Missouri State leaving MVC for CUSA

[tribecalledquest]

Grand Canyon is going to the WCC.

[glm38]

Hardly ever post here-- but you have a great board!

My post---Missouri State IS going to CUSA in all sports. Announcement any time now.

Has the golden envelope been delivered to Springfield?

This comment didn't age well......

[Fetz86]

The obvious answer is kick out Valpo and go back to the double round robin.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Hardly ever post here-- but you have a great board!

My post---Missouri State IS going to CUSA in all sports. Announcement any time now.

Has the golden envelope been delivered to Springfield?

This comment didn't age well......

C'mon man, the "golden envelope" is a long-time running inside joke here from 2011. TylerDurden knew what I was talking about.

I expected Missouri St was moving up to FBS considering their President publicly stated that was the goal 2 months ago. This was zero surprise.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Grand Canyon is now off the board. Realignment hitting the fan today.

[tribecalledquest]

I think we can nitpick schools to death - but to me the two that make the most sense are Milwaukee and St. Thomas. Major cities. Have all the sports. Milwaukee especially is in a great location for most everyone. St. Thomas has huge upside.

UTA, NKU, Wright State - none of those make as much sense really.

[harley93davidson]

We were never adding grand canyon. Whether warranted or not, the school always had the stench of being a for-profit university. That always going to make the sell difficult to university presidents who actually decide these things. I was surprised WCC is adding Seattle with GCU, as far as i knew, gonzaga was doing to them what a lot of big ten schools do to us: gate keep in order to not "elevate" the programs

[Bearvision]

Look at what happened to every single good player after the season. They all left to go to other conferences. Because it has become a low-major conference.

They left to get more money. Not because they were in the 9th ranked conference. They're just capitalizing on the same pecking order that coaches have always capitalized on. That doesn't change the pecking order itself.

Which is what makes the conference low-major. The middle class is being removed. You either get Power-4 money or you don't.

*Big Gap* G5 conferences that get a share of the playoff money.

*Big Gap* Conferences that don't get the playoff football money.

It'll be a personal attack to believe the Valley is going the way of the low-major, but it really is just the way college athletics is going overall.

Make no mistake, Conference USA is not some power conference either. The P4 schools are going to be in their own tier so high soon that all other schools will essentially be a different division entirely. Missouri State isn't going to become a power because of this move. The P4's are creating barriers of entry so large it'll protect their wealth and simply grow the gap.

The Valley lost every single good player. Other conferences are seeing the same. It's becoming minor leagues for all conferences that aren't P4.

[ReZyNeZy]

I think we can nitpick schools to death - but to me the two that make the most sense are Milwaukee and St. Thomas. Major cities. Have all the sports. Milwaukee especially is in a great location for most everyone. St. Thomas has huge upside.

UTA, NKU, Wright State - none of those make as much sense really.

Only team I will add to this list is Green bay.

[ColonialBulldog]

The conference likely knew about this change a year in advance. That being said I know we discussed NKU as being a replacement. I would say Oakland and Youngstown, but those places are arenas that are about the same as the ARC and, well, there has already been various comments on the quality there. The best bet to poach someone would have to be NKU, Wright State, Milwaukee, or Green Bay. From a former Horizon League look, I would have to favorite NKU and Green Bay. They have both displayed constant strings of success. Good Arena Size and fan support as well. I would ad PFW onto this list, but they split time at Memorial Coliseum and their on campus gym the Gates Center.
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EDIT AFTER READOING POST WHILE WRITING

Don't think UTA is a good pick. or St Thomas. Those Schools would be a HIKE for games. Id prefer staying in the mid west. The Most likely add is going to be Youngstown I believe. They are already in the MVCFC. Easy transition to being a full time MVC

This line of thinking is outdated and there's no way the Valley is considering any of those Horizon schools. (except maybe UWM). Location-wise they are not in regions that are massively populated. And if they are, they play third or fourth fiddle in their own regions. Importantly, schools like Oakland, NKU and Wright State have had nice seasons, but they aren't capable of an at-large bid. That's what set Murray State and Belmont apart at the time they were added.

Also, the geography and logistics are WAY OFF here. It is easier for me as Drake fan to get to a game at UST than it is at any other Valley school except UNI. But get this, it's easier and cheaper for me to get to a game at UTA than it is for games at 80% of other conference schools. DFW and MSP are major hubs with multiple daily flights to every Valley school with an airport. Athletic Departments know this fact as they are reminded of it when they are trying to get a volleyball team to a mid-week road match.

Finally, UST is one of two D1 schools in a state that a high population. And they just got a $75 million to build an arena. That is Notre Dame type money for a donation. That sets them apart. And UTA is in a massively populated area. Enrollment is a huge issue for a lot of schools. For Drake, even getting 10 more qualified students to come to Des Moines would be a big deal.