Our League is Braindead

[Milanmiracle]

It's all over their board now. Racer fans are cooling rapidly on the idea of joining the MVC...

Feels like the train is leaving the station.

I get the attraction to Murray State and why the MVC should be interested. That being said, why would they want to leave the OVC? Murray has been consistent in making the NCAA tournament and finding NBA players to come there. They’ve gone to the Dance 9 times in the last 20 years. If it were me, I’d stay and start to build up my out of conference schedule based on the talent on my roster. Gonzaga basically plays an inverted schedule with all their big names at the start of the season (Duke, Tennessee, etc) and that’s why they can play in the WCC and still get a 1 seed while losing in their conference tournament. Butler did something similar when they were in the Horizon. They got at-large bids and the conference itself wasn’t as relevant when it came to being an at large.

If Belmont and Murray State do it right, they could become Gonzaga and St.Marys of the OVC. I know that doesn’t help the MVC, but if they’re interested in Murray St. I’d make that call sooner rather than later. I’d partner them with NKU, who’s going to be a very good program for a long time. They have the facilities, the coach and the administration to make that happen.

[VUGrad1314]

I've been advocating for that pair since expansion talks first surfaced and Belmont dropped off the table as an option.

[RacerJoeD]

Why would we want to leave the OVC?

Because there is a general lack of desire by the rest of the OVC to improve. And it isn’t new. Two teams don’t make a conference.

[VUGrad1314]

The tone on the Murray State board toward the MVC should deeply concern anyone who cares about the health of this conference.

[racerlover]

It doesn't matter at this point. The fans have zero say. If conferences would listen to their fans, there would be a drastic change in almost every conference. I guess a lot of our fans have come to accept that fact that we aren't wanted in the MVC. It stings being told that your school and athletic programs aren't good enough, but we'll live. It is, however, a missed opportunity for both sides. It could have been a great relationship, but we'll never know. The bottom line is that there are a bunch of morons running the OVC...and an equal amount of morons running the MVC. And we're all caught in the middle.

[VUGrad1314]

The sad thing is the fans on both sides want this... But how to convince the decisionmakers?

[racerlover]

The sad thing is the fans on both sides want this... But how to convince the decisionmakers?

Honestly, if the MVC decision makers don't have enough brains to realize that Murray would be an asset to the league, we might as well just stay in the OVC. We can get brain dead thinking right where we're at. There's nothing that can be done from a fans perspective. Zilch. We have the fans, the arena, the 45th place team in all time Division I wins and an all time win percentage of 65%. If that's not good enough, I don't know WTF else we could do. It's over Johnny...IT'S OVER!!!

[Ricardo del Rio]

A body at rest, tends to stay at rest.

I. Newton

[Milanmiracle]

Why would we want to leave the OVC?

Because there is a general lack of desire by the rest of the OVC to improve. And it isn’t new. Two teams don’t make a conference.

But two teams can accomplish their goals within that conference. If Murray State or Belmont are capable of scheduling up to be able to earn an at large bid like a Gonzaga does or Butler did, what does it matter if Tenn Tech sucks? I’ve got to believe that at this point Murray State could get good games as they won’t be the anchor on a good teams schedule. Same with Belmont, who did indeed get an at large bid.

I guess I question what “makes a conference”? To me a conference is just a means to an end. It creates easier scheduling, travel, and in an ideal situation similar aspirations. That said, 8 of the 12 teams in the OVC had losing records out of conference and yet Belmont still managed an at-large. Seems pretty good to me. Maybe I’m missing something.

Belmont won their play in game and had every chance to win their first round game against Big 10 for Maryland losing by just 2. Murray State handled Marquette by 19 and moved to the second round.

Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it (ask Valpo). The Crusaders played in the title game of the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament every year between 1995 and 2004 winning it 8 times. The NCAA tournament seems light years away now.

*I am not saying Valpo should have stayed in the Mid Con.

[RacerJoeD]

It’s happened twice. The OVC was founded in 1948. And it’s happened twice. I’m not a big gambler, but the odds sure don’t seem in favor of it happening again any time soon.

And a conference is a means to an end. The end is that our program is successful, respected, serves as a great advertisement for our university, is a point of unifying pride among our community, our alumni, and our students. The means in this case is to join a group of like-minded programs who see investment into quality basketball as a good way to achieve the ends stated, while understanding the existential threat posed by a power structure that wishes to distill college athletics into a single, large school, money machine that neglects the smaller, locally and regionally focused schools, despite a greater level of success.

We currently do not have a group of like minded schools working towards a common goal.

You bring up two schools that are a type of model for overarching success for MMs; Gonzaga and Butler.

Gonzaga has chosen to stay in the WCC and the WCC has invested in being better than they were 30 years ago. Their reward is that St Mary’s is a quality program, San Francisco has had success, Pacific, Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Portland have all gotten better. So much so that the conference has added BYU, a good program in their own right.

Butler took a very different road. After being suspect in the years between 1963 and 1996, they seized upon success, used it as a tool for engaging their school and community, and moved up to more difficult conferences as it fit their goals. They Grew with the MCC (later the Horizon) and when the opportunity to advance they took it.

There is no fool proof recipe for success. For every Butler there is a DePaul. But a program has to not get complacent. You have to push, to challenge, for growth to occur. In today’s college basketball world, you either grow or die. There is no third option.