Conference Realignment - where will we be in 5 yrs?

[MVCfans]

Air Force to the MVC? http://www.gazette.com/sports/gen-12633 ... names.html

(Credit to PTTB on Panthernation for finding this)

Adding them for basketball wouldn't be the worst thing in the world would it?

[valleychamp]

Air Force to the MVC? http://www.gazette.com/sports/gen-12633 ... names.html

(Credit to PTTB on Panthernation for finding this)

Adding them for basketball wouldn't be the worst thing in the world would it?

I can't think of a single benefit.

Adding an 11th member would put us at an odd number and would pretty much eliminate our traditional scheduling model. Not to mention the fact that they are way out in Colorado without a travel partner. All of that on top of the fact that they are not a very good basketball program.

[MVCfans]

With TCU leaving for the Big 12, the Big East wants to add six football schools . How this shakes out will certainly dictate what happens with the Valley.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ll-schools

[2livewu]

I can't think of a single benefit.

Adding an 11th member would put us at an odd number and would pretty much eliminate our traditional scheduling model. Not to mention the fact that they are way out in Colorado without a travel partner. All of that on top of the fact that they are not a very good basketball program.

Please tell me how adding Air Force is worse than the last 3 programs the Valley added. (Hint: Other than the numbers game, it's a rhetorical question).

You also MUST look ahead at the possibility of losing other programs, for whatever reason, in the near future and there are certainly possibilities out there....many possibilities.

And to be selfish, it would be nice if the Valley did something that benefited WSU for a change. AFA would be a great road trip and nice addition for the Shocks. Personally, I couldn't care less if UNI (or any other school) doesn't like or can't afford the trip to Colorado Springs.

[BirdmanBB]

With TCU leaving for the Big 12, the Big East wants to add six football schools . How this shakes out will certainly dictate what happens with the Valley.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ll-schools

So the Big East wants to grab Army, Navy and Air Force for football only. They are looking at UCF and East Carolina has already made it clear that they want in. Memphis is also a possibility along with Temple. I am surprised Marshall is not being mentioned in any of this.

In the end it looks like the CUSA will be looking to replace teams and maybe the MAC. It shouldn't really effect the valley unless some of our FCS teams are looking to move up.

I also heard that the A10 is interested in a couple CAA teams. This could have some impact on the MVC if there ends up being strong basketball schools that want to band together who are FCS or non-football playing.

I think the only motive for the valley to expand at this point is to bring in strong basketball teams that will generate more cash for the conference. It would be an added bonus if those teams were in a good market for tv purposes. (SLU and Butler are ones that come to mind) If we can strengthen our presence in the midwest we may be able to strike up better tv deals with fox sports and comcast.

[ihsi]

In the end it looks like the CUSA will be looking to replace teams and maybe the MAC. It shouldn't really effect the valley unless some of our FCS teams are looking to move up.

Elgin was on the local radio show in Omaha yesterday and didn't sound concerned one bit about any of the MVFC schools wanting to advance to FBS and another conference.

[SubGod22]

I'm not a huge fan of adding SLU. But would understand if it ever happened. They appear to be, based on RPI, a mid-level MVC team. A few flashes, but mostly a bunch of mediocrity. RPI the last 8 years is, 175, 87, 123, 137, 75, 101, 244, 59.

Would that really add much to the Valley? Do they really generate much interest in STL? Are we all for adding teams that will just add to the mediocrity? Does SLU really have much potential to be better than they already are? If we're going to add teams that don't add to the top of the conference, then we need to add teams that at least have the potential to move that way. Would adding SLU make us more attractive to a better school?

I don't know of any schools that would be worth expansion that would honestly consider us right now. The thought of AFA makes me ill and SLU doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

[BirdmanBB]

In the end it looks like the CUSA will be looking to replace teams and maybe the MAC. It shouldn't really effect the valley unless some of our FCS teams are looking to move up.

Elgin was on the local radio show in Omaha yesterday and didn't sound concerned one bit about any of the MVFC schools wanting to advance to FBS and another conference.

If you were interested would you tell Elgin? Opportunities present themselves. He won't know anyones actual interest until its close to a sure thing. I know for a fact that ISU has interest in moving to FBS, but we are years away from doing so, however, if the right opportunity presented itself I am sure we would take it. Just as I would imagine MSU would or Creighton would if they were invited to a power catholic basketball conference. The opportunities just aren't there yet.

As far as the MVC expanding, our options are very limited on what actually would be a good addition. Just looking through midwest schools our best options to improve the conference are Dayton (happy in the A10), Butler (happy in the Horizon) and SLU (somewhat wants to be in the MVC for travel purposes). Besides this there are potentially other Horizon schools or possible schools like Morehead St., Murray St. and Oral Roberts which still wouldn't really do much. The problem with trying to add SLU is that we would probably want another strong 12th member who isn't out there.

[valleychamp]

I can't think of a single benefit.

Adding an 11th member would put us at an odd number and would pretty much eliminate our traditional scheduling model. Not to mention the fact that they are way out in Colorado without a travel partner. All of that on top of the fact that they are not a very good basketball program.

Please tell me how adding Air Force is worse than the last 3 programs the Valley added. (Hint: Other than the numbers game, it's a rhetorical question).

You also MUST look ahead at the possibility of losing other programs, for whatever reason, in the near future and there are certainly possibilities out there....many possibilities.

And to be selfish, it would be nice if the Valley did something that benefited WSU for a change. AFA would be a great road trip and nice addition for the Shocks. Personally, I couldn't care less if UNI (or any other school) doesn't like or can't afford the trip to Colorado Springs.

Are you serious? When the MVC added MSU, UNI, and UE they only had like 7 or 8 schools in the conference if I am not mistaken. They needed schools. We don't need any schools right now. We have 10 great schools right now.

Also, MSU, UNI, and UE are all in the MVC region, and all have nearby schools. AFA would be all the way out west, and isolated. They would have no real travel partner for the non-revenue sports, and it would unbalance the schedules in basketball. And can you please explain to me how this would benefit WSU? They get to go all the way out to Colorado, and play a crappy basketball team. Yeah, that sounds real nice.

Like I said, I can't think of a single benefit.

[SubGod22]

I'm bored at work today. So, I decided to try and find numbers for just about every team I've seen mentioned in some form on this board or others about joining the Valley. I know RPI isn't everything, but it's a nice way to evaluate what each school possibly brings. Things such as media market could also play. But for this post, it's all about average RPI over the past 8 seasons. That's as far back as I could find and it allowed for some ups and downs and I think is a nice balance for this purpose. First, I'll list the Valley teams for reference.

Creighton - 66.25
Northern Iowa - 69.63
Southern Illinois - 83.63
Wichita State - 87.75
Missouri State - 87.88
Bradley - 118.75
Illinois State - 139
Drake - 156
Indiana State - 159.13
Evansville - 193.38

Xavier - 41.75
Dayton - 72.88
Butler - 76.25
Western Kentucky - 92.5
Oral Roberts - 110.25
Murray State - 114.5
Milwaukee - 115.25
Wright State - 121.63
Saint Louis - 125.13
Ohio - 126.25
Air Force - 134.63
Boise State - 136.25
Green Bay - 140
Oakland - 151.75
North Texas - 159.5
Valpo - 161.63
Cleveland State - 177.75
Loyola - 190.63
Detroit - 194.5
Morehead State - 199.25

Have I missed anyone? How many of the teams at the top of this list would actually consider a move? Would the ones that would be worth it? Do any of these teams at least have the potential to help given a new conference? Would any media markets in this group help enough that it would be worth taking certain teams? Obviously, we'd all love to have Butler, Dayton and Xavier. But some strange things would have to go down for that to happen. Odds are they stay east. If any other teams come up, I'll try and add them to the list.

I went and added Boise since they were also rumored to be looking with AFA.

Western Kentucky has been added.