to the MVC.

[SubGod22]

The downside is adding a home-and-away series against an RPI and SoS killer. Adding AFA would dilute the quality of basketball played in the MVC and probably lower the conferences overall standing and reputation. I'm quite confident the MWC would gladly welcome their departure.

There's a reason the MWC is ok with keeping their football and getting rid of everything else. This would be a BAD move for the Valley. Let the WCC take them or let them stay in the MWC. Maybe they should join the WAC instead. That might be a more fitting conference for them right now.

I don't think MWC would be keeping AFA's football. I think the idea was that AFA's FB would play in the Big East, but all of their other sports would move to the MVC.

From what I've read, they're still in talks with the BE and I believe waiting to see if Army and Navy join. The MWC is open to keeping football only. Either way, AFA does nothing to make this conference stronger in basketball.

[DoubleJayAlum]

There's a reason the MWC is ok with keeping their football and getting rid of everything else. This would be a BAD move for the Valley. Let the WCC take them or let them stay in the MWC. Maybe they should join the WAC instead. That might be a more fitting conference for them right now.

I don't think MWC would be keeping AFA's football. I think the idea was that AFA's FB would play in the Big East, but all of their other sports would move to the MVC.

From what I've read, they're still in talks with the BE and I believe waiting to see if Army and Navy join. The MWC is open to keeping football only. Either way, AFA does nothing to make this conference stronger in basketball.

Ya, I just re-read the article and it does talk about keeping FB in the MWC.

Regardless, you and I are certainly on the same page regarding your last sentence.