Belmont to Missouri Valley

[smidge34]

https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1443741393730646023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1443741393730646023%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsaluki-insider.com%2Findex.php%2Fcommunity%2Fmbb-mbb%2Fmvc-expansion-thread%2Fpaged%2F8%2F

Hearing Murray State will be announced as a new member of the Missouri Valley Conference soon

That dude is a douche but he doesn’t post BS.

[BCPanther]

https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1443741393730646023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1443741393730646023%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsaluki-insider.com%2Findex.php%2Fcommunity%2Fmbb-mbb%2Fmvc-expansion-thread%2Fpaged%2F8%2F

Hearing Murray State will be announced as a new member of the Missouri Valley Conference soon

That dude is a douche but he doesn’t post BS.

I feel seen

[IllinoisState]

That dude is a douche but he doesn’t post BS.

I feel seen

I think it's the opposite for you. /s

[Mikovio]

Arlington would ruin the distinction of the MVC being one of seven conferences in which every team has won a tournament game. Their plans to invest had better be freaking impressive in order for the conference to give that up. Yeah being in tow of the top four markets is interesting but Arlington has less than zero pull in that market so I'm leery of adding them. I want to see a heartbeat in Milwaukee's program first. GCU\NMSU would be awesome but too far and if Murray's academics aren't good enough then for darn sure GCU's aren't. Murray is by far and away the best add. I am certain they will be a competitive program in the MVC and let's be honest if Murray was in Milwaukee they'd be in right now. If Murray had the academics of Milwaukee\UIC with that resume they'd be in before Belmont and maybe even before Valpo. As that video pointed out Mid-2000s Milwaukee would be way higher on this list probably 1 or 1A with Murray State. I really hope Murray is the choice. Not sure about Little Rock as a team that would thrive. There's potential there but some of the warts that video exposed gave me a bit of pause on them. I think if the MVC goes to 14 Little Rock would probably be a prime candidate.

I don't care about the historical stuff. Bradley once finished atop the AP Poll and I don't see our Big East invite. The presidents should only care about outlook. GCU's for profit status was a problem but they have since reclassified as nonprofit. That program can be a monster. We don't have to hold academic summits with them or enter into research pacts.

Arlington and Milwaukee I see as worthwhile projects. Large schools and cities, financially sound. Chicago cared zero about Loyola until they became good and were showered with attention. That sort of free advertising can't be measured. The Panthers had MKE's attention in the 2000s when Pearl was there. Milwaukee gets our games on the Bucks/Brewers network and Arlington may do the same for Dallas. We can negotiate better TV deals in the meantime even if their NET sucks. Arlington promises they'll invest in MBB if invited, just like Loyola did.

GCU and NMSU would run up the costs but would serve as an immediate boost to the NET. Phoenix is a big hub like DFW and you could bus to Las Cruces (5-6 hour drive).

If it gets us another bid even occasionally that pays for itself. Last year's 2 bids got us 5 NCAAT units because Drake played in 2 games and Loyola 3. Each unit is worth $337,141 this year and each subsequent year will likely go up. Even if it didn't go up, that bid extra Drake got pays the Valley $4,045,692 over 6 years ($337,141 x 2 games/units x 6 years). It's not hard to see how if we can start regularly getting more bids by adding more quality teams the travel concerns become dwarfed.

I like this detour from what has been predominantly conservative thinking. Is there a risk these programs will tank and we'll be splitting a pie more ways? Of course. But to quote the Super Bowl champ coach "no risk it no biscuit".

[squirrel]

My guess is with BYU leaving for the Big 12 the WCC adds Seattle and/or Grand Canyon, or less likely Hawai'i, which would not be an institutional fit in any way.

The big question mark for Grand Canyon is whether or not long-term they add football. If they are, they'll hang out in the WAC until the Mountain West may eventually come calling.

[tribecalledquest]

My guess is with BYU leaving for the Big 12 the WCC adds Seattle and/or Grand Canyon, or less likely Hawai'i, which would not be an institutional fit in any way.

The big question mark for Grand Canyon is whether or not long-term they add football. If they are, they'll hang out in the WAC until the Mountain West may eventually come calling.

I would be shocked if the WCC went that route. They would be fine with the nine teams they had prior to BYU. Adding Seattle or GCU doesn't help them in any way.

[Red]

My guess is with BYU leaving for the Big 12 the WCC adds Seattle and/or Grand Canyon, or less likely Hawai'i, which would not be an institutional fit in any way.

The big question mark for Grand Canyon is whether or not long-term they add football. If they are, they'll hang out in the WAC until the Mountain West may eventually come calling.

I would be shocked if the WCC went that route. They would be fine with the nine teams they had prior to BYU. Adding Seattle or GCU doesn't help them in any way.

GCU is super intriguing with a lot of potential in my opinion. Not for the MVC because of distance, but for the MWC maybe someday.

[BCPanther]

Seattle is going to end up in the Big Sky would be my guess. They are such an outlier in the WAC and the Big Sky becomes a fully NW conference because I have a hard time believing that NAU wants to be so far removed from everyone else when the WAC is right there.

[VUGrad1314]

Seattle is going to end up in the Big Sky would be my guess. They are such an outlier in the WAC and the Big Sky becomes a fully NW conference because I have a hard time believing that NAU wants to be so far removed from everyone else when the WAC is right there.

They will go to the WCC if (when?) Gonzaga leaves the WCC for the Mountain West. I very strongly doubt Gonzaga wants to stay in the WCC without BYU when all of their safeguards against playing the bottom feeders too much will be gone once BYU leaves. Now that the MWC has fought off the challenge from the AAC and retained CSU and AFA they should be able to go on offense with Boise State being the only likely defection. It will still be a much better league for the Bulldogs. And once that happens I see the WCC adding Seattle and Cal Baptist to get back to 10 and the WAC potentially backfilling with more football schools be they D2 callups or from the Big Sky with Northern Arizona indeed being a likely target.

[Bearvision]

Maybe not, But if MSU would’ve moved football up five years ago when the sun belt came calling, there would be a good chance we would in the mix for a possible call up to the AAC by now. If you’re going to play FBS you gotta jump in and get in the game somewhere and hope that the dominoes fall your way to keep moving up.

Missouri State is a large public university with over 26,000 students now. Aside from Illinois state we don’t really look much like anyone else in the MVC anymore. Believe me, this is no slam to the conference. I love the Valley but I’m open to a FBS move up as well if the invitation comes again.

Missouri State hit the geography jackpot and then was smart enough to go out and get an aggressive, charismatic leader really push the vision of being that large public institution. All the credit in the world to them.

That's another reason that I'm very much in favor of Arlington and Little Rock. Missouri State is on an absolute island and will be more so with Belmont and (presumably) Murray. With the WAC reformation and the uncertainty in the Sun Belt it is in the league's best interest to cater to them a bit. They'd be a huge loss for the Valley and MVFC when you look at their baseball, WBB and VB programs before we even start talking about MBB and Football.

Absolutely level-headed post from an opposing teams' fan. Appreciate seeing this.

It's quite true that Missouri State no longer looks like most of the conference and geographically keeps getting further and further outside of the footprint of the Valley. Add to it that the school is one of the largest non-FBS football playing schools, you can really see how MSU will be looking to move to another conference in the next decade.

This is not saying they're too good for the Valley, it's simply looking at the makeup of the conference, the shift tilting towards private schools, and the football emphasis and it makes sense to dream of more.