MVC Phil wrote:Xavier, DePaul, and Marquette all are on record stating they would not vote to allow St Louis or Dayton to the Big East. I cannot recall 100% but I believe they have CU's support on this as well.
Xavier is the lead on this and the rivalry with Dayton is intense on this matter.
There is some old Great Midwest pushback from back in the day. It falls along the lines of Jesuit vs. Marinist schools.
This has come up a couple of times in the past and came up again when UCONN was added.
UCONN was added to appease the "old" school members who wanted to expand with St. Louis and Dayton.
I don't how Loyola falls along those lines but it seems to me they don't want to share the Midwest portion of the Big East money and possible talent coming out of Catholic schools.
If the MVC could add Dayton and St Louis as teams 11 and 12 I think you bypass A10 standing and start looking at AAC level gaining on the Big East heals.
My guess is the Xavier animosity towards Dayton goes back to the MCC breakup. When SLU and Marquette left to join the new Great Midwest with DePaul, the remaining members, including Dayton pledged to remain together. As such, LaSalle and Duquesne joined, and Bradley and Creighton were dipping their toes in pretty far. In all probability, they would have followed. The next year, the Great Midwest started whispering in others ears. Dayton went to the MCC with a list of demands, including being named permanent host of the conference tournament. Needless to say, that didn't go over. Dayton then abruptly left. This created the domino with Duquesne running back to the A-10, taking LaSalle and Xavier with them, and Evansville bolting for the MVC. I know our AD's office wasn't shy about their disdain for Dayton after this happened.
When the Great Midwest morphed into Conference USA, Dayton got a dose of karma, and were left out. They joined the A-10 at that point, so either Xavier didn't have enough pull to keep them out, or they put their issues aside for the good of the league. No idea on that.
I like your thoughts on Dayton and SLU, but only if we could lock them up for some period. Jumping in and then out would not do us any good.
I have no idea if DePaul has the clout to ever keep Loyola out of the Big East. Obviously Loyola is the better program today. Remember, the Great Midwest was spearheaded by DePaul because they didn't want to join the MCC and put themselves on the same footing as Loyola.