Missouri State leaving MVC for CUSA

[E-Villan]

Wartburg College is only 30 minutes from UNI and 2 hours from Drake.

There are at least 20 high schools in Iowa with larger enrollments than Wartburg.

Do any of them want to join the Valley? Someone posted a link on our board to a NKU facebook group. Not getting a lot of love from the NKU posters on there.

[Chuck A]

...That said, I know it's going to be NKU and that's fine. It is what it is and the league needs to continue the momentum it's got right now.

You've said this about NKU a couple times. Is this some inside info you have or just your gut feeling? Just asking.

[BCPanther]

...That said, I know it's going to be NKU and that's fine. It is what it is and the league needs to continue the momentum it's got right now.

You've said this about NKU a couple times. Is this some inside info you have or just your gut feeling? Just asking.

Reading some tea leaves plus gut feeling.

UNI introduced our new AD on Tuesday and Jeff Jackson and NKUs AD Crystina Roybal (former UNI Assoc AD) were both there and talked at length and then left together. One of the stated goals Roybal had when she got there was increasing basketball's visibility and a move to The Valley would certainly do that. Couple all that with NKU being the first name listed in Matt Brown's reporting and you kind of get the feel of where this is going.

That's good for the league. They're a good program with a coach that's coached in some big time places. They're a good add regardless of how I feel about the geography. I don't believe that St Thomas is even available for a couple years because them staying in The Summit for the duration of their transition was a condition of the waiver to jump from D3 to D1.

[ColonialBulldog]

...That said, I know it's going to be NKU and that's fine. It is what it is and the league needs to continue the momentum it's got right now.

You've said this about NKU a couple times. Is this some inside info you have or just your gut feeling? Just asking.

Reading some tea leaves plus gut feeling.

UNI introduced our new AD on Tuesday and Jeff Jackson and NKUs AD Crystina Roybal (former UNI Assoc AD) were both there and talked at length and then left together. One of the stated goals Roybal had when she got there was increasing basketball's visibility and a move to The Valley would certainly do that. Couple all that with NKU being the first name listed in Matt Brown's reporting and you kind of get the feel of where this is going.

That's good for the league. They're a good program with a coach that's coached in some big time places. They're a good add regardless of how I feel about the geography. I don't believe that St Thomas is even available for a couple years because them staying in The Summit for the duration of their transition was a condition of the waiver to jump from D3 to D1.

I disagree on NKU quite a bit for reasons I've already stated somewhere on here. My big concern is that there's only so much capacity for college basketball fandom. And you're in a region where Cinci, Xavier, Louisville, Kentucky, Dayton and Ohio State are at your doorstep. Those are blueblood and die-hard programs. But I've been told that there's an appreciation for Northern Kentucky as a distinct region by people that seem to be more familiar. I just don't buy it.

I personally don't think the 2026-2027 eligibility for UST should matter too much. If they happen to win the conference tourney we can send our league regular season champ to the tourney (like Bellarmine a year ago). The only real loss in that scenario is a little embarrassment for the conference until the Big Ten tournament starts a couple days later. Also, we've been waiting 20+ years for the Redbirds' ban to end and no one seems to dwell on that too much. (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

Edit: I misread your point about them being tied to the Summit. That's possible and would make sense. But they did just upgrade hockey conferences which is a big deal for them. I get that's a different animal though.

[Chuck A]

...That said, I know it's going to be NKU and that's fine. It is what it is and the league needs to continue the momentum it's got right now.

You've said this about NKU a couple times. Is this some inside info you have or just your gut feeling? Just asking.

Reading some tea leaves plus gut feeling.

UNI introduced our new AD on Tuesday and Jeff Jackson and NKUs AD Crystina Roybal (former UNI Assoc AD) were both there and talked at length and then left together. One of the stated goals Roybal had when she got there was increasing basketball's visibility and a move to The Valley would certainly do that. Couple all that with NKU being the first name listed in Matt Brown's reporting and you kind of get the feel of where this is going.

That's good for the league. They're a good program with a coach that's coached in some big time places. They're a good add regardless of how I feel about the geography. I don't believe that St Thomas is even available for a couple years because them staying in The Summit for the duration of their transition was a condition of the waiver to jump from D3 to D1.

Thanks for that info. Didn't realize Jackson would be there, let alone Roybal. Hopefully the conversations Jackson & Roybal had were fruitful, as in NKU being willing to put up monies for "Buy" games and other stipulations the Valley was asking for last time.

[mvfcfan]

I know Matt Brown talked about NKU not wanting to spend as much as the conference wanted on "buy" games, but I've always been a little bit hesitant to believe that. Who exactly are the MVC schools "buying" besides D2 schools and broke low majors? I'm also not sure why that even matters. Does buying IUPUI or a SWAC school really make the conference better?

[MissouriValleyUnite]

I know Matt Brown talked about NKU not wanting to spend as much as the conference wanted on "buy" games, but I've always been a little bit hesitant to believe that. Who exactly are the MVC schools "buying" besides D2 schools and broke low majors? I'm also not sure why that even matters. Does buying IUPUI or a SWAC school really make the conference better?

I’m skeptical on Matt Brown including Little Rock and Central Arkansas. He’s obviously established himself and knew who the 4 finalists were last time, but given how quick that info was put out, I can’t help but think he fell hook, line, and sinker for some AD’s BS.

Little Rock and ESPECIALLY Central Arkansas don’t fit anything of what we’ve heard the MVC presidents value or how the MVC has acted in the past.

[E-Villan]

I know Matt Brown talked about NKU not wanting to spend as much as the conference wanted on "buy" games, but I've always been a little bit hesitant to believe that. Who exactly are the MVC schools "buying" besides D2 schools and broke low majors? I'm also not sure why that even matters. Does buying IUPUI or a SWAC school really make the conference better?

To answer your question, you need to look no farther than the non-con scheduling Marty Simmons did at UE. He was buying SWAC teams like candy and you can see how that worked out.

As a conference, I would be more concerned about who is buying us instead of who we are buying. I get a couple of P4 games, but that should be it. We should never ever take a buy from a so-called peer conference like the A-10. If we want to change perceptions, we can be acting like lapdogs to them.

[VUGrad1314]

I agree that the Dayton\Cincinnati\Northern Kentucky market is saturated with other schools and fanbases but that's what makes the attendance numbers at Wright State and NKU so impressive despite being in the Horizon League which is by far the least prominent league of any of the teams they still draw well. It says a lot about those schools their fans and the passion for hoops in the area. The MVC would be wise to get itself back into this market for the first time in decades. If a move to the MVC can elevate NKU's program to heights we haven't seen if they can go from solid to great or even if they can just functionally become a replacement for Missouri State in basketball then that's a great thing for the conference. It will also test the strength of their fan support. Are people genuinely Norse fans or are they there because they're successful? It would instantly become one of the nicest arenas in the conference if not the nicest. I'm tepidly against expansion at this time because I want St Thomas and all of their money but the more I think about it the more I warm to the idea of Northern Kentucky if we choose to make a move now. Northern Kentucky is not a bad way to go if we feel like it looks weak on our part not to add. We can always grab St Thomas when they're ready and interested and debate a 14th. Cleveland State isn't a bad option for #14 either if we're looking solely at program strength and attracting markets but again The MVC would be kinda morphing into a more elevated version of the Horizon with more Private schools but enrollment dollars talk in this age and the MVC needs markets so we'd probably do well to just embrace that this is our new reality.

[Aces44]

If it’s NKU and St Thomas, Bellarmine is a better add than Wright St