Another Expansion/Realignment Thread

[VUGrad1314]

We should be mentally preparing ourselves for the departure of Missouri State. Talks between SMU (And Cal and Stanford) and the ACC are heating up. If these teams make the move, it opens up a spot in the AAC presumably to be filled by Texas State creating an opening in the Sun Belt which is in my opinion the only realistic league the Bears could join that they would leave the Valley for. I used to believe that the Sun Belt would decide to let bygones be bygones and admit one (or all) of La Tech Middle Tennessee or WKU but those schools just signed a GOR with CUSA. Missouri State is therefore the only viable option for the Sun Belt that makes geographic sense. The question is who then does the MVC add to replace Missouri State. One or three? One has to think ORU is out if Missouri State is gone for geography reasons even before we consider the institutional reasons. St Thomas looks like a very logical fit. Good market Lots of potential and room to grow even though they're very new to D1. Maybe Bellarmine but I haven't heard a lot about their desire to move anywhere and they seem to prefer a southern focused league. And (I know) the Dakotas. if Missouri State departs then we really need to look at adding more firepower to the league and take the best available basketball program that would agree to join us. That's SDSU. They and NDSU apparently want FBS as well but if the MWC isn't calling (and why would they if they're on the verge of getting Washington State and Oregon State?) then maybe they start to believe that FCS and the Valley all sports is their best move forward. Since (especially NDSU) probably isn't going to give up on FBS I imagine we'll just replace the Bears with St Thomas and hope they make good on their potential.

[Birdfan2018]

We should be mentally preparing ourselves for the departure of Missouri State. Talks between SMU (And Cal and Stanford) and the ACC are heating up. If these teams make the move, it opens up a spot in the AAC presumably to be filled by Texas State creating an opening in the Sun Belt which is in my opinion the only realistic league the Bears could join that they would leave the Valley for. I used to believe that the Sun Belt would decide to let bygones be bygones and admit one (or all) of La Tech Middle Tennessee or WKU but those schools just signed a GOR with CUSA. Missouri State is therefore the only viable option for the Sun Belt that makes geographic sense. The question is who then does the MVC add to replace Missouri State. One or three? One has to think ORU is out if Missouri State is gone for geography reasons even before we consider the institutional reasons. St Thomas looks like a very logical fit. Good market Lots of potential and room to grow even though they're very new to D1. Maybe Bellarmine but I haven't heard a lot about their desire to move anywhere and they seem to prefer a southern focused league. And (I know) the Dakotas. if Missouri State departs then we really need to look at adding more firepower to the league and take the best available basketball program that would agree to join us. That's SDSU. They and NDSU apparently want FBS as well but if the MWC isn't calling (and why would they if they're on the verge of getting Washington State and Oregon State?) then maybe they start to believe that FCS and the Valley all sports is their best move forward. Since (especially NDSU) probably isn't going to give up on FBS I imagine we'll just replace the Bears with St Thomas and hope they make good on their potential.

I’m not really worried about being “Mentally Prepared” for the departure of Missouri State from the MVC/MVFC. Missouri State University (SMSU) Bears have not been relevant in MVC Men’s Basketball since 1999 (the last time they made the NCAA Basketball Tournament). As an Illinois State fan, having been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998, I had no idea that MSU was only one year less than the Redbirds since they made the tournament. Missouri State has never won the MVC Tournament. They have only won the MVC Regular Season Championship once (2011).

Missouri State University (SMSU) Football has never been relevant in the MVFC. They played in the NCAA (1-AA) Playoffs in 1989 and 1990 and again in 2021 (Covid year). They have never won the MVFC Regular Season Championship.

[squirrel]

We should be mentally preparing ourselves for the departure of Missouri State. Talks between SMU (And Cal and Stanford) and the ACC are heating up. If these teams make the move, it opens up a spot in the AAC presumably to be filled by Texas State creating an opening in the Sun Belt which is in my opinion the only realistic league the Bears could join that they would leave the Valley for. I used to believe that the Sun Belt would decide to let bygones be bygones and admit one (or all) of La Tech Middle Tennessee or WKU but those schools just signed a GOR with CUSA. Missouri State is therefore the only viable option for the Sun Belt that makes geographic sense. The question is who then does the MVC add to replace Missouri State. One or three? One has to think ORU is out if Missouri State is gone for geography reasons even before we consider the institutional reasons. St Thomas looks like a very logical fit. Good market Lots of potential and room to grow even though they're very new to D1. Maybe Bellarmine but I haven't heard a lot about their desire to move anywhere and they seem to prefer a southern focused league. And (I know) the Dakotas. if Missouri State departs then we really need to look at adding more firepower to the league and take the best available basketball program that would agree to join us. That's SDSU. They and NDSU apparently want FBS as well but if the MWC isn't calling (and why would they if they're on the verge of getting Washington State and Oregon State?) then maybe they start to believe that FCS and the Valley all sports is their best move forward. Since (especially NDSU) probably isn't going to give up on FBS I imagine we'll just replace the Bears with St Thomas and hope they make good on their potential.

I’m not really worried about being “Mentally Prepared” for the departure of Missouri State from the MVC/MVFC. Missouri State University (SMSU) Bears have not been relevant in MVC Men’s Basketball since 1999 (the last time they made the NCAA Basketball Tournament). As an Illinois State fan, having been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998, I had no idea that MSU was only one year less than the Redbirds since they made the tournament. Missouri State has never won the MVC Tournament. They have only won the MVC Regular Season Championship once (2011).

Missouri State University (SMSU) Football has never been relevant in the MVFC. They played in the NCAA (1-AA) Playoffs in 1989 and 1990 and again in 2021 (Covid year). They have never won the MVFC Regular Season Championship.

MSU won the tournament in St. Louis in 1992, as Southwest Missouri St.

[Birdfan2018]

We should be mentally preparing ourselves for the departure of Missouri State. Talks between SMU (And Cal and Stanford) and the ACC are heating up. If these teams make the move, it opens up a spot in the AAC presumably to be filled by Texas State creating an opening in the Sun Belt which is in my opinion the only realistic league the Bears could join that they would leave the Valley for. I used to believe that the Sun Belt would decide to let bygones be bygones and admit one (or all) of La Tech Middle Tennessee or WKU but those schools just signed a GOR with CUSA. Missouri State is therefore the only viable option for the Sun Belt that makes geographic sense. The question is who then does the MVC add to replace Missouri State. One or three? One has to think ORU is out if Missouri State is gone for geography reasons even before we consider the institutional reasons. St Thomas looks like a very logical fit. Good market Lots of potential and room to grow even though they're very new to D1. Maybe Bellarmine but I haven't heard a lot about their desire to move anywhere and they seem to prefer a southern focused league. And (I know) the Dakotas. if Missouri State departs then we really need to look at adding more firepower to the league and take the best available basketball program that would agree to join us. That's SDSU. They and NDSU apparently want FBS as well but if the MWC isn't calling (and why would they if they're on the verge of getting Washington State and Oregon State?) then maybe they start to believe that FCS and the Valley all sports is their best move forward. Since (especially NDSU) probably isn't going to give up on FBS I imagine we'll just replace the Bears with St Thomas and hope they make good on their potential.

I’m not really worried about being “Mentally Prepared” for the departure of Missouri State from the MVC/MVFC. Missouri State University (SMSU) Bears have not been relevant in MVC Men’s Basketball since 1999 (the last time they made the NCAA Basketball Tournament). As an Illinois State fan, having been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998, I had no idea that MSU was only one year less than the Redbirds since they made the tournament. Missouri State has never won the MVC Tournament. They have only won the MVC Regular Season Championship once (2011).

Missouri State University (SMSU) Football has never been relevant in the MVFC. They played in the NCAA (1-AA) Playoffs in 1989 and 1990 and again in 2021 (Covid year). They have never won the MVFC Regular Season Championship.

MSU won the tournament in St. Louis in 1992, as Southwest Missouri St.

You are correct. I was referring back to their last tournament appearance in 1999 and not being relevant since 1999. I should have stated it that way.

[Bluejay09Bear06]

You are correct. I was referring back to their last tournament appearance in 1999 and not being relevant since 1999. I should have stated it that way.

Without taking a position on whether Missouri State will or even should move to an FBS conference, you need to get your facts straight:

-MSU reached the football playoffs both in 2020 (played in winter/spring 21) and 2021.
-It is not true that MSU has never won the MVFC regular season championship. They did so as co-champions in 2020.

It's very easy to illustrate MSU's historical futility in football without making things up.

[BCPanther]

There's not enough money behind the GOR for it to really matter. We're talking $4M total to get out and that's not stopping UTEP if the Mountain West comes calling. This isn't FSU or Clemson needing to find half a billion.

[Buxcies]

We should be mentally preparing ourselves for the departure of Missouri State. Talks between SMU (And Cal and Stanford) and the ACC are heating up. If these teams make the move, it opens up a spot in the AAC presumably to be filled by Texas State creating an opening in the Sun Belt which is in my opinion the only realistic league the Bears could join that they would leave the Valley for. I used to believe that the Sun Belt would decide to let bygones be bygones and admit one (or all) of La Tech Middle Tennessee or WKU but those schools just signed a GOR with CUSA. Missouri State is therefore the only viable option for the Sun Belt that makes geographic sense. The question is who then does the MVC add to replace Missouri State. One or three? One has to think ORU is out if Missouri State is gone for geography reasons even before we consider the institutional reasons. St Thomas looks like a very logical fit. Good market Lots of potential and room to grow even though they're very new to D1. Maybe Bellarmine but I haven't heard a lot about their desire to move anywhere and they seem to prefer a southern focused league. And (I know) the Dakotas. if Missouri State departs then we really need to look at adding more firepower to the league and take the best available basketball program that would agree to join us. That's SDSU. They and NDSU apparently want FBS as well but if the MWC isn't calling (and why would they if they're on the verge of getting Washington State and Oregon State?) then maybe they start to believe that FCS and the Valley all sports is their best move forward. Since (especially NDSU) probably isn't going to give up on FBS I imagine we'll just replace the Bears with St Thomas and hope they make good on their potential.

We should just sit still for a few years and see what plays out. St. Thomas, Bellarmine, Northern Kentucky, Milwaukee are all schools with potential in solid markets. ORU gets us back into Tulsa. SDSU and NDSU have good programs but are in the middle of nowhere and a large distance from most of the conference. To sum it up, there are no slam dunk candidates and we don't need to add any dead weight.

[TBS_20]

Agreed that watching it makes the most sense. BUT, if St. Thomas is in then SDSU and NDSU are in. You wouldn't be able to say it's too far anymore.

[Bulldog4life24]

That's wildly inaccurate. Saying the travel to St Thomas (major airport with 10-15 minute bus ride) is similar to NDSU or SDSU is wild.

This also doesn't change the fact that NO ONE lives there. The entire state of SD has ~895k souls. ND is worse at ~775k souls. The MSP metro area has 4,078,788 souls. SO, even if the ENTIRETY of both states is plugged in to their sports programs, the Dakotas can barely get to 40% of the metro. The presidents aren't doing it. There's no prospective students and no advertising there.

Drake, Bradley ISUb, Belmont and Murray aren't sending olympic sports to Fargo or Brookings. I don't understand how so many here can't get out of there sports bubble long enough to understand that higher ed is going over a cliff and sports are NEVER going to take priority over solutions to declining enrollment.

[BCPanther]

That's wildly inaccurate. Saying the travel to St Thomas (major airport with 10-15 minute bus ride) is similar to NDSU or SDSU is wild.

This also doesn't change the fact that NO ONE lives there. The entire state of SD has ~895k souls. ND is worse at ~775k souls. The MSP metro area has 4,078,788 souls. SO, even if the ENTIRETY of both states is plugged in to their sports programs, the Dakotas can barely get to 40% of the metro. The presidents aren't doing it. There's no prospective students and no advertising there.

Drake, Bradley ISUb, Belmont and Murray aren't sending olympic sports to Fargo or Brookings. I don't understand how so many here can't get out of there sports bubble long enough to understand that higher ed is going over a cliff and sports are NEVER going to take priority over solutions to declining enrollment.

This. 1000000x this.

People can't seem to grasp how far away and isolated they are. Fargo is closer to Winnipeg than it is to the Twin Cities. UNI flies to both for football and UNI and Drake would be the closest schools to them by a wide margin. It makes zero sense and, frankly, if they didn't absolutely need them to keep an autobid the MVFC would probably send them on their way as well.