The Valley in 5 Years

[MSUBear42]

MSU isn't moving into a league based in an area without expanding population. That defeats their goal as a university.

If they go, they're going south.

This.

Sun Belt to get our feet wet in 2-3 years, then who knows after that.

Sun Belt basketball is awful, but so was the Mid-Con that afforded us 4-5 trips to the NCAA Tournament when we first transitioned to D1.

[Loyola_Fan]

In the same way NBA fandom has become more about the drama of free agency and trades than basketball I think college basketball fandom is becoming more about conference realignment speculation.

[VUGrad1314]

I agree. Since moves have come fast and furious over the past 10-20 years it feels like anything can affect anyone's team or conference at any time. I feel like it's almost a complete necessity for college basketball fans to monitor the realignment landscape to stay informed about the future especially in leagues like ours where moves within and outside of the conference can have profound effects on potential multibid status.

[Campbellproud]

MSU isn't moving into a league based in an area without expanding population. That defeats their goal as a university.

If they go, they're going south.

This.

Sun Belt to get our feet wet in 2-3 years, then who knows after that.

Sun Belt basketball is awful, but so was the Mid-Con that afforded us 4-5 trips to the NCAA Tournament when we first transitioned to D1.

I say this in the most respectful way possible—MSU hasn’t made an NCAA tournament since the 90s, and the first time they made the FCS playoffs since the 90s was last year…so I’m sure the Big 12 will be beating down your door.

[BEARZ77]

MSU isn't moving into a league based in an area without expanding population. That defeats their goal as a university.

If they go, they're going south.

This.

Sun Belt to get our feet wet in 2-3 years, then who knows after that.

Sun Belt basketball is awful, but so was the Mid-Con that afforded us 4-5 trips to the NCAA Tournament when we first transitioned to D1.

I say this in the most respectful way possible—MSU hasn’t made an NCAA tournament since the 90s, and the first time they made the FCS playoffs since the 90s was last year…so I’m sure the Big 12 will be beating down your door.

And i say this with all the respect in the world; you don't have a clue what drives realignment . Perhaps you should do a little research first before trying to be such a dick.

[TheDrake]

In the same way NBA fandom has become more about the drama of free agency and trades than basketball I think college basketball fandom is becoming more about conference realignment speculation.

Agreed. It's gotten kind of annoying. There are countless pages of people making the same speculations about conference realignment over and over again. Meanwhile the "Official Arch Madness Discussion Thread" has 3 posts. I get that it's fun to talk about now and then but there used to be way more actual game talk on this forum.

[Salukimadness86]

In the same way NBA fandom has become more about the drama of free agency and trades than basketball I think college basketball fandom is becoming more about conference realignment speculation.

Agree. Not a huge fan of the NBA like my two sons are, but the Bulls are at least watchable now.
As far as conference realignment goes, speculation really gets old.

[MSUBear42]

MSU isn't moving into a league based in an area without expanding population. That defeats their goal as a university.

If they go, they're going south.

This.

Sun Belt to get our feet wet in 2-3 years, then who knows after that.

Sun Belt basketball is awful, but so was the Mid-Con that afforded us 4-5 trips to the NCAA Tournament when we first transitioned to D1.

I say this in the most respectful way possible—MSU hasn’t made an NCAA tournament since the 90s, and the first time they made the FCS playoffs since the 90s was last year…so I’m sure the Big 12 will be beating down your door.

Only person who has mentioned B12 is you...

[DUBulldog]

In the same way NBA fandom has become more about the drama of free agency and trades than basketball I think college basketball fandom is becoming more about conference realignment speculation.

Agreed. It's gotten kind of annoying. There are countless pages of people making the same speculations about conference realignment over and over again. Meanwhile the "Official Arch Madness Discussion Thread" has 3 posts. I get that it's fun to talk about now and then but there used to be way more actual game talk on this forum.

Bingo. The last several seasons, there's been virtually no talk about the actual games on this forum. Definitely makes it less enjoyable for me than it used to be. I really don't have any desire to continually rehash all the realignment possibilities.

[Loyola_Fan]

I agree. Since moves have come fast and furious over the past 10-20 years it feels like anything can affect anyone's team or conference at any time. I feel like it's almost a complete necessity for college basketball fans to monitor the realignment landscape to stay informed about the future especially in leagues like ours where moves within and outside of the conference can have profound effects on potential multibid status.

I think monitoring the landscape is completely useless as most universities have considerations fans probably won't understand. Besides the nth-order impact of big south realignment on a given MVC team's post-season chances are next to nil compared to the quality of that MVC team's play.

Or:

It's arch madness weekend and it's weird this thread has more activity than the discussion about arch madness.