Welcome Murray State to the MVC!

[VUGrad1314]

Looks like UT Arlington is heading to the WAC
https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1 ... 8556550151

MVC must have passed. If we add, it almost has to be UIC, right?

I’m fine with UIC if we’re on the path to 14, but if it’s 12 we need more western balance IMO.

I would so much prefer that we take a step back before any further adds after Murray State to evaluate potential western options. I'd at least love to hear more about the readiness\willingness of NDSU\SDSU St Thomas first before committing to any other moves. SDSU would be a home run. Not quite Belmont or Murray good but still good. St Thomas is as close to a potential Loyola as there is that we could add (private school large endowment big market just too new to D1). UIC might be good and as I said I get the need to be in Chicago but their appeal lies in factors beyond the sport that matters most and that is far from ideal. They do check almost every other box though and there's a lot to be said for that. Ultimately I'd be okay with it but I really hope MVC membership allows their program to take a step forward. I think the MVC still has a shot at multiple bids after the Belmont and Murray State additions regardless of who is #12 and that's the most important thing.

[IllinoisState]

Looks like UT Arlington is heading to the WAC
https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1 ... 8556550151

MVC must have passed. If we add, it almost has to be UIC, right?

I’m fine with UIC if we’re on the path to 14, but if it’s 12 we need more western balance IMO.

UMKC already said no to making a financial commitment and I believe Omaha is in the same boat. I never thought they were good options to begin with, but now even less so. Who would we go for then?

[jsaluki080]

First, welcome aboard Murray.

It's weird. When Loyola announced they were leaving, of course I was upset. But they have cool fans, and I understand, A10 is a slightly better league at the top so probably more consistent multiple bids and exposure to East Coast Market.
But after the additions of Belmont and now Murray, staying at 12 with Loyola, I feel confident that we'd consistently be a multiple bid league, at least on par with the A10. ... so as I dwell on this, I've become upset once again (edit: still wish the best for loyola in the A10. Go dominate there and tell them how much better the MVC was )

Well, one of the MVC teams needs to really step it up, now. Murray? Belmont? one of the existing members that hasn't done much in years?

Regardless if we're a multiple bid league or not or whatever,
next year will be an exciting year.

[VUGrad1314]

First, welcome aboard Murray.

It's weird. When Loyola announced they were leaving, of course I was upset. But they have cool fans, and I understand, A10 is a slightly better league at the top so probably more consistent multiple bids and exposure to East Coast Market.
But after the additions of Belmont and now Murray, staying at 12 with Loyola, I feel confident that we'd consistently be a multiple bid league, at least on par with the A10. ... so as I dwell on this, I've become upset once again

Well, one of the MVC teams needs to really step it up, now. Murray? Belmont? one of the existing members that hasn't done much in years?

Regardless if we're a multiple bid league or not or whatever,
next year will be an exciting year.

How about the team that was chosen over Murray State back in 2017 and has done absolutely nothing since joining? Shouldn't they be the one to step it up? (Obviously this is a rhetorical question they need to but I am afraid that they won't or can't until Matt Lottich is gone which unfortunately is another two years or so down the line I think.

[IllinoisState]

First, welcome aboard Murray.

It's weird. When Loyola announced they were leaving, of course I was upset. But they have cool fans, and I understand, A10 is a slightly better league at the top so probably more consistent multiple bids and exposure to East Coast Market.
But after the additions of Belmont and now Murray, staying at 12 with Loyola, I feel confident that we'd consistently be a multiple bid league, at least on par with the A10. ... so as I dwell on this, I've become upset once again

Well, one of the MVC teams needs to really step it up, now. Murray? Belmont? one of the existing members that hasn't done much in years?

Regardless if we're a multiple bid league or not or whatever,
next year will be an exciting year.

How about the team that was chosen over Murray State back in 2017 and has done absolutely nothing since joining? Shouldn't they be the one to step it up? (Obviously this is a rhetorical question they need to but I am afraid that they won't or can't until Matt Lottich is gone which unfortunately is another two years or so down the line I think.

That team got lucky because they are a private school.

[Action10]

How about the team that was chosen over Murray State back in 2017 and has done absolutely nothing since joining? Shouldn't they be the one to step it up? (Obviously this is a rhetorical question they need to but I am afraid that they won't or can't until Matt Lottich is gone which unfortunately is another two years or so down the line I think.

I think that is a good point and something I have not thought about much. At some point I hope Valpo becomes what they had been (should be?). They were a consistent winner whenever anyone named Drew was there.

VUGrad: Was Bryce leaving for Vandy that big of a blow or do you think where the program is now is just a product of many circumstances all coming together now?

[E-Villan]

Personally I would have been happy to stay in the Valley with these two additions. I’ve got a lot of friends that live in the Chicagoland area that went to other Valley schools, we always would go to games at Gentile together. It’s been fun creating rivalries with teams I’ve known my whole life. I know very few people that have gone to an A10 school, and the ones I do know don’t care about basketball. I guess I don’t like change much, and have zero attachments to most of the schools in the A10. I was hoping that the Valley would turn into a consistent multiple bid league with Loyola. With Murray State and Belmont that would have definitely increased the odds.

However, I do understand why Loyola made the choice, clearly it’s a better institutional fit and in current history the A10 has been the better basketball league with schools that have deeper pockets and basketball budgets. The A10 has already proven that it can consistently be a multi bid league and If Dayton and SLU stay, then I believe that will remain true. I haven’t heard of any legit rumors about them getting any interest from the BE. In regards to the small gyms comment, I believe the TV contracts are more important. Large gyms are nice, but majority in the MVC are never filled up anyways. I’m a Loyola fan, a small gym doesn’t bother me.

I get it, especially from your perspective. While we have compatible private schools, there are no Big City Catholic schools. I can see where that is appealing. Looking at it with my fan perspective glasses on, I am with you in that there are a lot of A-10 schools that I would have no attachment to. I know my way around the midwest and have been to all of the Valley schools except Drake, UNI and Valpo. Been to Valpo a few times, but never caught a game there. Unfortunately, the only time I have been to Loyola was in the old MCC days. I loved that league for the same reason, and don't forget, there was a point when the MCC was actually pulling schools from the A-10. Your gym may be on the smaller side, but it looks fantastic.

From our perspective, it does suck losing you guys right now. If Loyola was staying with the two additions, I really think we could be the best non P-6 league out there. We still can be, or at least in the neighborhood if my own program, Bradley and Illinois State can get back to competitive levels, while Drake, Belmont, Murray, etc maintain theirs.

On a side note, I was editing the league twitter links on our message board, and noticed that twitter had suspended Sister Jean. What did I miss there? Censoring SIster Jean is completely out of bounds!

[jsaluki080]

First, welcome aboard Murray.

It's weird. When Loyola announced they were leaving, of course I was upset. But they have cool fans, and I understand, A10 is a slightly better league at the top so probably more consistent multiple bids and exposure to East Coast Market.
But after the additions of Belmont and now Murray, staying at 12 with Loyola, I feel confident that we'd consistently be a multiple bid league, at least on par with the A10. ... so as I dwell on this, I've become upset once again (edit: still wish the best for loyola in the A10. Go dominate there and tell them how much better the MVC was  )

Well, one of the MVC teams needs to really step it up, now. Murray? Belmont? one of the existing members that hasn't done much in years?

Regardless if we're a multiple bid league or not or whatever,
next year will be an exciting year.

How about the team that was chosen over Murray State back in 2017 and has done absolutely nothing since joining? Shouldn't they be the one to step it up? (Obviously this is a rhetorical question they need to but I am afraid that they won't or can't until Matt Lottich is gone which unfortunately is another two years or so down the line I think.

That team got lucky because they are a private school.

Ouch. Come on, let's keep things positive.
but yes, I considered Valpo as included in existing members that haven't done much in years category

[VUGrad1314]

How about the team that was chosen over Murray State back in 2017 and has done absolutely nothing since joining? Shouldn't they be the one to step it up? (Obviously this is a rhetorical question they need to but I am afraid that they won't or can't until Matt Lottich is gone which unfortunately is another two years or so down the line I think.

I think that is a good point and something I have not thought about much. At some point I hope Valpo becomes what they had been (should be?). They were a consistent winner whenever anyone named Drew was there.

VUGrad: Was Bryce leaving for Vandy that big of a blow or do you think where the program is now is just a product of many circumstances all coming together now?

It's both. Bryce leaving was a huge blow. Massive. We never truly expected that he would leave. We thought he would be a lifer like his father. Unfortunately as you all see with facilities and the slow pace of their improvement at Valpo it's hard to say whether our commitment to excellence has ever truly fully been there. We were able to paper over that with competent coaching and beating up on other programs with dubious commitment but now in a league full of schools that care our road to contention is much much harder. Of course maybe I'm being too harsh and not giving enough credit to the fact that we have a small alumni base--the most well-heeled of which tend to focus on non-athletic causes for their donations which makes fund raising for necessary projects difficult even if the desire and the commitment is there. So as I said, I think maybe it's both. Of course our biggest problem came in the immediate aftermath of Bryce's departure when our top candidate to replace him turned the job down (and I think the second candidate also did) which forced us to hire Lottich from the very end of the bench in order to keep our senior laden team headlined by Alec Peters together for one last run that unfortunately never materialized due to a late season injury to Peters. So the problems actually started before we ever even got into the MVC when we made a shortsighted decision prioritizing the next season over what was best for the long-term health of the program. We are still paying for our decision not to conduct a national search for the best candidate back when we would have been a destination hire for rising young coaches. I just hope we are able to recover if and when we make the next hire. If the next hire is also a dud we could be mediocre to bad for a very long time unfortunately.

[mvfcfan]

Sources are saying that UTA is in talks to move to the WAC.

Looks like the MVC is going to add UIC along with Murray State. I'm so glad that the MVC is getting this right.