New Kids On The Block

by **MissouriValleyUnite** » January 12th, 2019, 11:56 pm

Newcomers Valparaiso and Loyola stand alone in 1st and 2nd with the latter raising a Final Four banner. If Murray State was added, intruders would’ve hijacked the MVC’s entire 3-man cockpit. #thearrival

**Sponsor**

by **BCPanther** » January 13th, 2019, 12:29 am

I've totally changed my opinion on expansion beyond 10. CBS/Turner wants as many P6 teams in the tournament as they can have, the NCAA knowing that that deal funds their entire operation is going to oblige and sans a UNI 2015 type team (30-3, highly ranked) that happens to get beat in StL, the Valley is never going to consistently be a multi-bid league

What difference does it make if we're 8th vs 12th in the NET? Our champ is pretty much always going to be an 11 to 13 seed. Why split the pot further when a school like Murray or Belmont isn't going to move the attendance needle?

The 8 remaining teams have gotten so screwed by replacing home games with Creighton and Wichita with Loyola and Valpi. Couple that with less and less opportunities to get decent teams with brand names on our floors it's no wonder attendance has taken a hit.

There's also no need to complicate volleyball and women's basketball scheduling when there isn't a net financial gain to do so. I've totally evolved but I'm on #TeamTenTeamLeague.

by **IWokeUpLikeThis** » January 13th, 2019, 12:57 am

BCPanther wrote:The 8 remaining teams have gotten so screwed by replacing home games with Creighton and Wichita with Loyola and Valpi.

What happened here was the same thing that happened to the A10 & MWC. The 3 leagues had the benefit of power-level ($, fan size) programs taking reidence: Xavier/Temple, Utah/BYU, Creighton/Wichita. Power programs then got swallowed up.

Remaining teams didn’t get “screwed”. They just got their conferences re-drawn with more equitable fan sizes and budgets across the league.

If fans can’t get excited about a Final Four team or a 1st place team, the blame falls on them. Not the newbz.

Maybe Loyola or Valpo got “screwed” by not drawing the UNI they thought they’d be drawing?

by **MissouriValleyUnite** » January 13th, 2019, 1:14 am

BCPanther wrote:The 8 remaining teams have gotten so screwed by replacing home games with Creighton and Wichita with Loyola and Valpi. Couple that with less and less opportunities to get decent teams with brand names on our floors it's no wonder attendance has taken a hit.

Evansville and Loyola’s attendance beg to differ.

Pointing thumbs - not fingers - like those 2 programs did would solve attendance issues.

Drake’s crowd vs Loyola last week was electrifying, btw.

by **VUGrad1314** » January 13th, 2019, 1:45 am

A few things here:

1. Loyola has as many final 4's (2) and more championships (1) than Wichita State and Creighton andmore Sweet 16s (4) than Creighton

2. Unlike Creighton both Loyola and Valpo have actually seen the second weekend of the modern tournament

3. What current MVC Team has a history to match that of Loyola? Maybe Bradley or Drake

4. What is the opportunity cost? What high profile games are more established MVC teams being screwed out of ? Looking at UNI's nonconference schedule I don't see a single team on there with a stronger history than Valpo that wasn't handed to them by an MTE a conference challenge or the Big 4 the latter two of which are going away. For the record I don't think ODU and Utah State have significantly stronger brands than Valpo. All of Utah State's tournament wins predate Valpo's accession to D1, and ODU's doesn't appear to severely outstrip that of the Crusaders. Nobody thinks of basketball when they think of Penn even though they are a good program and Iowa hasn't won a tournament game this century (I know Valpo hasn't either but it's irrelevant because Iowa isn't going to play you anymore anyway unless it's wholly on their terms). Again what games is this possibly screwing UNI or any other MVC team for that matter out of?

5. If you don't think Murray State would post good numbers at Arch Madness you haven't been paying attention. They travel extremely well and St Louis is close.

The right play has always been 11 teams and 20 games in most years a guaranteed home and home with Murray State is going to be better than what most teams would do with those spots.

Even so this reads like serious sour grapes. You don't like that the newcomers are performing well and that's fine that's your right but how quickly you forget that your school was once the new kid and given your early struggles I wouldn't be surprised if your school got a lot of blame from fans at the time for running Tulsa off. The point is that you eventually showed your worth to the MVC as has Loyola and Valpo is trying to do the same. We're all in this together and taking shots at the programs that are doing well just because you're upset that you're in a bit of a down cycle just isn't productive.

Our crowd at the Illinois State game was large and electric and I expect the same when UNI comes to town next Saturday.

by **SycamoreMaze** » January 13th, 2019, 2:11 am

If UNI’s attendance is screwed by replacing CU & WSU with Loyola & Valpo, then my team’s attendance is screwed by not replacing UNI with Murray.

by **Dean Wormer** » January 13th, 2019, 2:43 am

SycamoreMaze wrote:If UNI’s attendance is screwed by replacing CU & WSU with Loyola & Valpo, then my team’s attendance is screwed by not replacing UNI with Murray.

No kidding. UNI has always had crappy attendance, regardless of who is in the league. The Loyola Final Four run was more relevant nationally than the Wichita one,, and I would much prefer a story like that in a city of 3 million than having one representing a cluster of trailer parks in southern Kansas.

by **BEARZ77** » January 13th, 2019, 7:06 am

Dean Wormer wrote:
SycamoreMaze wrote:If UNI’s attendance is screwed by replacing CU & WSU with Loyola & Valpo, then my team’s attendance is screwed by not replacing UNI with Murray.

No kidding. UNI has always had crappy attendance, regardless of who is in the league. The Loyola Final Four run was more relevant nationally than the Wichita one,, and I would much prefer a story like that in a city of 3 million than having one representing a cluster of trailer parks in southern Kansas.

It's good for the league that having to make moves with the defections of Creighton and WSU , the teams we chose are performing well. As we all know, at the mid major level [except for rare teams like Gonzaga] and especially historically in the Valley, everything is cyclical and most often tied to coaching competence and retention. I think every current team has proven given the right coach in place, they have the potential to compete at the top of the league. Right now 3 teams just made coaching moves, and it looks like 2-3 may be in the process of moving towards evaluating their need for the same.

When it comes to attendance, Evansville is having a nice resurgence, and it's imperative to the league that Bradley, SIU and MSU restabalize, as they are the three programs that historically were capable of 7,000 plus nightly.

by **mvfcfan** » January 13th, 2019, 7:14 am

Murray State should be added and I think Northern KY should be added too. IMO they have emerged as the 12th team. NKU made the NCAA tournament 2 seasons ago, won the HL last season, and is currently 14-4. Their last game they drew 5800 people to the game. That's better than most MVC programs right now.

by **BCPanther** » January 13th, 2019, 8:52 am

So, we ignored the first two paragraphs?

That's fine. I'm just saying when a lot of those NCAA units start falling off (and Wichita's Final Four falls off after this year) there isn't an AD or President that is going to want to split a smaller pie 14 ways instead of 12 (league gets a share and a bonus share goes to the school that played).