Updated 1/6/18: MVC Expansion Poll

[Mikovio]

Remember, both Creighton and Bradley were all set to move to the MCC before Dayton bolted to the Great Midwest.

Bradley was approached re joining the Great Midwest but I don't think they were ever close to joining the MCC. That would have been awful (at least in the later stages).

[E-Villan]

Remember, both Creighton and Bradley were all set to move to the MCC before Dayton bolted to the Great Midwest.

Bradley was approached re joining the Great Midwest but I don't think they were ever close to joining the MCC. That would have been awful (at least in the later stages).

From what I remember, it was nearly a done deal, especially on Creighton's part. I have access to the Evansville Courier archives, and will try to dig up some articles later on.

Would it have really been awful? I believe they were approached as replacements to SLU and Marquette. Even with them gone, you would have had a conference with Creighton, Bradley, Evansville, Dayton, Xavier, Butler, Loyola, Detroit, LaSalle and Duquesne. Not terrible by any means. Drake probably would have been in the mix at that point as well. I think realistically, the following then would have happened.

Dayton may have turned down any overtures from the Great Midwest. We were approached, and our AD refused to consider it, out of loyalty to the MCC and the desire to stay in an all-private conference. The Great Midwest was formed primarily by DePaul to keep them from being in the same conference as Loyola. Even if Dayton bolted, once they were spurned by Conference USA, they would have been back.

SLU would have been back when they were spurned at the breakup of the old Conference USA. Remember, the MCC was pulling members from the A-10, so it is doubtful Dayton or SLU would have went there when they needed to be re-homed.

It's hard to say what would have happened when the current Big East came into formation, may have lost a member or two, but it is certainly realistic that had Creighton and Bradley taken the MCC invites, the league would still be in existence today.

[RacerJoeD]

It should have never been EITHER Valpo or Murray, it should have been BOTH. This insistence on an even number of schools is nonsense and really hard for some of us to accept.


(Also, this subject has been more than beaten to death, but at this point I just want to see this thread reach 100 pages, just to see if it can.)

I, too, would love to see this thread reach 100 pages.

But on the topic, I can't see it being that Murray St is too small. Sure, they're smaller than every other public school in the MVC, but they're also larger than every private excepting Loyola.

[Mikovio]

Would it have really been awful? I believe they were approached as replacements to SLU and Marquette. Even with them gone, you would have had a conference with Creighton, Bradley, Evansville, Dayton, Xavier, Butler, Loyola, Detroit, LaSalle and Duquesne. Not terrible by any means. Drake probably would have been in the mix at that point as well. I think realistically, the following then would have happened.

You have to remember the MVC had Tulsa too back then which was riding pretty high, and Butler (and even Loyola) weren't the same then as they are now. It wouldn't have been awful and would have been interesting but I do think BU and Creighton (which obviously turned out fine) made the right call.

[mvfcfan]

You spend $4 million on football and can't afford to fire Greg Lansing. What's against your interests again?

I guess our interests are not wasting money in a one bid league when we can invest it in a league that is guaranteed to get 3 bids every year. By your standards every public in the MVC should not be in the conference because we've all at some point or another been in the Top 25 consistently.

[IWokeUpLikeThis]

FCS title game draws less ratings than a minor bowl game. With the exception of people tuning in to see NDSU (who’d be an Access bid contender if they were ever allowed FBS), few watch FCS football other than those affiliated with the schools.

In the MVC, you have one school involved in college basketball’s most viewed game in history, another school whose run was all over news networks, and 2 other schools who made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Putting the relevance of FCS football alongside D1 basketball is a false equivalency.

[Mikovio]

Loyola's Final Four run was worth at least $8.45 million to the Missouri Valley Conference over six years. Not to mention the millions in free publicity, alumni donations etc.

An FCS bid generally costs teams money.

To compare the two like it's apples to apples is so preposterous.

[mvfcfan]

You try to act like basketball is some big cash cow for the conference and in reality everyone in our league is just trying to break even on it.

At the end of the day football and basketball are the two major sports in Division 1. On a per game level, every school in the MVC that has scholarship football draws more per game than they do for basketball. Please don't try to pretend that no one cares, because obviously there a lot of people out there that do. If no one cared then every MVC public would not be spending more on football than they do on basketball. There's obviously a reason they are doing it. There's also a reason why ILST and MSU just recently renovated their stadiums, and SIU built a new one. Indiana State is also planning on building a new stadium and UNI already plays in a dome.

NDSU and SDSU spend more on football than basketball too, just like everyone else in the MVC. The only difference is that they have more success at it and draw way more people to their games. NDSU also plays in a nice dome and SDSU just built a new stadium that is G5 FBS quality. It doesn't mean they don't care about basketball. Obviously they both do. There hasn't been a team not named SDSU or NDSU make the NCAA tournament from the Summit League since 2011. Since 2009 SDSU has made the tournament 5 times and NDSU has made it 4 times. That's better than pretty much everyone in our league.

Yeah they are only 2-9 all time combined in the NCAA tournament (NDSU has both wins), but SDSU only lost by single digits 3 of those 5 times. NDSU also played Kansas and Gonzaga tough.

I think they have both proved that are plenty deserving of an invite. I don't think it would be that awful to invite programs to our league that want to win in both sports.

[VUGrad1314]

I'm warming to the Dakotas as MVC members but I am so locked on getting Murray State into this conference that I am not a fan of anything that may detract from that. I also really doubt that most MVC schools are keen on making several trips to the Dakotas in winter in all sports. Getting the teams up the Fargo would be a major travel expense. They are good programs and strong institutions that would fit very well if they were closer (I say this because I don't think SDSU would come without NDSU). In addition I don't think the Dakotas want to leave their tailor made conference. With UMKC coming in and Augustana likely getting an invite soon with the possibility of PFW going somewhere else the league is setting up far too nicely for the Dakotas coupled with the tournament being in their backyard. Whether these schools deserve an invite is largely irrelevant because both sides have far too many valid reasons not to want to work together.

[Adunk33]

Not sure it does anything for the MVC but it is looking like IPFW is headed to the Horizon League, leaving the Summit.