Belmont is the 11th. Who should be the 12th?

[DUBulldog]

The best private candidates are Oral Roberts

I don't get the ORU love....sure, they had a nice Cinderella run in the tourney last season, but they were the 4 seed in the Summit and got hot (really hot) at the right time....do we really want the 4th best team in the Summit League?

[BCPanther]

Our best options are outside the current footprint and that's okay. If geography means nothing for other leagues, I'm not sure why we're so hung up on it on this board.

Go out and get the best combination of success and market that you can regardless of where they are.

[siudawgs]

Our best options are outside the current footprint and that's okay. If geography means nothing for other leagues, I'm not sure why we're so hung up on it on this board.

Go out and get the best combination of success and market that you can regardless of where they are.

I think people are "hung up" on geography simply because it makes a lot of common sense, both financially and in terms of time investment for student-athletes, not to be crisscrossing the country for weekday conference matchups. Just because some leagues have gotten greedy (mostly leagues with huge football revenue on the line) doesn't mean it makes sense for the MVC or that it's been a good trend for college athletics.

Now, if Villanova or Gonzaga wanted in, sure, let's get crazy. But it just doesn't pass logical muster to add schools that are total geographic outliers that are only marginally better (if that) than the midwest options.

[smidge34]

One of the few things I love about the Ohio Valley Conference is you can drive to the majority of opposing teams’ venues on a Thursday night and be back in your bed by 2:00 am, some by midnight. A close and easy drive to the tournament championship venue is another positive. You start spreading out your footprint then you lose that and you become kind of a TV league.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

One of the few things I love about the Ohio Valley Conference is you can drive to the majority of opposing teams’ venues on a Thursday night and be back in your bed by 2:00 am, some by midnight. A close and easy drive to the tournament championship venue is another positive. You start spreading out your footprint then you lose that and you become kind of a TV league.

With all due respect, look how well that is working out for the OVC. If we have to fly to get to a decent road game, I'm good with it. I know Murray fans travel well, but in most cases around college basketball, the crowd at games are 95+% home fans. Like most fans, I watch SIU at home in person and I am content with watching road games on TV (except Arch Madness. I do try to go to that most years.) The only reason proximity really matters much here to fans, for the purpose of fans traveling, is distance to Arch Madness.

[BCPanther]

We haven't been a bus league for over a decade. I can't really speak for others but pre-COVID, the only bus trips for UNI were Drake and Bradley always and Illinois State if it was a weekend game, we fly everywhere else.

[RacerJoeD]

One of the few things I love about the Ohio Valley Conference is you can drive to the majority of opposing teams’ venues on a Thursday night and be back in your bed by 2:00 am, some by midnight. A close and easy drive to the tournament championship venue is another positive. You start spreading out your footprint then you lose that and you become kind of a TV league.

With all due respect, look how well that is working out for the OVC. If we have to fly to get to a decent road game, I'm good with it. I know Murray fans travel well, but in most cases around college basketball, the crowd at games are 95+% home fans. Like most fans, I watch SIU at home in person and I am content with watching road games on TV (except Arch Madness. I do try to go to that most years.) The only reason proximity really matters much here to fans, for the purpose of fans traveling, is distance to Arch Madness.

That isn't what is causing the demise of the OVC. In fact, I would argue that is what made the OVC a good conference in the past. When you have teams like wku and MTSU, and you dont add teams like SIUE and UTM, you have high ticket sales ($), high fan involvement ($), good road team turnout ($), and good basketball. All of those things add together to make a good conference. What killed the OVC is that you added weak, non investing teams, with no D1 success in basketball, you lost good teams who left the conference (often to chase football mirages that have left them a shell of what they once were), and you tried to serve two masters (Basketball and Football). In all honesty, that is why I like the MVC as much as I do. The other sports are nationally competitive, but basketball drives the ship. That is an institutional fit for Murray State. We watched as a nationally recognized conference (multiple teams getting bids in the '80's, NCAA tournament wins, multiple teams ranked in the '60s and '70s) started chasing football, losing money (like nearly everyone does in football), losing members to weaker basketball conferences, and now we see it as it is; a low tier conference with no real desire to improve. They want to spend as little as possible while still talking about "Hey we aren't D2!". That isn't Murray State. We have increased our athletic investment and are continuing to do so. We do have a nationally recognized brand in mens basketball.

Im not terribly worried about our football. FCS is not a real moneymaker (except to schedule guarantee games, with will be going away). Our football will be better than it has been, as we have seen increased investment. We are a basketball school. We want to play basketball schools. We want to play teams that give a crap in front of fans who give a crap. And we aren't afraid of "Not a state" chants... lol

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

One of the few things I love about the Ohio Valley Conference is you can drive to the majority of opposing teams’ venues on a Thursday night and be back in your bed by 2:00 am, some by midnight. A close and easy drive to the tournament championship venue is another positive. You start spreading out your footprint then you lose that and you become kind of a TV league.

With all due respect, look how well that is working out for the OVC. If we have to fly to get to a decent road game, I'm good with it. I know Murray fans travel well, but in most cases around college basketball, the crowd at games are 95+% home fans. Like most fans, I watch SIU at home in person and I am content with watching road games on TV (except Arch Madness. I do try to go to that most years.) The only reason proximity really matters much here to fans, for the purpose of fans traveling, is distance to Arch Madness.

That isn't what is causing the demise of the OVC. In fact, I would argue that is what made the OVC a good conference in the past. When you have teams like wku and MTSU, and you dont add teams like SIUE and UTM, you have high ticket sales ($), high fan involvement ($), good road team turnout ($), and good basketball. All of those things add together to make a good conference. What killed the OVC is that you added weak, non investing teams, with no D1 success in basketball, you lost good teams who left the conference (often to chase football mirages that have left them a shell of what they once were), and you tried to serve two masters (Basketball and Football). In all honesty, that is why I like the MVC as much as I do. The other sports are nationally competitive, but basketball drives the ship. That is an institutional fit for Murray State. We watched as a nationally recognized conference (multiple teams getting bids in the '80's, NCAA tournament wins, multiple teams ranked in the '60s and '70s) started chasing football, losing money (like nearly everyone does in football), losing members to weaker basketball conferences, and now we see it as it is; a low tier conference with no real desire to improve. They want to spend as little as possible while still talking about "Hey we aren't D2!". That isn't Murray State. We have increased our athletic investment and are continuing to do so. We do have a nationally recognized brand in mens basketball.

Im not terribly worried about our football. FCS is not a real moneymaker (except to schedule guarantee games, with will be going away). Our football will be better than it has been, as we have seen increased investment. We are a basketball school. We want to play basketball schools. We want to play teams that give a crap in front of fans who give a crap. And we aren't afraid of "Not a state" chants... lol

I'm not saying that it is what caused the fall of the OVC. I'm just stating that it really isn't a priority for the MVC. They search for the best team within a reasonable distance, instead of simply the closest distance. The MVC has been extremely picky in the schools they add, and who they don't add (See Murray State). And with that, they have avoided complete disasters (The verdict is still out on Valpo, but that one doesn't look good as of today).

And on a side note, the road fans comment...When I'm at an SIU/Murray game in Carbondale, I don't want to see blue and yellow anywhere. I want a house full of maroon. With that said, I have made the drive to Murray. Murray and Louisville are the only road games I've ever watch the Salukis at in person.

[BCPanther]

Evansville would like a word on 'complete disaster' and Valpo is headed that way unless there are some facilities investments.

That's why I'm so encouraged by Belmont (and hopefully Murray) as they are ready made to come in be competitive in 3ish years which only makes the league better.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Evansville would like a word on 'complete disaster' and Valpo is headed that way unless there are some facilities investments.

That's why I'm so encouraged by Belmont (and hopefully Murray) as they are ready made to come in be competitive in 3ish years which only makes the league better.

Fair point. I wasn't watching college basketball in 1994 when Evansville joined, as that was the year I was born lol. But I do agree. They're bad.