University of Southern Indiana moving to D1

[BEARZ77]

No, just no. There should be no more OVC schools going to the MVC. That league is going to be bottom five conference bad for the foreseeable future so even if somebody does well there it means essentially squat.

South Dakota State strikes me as the best add at the moment, but I have to think if they wanted to be in, we would have heard something during the last few rounds of expansion. They may be satisfied where they are, don't want to spend more on travel, etc. Given current demographic trends, it would make more sense to move south than west anyway. UTA was the right direction geography wise, just not a good choice for a number of other reasons. I feel bad for MoState. They need a travel partner but I don't know what schools are in that area. Some MoState fan should enlighten us who might be on their wish list.

Football complicates many of the better options for Missouri State. The only schools in the approximate area all play FBS football. Teams like Arkansas St and Tulsa would be ideal , but they ain't dropping down unless a much larger configuration change is happening across all college sports. But that could happen. If/when high level FCS and G5 become the same for both football and basketball, then we can once again see some conference affiliations with sensible regional groupings.

[E-Villan]

I wouldn't want two programs in Chicago, let alone Evansville or any other city in the MVC. It really makes no sense.

I think USI has the potential to make a successful transition. The facilities, especially their new arena is better than many D-1 schools, including a few of our own. I truly hope they do, and I hope it pushes our administration to finally wake the hell up. Evansville can support 2 D-1 programs, but they both better be running on all cylinders.

[IllinoisState]

I think if the conference needs to expand or replace again, it should be to the west. Not just another short bus trip for the eastern schools.

I would want the best school realistically available. Unless the Valley was going to add SDSU there are currently no other good schools to add in the west.

There is no reason to believe Southern Indiana will be a significantly better option than St. Thomas, Omaha, Kansas City, Arlington, or others in a few years. The Valley footprint in that region has become extremely dense. Unless Evansville leaves (why would they?), I can't really see any reason to add Southern Indiana.

I wasn't thinking about adding them, just that westward expansion doesn't necessarily offer a lot of choices.

[BCPanther]

You'll have to excuse UNI, Drake and Missouri State fans as we get out our tiny violins for the chances of an eastern school not getting another bus trip.

That said, SDSU is a flight for the western schools too. It's WAY out there and makes no sense when there isn't a decent sized population to fly into.

[RacerJoeD]

Honestly, I think the desire is for the best possible add if expansion is needed. Omaha, St Thomas, and KC could be that add. But they will have to step up and prove it, same as what USI will have to do.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

I lived in Evansville for a couple of years. I'm far from an expert on that town, but my general feeling was that USI would have better support in that town than UE would if it were D1. Now it will be, and I can't see this being anywhere close to a good thing for UE. Time will tell though. When I did live there, the only day I felt the town actually cared for UE's existence was the day after they beat Kentucky. And we all know that win quickly faded with 18 straight conference L's.

[AcesAces]

I think if the conference needs to expand or replace again, it should be to the west. Not just another short bus trip for the eastern schools.

I would want the best school realistically available. Unless the Valley was going to add SDSU there are currently no other good schools to add in the west.

There is no reason to believe Southern Indiana will be a significantly better option than St. Thomas, Omaha, Kansas City, Arlington, or others in a few years. The Valley footprint in that region has become extremely dense. Unless Evansville leaves (why would they?), I can't really see any reason to add Southern Indiana.

Although, I do not believe USI should join the MVC, unlike the schools you mention, USI has a history of tremendous athletics teams.

This is great news of the city of Evansville, USI and the surrounding area.

[AcesAces]

I lived in Evansville for a couple of years. I'm far from an expert on that town, but my general feeling was that USI would have better support in that town than UE would if it were D1. Now it will be, and I can't see this being anywhere close to a good thing for UE. Time will tell though. When I did live there, the only day I felt the town actually cared for UE's existence was the day after they beat Kentucky. And we all know that win quickly faded with 18 straight conference L's.

That is probably going to turn out to be false. USI going D1 is great, but I doubt they will have the following UE has. You were here in a down time in UE's program. UE is a school of about 2,000. When the basketball team is very good, they will fill the Ford Center which holds 10,000. The town cares for UE's basketball existence they just are tired of Merfeld, Simmons, Licklitter and losing.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

I lived in Evansville for a couple of years. I'm far from an expert on that town, but my general feeling was that USI would have better support in that town than UE would if it were D1. Now it will be, and I can't see this being anywhere close to a good thing for UE. Time will tell though. When I did live there, the only day I felt the town actually cared for UE's existence was the day after they beat Kentucky. And we all know that win quickly faded with 18 straight conference L's.

The Aces have been intertwined with Evansville’s cultural identity for generations. In the 90s, Evansville drew 11,740 fans at their peak, which was top-30 nationally. Also, the Aces play downtown while USI is in a rural part just outside Evansville. The Aces have intrinsic advantages with location and generational support relative to USI.

[05Racer]

Not to highjack my own thread, but I guess I will. I get the reasons for the hesitancy of USI: region is dense, should expand west, won't be much if anything, etc. Why the love affair though, some of you have (especially you VUGrad1314) with the Dakotas and St. Thomas? Travel to the Dakotas would put a strain on the budgets of the southern schools and keep students out of classes for a couple days or so. Why St. Thomas is getting so much mention over Bellarmine is beyond me. They are private and a better program right now than St. Thomas; they're in the Valley footprint and don't have football to complicate matters. I don't get it.

Right now I think the MVC has a nice geographic fit of drivable trips with a couple 2-3 flights or so mixed in.

I think the reason people are fixated on St. Thomas because it's in Minneapolis, a large metro area. Not sure how much consideration that gets or should get, but that's the general idea. Also, the MVC traditionally has liked their private/public school balance and with the recent additions, they are imbalanced now. I think it's 7/5 public/private at the moment. They added one of each with Murray/Belmont but traded Loyola, a private, for UIC, a public. Adding two private schools would restore the balance, if they want to expand again and there are no other changes. VUGrad doesn't care about any of that and has been stumping for the Dakotas for a while, even on the racers board, but he stumped for us too so it's all good.

I'm with you on Bellarmine. Louisville is not close to Minneapolis in market size, but it's around the size of Memphis or New Orleans. Played them this year and they'd probably be top four in the OVC, not that that is saying much. Ultimately it comes down to who builds a persistently good program. We've seen in situations like Loyola/Belmont that a private school's fortunes can rise very quickly.