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

[tribecalledquest]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

The league isn't going to outside of the current geography.

Costs matter.

The NCAA is moving more and more towards the Power Five schools. We can complain about this but let's please live in the real world.

The MVC won't be a top ten hoops league but it won't be a bottom ten either. It will still be an upper half D1 men's hoops league.

The angst over the 10th team is funny to me. Especially as a Bradley fan. Teams like MSU, Bradley, and SIU--just win more damn games. It's really not that hard. UNI has done it's part. The "flagship" schools of BU, SIU, MSU and ISU have not (with some random exceptions). Does exchanging Wichita for Valpo make it harder for those teams to win? Of course not.

All of this worry is based on feelings and emotion and self worth--not fact.

UIC and Valpo will be the frontrunners. I'm on team UIC but can see why some like Valpo. These schools make sense for many, many reasons.

[Khan4Cats]

LOL, the current MVC barely crosses into Indiana, no way we jump the Appalachians.

Unfortunately, the most likely scenario I see "bold-thinking" Elgin doing is expanding to 14 teams by adding SE Missouri State, SIU-Edwardsville, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, and Illinois-Chicago.

Sounds like a great fit for Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois. I would hope Illinois State has higher aspirations than that!

Higher aspirations? Try making the NCAAs this century first.

The post was in jest at the lack of vision shown by the Valley during all of this realignment tumult. We should have been looking to add quality programs instead of sitting fat and happy since 2006.

[uniftw]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

The league isn't going to outside of the current geography.

Costs matter.

The NCAA is moving more and more towards the Power Five schools. We can complain about this but let's please live in the real world.

The MVC won't be a top ten hoops league but it won't be a bottom ten either. It will still be an upper half D1 men's hoops league.

The angst over the 10th team is funny to me. Especially as a Bradley fan. Teams like MSU, Bradley, and SIU--just win more damn games. It's really not that hard. UNI has done it's part. The "flagship" schools of BU, SIU, MSU and ISU have not (with some random exceptions). Does exchanging Wichita for Valpo make it harder for those teams to win? Of course not.

All of this worry is based on feelings and emotion and self worth--not fact.

UIC and Valpo will be the frontrunners. I'm on team UIC but can see why some like Valpo. These schools make sense for many, many reasons.

I can see potential upside for UIC - more than Loyola.

Massive enrollment
Basketball has a budget of 2.2m (which is lower than I'd like but still relatively average)
Total athetlic budget of 16.2m
A larger (9,200 seat) arena that looks alright but who knows what's going to happen to it. The buililding is starting to hemorage money with all of the new arenas in the Chicago metro. Lack of events means lack of money for upkeep and upgrades. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ty-feeling
Coach pay seems to be a tad low for my liking at $375K, but I guess that can be addressed by being MVC vs Horizon for expectations.

On the flip side:
The fact that the arena is older and starting to lose money scares me.
The fact they have a 9,200 seat arena and average less than 2,500 fans scares the hell out of me
The fact that they had 29,000 students but can't manage to have an athletic budget larger than 16m worries me
The fact that they have 29,000 students and average less than 2,500 fans scares the hell out of me
The fact they have multiple games each season with an annoucned attendance under 1,000 scares the hell out of me.
The fact their announced attendances are that low means their actual attendance is less than half of that
The state budget issues in Illinois scare the hell out of me.
The fact that UIC is a garbage program scares the hell out of me
The fact their RPIs have been (most recent first) 250, 346, 298, 317, 169, 299, 291, 291, and so on show me there is no true upside to them.

UIC should be a non-starter. If UIC gets an invite, even if going to 12, I want UNI to beg every single conference that will listen to them and promise them anything they want to get out of this league.

[Cdizzle]

UIC should be a non-starter. If UIC gets an invite, even if going to 12, I want UNI to beg every single conference that will listen to them and promise them anything they want to get out of this league.

Yep. This is how I felt after the Loyola add. And it looks like that's pretty much what WSU did.

[squirrel]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

Don't confuse the head and the heart here. It makes sense. They really could go either way. But word is the league is targeting 12. That doesn't mean that's where it ends up, but that's the goal. Of course this will likely change directions 3 different times.

[tribecalledquest]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

Don't confuse the head and the heart here. It makes sense. They really could go either way. But word is the league is targeting 12. That doesn't mean that's where it ends up, but that's the goal. Of course this will likely change directions 3 different times.

You are hearing from different people than me then.

If you are a one bid league how does adding more teams help the current members?

[tribecalledquest]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

The league isn't going to outside of the current geography.

Costs matter.

The NCAA is moving more and more towards the Power Five schools. We can complain about this but let's please live in the real world.

The MVC won't be a top ten hoops league but it won't be a bottom ten either. It will still be an upper half D1 men's hoops league.

The angst over the 10th team is funny to me. Especially as a Bradley fan. Teams like MSU, Bradley, and SIU--just win more damn games. It's really not that hard. UNI has done it's part. The "flagship" schools of BU, SIU, MSU and ISU have not (with some random exceptions). Does exchanging Wichita for Valpo make it harder for those teams to win? Of course not.

All of this worry is based on feelings and emotion and self worth--not fact.

UIC and Valpo will be the frontrunners. I'm on team UIC but can see why some like Valpo. These schools make sense for many, many reasons.

I can see potential upside for UIC - more than Loyola.

Massive enrollment
Basketball has a budget of 2.2m (which is lower than I'd like but still relatively average)
Total athetlic budget of 16.2m
A larger (9,200 seat) arena that looks alright but who knows what's going to happen to it. The buililding is starting to hemorage money with all of the new arenas in the Chicago metro. Lack of events means lack of money for upkeep and upgrades. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ty-feeling
Coach pay seems to be a tad low for my liking at $375K, but I guess that can be addressed by being MVC vs Horizon for expectations.

On the flip side:
The fact that the arena is older and starting to lose money scares me.
The fact they have a 9,200 seat arena and average less than 2,500 fans scares the hell out of me
The fact that they had 29,000 students but can't manage to have an athletic budget larger than 16m worries me
The fact that they have 29,000 students and average less than 2,500 fans scares the hell out of me
The fact they have multiple games each season with an annoucned attendance under 1,000 scares the hell out of me.
The fact their announced attendances are that low means their actual attendance is less than half of that
The state budget issues in Illinois scare the hell out of me.
The fact that UIC is a garbage program scares the hell out of me
The fact their RPIs have been (most recent first) 250, 346, 298, 317, 169, 299, 291, 291, and so on show me there is no true upside to them.

UIC should be a non-starter. If UIC gets an invite, even if going to 12, I want UNI to beg every single conference that will listen to them and promise them anything they want to get out of this league.

That's fine.
But A) what school do you feel is better...one that is reasonably interested in joining the MVC?

B) Where does UNI think it would go?

[squirrel]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

Don't confuse the head and the heart here. It makes sense. They really could go either way. But word is the league is targeting 12. That doesn't mean that's where it ends up, but that's the goal. Of course this will likely change directions 3 different times.

You are hearing from different people than me then.

If you are a one bid league how does adding more teams help the current members?

Jim Mattson reported last week that people in the MVC office were indicating as much.

[uniftw]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

The league isn't going to outside of the current geography.

Costs matter.

The NCAA is moving more and more towards the Power Five schools. We can complain about this but let's please live in the real world.

The MVC won't be a top ten hoops league but it won't be a bottom ten either. It will still be an upper half D1 men's hoops league.

The angst over the 10th team is funny to me. Especially as a Bradley fan. Teams like MSU, Bradley, and SIU--just win more damn games. It's really not that hard. UNI has done it's part. The "flagship" schools of BU, SIU, MSU and ISU have not (with some random exceptions). Does exchanging Wichita for Valpo make it harder for those teams to win? Of course not.

All of this worry is based on feelings and emotion and self worth--not fact.

UIC and Valpo will be the frontrunners. I'm on team UIC but can see why some like Valpo. These schools make sense for many, many reasons.

I can see potential upside for UIC - more than Loyola.

Massive enrollment
Basketball has a budget of 2.2m (which is lower than I'd like but still relatively average)
Total athetlic budget of 16.2m
A larger (9,200 seat) arena that looks alright but who knows what's going to happen to it. The buililding is starting to hemorage money with all of the new arenas in the Chicago metro. Lack of events means lack of money for upkeep and upgrades. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ty-feeling
Coach pay seems to be a tad low for my liking at $375K, but I guess that can be addressed by being MVC vs Horizon for expectations.

On the flip side:
The fact that the arena is older and starting to lose money scares me.
The fact they have a 9,200 seat arena and average less than 2,500 fans scares the hell out of me
The fact that they had 29,000 students but can't manage to have an athletic budget larger than 16m worries me
The fact that they have 29,000 students and average less than 2,500 fans scares the hell out of me
The fact they have multiple games each season with an annoucned attendance under 1,000 scares the hell out of me.
The fact their announced attendances are that low means their actual attendance is less than half of that
The state budget issues in Illinois scare the hell out of me.
The fact that UIC is a garbage program scares the hell out of me
The fact their RPIs have been (most recent first) 250, 346, 298, 317, 169, 299, 291, 291, and so on show me there is no true upside to them.

UIC should be a non-starter. If UIC gets an invite, even if going to 12, I want UNI to beg every single conference that will listen to them and promise them anything they want to get out of this league.

That's fine.
But A) what school do you feel is better...one that is reasonably interested in joining the MVC?

B) Where does UNI think it would go?

A) Valpo would be better, I'd bet they'd be reasonably interested. If we are adding bottom half Horizon teams I'd rather go UW-M or UW-GB.

B) Give it a few years and I think what I proposed earlier comes pretty close to actually happening...or UNI uses it's wrestling relationship with the MAC.

[Redhawk]

The league won't go to 12. That doesn't make any sense.

Don't confuse the head and the heart here. It makes sense. They really could go either way. But word is the league is targeting 12. That doesn't mean that's where it ends up, but that's the goal. Of course this will likely change directions 3 different times.

You are hearing from different people than me then.

If you are a one bid league how does adding more teams help the current members?

Agreed Tribe. If the MVC is going to stay together as is why add more teams that could beat you out for the one bid? Replace the WSU games with 2 road "buy" games from the Power 5/6 since the chance for an at large are most likely gone now and use the money to pump up the programs.