Dawgbit wrote:If post season success, say like EVER making it to The Sweet Sixteen were the prerequisite for entry into the MVC, Murray would be deficient. Maybe they can finish above .500 in the powerhouse OVC this year and catch the eye of the new commish though. They seem to have difficulty beating Belmont since Belmont joined that conference. These are verifiable stats, BTW. And an observation, outside of Murray KY, it’s all about The Kentucky Wildcats, just an observation.
They don't have a Sweet 16 (of course part of the reason for that is because they have lost some heartbreakers to eventual final four teams which doesn't refute your point but is worth consideration) but they do have multiple NBA draftees multiple top 25 rankings and 17 appearances which is more than any MVC team or other expansion candidate for that matter. Their 4 all time NCAA wins is more than Missouri State Evansville and Valpo one behind Northern Iowa and two behind SIU and Drake. They have shown a consistent ability to get to the tournament and and succeed in March. Moreover, they have a fanbase that travels extremely well and would pack Arch Madness which is a good thing for the conference. They may have dominated a small conference and be in a small town but Murray State checks a lot of boxes. The ready rivalries their inclusion would create are an added bonus. In many ways their resume outshines that of Belmont who most are in agreement would warrant an invite.
Another team to watch in this (if they can sustain the momentum this past year has brought them) is Oral Roberts. They now have just as many all time wins as Murray State and make a lot of sense geographically in addition to bringing in a great baseball program as well. They could be the private school counterweight to Murray State if we get tired of waiting on Belmont. This might shock you given the history of my posts but after last year's successful multibid campaign with both teams winning at least one game the need for expansion has lessened somewhat perhaps even considerably. If we can sustain that success that would make staying at ten much more attractive even though I still think we should pursue opportunities if they come to us and make sense. Right now though the only combo that makes a lot of sense is Murray State and Belmont or perhaps Oral Roberts but given that their run was only the result of a miracle run through the Summit League conference tournament (they were 4th in the Summit regular season) I would want to see more from Oral Roberts before pulling the trigger on that option.
I'm now with the commissioner (old and new) and many fans on here the best thing we can do is continue to improve internally and build the most attractive league possible with what we have now. Then when an opportunity comes along (say Belmont is finally ready, Murray State has another strong team and wins again in March and\or receives or is in discussion for an at large bid, Oral Roberts makes another run, a clear candidate from the HL emerges, or SLU gets tired of all of the travel costs (that last one is very unlikely) we can readily add from a position of strength to strengthen our league and make it better going forward. For smaller budget midwestern schools that for various reasons get passed over by the power conferences the MVC is and should be a destination conference. Our process should reflect (and thus far has reflected) that fact. Just please please PLEASE don't add schools like UT-Arlington just to get into Texas. That is not a smart direction for this conference to go.
If we want to recruit students one of the best ways to do that is on the court not adding schools nobody really cares about in big markets. That is one of the problems leagues like the Horizon League face. Sure they're in a lot of nice markets but nobody cares either on or off campus except at a few schools which hurts the overall quality of their league. There isn't a lot of media coverage for a lot of HL schools in their home markets either, while that is not true in the home markets of MVC schools even though most of them are smaller. In leagues like the MVC on field performance should drive and weigh very significantly in expansion decisions. It has to be a defining factor. Maybe not THE defining factor but a defining factor.
Assuming that any big market school we bring into the MVC will succeed like Loyola would be folly. Loyola had tradition beforehand distant tradition but tradition nonetheless while UT-Arlington has none. There is literally no reason to believe that UT-Arlington would succeed on the field in the MVC and they would likely drag the league down in ways where whatever small benefit of Texas recruiting our schools receive would be negated and severely outweighed. Moreover, I am leery of adding any school that is beholden to a larger university system. I feel like that puts a ceiling on the potential success of that program and in most cases that ceiling is fairly low. I feel like the parent school likely wants those schools to do well but not so well that they outshine\embarrass the flagship in athletics. There are some schools in this position (namely Milwaukee and Little Rock) that I would be willing to consider if they showed the consistent strength necessary to warrant an invite but they would likely rank behind Murray State Belmont and ORU for me all things being equal. I just see more potential there. No to UT-Arlington at all costs unless something drastically changes for their program and they become a lot more successful. They can "want to be like Gonzaga" as I have heard is their aspiration all they want but until they actually start playing a bit like Gonzaga the MVC should steer clear
