Conference Realignment - where will we be in 5 yrs?

[ihsi]

Sign me up for any change that gets us out of the Valley. I think Creighton and Wichita State primarily have everything in place to be among the elite mid-majors except for the conference we play in.

Well, except for the pesky dominating the conference or at least winning the conference title with regularity part.

Compare Creighton to Nebraska, for instance (or UNI vs Iowa State on many levels). If you looked at them honestly you would think Creighton was the BCS team. Nicer arena, higher paid coach, more history, better players, etc. The difference in league association props some teams up and holds others back.

[valleychamp]

I find it hard to see, but there's a rumor that if Oklahoma and Okie St go to the PAC12 that the Big 12 might hold itself together by adding CUSA football schools such as SMU, Houston, Rice and add BYU while adding non-football schools (read: MVC) already in the footprint of the conference.

Not sure why they would add those and not also look at Tulsa then as well. Have a hard time thinking KSU and Kansas will want to add WSU as a non-football school unless they are really desperate. Creighton, I could see as being more palatable. Don't see Bradley, Evansville or Drake being pursued. Maybe MSU if they agree to drop football?

Sign me up for any change that gets us out of the Valley. I think Creighton and Wichita State primarily have everything in place to be among the elite mid-majors except for the conference we play in.

What a complete load of crap that is.

The benchmark schools for mid-major success are Butler and Gonzaga and both of those two play in crappy conferences, much worse than the MVC. I mean seriously, the WCC and Horizon?

If you win, you can be successful anywhere. People need to start owning up, and quit blaming others for their lack of success.

[valleychamp]

Sign me up for any change that gets us out of the Valley. I think Creighton and Wichita State primarily have everything in place to be among the elite mid-majors except for the conference we play in.

Well, except for the pesky dominating the conference or at least winning the conference title with regularity part.

Compare Creighton to Nebraska, for instance (or UNI vs Iowa State on many levels). If you looked at them honestly you would think Creighton was the BCS team. Nicer arena, higher paid coach, more history, better players, etc. The difference in league association props some teams up and holds others back.

Does anyone look at Nebraska BB as having a higher stature than Creighton? Who thinks that?

And can you please explain to me exactly what good has playing in the B12 done for Neb? If I am not mistaken, Nebraska has a grand total of zero NCAA tournament wins in their entire history.

[BirdmanBB]

Major Conferences do not care about mid major basketball success, so I believe the benchmark is being set by schools like Boise St., TCU and BYU.

Now if we were talking Big east breakup where the non-basketball schools form a new conference then I think it would be more likely that schools like Creighton and (i hate to say it) Bradley would have the greatest opportunity to join up with something like that.

If most other schools in the valley want a prayer of moving their school forward, then its time to improve football or bring it back and see what you can do in the next 20-25 years(wsu).

[DoubleJayAlum]

Well, except for the pesky dominating the conference or at least winning the conference title with regularity part.

I'm not anywhere close to saying Creighton is like Gonzaga or Butler.

However, of all of the schools in the conference, we've avoided the play-in game the longest. We are also the only team in the conference where a fifth place finish is considered a disappointment, year in and year out. I can't remember the last time that Creighton didn't finish in the top half of the league. We've won at least 10 conference games for a conference record number of consecutive years. We may not dominate the conference every year, but we essentially dominated the conference tourney until the last few years to the extent that the tourney got the nickname "the Creighton Invitational.". Creighton also hasn't had any of the down years in the last decade that the entire rest of the conference seems to have had. I think Creighton has a winning record against every other team in the conference over the last decade (except for maybe SIU) and our trend line is pointed up. What's not to love?

[Haha]

Well, except for the pesky dominating the conference or at least winning the conference title with regularity part.

I'm not anywhere close to saying Creighton is like Gonzaga or Butler.

However, of all of the schools in the conference, we've avoided the play-in game the longest. We are also the only team in the conference where a fifth place finish is considered a disappointment, year in and year out. I can't remember the last time that Creighton didn't finish in the top half of the league. We've won at least 10 conference games for a conference record number of consecutive years. We may not dominate the conference every year, but we essentially dominated the conference tourney until the last few years to the extent that the tourney got the nickname "the Creighton Invitational.". Creighton also haven't had any of the down years in the last decade that the entire rest of the conference seems to have had. I think Creighton has a winning record against every other team in the conference over the last decade (except for maybe SIU) and our trend line is pointed up. What's not to love?

I'm going to defend WSU a little. Last 9 seasons WSU has (1) 1st (4) 2nd (1) 3rd finishes and (1) sweet 16 and (1) NIT championship. Granted nothing amazing but nothing that diminishes what was being said.

However I think it's in relation to fan support, facilities, athletic budget, etc why WSU and CU were mentioned as the two by a previous poster. Not exactly how dominating one or the other has been.

[jwa123]

Well, except for the pesky dominating the conference or at least winning the conference title with regularity part.

I'm not anywhere close to saying Creighton is like Gonzaga or Butler.

However, of all of the schools in the conference, we've avoided the play-in game the longest. We are also the only team in the conference where a fifth place finish is considered a disappointment, year in and year out. I can't remember the last time that Creighton didn't finish in the top half of the league. We've won at least 10 conference games for a conference record number of consecutive years. We may not dominate the conference every year, but we essentially dominated the conference tourney until the last few years to the extent that the tourney got the nickname "the Creighton Invitational.". Creighton also hasn't had any of the down years in the last decade that the entire rest of the conference seems to have had. I think Creighton has a winning record against every other team in the conference over the last decade (except for maybe SIU) and our trend line is pointed up. What's not to love?

There is no doubt that Creighton has been consistently good over the years and that the 2 premier programs in the league now are CU & WSU. But don't forget this DoubleJayAlum, my ILSU Redbirds can kick both of your butts in football and we aren't even very good at it.

[WSUbballer]

What some fans also don't understand is that success isn't necessarily the biggest driver. It obviously is a big contributor, but appeal and great support are also big factors.

There's a select few in this conference that have some sort of combination of each of those.

Gonzaga and Butler partly dominate their conferences because their conferences have been pretty weak from the get-go. The Valley is a MUCH harder conference to "dominate" with a lot of higher level programs that lie in it. You aren't gonna see total Gonzaga-like domination of this conference. SIU was probably the closest to do it back in their heyday.

[WSUbballer]

What some fans also don't understand is that success isn't necessarily the biggest driver. It obviously is a big contributor, but appeal and great support are also big factors.

There's a select few in this conference that have some sort of combination of each of those.

Gonzaga and Butler partly dominate their conferences because their conferences have been pretty weak from the get-go. The Valley is a MUCH harder conference to "dominate" with a lot of higher level programs that lie in it. You aren't gonna see total Gonzaga-like domination of this conference. SIU was probably the closest to do it back in their heyday.

[Khan4Cats]

However I think it's in relation to fan support, facilities, athletic budget, etc why WSU and CU were mentioned as the two by a previous poster. Not exactly how dominating one or the other has been.

I agree that that is likely why those two were mentioned, which is why I made the dominating comment. It's not like all that money, support, and infrastructure has bought unparalled success. Unless you subscribe to the theory of throw enough money at something and it will be bound to be successful at some point theory (kind of like the LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Dallas Cowboys, etc.).

FWIW, UNI has 3 MVC Tourney titles, 2 regular season titles, 1 second place, 1 third place, 5 NCAA Tourney Apperances and a Sweet Sixteen in the last 8 years. And the only win by a Valley school over a #1 ranked team in the last 50 years.