Hopefully this is just phase 1 of expansion

[VUGrad1314]

It is already quite evident that the seeds of resurgence have been planted all over the Valley. I genuinely feel that Valpo is entering this conference on the ground floor. It is at the lowest point you will see it at for the foreseeable future. Missouri State, Illinois State, and Northern Iowa remain as strong programs. Bradley and Loyola's rebuilding efforts will begin to bear fruit this year. Southern Illinois is trending upward, as is Drake. Evansville looks like they've lost quite a bit. Indiana State should show improvement, and Valpo is entering with a lot of talent and should vie for the top of the conference in a year or two, and we may pick up some strong new teams soon. The Valley is already showing, and will continue to show, that it wants to be great even without Wichita State.

[TheAsianSensation]

Television exposure is an interesting topic. I'm not sure of the exact details of our ESPN contract, but I know with other leagues (the AAC, I believe), ESPN threw in some renegotiation clauses that allow them to revisit things if membership changes.

It's impossible to know what the details are of our deal. I imagine all the ESPN3 stuff is safe and will remain as is though. The scary thing is if ESPN is allowed to go back into the deal and tear things up. ESPN just laid off so many people and is reducing budget by any means necessary.....obviously they can't just cancel media deals mid-deal. So the leagues/conferences in the most trouble right now are the first ones that have to go to ESPN to sign their next deal. If Wichita leaving triggered a clause that allows ESPN to force us back to the table, right when money is the tightest it'll ever be, we'll be at a significant disadvantage to every other conference in the entire country. All because Wichita left at the exact time ESPN shut off the water spout of money.

But again, it all depends on the details in the contract Elgin negotiated. Details we don't know.

The one thing I'm pessimistic of is our CBS title game. CBS has no other real stake in our conference, and already sandwiches us in between power conference games. CBS could pretty easily eject. We could easily return to ESPN though and our previously traditional Monday night title game, going Friday-Monday again. We're still good enough to get that spot back.

CBS is contracted to carry our title game until 2020 at this point. We'll have been on CBS for 15 years at that point. I don't see any danger if losing that slot. It's not like Wichita appeared in that game very often...

That's good to know there's a longterm contract there. Still, I think it's in danger of being done after that....just because it's so much easier for them to add one more ACC or B1G game to their package, and I fear the ratings will be better for them if they do that.

[BEARZ77]

The problem is if they ax the Valley, they lose that market because those viewers will go to where those games are at. Adding an extra game of a market you already have but losing another distinct sector of viewers doesn't make good business sense. This is not a knock on WSU just one view, but the MVC regained it's higher national status during a period when WSU was terrible and then re-emerging[ late 90's to early 2000's] and then started to lose that when WSU became dominant. That's not WSU's fault, too many other Universities made bad coaching/scheduling decisions as they began to emerge and things snowballed the last couple years. But having a number of teams at 12-6 -14-4[ like 2006] is preferable to a 17-1 runaway winner.

While yes all the Valley teams have to greatly advance their product, the overall view of the conference is enhanced when there is competitive balance vs a dominant team. It can't be a situation of mediocre parody, but a grouping of teams between 50 -150 is compelling.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

What if Elgin has to look on as his conference champion plays in the 16/16 play-in at Dayton?

That is where this league is heading.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(IYRC, this “mvc fan” was found to have the exact same post here as a WSU fan on ShockerNet within minutes of each other.)

[BirdsEyeView]

What if Elgin has to look on as his conference champion plays in the 16/16 play-in at Dayton?

That is where this league is heading.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(IYRC, this “mvc fan” was found to have the exact same post here as a WSU fan on ShockerNet within minutes of each other.)

[VUGrad1314]

It is already quite evident that the seeds of resurgence have been planted all over the Valley. I genuinely feel that Valpo is entering this conference on the ground floor. It is at the lowest point you will see it at for the foreseeable future. Missouri State, Illinois State, and Northern Iowa remain as strong programs. Bradley and Loyola's rebuilding efforts will begin to bear fruit this year. Southern Illinois is trending upward, as is Drake. Evansville looks like they've lost quite a bit. Indiana State should show improvement, and Valpo is entering with a lot of talent and should vie for the top of the conference in a year or two, and we may pick up some strong new teams soon. The Valley is already showing, and will continue to show, that it wants to be great even without Wichita State.

This comment aged well.

I think that this marks an era of opportunity for all MVC members. Now that the Shockes, a team that outspent every Valley member by at least 2:1 have graduated to a conference with a budgetary structure more befitting of their considerable means, every Valley team now has the chance to fill the vacuum created by their departure. This should result in increased administrative commitment and expenditure on basketball on the part of each school; as well as, dare I say, a stronger (better?!) top to bottom league. Losing the profile and the top 50 games Wichita State once provided will hurt and will not be good for TV contracts in the short run but I fully expect the league to land on its feet when the time comes to renegotiate in 2-3 years, especially if we land a couple of solid expansion schools in the meantime. Remember, KenPom STILL has this conference in the top 10 WITHOUT the Shockers, and the metric where Wichita State's departure deals its heaviest damage--RPI-- is purportedly being de-emphasized by the selection committee starting this year presumably in favor of metrics like KenPom. Wichita State's departure hurts, to be sure, but it is not the death blow people are making it out to be. Good luck to the Shockers in the AAC, but they shouldn't be worried about the Valley. The conference is going to be just fine and should still come away with a nice media deal going forward.

So did this one.

[VUGrad1314]

What if Elgin has to look on as his conference champion plays in the 16/16 play-in at Dayton?

That is where this league is heading.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(IYRC, this “mvc fan” was found to have the exact same post here as a WSU fan on ShockerNet within minutes of each other.)

Wasn't his grand sooution to add Fort Wayne to the MVC, or am I thinking of someone else?

[MissouriValleyUnite]

What if Elgin has to look on as his conference champion plays in the 16/16 play-in at Dayton?

That is where this league is heading.

Hey Shoxcity, remember when you created this fake account but were caught copy/pasting your own posts from ShockerNet onto here?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[musiccitybulldog]

Add Lipscomb.

[municup14]

Next March Shocker fans will be on here wishing they were back.

Will be interesting to see how the tournament plays out. Will Valpo bring a crowd?

Why would WSU be wishing they were back? They are going to be a top 10 team. Fifteen of our league games are going to be with a team that had a RPI of 150 or better last year and only three games with a RPI of 150 or worse. Last year we had four games in the MVC with a RPI of 150 or better and fourteen games with a RPI of 150 or worse. Doesn't help an at large resume. Ask Illinois St.

MVC won,you lost.Man that sounds good