Conference Realignment - impact on MVC?

[DoubleJayAlum]

If Thamel is even remotely close on his figures, there is no possible way that Creighton could pass on an offer.

A TV contract that pays $2-3M is larger than the entire budget for most MVC teams:

58 $4,771,088 Creighton
80 $3,798,648 Wichita State
98 $2,931,281 Bradley
129 $2,138,770 Northern Iowa
133 $2,067,844 Drake
136 $2,047,843 Southern Illinois
137 $2,047,005 Evansville Aces
141 $1,991,617 Illinois State
168 $1,683,601 Missouri State
200 $1,445,143 Indiana State

[CBB_Fan]

Wichita State's athletic department is probably going mad. It seems inevitable that they will not get an invite to the the "upgrade" conferences, and their options are few and far between otherwise. They have no incentive to go to a depleted A-10, and don't want to stay in the Valley without Creighton.

Do they stay in a Valley where the next best school is Evansville or Bradley? Do they take a sidegrade to the Horizon league or a similar conference?

It is fascinating and silly at the same time. If I were the athletic department, I would be calling the Big East with a simple pitch:

"If we join, we will spend double what we do now."

And of course, whatever is necessary to get the spot over Dayton/Saint Louis. Dayton is a decent basketball school, but Xavier shares the same market and probably wouldn't want them in the conference. Saint Louis was 12-19 just two years ago, and they've lost their basketball coach.

When it is all over, I hope Wichita State finds a home in a good conference, but I fear it is far more likely that they will downgrade than upgrade.

[TheAsianSensation]

I would pay attention very close to the MWC right now too. If they expand any more by taking Boise/SDSU back, they're going to have to figure out something to balance out Hawaii. And if Tulsa is part of a new MWC, I think Wichita becomes frontrunners there.

The other big news is that the C7 seems like they're ok with Creighton out on an island. And that there's no significant candidate (read: Wichita) being considered near them. The money sounds real good in the short term, but that part would scare me if I'm Creighton. At the very least, I'd ask them to add St Louis. If Butler is DePaul/Marquette are the next westernpost posts, that's going to be a problem for CU, who already feel like they're out of step having half the MVC be in Illinois/Indiana.

Also, using the latest article, the geography gets kinda sideways. Right now, if you assume the first 11 are locks:

East: G'town, Nova, St Johns, Provi, SHall, OPEN
West: Xavier, Dayton, Butler, Marquette, DePaul, Creighton

If you add an eastern school, Creighton is really hung out to dry.
If you add a western school, you've got a funky Xavier/Dayton split going.

And going to 14 doesn't work well either because you either add eastern schools that still leave Creighton hung out to dry, or you start adding western teams and the eastern teams are going to start throwing fits.

In conclusion, I bet Dayton gets squeezed to add St Louis for Creighton in the west and to add a, let's say Richmond, in the east to appease them.

[CBB_Fan]

And going to 14 doesn't work well either because you either add eastern schools that still leave Creighton hung out to dry, or you start adding western teams and the eastern teams are going to start throwing fits.

In conclusion, I bet Dayton gets squeezed to add St Louis for Creighton in the west and to add a, let's say Richmond, in the east to appease them.

I've thought for awhile that the best geographic compromise is:

West: Marquette, Depaul, Dayton, Butler, Saint Louis, Creighton, Wichita State
East: Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Xavier, VCU

Arguably better if you take out Dayton and Saint Louis and move Xavier to the West.

[Jet915]

And going to 14 doesn't work well either because you either add eastern schools that still leave Creighton hung out to dry, or you start adding western teams and the eastern teams are going to start throwing fits.

In conclusion, I bet Dayton gets squeezed to add St Louis for Creighton in the west and to add a, let's say Richmond, in the east to appease them.

I've thought for awhile that the best geographic compromise is:

West: Marquette, Depaul, Dayton, Butler, Saint Louis, Creighton, Wichita State
East: Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Xavier, VCU

Arguably better if you take out Dayton and Saint Louis and move Xavier to the West.

Personally, if each team can get 2-3 million a year, I think that pretty much alleviates any travel costs. I would actually favor substituting SLU (perennial loser) or Dayton (same market as Xavier) for Gonzaga if they would be willing to be the only team out west. That would make a big splash and another perennial NCAA team to the mix.

West: Marquette, Depaul, Marquette, Butler, Saint Louis, Creighton, Gonzaga
East: Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Xavier, Georgetown

If we ever went to 14, then add 2 of 3 (VCU, Wichita State or Dayton).

[TheAsianSensation]

And going to 14 doesn't work well either because you either add eastern schools that still leave Creighton hung out to dry, or you start adding western teams and the eastern teams are going to start throwing fits.

In conclusion, I bet Dayton gets squeezed to add St Louis for Creighton in the west and to add a, let's say Richmond, in the east to appease them.

I've thought for awhile that the best geographic compromise is:

West: Marquette, Depaul, Dayton, Butler, Saint Louis, Creighton, Wichita State
East: Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Xavier, VCU

Arguably better if you take out Dayton and Saint Louis and move Xavier to the West.

Yeah, but if you split Xavier and Dayton, they'll do it in a 12 team format instead of a 14 team format, IMO.

[bradley_brave1989]

I dont think geography plays a part anymore...Boise St. Big east etc...

[rally]

I really doubt they divide the new conference into a East and a West division, as there really is no need to do so in a basketball oriented conference. Makes sense for Football if you want a conference championship game, not so much for basketball.

[CBB_Fan]

Yeah, but if you split Xavier and Dayton, they'll do it in a 12 team format instead of a 14 team format, IMO.

That was what I was saying. That league has about a zero chance of happening, but I think it makes some sense geographically:

East: Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, VCU
West: Marquette, DePaul, Butler, Xavier, Creighton, Wichita State

The eastern side would be in bus driving range mostly, and the west would have pairs of fairly close schools. Marquette and Depaul are 88 miles apart, Butler and Xavier are 121 miles apart, and Creighton is 300 miles from Wichita State (133 miles closer than Saint Louis).

This means teams could schedule those pairs after each other to reduce driving time, and the eastern side of the conference wouldn't have any geographic outliers. IMHO, this would reduce travel about as well as any 12+ team conference (obviously, a team conference of Butler, Xavier, and VCU would also be easy on the flier miles).

[UNIFanSince1983]

I read a tweet last night that said: Xavier and Butler were locks. Dayton and Creighton were near locks, and St. Louis is probably the 12th team.