Belmont to Missouri Valley

[jsaluki080]

Back to Murray at the MVC... some thoughts.

1. I don't understand how SIU, if that's the case, could unilaterally block Murray into the MVC. I know there is some envy going on. But really?
2. Everything just makes to much sense for the MVC and Murray to join together. The reasons have been digested here and elsewhere ad nauseum. What is the REAL issue?
3. Academics? Really? Murray has the highest admission standards of any public regional in Kentucky and has been ranked in US News & World Report consistently.

The only thing I can think of is the excuse "Murray is hard to get to" and the market is already represented by SIU. Watching the Belmont press conference yesterday and hearing about how great Nashville is, well, apparently that was a big deal to the MVC.

Our television market is decentralized, spread out across four states with no one metropolitan area. If this matters, and for the life of me I don't understand why it does in this day and age, we are #84 in market size out of 210. The NBC affiliate out of Paducah covers MSU religiously. The CBS affiliate out of Cape Girardeau does a great job covering the Racers, too.

With no professional teams in this market, Murray/SEMO/SIU dominates the sports news. Top billing on sports newscasts. You CANNOT say the same for Belmont. They are an AFTERTHOUGHT with the sports media in Nashville.

So the only REAL excuse I can think of, and it's really poor, is you can't fly to Murray. You gotta fly to Paducah and drive an hour or just bus it.

What say you all?

Like you said, these points have been discussed ad nauseam. Myself and the majority of posters agree that Murray should be invited. At this point we should bombard the university presidents with emails or something rather than just preaching to the choir here on the message board.

[racernation]

What appeals to me the most as Murray fan is the passionate fan bases in the MVC. I love trash talking SIU and Evansville as much as they do Murray. And developing those rivalries with other MVC fan bases looks soooo good. So much better than schools who have ZERO support (I'm looking at UT-Martin, SIU-E, EIU) and programs who haven't done anything lately (I'm looking at SEMO, TSU, and TTU now).

That's what excites me the most. New, more powerful rivalries that creates an elite basketball conference.

[MolineRacer]

https://twitter.com/EvanLBeck/status/11 ... 56768?s=20

Click the link and let Magic tell you what to expect at Arch Madness

[SalukiWorld]

Most of this board was thrilled when the MVC added Valpo and pissed when they added Loyola, I'm just saying.

Murray State is my #1 option but I don't think it's the slam dunk most think on here. The fact that Murray State wasn't on SIU's schedule this year for the first time in awhile might be a warning that there's still some bad blood between them possibly involving expansion talks.

[squirrel]

Most of this board was thrilled when the MVC added Valpo and pissed when they added Loyola, I'm just saying.

You're not wrong. And many of the loudest voices one way are the loudest in a completely opposite stance now.

I love the Belmont add, but honestly, Lipcsomb has been stealthy good in Belmont's shadows. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility they have the better long term growth potential.

Murray State has been great for 25 years. They are probably overdue for a rough stretch.

I'm all in on Murray, but again, past performance is not an indicator of future performance in an enhanced situation.

[VUGrad1314]

Those great years for Lipscomb were under Belmont's current head coach. Also in addition to being a great program Belmont is growing massively. Their enrollment is up 54% since 2010 and their endowment has doubled since 2017. They are also opening a school of medicine soon. I doubt Lipscomb can match that growth.

Even though I didn't post here when Loyola was first added count me as one of those voices who was absolutely livid when they were picked but is absolutely thrilled they're here now because their commitment to excellence since joining the MVC has been amazing. I wish I could say the same for Valpo but we've had some tough sledding to say the least.

Your point on past performance is no indicator of future results is well-taken (Don't we Valpo fans all know that to be true.) but I would take Murray's resume over anyone's right now. In addition their facilities are absolutely at MVC level which is not something we at Valpo could really say if we're being honest. Money isn't everything but Murray State checks a lot of boxes even if their budget would only be mid-pack in the MVC.

[SalukiWorld]

Most of this board was thrilled when the MVC added Valpo and pissed when they added Loyola, I'm just saying.

You're not wrong. And many of the loudest voices one way are the loudest in a completely opposite stance now.

I love the Belmont add, but honestly, Lipcsomb has been stealthy good in Belmont's shadows. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility they have the better long term growth potential.

Murray State has been great for 25 years. They are probably overdue for a rough stretch.

I'm all in on Murray, but again, past performance is not an indicator of future performance in an enhanced situation.

I think the Belmont add is a no-brainer based on everything but fanbase really. Murray State I think brings a great men's basketball fanbase and an instant winning program to the Valley but there are many reasons why they're not a no-brainer addition like Belmont was.

[Murraygrad05]

Most of this board was thrilled when the MVC added Valpo and pissed when they added Loyola, I'm just saying.

You're not wrong. And many of the loudest voices one way are the loudest in a completely opposite stance now.

I love the Belmont add, but honestly, Lipcsomb has been stealthy good in Belmont's shadows. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility they have the better long term growth potential.

Murray State has been great for 25 years. They are probably overdue for a rough stretch.

I'm all in on Murray, but again, past performance is not an indicator of future performance in an enhanced situation.

I think the Belmont add is a no-brainer based on everything but fanbase really. Murray State I think brings a great men's basketball fanbase and an instant winning program to the Valley but there are many reasons why they're not a no-brainer addition like Belmont was.

Really? Please explain the not a no brainer. Funny the main ones on this board that I have seen saying a hard no are Saluki fans.

I’m hoping for our sakes that “secret handshake” deal I’ve been seeing between us and Belmont is true.

[SalukiWorld]

Really? Please explain the not a no brainer. Funny the main ones on this board that I have seen saying a hard no are Saluki fans.

I’m hoping for our sakes that “secret handshake” deal I’ve been seeing between us and Belmont is true.

I think most SIU fans are in the add Murray State camp just like everyone else. They're my #1 option. But I could see the Missouri Valley going after a bigger market team like Northern Kentucky, Milwaukee, Little Rock, UT-Arlington in the hopes that they boom like Loyola did with a step-up in conference.

Murray State makes a ton of sense if you want to bring in a basketball-ready school with a passionate fan base that will help out Arch Madness tremendously but if they don't adjust to the Valley like Valpo then you'll see the fanbase begin to taper off and now you've got a school in an extremely small media market with meh academics and an enrollment that's been declining.

Now the critics to that would point out that I'm an SIU fan and SIU is in a tiny market with budget problems and a rapidly declining enrollment and way less success than Murray State in basketball recently. But SIU isn't looking to be added to the league and SIU wouldn't be added to the Missouri Valley in 2021, not even close to it really. Same could be said for a Indiana State and maybe Northern Iowa too.

But again, Murray State would be my addition if I had a choice. Some of the options in bigger markets are interesting but really only Northern Kentucky would be a semi-exciting option for me.

[municup14]

I believe we need to add a team that is geographically close to all mvc teams.Thats why I'm not a big fan of adding a team from Texas or Arkansas .Reason why js ALL our teams must travel these distances, not just basketball.