If Wichita Left.... (RPI Talk)

[Cdizzle]

Yeah. I'm calling shenanigans on Bradley's attendance numbers though. I watched enough games to know what the crowds actually looked like. However, the point is valid.

If I was picking current MVC members to "reboot" the MVC I'd start with UNI, WSU, Bradley, ISUr....SIU and MSU would get consideration but I'm not sure.

There may not have been that many butts in seats (though there weren't at any of the other 8 schools either), but there were at least that many tickets sold. Which means 2 things. First, it means they currently have the funds to keep paying real salaries in search of a good coach. Second, it means at the first sign of success, the butts will be back in the seats.

[BradleyFan71]

The 5th best RPI in the Colonial was better than the 3rd best RPI in the MVC.

There's your problems.

RPI 150 teams need to be 125.
RPI 200 teams need to be 150.
RPI 250 teams need to be 200.

Incremental steps forward.

Yep.

The best way to move those 125s to top 75-100, and 150s to 125s and so on is to keep teams from being freaking RPI anchors.

Look at the history of the MVCs RPI. The top 2 or 3 (even 4 some years) are still where they usually have been. The issue is the bottom has fallen out and so everyone is drug down a bunch of spots.

Having Drake and Bradley stop being 260-300+ every damn year would go further than spots 4-6 moving from 150-175 to 100-125 on their own.

Bradley isn't 260-300 every damn year.....

Final numbers with 2017 in the books:
RPIs across the Conference:

Wichita State 29
Illinois State 39
SIU 147
UNI 159
Loyola 184
Evansville 192
Missouri State 211
Bradley 219
Indiana State 232
Drake 316

[BradleyFan71]

Bradley is the one private school I feel can actually help the conference. UE and Loyola are...well...we've beaten them enough. Drake has this "thing" that MVC fans love to try to talk about as being a real thing, but it's not. The Knapp Center is hideous. It's been a few generations since they were good, and their admin might be the most incompetent in the conference.

In another thread I created a "what if" conference. I left Bradley as a "maybe" but the more I think about them, the more I think eventually they'll get it right. They truly have the capacity ($, facilities and alumni/fan base) to do it right when it happens.

Bradley hasn't been out of the top three in the league in home attendance in, well, ever. They were third this year and were awful.

Their attendance #'s this year were better than anyone in the Horizon and Summit. Behind only Ohio U in the MAC and would have been fifth in the A10 (Dayton, Richmond, SLU, VCU) and sixth in the AAC (Cincy, Memphis, UConn, SMU, Temple).

Yeah. I'm calling shenanigans on Bradley's attendance numbers though. I watched enough games to know what the crowds actually looked like. However, the point is valid.

If I was picking current MVC members to "reboot" the MVC I'd start with UNI, WSU, Bradley, ISUr....SIU and MSU would get consideration but I'm not sure.[/quote]
There may not have been that many butts in seats (though there weren't at any of the other 8 schools either), but there were at least that many tickets sold. Which means 2 things. First, it means they currently have the funds to keep paying real salaries in search of a good coach. Second, it means at the first sign of success, the butts will be back in the seats.[/quote]
I happen to agree with you that at the first sign of success, the butts will be back in the seats, but it also means people are losing interest if they don't even bother attending an event they have already paid for.

[Cdizzle]

Bradley isn't 260-300 every damn year.....

219
304
280
264
179
268
229

.....kinda arguing some depressing semantics.

[BirdsEyeView]

This is a very funny thread as WSU fans thought the ceiling was going to collapse on our conference. Some projecting our Conference RPI to drop to 16th...

Instead we moved up to 8th in the noncon in the first season they leave.

[AndShock]

This is a very funny thread as WSU fans thought the ceiling was going to collapse on our conference. Some projecting our Conference RPI to drop to 16th...

Instead we moved up to 8th in the noncon in the first season they leave.

We didn’t realize having Wichita State in the conference killed all motivation and effort within the conference.

[BirdsEyeView]

This is a very funny thread as WSU fans thought the ceiling was going to collapse on our conference. Some projecting our Conference RPI to drop to 16th...

Instead we moved up to 8th in the noncon in the first season they leave.

We didn’t realize having Wichita State in the conference killed all motivation and effort within the conference.

[Snaggletooth]

No doubt that MVC had a nice bounce back year - it where it should have been. The difference is not with a stronger top tier teams, but a lower tier that moved them selves up 50-100 spot. The 200+/300+ rpi teams have been a killer for the conference the last few years. Had this happened last year ISUR would have been dancing. But even though this is best non-conference start since what 2014? The league will still be 1 bid.

Now if WSU still been in the league UNI and MOST would each have at least 2 additional chances for quality wins - if you run the analysis, if they could split with WSU, it would at least move them on to the bubble. The MVC would at least have a decent chance for 2 bids, and if things played out right, even the potential for 3.

[AndShock]

No doubt that MVC had a nice bounce back year - it where it should have been. The difference is not with a stronger top tier teams, but a lower tier that moved them selves up 50-100 spot. The 200+/300+ rpi teams have been a killer for the conference the last few years. Had this happened last year ISUR would have been dancing. But even though this is best non-conference start since what 2014? The league will still be 1 bid.

Now if WSU still been in the league UNI and MOST would each have at least 2 additional chances for quality wins - if you run the analysis, if they could split with WSU, it would at least move them on to the bubble. The MVC would at least have a decent chance for 2 bids, and if things played out right, even the potential for 3.

UNI can’t beat SIU at home. Having Wichita State would not have helped anything this year.

[BirdsEyeView]

No doubt that MVC had a nice bounce back year - it where it should have been. The difference is not with a stronger top tier teams, but a lower tier that moved them selves up 50-100 spot. The 200+/300+ rpi teams have been a killer for the conference the last few years. Had this happened last year ISUR would have been dancing. But even though this is best non-conference start since what 2014? The league will still be 1 bid.

Now if WSU still been in the league UNI and MOST would each have at least 2 additional chances for quality wins - if you run the analysis, if they could split with WSU, it would at least move them on to the bubble. The MVC would at least have a decent chance for 2 bids, and if things played out right, even the potential for 3.

Yes agreed, that's the argument in this entire topic thread. If everyone improves, the conference improves...unfortunately no elite at large type teams this year, but certainly no "sky is falling" like some Shocker prognosticators had assumed.

UNI was never good enough for an at large. Missouri St. was our only shot and their coach sucks too much and that schedule killed any chance at it.

As for my Birds, we had no chance this year for an at large losing what we lost. Pissed about last year...hopeful for next year.