(non-MVC) Realignment News

[pafan]

It's behind a paywall and I'm still looking for information that looks a bit more officially official so to speak but it sounds like the Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State (alongside Central Arkansas) move to the A-Sun is done or very close.

Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville St. were formally announced today as members of the A-SUN.

[VUGrad1314]

Some rumors that these might not be the only departures from the OVC. I haven't seen any substantiation on this beyond message board chatter but it sounds like Austin Peay could be announced as part of this at a later date. What's more it sounds like WIU could be added. This would have massive ramifications as it would:

1. Further weaken the league in basketball

2. Break up the Tennessee bloc of schools in the OVC. Swapping WIU for Austin Peay shifts the balance in the OVC to the west in a pretty significant way in terms of sheer numbers and eats up a lot of the travel savings schools like Belmont might have relished if it were just EKU and JSU leaving.

3. Open up a spot in the MVFC for which Murray State would be well-suited as a geographically friendly replacement.

I think the MVC needs to seize this opportunity and at least take Murray State and Belmont's temperature on a move. They might find a more receptive audience in Nashville than they have in the past and Murray State is probably still on board due to the upgrade in competition across the board for them.

If the Iowa schools don't love the idea of adding all the extra travel I think a split to divisional play (also a potential carrot for Belmont) along north south lines and\or a further expansion to include SDSU and NDSU could be considered. SDSU would add yet another strong perennial top 100 or better program to the conference and NDSU is decent to good in their own right. Unlike Murray State Belmont and SDSU they aren't strong enough to be a standalone add but as the cost of doing business to get SDSU if such a move is desired we could do a lot worse.

The main problem with all of this is that it doesn't really help Missouri State (if only Oral Roberts or Little Rock were better)

Here's how a divisional setup could look (With Murray and Belmont added)

North
Loyola
Valpo
Drake
UNI
Bradley
Illinois State

South:
Missouri State
Southern Illinois
Murray State
Belmont
Evansville
Indiana State

I think these divisions are well balanced in terms of strength but I see three main problems with them:

1. It doesn't solve Missouri State's issue as something of a geographic outlier as mentioned before

2. It cuts Evansville and Belmont off from the other private schools

3. It cuts Valpo off from its in-state rivals (It should be noted that adding the Dakotas would do the same to Loyola by dropping Bradley and ISUr south) Travel in the north would also appear to be significantly less hospitable than travel in the south.

These issues can be worked through with smart crossover work and there is no perfect alignment but I still think the MVC would be remiss not to at least explore the opportunity the moment has provided. Adding more strength is never a bad thing.

[BCPanther]

We don't need divisions. 9 double plays, 2 single plays, 20 game league schedule.

The Dakotas can stay by themselves. They play politics like nothing you've ever seen. There's a reason that UNI left them 40 years ago and there's absolutely no desire to get back in an all sports conference with them. Plus, why would they leave a league they run with an iron fist and get to play the league tournament at home?

[pafan]

2. It cuts Evansville and Belmont off from the other private schools

Designing alignments to satisfy Evansville is kind of silly as long as the Aces remain an afterthought in every MVC sport.

[VUGrad1314]

2. It cuts Evansville and Belmont off from the other private schools

Designing alignments to satisfy Evansville is kind of silly as long as the Aces remain an afterthought in every MVC sport.

I understand I'm just trying to be fair to all members while positing ideas that could make the league stronger.