Creighton to A-10?

[pafan]

I guarantee you the A10 conference tournament won't be in Kansas City any time soon, should this bit of speculation come true.

[Dean Wormer]

Creighton has to look at this deal. Shox have to be looking at other opportunites also.

Realistically, where do you see the Shox looking?

Surprisingly, looking at this potential shakeup, the Shox could be in the worst position of any Valley school.

Obviously Creighton has to look attractive to the A-10. As others have pointed out, the only drawback is geography. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this is true, then there has to be some consideration of bringing along some or all of the other Valley privys on both sides. For Creighton, it obviously eases the geographic concerns to have Drake, or even Bradley and Evansville coming along. While Bradley is currently at rock bottom, the history and support of the program over the years would have to make it attractive to the A-10. Evansville is improving both on the court and in terms of facilities, and has a long history with many of the current A-10 schools. They both also fit well in the expanded A-10 footprint. Peoria and E-ville aren't huge media markets, but they aren't horrible either. I believe both are in the top 100. Drake might be questionable, but again, if the others are in, I am sure they would be looked at as well. For the A-10, this would significantly cripple a peer conference.

With that in mind, MSU, IL State would appear to have the best opportunity to join a Conf USA type conference. I also think the other state football schools, SIU, UNI and IN State would also be packaged together with them. They may all remain in the Valley and bring in other similar schools with football, such as the Dakotas, Western IL, etc..

So that brings us to WSU. Seriously, what are the options for the Shockers? I am not disputing their recent success, history or fan support. But I struggle to see where they would fit without football. An all private, mega A-10 isn't going to make an exception for them, neither school type or geographically, and football is driving everything else.

[Wufan]

WSU is in a bad place as we are an attractive basketball/baseball school, but lack football. Also, geographically there are few nearby schools that aren't a step down (Oral Roberts, UMKC are some less attractive alternatives).

The CUSA/Mountain West is by far the best option for WSU as a new conference. Remember that there are already a ton of teams in that conference and they may not want to add more football schools to the mix as was suggested above. In such a scenario, WSU is a good fit.

My personal preference would be for WSU to get into a power conference of non-football schools, but that is currently a pipe dream.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I guarantee you the A10 conference tournament won't be in Kansas City any time soon, should this bit of speculation come true.

The MVC tourney isn't going there either though, despite what essentially amounts to begging from CU and WSU.

With the permanent placement of the tourney in ST Louis, combined with the fact that the conference office rigged the tourney so WSU couldn't win, is it any surprise the western schools are looking around?

[BirdmanBB]

If the MWC/CUSA or MAC are looking for basketball teams only I think MSU and ISU bring potentially more to the table than WSU currently. The big reason is FBS football. Those conferences might allow us to move football up when it is ready.

The best thing WSU could probably do for themselves right now is bring back and develop football given their geographic location.

[squirrel]

The trend du jour in expansion these days is merging (MWC/CUSA, Sun Belt/WAC).

The A-10 is in a position to make a potential power play here where they can raid the best from the CAA, throw in a Valley team (or two) and maybe even poach a couple Big East teams who will surely find themselves out of favor with new membership.

However, just because teams are experiencing success now, moving to the A-10 may be as likely to guarantee a decade of struggles rather than success.

When the A-10 first expanded to include Dayton, LaSalle, Xavier, Virginia Tech and Fordham in 1995 only Dayton was a bad program at the time (but had just hired Purnell) while the others all were dominant and respective league powers before joining. LaSalle and Fordham have not returned to the NCAA since joining.

[havoc]

When the A-10 first expanded to include Dayton, LaSalle, Xavier, Virginia Tech and Fordham in 1995 only Dayton was a bad program at the time (but had just hired Purnell) while the others all were dominant and respective league powers before joining. LaSalle and Fordham have not returned to the NCAA since joining.

The same can be said for Evansville since joining the Valley. Although they have been to the NCAAs since joining the MVC, they haven't had near the success here as in the old MCC.

[unipanther99]

If the MWC/CUSA or MAC are looking for basketball teams only I think MSU and ISU bring potentially more to the table than WSU currently. The big reason is FBS football. Those conferences might allow us to move football up when it is ready.

The best thing WSU could probably do for themselves right now is bring back and develop football given their geographic location.

Unless UNI, SIU, and InSU are coming along for the ride, I don't see why those three would continue to allow MSU and IlSU to play in the MVFC if they bolted the MVC, especially if the Dakota schools would be likely replacements. I would expect the rest of the MVFC membership would follow our lead --- especially if some of them were hoping to be considered replacements for full MVC membership. I don't see this as an option for the Bears and Redbirds unless you are ready to make the jump to FBS or you are willing to be FCS Independents (or join some lesser conference that would allow you to play for a couple of years--- I don't see that happening).

This is a nightmare scenario.

[unipanther99]

Football is still driving change. If the NCAA changes the rule about only counting one FCS game toward bowl eligibility, I wonder if a hybrid conference might be a possibility in the future...

MWC FBS Division:
Colorado St.
Fresno St.
Nevada
New Mexico
UNLV
USAF
Wyoming

MWC FCS Division:
Illinois State
Indiana State
Missouri St.
Montana
Montana St.
Northern Iowa
Southern Illinois

Travel would be a pain, but it would be one hell of a basketball conference. Divisions would probably be for football and non-rev sports (making travel more realistic). For basketball, no divisions and rotate who you play once or twice.

[isumvc1]

a UW-M fan wrote a lengthy piece on how he sees it possibly working out, interesting read with many scenarios

http://www.brewcityball.com/forums/cont ... -a10-moves