Sounds like Wichita St to the AAC... Who gets an Invite?

[TheAsianSensation]

None of the options are great. I'm assuming Dayton and St Louis are out of play.

Category: basketball product:
Valparaiso, Belmont
If you're concerned solely about basketball product, these are probably the best 2 bets.

Category: expanding the conference footprint:
UALR, UT-Arlington, Belmont, Oakland or Detroit, Wright St, Milwaukee/Green Bay, the XDSUs, UMKC, Denver
A mix of schools who are capable of competing in the Valley, and a few that probably aren't. Some only slightly stretch the geography; Denver and UTA are probably too far.

Category: up-and-comers to take a risk on:
Omaha, Northern Kentucky, Oakland?, XDSUs?
Programs relatively new to D-1 and perhaps have room to grow. NKU seems to make sense on the surface

Category: markets markets markets:
UIC, Detroit or Oakland?, Cleveland St, IUPUI, UMKC, Omaha?
Mostly fodder, IMO

Category: nope:
Oral Bob
No.

Category: suck it up and eat the travel costs for the good of the conference you stupid cheap schools:
New Mexico St


Conclusion:
We can take one of 3 paths:
1) Add the best basketball programs, preserving conference strength above everything else
2) Add good markets for TV purposes regardless of the strength of the individual programs
3) Try to middle it between #1 and #2

I don't have a good feel on the direction. I want to add the XDSUs, but that takes us to 11 and commits us to 12. I'd rather stay at 10. Plus if you add them, you have 5 western teams and 6 eastern teams, and now you're pigeonholed into UMKC or Omaha as a 12th. Maybe Little Rock makes sense in this spot.

Does NKU/Valpo/Wright St work? NKU is a wildcard and the schools seem to be on the small side.

Belmont? They might not be interested still. Oakland?

...I don't like it, but I commit to the XDSUs and Little Rock (if you want to argue Omaha in this spot I'm fine). The XDSUs have shown enough competency and consistency to make me trust them over most. Plan B would be Belmont alone. Plan C would be Valpo alone. Plan D would be Valpo/NKU/Oakland or Wright St.

There's also the nuclear option to go to 16 with the XDSUs/Omaha/UALR/NKU/Oakland/Valpo. It'd be the poor man's version of the A-10's strategy: have a bunch of schools, try to get as many of them in the RPI 75-150 range every year to keep the strength of the conference propped up.

One thing I know: if we add UIC, we've stopped trying and we should riot on Elgin's front lawn.

[VU2014]

None of the options are great. I'm assuming Dayton and St Louis are out of play.

Category: basketball product:
Valparaiso, Belmont
If you're concerned solely about basketball product, these are probably the best 2 bets.

MVC Schools should make basketball the main priority the decision.

Lets face it MVC is a basketball conference and Men's Basketball is the Bread & Butter and Revenue generator for the Conference. Trying to maintain competitiveness should be the focus.

[Redhawk]

If WSU leaves the future of the MVC is with the MVFC members. They would need to break off and force out WIU and YSU. WIU is decent at football but they might have to shudder the program and possibly the whole university in the near future. YSU is too much of an outlier to deal with if the Dakotas are added.

Then add Omaha as a non football member to get to 10. They have the best growth potential and offer a bridge to the Dakotas. If they want 12 teams then add 2 more non football members from UIC, Milwaukee and UMKC for market and potential.

[Redhawk]

...I don't like it, but I commit to the XDSUs and Little Rock (if you want to argue Omaha in this spot I'm fine). The XDSUs have shown enough competency and consistency to make me trust them over most.

but would take Omaha over Little Rock.

[Cdizzle]

I didn't think a school could be a basketball only member of any league?

Basketball only is just another way of saying non-football.

If I'm the Shox I am a little reticent only because the American isn't exactly stable. UCONN and Cincy would bolt in a second for a better football league. I would go, mind you, but getting in bed with teams that want to play "big time" football is a risky proposition for a school that doesn't even have the sport.

What is the risk compared to staying in the Valley? Less than none.

[VU2014]

Rumor is that Wichita State's ultimate goal is to land in the Big East but that as of now doesn't seem likely because all the schools are Private and WSU is public (matters to the Big East). Also there have been rumors that WSU wants to start a Football program again (thats a no-no for Big East invite).

Also an factor is Creighton would try and push like hell to not allow WSU into the Big East. Bad blood.

It just doesn't look likely for an invite for them right now.

[Stickboy46]

Rumor is that Wichita State's ultimate goal is to land in the Big East but that as of now doesn't seem likely because all the schools are Private and WSU is public (matters to the Big East). Also there have been rumors that WSU wants to start a Football program again (thats a no-no for Big East invite).

Also an factor is Creighton would try and push like hell to not allow WSU into the Big East. Bad blood.

It just doesn't look likely for an invite for them right now.

Interesting. I hadn't hear that rumor anytime recently or at all. There were people throwing it out there, but no one with connections had said WSU was pursuing the Big East. Also the Football was a study on feasibility. It was going to be used as an means to an end (better conference). If WSU does it without football, even better.

Creighton's AD has gone on record that he wouldn't mind WSU joining the Big East.
http://www.si.com/college-basketball/20 ... e-comments

As far as the last statement? That only true if you are talking about the Big East. There is A LOT of smoke for the AAC.

[squirrel]

I wonder if Wichita is acting in concert with UConn...before the AAC news broke, there were some rumors/public flirtations between the Big East and UConn, which didn't make sense at the time...but in the bigger picture, it does, even though both are publicly linked with different leagues. If they can drive change together, it can be a successful partnership.

Also, with the AAC, Wichita has a conference that would probably be willing to bring football along slowly, while guaranteeing them a conference home AND seat at the FBS table.

[Mike]

Many, if not most, WSU posters saw the Big East as an ideal situation. It is a basketball only league (no FBS football) and one of the top six BB conferences, together with the 5 FBS Power conferences. The problem is that WSU is neither catholic nor private which seem to be criteria for Big East membership. Stickboy is correct. Creighton's AD would have lobbied for WSU to be in the Big East.

[bigdawg]

I could be completely wrong but I'm probably not too far off in my belief that the priestly presidents of the original Catholic seven schools are not lobbying to add a lesser academic institution in the middle of the United States which would require massive amounts of travel costs anytime soon.