BCPanther wrote:I'd be almost shocked if we didn't play with 11 the next few years until we really understand what the P5 are going to do to the NCAA tournament distributions and what the House Settlement does.
Scheduling becomes a pain for non-revs but flights into Nashville are cheap if you make Belmont the lone wolf, er, bear.
I completely agree with this sentiment. I think the Valley was smart in adding UIC, Murray, and Belmont after Loyola left but I don't think we need a replacement right now for Missouri State. As long as they can figure out the scheduling.
St. Thomas looks like a great add from both a market and program perspective, but they aren't going anywhere. We aren't fighting anyone for the right to have the Tommies join the conference. 5 years ago, 10 years ago I'd say add a school like them in a heartbeat. But it feels like now, more than ever, College Sports is at a tipping point with NIL, Realignment, Transfer Portal, House Settlement, etc... Until we know what college sports is going to look like moving forward I think we should be conscientious about adding more schools.
And if they do somehow jump straight from the Summit to the A-10 or Big East then what did we realistically lose? A few years in the Valley, maybe a conference title. I know they're transitioning, but they haven't won their league regular season yet. I don't think we should assume they'd bring in extra NCAA tournament units every year to divide among the conference.
