MVC Expansion Candidate Deep Dive

[tribecalledquest]

Guessing the Valley invites UIC and UT Arlington and sticks at 12

If that’s the case then good luck. Welcome to the new OVC.

Those add absolutely nothing of worth.

UIC has shown nothing as a basketball program. I agree. However I don't think that's a fair statement as it relates to UTA. Is it a world beater? No. But it has been a winning program for the most part in the Sun Belt.

The five year Ken Pom average for Murray is 123.6 and for UTA is 147.2. UTA finished two of those five seasons with a better Ken Pom than Murray. I am not suggesting UTA is a better men's basketball program than Murray. But to act like it's a junk program would be off base as well.

[third rail]

Guessing the Valley invites UIC and UT Arlington and sticks at 12

If that’s the case then good luck. Welcome to the new OVC.

Those add absolutely nothing of worth.

Bitter much? Quite an ignorant statement.

[third rail]

Guessing the Valley invites UIC and UT Arlington and sticks at 12

If that’s the case then good luck. Welcome to the new OVC.

Those add absolutely nothing of worth.

UIC has shown nothing as a basketball program. I agree. However I don't think that's a fair statement as it relates to UTA. Is it a world beater? No. But it has been a winning program for the most part in the Sun Belt.

The five year Ken Pom average for Murray is 123.6 and for UTA is 147.2. UTA finished two of those five seasons with a better Ken Pom than Murray. I am not suggesting UTA is a better men's basketball program than Murray. But to act like it's a junk program would be off base as well.

People continue to fail to understand that this decision IS NOT BASED ON ONE SINGLE SPORT.

[Murraygrad05]

Guessing the Valley invites UIC and UT Arlington and sticks at 12

If that’s the case then good luck. Welcome to the new OVC.

Those add absolutely nothing of worth.

Bitter much? Quite an ignorant statement.

Not bitter at all. At this point honestly I think I can give or take the MVC invite. It’s been watered down quite a bit from what it used to be. Still think it’s our best option, but I’m not married to it by any means as most fans (not all) around the program will agree.

And yea I value our program over these other two options. Not just because I’m a Murray fan, but also based on facts.

UTA - 1 tourney in 54 seasons.
UIC - 2 in 41 seasons.

Both with under .500 win total. UIC with 5 seasons since 2010 with less than 10 wins.

Hell why don’t we just bring UT-Martin with us and you’d tap in to the Memphis market and get the same quality.

[valleydays]

He makes a point about UT Martin. Several years ago, the OVC added them with SEMO. SEMO seemed like a good gamble. It had been a national contender in D2, and seemed like it was poised for bigger things. But it just didn't work.

Undaunted, a few years later the OVC added SIUE. Tap into that St. Louis market, you know. They had the potential for bigger things, ready to explode. But it just didn't happen

Hate to see the Valley do the same kind of thing, but sometimes presidents are gonna do what presidents are gonna do.

[Action10]

If that’s the case then good luck. Welcome to the new OVC.

Those add absolutely nothing of worth.

Adding Belmont, UIC, and UT-Arlinfton while losing Loyola would cause a top 10 league to become a bottom 10 league?

[BCPanther]

If that’s the case then good luck. Welcome to the new OVC.

Those add absolutely nothing of worth.

Adding Belmont, UIC, and UT-Arlinfton while losing Loyola would cause a top 10 league to become a bottom 10 league?

Thank You.

Pretty much no matter what the Valley does is going to leave it in it's historical norm of 8th-12th every year. There isn't a single school out there that somehow vaults the Valley above the 7 or 8 consistently in front of us.

[BCPanther]

Guessing the Valley invites UIC and UT Arlington and sticks at 12

Bitter much? Quite an ignorant statement.

Not bitter at all. At this point honestly I think I can give or take the MVC invite. It’s been watered down quite a bit from what it used to be. Still think it’s our best option, but I’m not married to it by any means as most fans (not all) around the program will agree.

And yea I value our program over these other two options. Not just because I’m a Murray fan, but also based on facts.

UTA - 1 tourney in 54 seasons.
UIC - 2 in 41 seasons.

Both with under .500 win total. UIC with 5 seasons since 2010 with less than 10 wins.

Hell why don’t we just bring UT-Martin with us and you’d tap in to the Memphis market and get the same quality.

Will we be playing the NCAA Tournament in 1995?

[smidge34]

Lmao at the low basketball IQ it would take to mention UIC or UT-A in the same sentence with Murray State basketball. Then have the audacity to call somebody “bitter” when they call you out for your sheer level of genius! If you try and justify adding a UIC or a UT-A over Murray you’re pretty much a ron, first name mo. Good grief it’s laughable.

[Action10]

Lmao at the low basketball IQ it would take to mention UIC or UT-A in the same sentence with Murray State basketball. Then have the audacity to call somebody “bitter” when they call you out for your sheer level of genius! If you try and justify adding a UIC or a UT-A over Murray you’re pretty much a ron, first name mo. Good grief it’s laughable.

I am not disputing that Murray would be a good add... I am just pointing out that UIC and UTA joining aren't suddenly going to tank the league.
Seems to me that Drake, UNI, and Bradley have been fairly consistent and SIU seems to be on the way up again. Missouri State and Illinois State should be better, and will again soon (I hope!). Belmont has been a quality program ever since moving to D1.
Why would those programs decline because UIC and UT-A are added?