Updated 1/6/18: MVC Expansion Poll

[RacerJoeD]

Round two- AKA two rounds further than the Puppies advanced in, what 12 years? That means an SIU fan born after the last time SIU went dancing is getting ready for a middle school dance and a PG13 movie.

[BCPanther]

I know it wasn't serious but GCU remains a for profit diploma Mill...

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/201 ... conversion

[PantherSigEp]

I know it wasn't serious but GCU remains a for profit diploma Mill...

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/201 ... conversion

Pulitzer level material right here:

“Holy s***,” Trace Urdan, a managing director at Tyton Partners and an expert on the for-profit higher education sector, said of the news.

After that quote, I spent more time trying to determine if this was an Onion article than reading the actual story. Great stuff.

[agernes]

Long-time lurker, wasn't sure if I should start a new topic or not, but I'll just bump this old thing:

Listening to Matt Brown and Bryan Fischer's "Going for Two" podcast yesterday, and Brown mentioned near the beginning of the podcast (about the 7:20 mark) that the Valley is looking at expanding:

Within the Missouri Valley, I had a couple people within the industry say, "Hey, watch this league to potentially add another member that's outside of the Midwest. That's not in in that core geographic area. Look for a team that's going to be in a major metropolitan area and particularly near a major airport."

He goes onto say that the travel costs aren't a big deal in that situation, and specifically mentions Denver, Texas-Arlington, and Oral Roberts as schools that would fit the example.

Thought this was a pretty big deal, Brown is very connected within the industry, but I didn't see a topic for it, so I thought I'd say something here quick so we can all speculate.

link to the Apple podcasts link - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mailbag-episode/id1549029012?i=1000518013194

2.0 EDIT - In the weekly free edition of his newsletter last week he expanded on this topic. I had completly missed it. Cleveland State and Murray State mentioned as well

https://www.extrapointsmb.com/p/the-latest-on-d-1-conference-realignment?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0NzE3MzA0LCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNDkxMTQwNSwiXyI6IkNHQXlwIiwiaWF0IjoxNjE4MjIzMDcyLCJleHAiOjE2MTgyMjY2NzIsImlzcyI6InB1Yi05MDg3Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.cyNmUisMSw9q-Fd1sJdeO-J7Iw8mJKUGGf9mMvRtCJE

[BCPanther]

Add Murray and UT-Arlington. Though, I'd take Belmont before Murray.

Arlington would fill a really nice niche that they don't have in that region.

Also adds one Football and one Non-football which keeps everyone happy.

[VUGrad1314]

Most of these suggestions are barftacular. I'd rather not expand than add Denver or UT-Arlington who looked a lot more appealing before they fired Scott Cross. Not too keen on Cleveland State either since they're very inconsistent but I guess I could possibly accept that. I'd rather have Wright State if we're going to add a commuter school from Ohio though. Any expansion that does not include at least one of Murray State or Belmont is a non-starter as far as I'm concerned and if it's not both of them then the other add had better be pretty good. ORU is worth considering for me if we absolutely must because Belmont won't come but I'd prefer to see if they are for real and can be more consistent in the Summit League first. They do spend at an MVC level add a good market are serious about athletics and have good baseball but I hope this is all a ploy to put pressure on Belmont to finally accept the MVC's overtures. The travel would look good with ORU too so that's a plus (what a difference a Sweet 16 run makes). I like programs that can win in March. My tier list is

1. Murray State and Belmont


2. Murray State and ORU



3.Murray State and anyone else (unless it's a good program like South Dakota State or Wright State but it appears neither of them is under consideration plus both of them are public which probably is a non starter for the presidents.)

I hope the MVC isn't thinking that any big market school they choose will magically turn into Loyola. It doesn't often work that way.

Before anybody mentions them I doubt anyone from the WAC (namely GCU and NMSU) is a consideration at this point because of the WAC's aggressive moves. Having brought in Stephen F Austin and Abeline Christian and with California Baptist looking pretty good too and Utah Valley showing some life recently the WAC has built themselves a nice league in their own right. Moreover they appear to be a lot more stable so I doubt they are candidates at this point.

One more point I really don't think we should rush this decision until we know how Belmont feels. As I understand they're getting a new president soon and with that the old guard that quashed Belmont to the MVC in the past has been completely (or at least very substantially) changed. Perhaps these new people have a new vision that includes upgrading Belmont's athletic profile.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

Most likely:
Murray and Belmont
Murray and NKU
Murray and Wright State
Murray and ORU
Murray and Milwaukee

Murray, Belmont, GCU, and NMSU

Go little big: Murray, Belmont, GCU, NMSU, NDSU, SDSU, ND, SD (18 teams. Play each team once and travel partner twice for 18 conference games. Could play 20 conference games too with best playing best near end of season.)

Swing for the fences: Murray, Wichita State, Dayton, St. Louis

[DUBulldog]

Go little big: Murray, Belmont, GCU, NMSU, NDSU, SDSU, ND, SD (18 teams. Play each team once and travel partner twice for 18 conference games. Could play 20 conference games too with best playing best near end of season.)is

So, we'd split up the same amount of NCAA money 18 ways, instead of 10 ways. No thanks. I don't see the MVC getting any additional bids with that lineup.

[Dawgbit]

If you added Belmont, Murray would not want in. They can't beat them now.

[MNPanthers]

I'm not really ready to believe the rumors again, but purely from a market perspective, I think Denver is definitely the best market we could pursue.

The city is booming like crazy, no college basketball presence in the city. University of Denver would likely have big time resources if they decided to invest in it.

We all scoffed at the Loyola addition, but it turns out market and money are everything.

I personally think it's the absolute best possible addition if Denver would be committed to raising the bar like Loyola did.