Welcome Murray State to the MVC!

[30ASaluki]

Only been to McGuires a couple of times, food was great, traffic was usual Destin tourist crawl. If you live close to Donut Hole you should give Cuvee a shot. They re-open from January vacation 1/21. Happy hour begins when they open at 4:30, and, much to the delight of my Chicago raised Whitecastle eating wife, they have Grouper sliders on the happy hour menu! Best bar on 30A hands down is Great Southern in Seaside, good luck getting a seat at the bar though.

[RacerJoeD]

I actually met Rick Byrd once at Bud and Alleys. I was wearing Murray stuff and his family looked a bit skeptical, but they were incredibly nice and so was he. Heck of a coach too.

[BruinGrad]

I actually met Rick Byrd once at Bud and Alleys. I was wearing Murray stuff and his family looked a bit skeptical, but they were incredibly nice and so was he. Heck of a coach too.

Yeah, he really was a nice guy behind the scenes. One time there was a BU Basketball luncheon that my daughter (who was a student at the time) and I was attending. I was waiting out the door for my slightly late daughter and Coach Byrd came out the door waiting for his wife.

When my daughter showed, I hollered to her and said, "You're late and Coach has been standing here waiting on you to get started." Byrd smiled and stopped her to tell her not to worry, that she was not late since she got there before his wife did.

[VUGrad1314]

I can't help but wonder this at this point: Given our newfound presence in Kentucky and Tennessee through Murray State and Belmont and the subsequent negotiations with Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast I can't help but wonder if maybe the MVC is targeting a conference challenge with the SOCON as a further carrot to enhance those negotiations. I think it would be very beneficial for both sides and add a lot of high-interest MVC inventory for that new audience. Plus, our leagues are pretty gosh darn similar with the MVC 11th in the NET and the SOCON 12th Here's how the teams break down (excluding Loyola and including Belmont and Murray State for the MVC and UIC which is heavily rumored) :

Belmont 28

Murray State 45

Missouri State 97

Drake 99

UNI 117

Bradley 130

SIU 144

ISUb 165

Valpo 198

ISUr 207

Evansville 285

UIC 298

SOCON

Chattanooga 29

Furman 105

Wofford 110

UNC-Greensoboro 154

Samford 157

East Tennessee State 170

VMI 175

Mercer 221

The Citadel 246

Western Carolina 280

I know we all want the Mountain West back or the A-10 or even a tripartite challenge between us and those two leagues but if we can't get that this could be a good alternative especially if it helps us secure a deal that greatly enhances our media coverage. What do you think?

[TBS_20]

SoCon has been good for about 5 years now. Did they get 2 in a few years ago. If not, it was close. I agree they are overlooked and underrated. It would be a good second alliance. The MVC won't stomach making that allegiance a thing.

[racerpower]

Well I have been a Racer fan for over 50 years so i'm older than dirt and I am glad to see this day come.Don't make many games anymore not even in Murray.I think Murray will be a good fit for the MVC and have for years.
And hey GO RACERS

[BCPanther]

SoCon has been good for about 5 years now. Did they get 2 in a few years ago. If not, it was close. I agree they are overlooked and underrated. It would be a good second alliance. The MVC won't stomach making that allegiance a thing.

They also just lost generational coaching talent.

[Bjhracer]

I can't help but wonder this at this point: Given our newfound presence in Kentucky and Tennessee through Murray State and Belmont and the subsequent negotiations with Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast I can't help but wonder if maybe the MVC is targeting a conference challenge with the SOCON as a further carrot to enhance those negotiations. I think it would be very beneficial for both sides and add a lot of high-interest MVC inventory for that new audience. Plus, our leagues are pretty gosh darn similar with the MVC 11th in the NET and the SOCON 12th Here's how the teams break down (excluding Loyola and including Belmont and Murray State for the MVC and UIC which is heavily rumored) :

Belmont 28

Murray State 45

Missouri State 97

Drake 99

UNI 117

Bradley 130

SIU 144

ISUb 165

Valpo 198

ISUr 207

Evansville 285

UIC 298

SOCON

Chattanooga 29

Furman 105

Wofford 110

UNC-Greensoboro 154

Samford 157

East Tennessee State 170

VMI 175

Mercer 221

The Citadel 246

Western Carolina 280

I know we all want the Mountain West back or the A-10 or even a tripartite challenge between us and those two leagues but if we can't get that this could be a good alternative especially if it helps us secure a deal that greatly enhances our media coverage. What do you think?

Id like to know how Chattanooga is 16 spots ahead of Murray in the NET. What is it that brings the Racers down so much? Is it the loss to ETSU. You’d think the loss to Auburn the Win at Memphis and the win head to head against UTC would offset that one loss. I could take maybe 2 or 3 spots ahead but 16 ahead with one additional loss doesn’t make much sense.

[SalukiWorld]

I can't help but wonder this at this point: Given our newfound presence in Kentucky and Tennessee through Murray State and Belmont and the subsequent negotiations with Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast I can't help but wonder if maybe the MVC is targeting a conference challenge with the SOCON as a further carrot to enhance those negotiations. I think it would be very beneficial for both sides and add a lot of high-interest MVC inventory for that new audience. Plus, our leagues are pretty gosh darn similar with the MVC 11th in the NET and the SOCON 12th Here's how the teams break down (excluding Loyola and including Belmont and Murray State for the MVC and UIC which is heavily rumored) :

Belmont 28

Murray State 45

Missouri State 97

Drake 99

UNI 117

Bradley 130

SIU 144

ISUb 165

Valpo 198

ISUr 207

Evansville 285

UIC 298

SOCON

Chattanooga 29

Furman 105

Wofford 110

UNC-Greensoboro 154

Samford 157

East Tennessee State 170

VMI 175

Mercer 221

The Citadel 246

Western Carolina 280

I know we all want the Mountain West back or the A-10 or even a tripartite challenge between us and those two leagues but if we can't get that this could be a good alternative especially if it helps us secure a deal that greatly enhances our media coverage. What do you think?

Id like to know how Chattanooga is 16 spots ahead of Murray in the NET. What is it that brings the Racers down so much? Is it the loss to ETSU. You’d think the loss to Auburn the Win at Memphis and the win head to head against UTC would offset that one loss. I could take maybe 2 or 3 spots ahead but 16 ahead with one additional loss doesn’t make much sense.

Was this before the Western Carolina loss? Chattanooga has some nice wins over VCU and Wofford on the road but that's about it. I hate NET so much, maybe it works out at the end of the season but I like KenPom better for following in-season.

[05Racer]

Hello all. First post here. Been following Murray basketball since I was a kid. My Dad and I have been waiting and hoping thirty years for Murray to get out of the OVC, ever since the OVC started expanding by adding division II teams really. Could not be happier to join the MVC because most of the other alternatives I have seen are decidedly worse in terms of either travel expenses or quality of institutions or both, assuming we had other options. The OVC was already hurting from losing EKU and Jacksonville State, who have been decent to good recently, and now losing Belmont, Austin Peay, and Murray, it's going to be rough for whoever is left on that sinking ship. My guess is they'll add still more former division II teams and cement themselves as a perennial 16 seed play-in. Looking forward to playing programs with some history, tradition, and commitment to winning. Seems an odd thing to say, but it's good that Murray won't be winning the conference title every other year for the next three decades. Playing consistently better competition will mean fewer titles, but it will make us a better program in the long term. I'd like to thank the decision makers at Oklahoma and Texas whose shameless money grab set this Rube Goldberg machine of conference affiliation rolling.