MVC targeting Valpo & Murray State to create 11 team league

[musiccitybulldog]

Murray Grad... It would be fun to see Murray State in the MVC. I have been impressed at Murray States ability to gain pro players regardless of who the coach is. Murray also seems to recover after coaching changes.

Got a chance to see them in the tournaments in Florida and Municipal auditorium in Nashville during the Thanksgiving Tournament a couple years ago when Valpo beat up on everyone. Lively crowd follows the team.

[E-Villan]

Hey guys- I'm a Murray native and Murray State grad. I've been following the MVC for several years now, having watched games at UNI, Drake, Creighton, and MO State. I live in STL now, and have been to Arch Madness a couple of times. I can tell you as a Murray State fan, I'd love to see us leave the OVC for some better competition.

Murray is a tiny place- it's my home town, but there is not a ton going on. That said, I watched the town set itself on fire (in a great way) in 11-12 when Dickie V came to town. We sold out our arena (which is solidly OK- a 1998-built box that seats 8600 or so) several times that season. When Murray wins- the fans pour in. When we lose....not so much. We had our first losing season in 30 years this year, a tough spot having just lost Prohm to Iowa State. I like the direction we are heading, and I've seen us have some tough years- we will bounce back.

The fan base travels well, albeit likely not to Iowa or northern Indiana. But to the Tournament- absolutely.

At the end of the day, I love my alma mater, I love my hometown- as a fan, I hate waching my team play the likes of UT Martin and Jacksonville State. To put things in context, the OVC moved its Tournament from Bridgestone Arena to the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville a few years ago. Huge downgrade. Next year, we're leaving Nashville and our tournament will be held in Evansville....woof.

This fan wants into the MVC...but I don't have a lot of faith that Murray State administration or the OVC will make that a likely possibility. We're pretty well known for getting in our own way.

If you have any questions about Murray- let me know.

From what I have heard, I thought Murray fans were the ones pushing for the OVC Tournament to be moved to Evansville.

My only concern is if Murray gets in the MVC this year, the OVC Tournament could be moved to one of the Evansville high schools.

[pafan]

My only concern is if Murray gets in the MVC this year, the OVC Tournament could be moved to one of the Evansville high schools.

So what? Worst case is they don't sell as many tickets as projected and the city of Evansville adds a few thousand more in red ink to the Ford Center's ledger, and they move to campus sites for 2019.

[Racerhistory]

Many Racer fans have been pessimistic about joining the MVC as of late, primarily because they didn't consider it a possibility. In the (somewhat recent) past the MSU administration has reluctant to leave the OVC, so moving to any other conference seemed like a pipe dream. Over the last season, frustrations over the conference leadership decisions and poor officiating seemed to change the calculus for the University and fans alike.

I'm all for it, the MVC is a basketball-focused conference with stronger fan support across the board than the OVC. MSU is a basketball-focused school with very strong fan support, it's a perfect fit! Some Racer fans still have concerns about finances and MSU's ability to compete in the MVC and make the NCAA, but the fan base won't allow the program to slip into mediocracy for more than a couple of years. The expectation at Murray is to make the postseason and win and the MVC will put the Racers in a better position to do so than the OVC.

[glm38]

Love the enthusiasm on this board... The OVC does not have this. We do for Racer nation, but the conference as a whole just does not give a crap.

Murray St guy here and I really hope that we can make this happen. For years now our OVC administration has been, to put it nicely, a joke. From keeping the tournament at Municipal Auditorium that is in horrible shape, to the addition of SIU-E when we had Northern Kentucky basically begging to come in. Since we divided in to the god forsaken east and west divisions... ugh... we have lost all of the old rivalries except Austin Peay. Belmont has been a thorn in our side the last few years, but regardless of what ESPN says they are not our most hated rival. OVC officiating is HORRID. And I mean horrid. Not like Kentucky death threat horrid, but it's bad.

I would like to point out also to add to some of the posts I've seen on here about our tradition of winning is that we also hold a CIT championship from 2014. I know it's a CIT and whoopee to some, but we beat some really good teams to win that tournament. If you look at our RPI you have to factor in our conference influence on that. We traditionally have teams sub 300 in the RPI and have done nothing to improve themselves in the basketball area.

We travel well as the Evansville fan said. SIU and Evansville have long been regional rivals to us and usually are great games. This year we sucked it up, but we've also had to rebuild basically our whole team from when Prohm bolted. A lot of young guys and new faces but we will get better. But our track record against the MVC has proven that we can and should compete well in the conference. I love our series with SIU and Evansville more than I like our OVC games. And when we had the Indiana St. series that was a great series too. Illinois St. the past 2 or 3 years (can't remember if we played 2 or 3) have been great games.

For the campus we traditionally have a large number of students from the St. Louis area and this may be a great recruiting tool for the university in that aspect. It is not the largest city or campus, but we eat, sleep, and live basketball. You cannot go anywhere in town and not here about the game last night or what kind of team we will have next year.

I do not see Belmont being open to the idea of joining based on they joined the OVC to reduce costs. That goes for travel and the such. And also they just do not have the fan support. They have Vince Gill that pours who knows how much $$$$ in to the university, and also is allowed to have conferences with officials and make them question calls during games and we do have proof of that if you would like to see it. Another example is when they played Tennessee St., both teams in Nashville, less than 1,000 people showed up to watch it. And they were the first place team in the conference. There just is not any college basketball support in Nashville unless you are Vandy and even they struggle. Period. It's just hard for me to see them joining. And that's not because they have beat us the past few years and I don't want them to follow us.

So glad to be on this board to discuss and hopefully we will be seeing each other soon.

Thanks for the info on your program. I for one hope Murray is added to our conference.

[Shockerlager]

Insert Murray is not a state joke here.

[glm38]

Insert Murray is not a state joke here.

That comes later.

[rlh04d]

I'm shocked there's even debate on Valpo & Murray State here. If the MVC is committed to being a mid-west, low-travel-cost league, Valpo & Murray State (and Belmont) are home runs.

If the MVC was interested in being a top tier basketball league with it's own identity, it expands west aggressively. But if the MVC was interested in that it wouldn't be in the state it's in now, and maybe it could have cut off the desperate departures of Creighton and Wichita at the pass years ago.

The only other teams I've even seen seriously mentioned are SLU (never happening), Wright St., Milwaukee, and Omaha. Omaha has, what, four years at the D1 level, and they're averaging under 13% of arena capacity? Milwaukee's under 30%. Wright St. might be a good option, but the other two are just more wishful thinking based on market potential, rather than fan bases or team quality.

Though I don't understand the praise for Murray St. and Valpo's fanbases, either. Murray St had pretty solid support in the 31-2 run, but other than that, both teams would be at the bottom of Valley attendance along with Indiana St., Drake, and Loyola. Murray averages 4k and Valpo averages 3k.

[PurpleAcesFootball]

Something else I thought of that might make Murray a decent addition - is their broadcast ability/ equipment. Just spit-balling here, because I have no expertise in this area.

I know the last few times UE has played at Murray, I watched the games on the OVC digital network. Their streaming of games pre-dates the ESPN3/ MVC deal. I could see a Valpo or UIC balking at the cost. (My understanding is that the MVC schools purchased/leased equipment as part of the deal.)

If Murray already has the capabilities to broadcast/stream it wouldn't be as costly.

[MurrayStateFan]

Something else I thought of that might make Murray a decent addition - is their broadcast ability/ equipment. Just spit-balling here, because I have no expertise in this area.

I know the last few times UE has played at Murray, I watched the games on the OVC digital network. Their streaming of games pre-dates the ESPN3/ MVC deal. I could see a Valpo or UIC balking at the cost. (My understanding is that the MVC schools purchased/leased equipment as part of the deal.)

If Murray already has the capabilities to broadcast/stream it wouldn't be as costly.

I'm not sure of the technology we have at our disposal, but I do know that I've been able to stream Murray State Games in HD (or near-HD) quality on the OVC Digital Network for the last couple of years. They have had streaming services longer than that, but prior to a 2 or 3 years ago, it was pretty poor quality. Much better now!

Also- the idea of Belmont and Murray State both joining the MVC is the most attractive to me. That said, I think the OVC would do nearly anything to keep that from happening. The OVC would be lost without the likes of Murray and Belmont. Their flagship would become Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky, or maybe Austin Peay- all of which have good programs, but the fanbases aren't quite as enthusiastic as Murray or Belmont's.