CBS: MVC looking at Missouri-Kansas City

[MVCfans]

From CBS Sports:

The Missouri Valley Conference has looked at Missouri-Kansas City as a possible replacement for recently departed Creighton, a source with knowledge of the situation told CBSSports.com

While interest in UMKC was termed perhaps preliminary at best and in the early stages at the moment, the conference is actively seeking what most likely will be a Midwest replacement for Creighton, which announced earlier this month it is leaving for the Big East.

Other schools mentioned for the Valley -- Belmont and Oral Roberts -- aren't believed to be serious candidates at the moment.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... uri-valley

[Western4Life]

WIU > UMKC by a lot.

This article is a freaking joke.

Omaha > UMKC

UIPUI > UMKC

You know what UIPUI, Omaha, and WIU have in common besides being much better athletically than UMKC? They don't have a snow balls chance in hell of being in the MVC. Neither should UMKC. This writer is a joke.

Seriously, give a school an intro to the MVC and I gaurentee they back it will facilities and money. If Western can and would anyone will. Please stop talking about UMKC as anything close to a viable option.

[rlh04d]

This is an excellent way of driving an energized Wichita State out of the conference.

As I've said before ... Wichita State is going to have options now. Short-sighted thinking that the Valley has been known for over the last few decades is going to drive them out of the conference. Every major conference in this country is thinking in terms of TV contracts ... why isn't the Valley? Why is it so hard for this conference to realize the game has changed and stop making these pathetic little moves based on making it so the Track & Field teams don't have to travel very far?

A-10/MVC merger of one kind or another. It's the only thing that's going to get us a TV deal.

When Wichita State is gone, the rest of the conference is going to be looking at whatever safe, short-sighted move we make to replace Creighton as the reason why.

[bigdawg]

This is an excellent way of driving an energized Wichita State out of the conference.

As I've said before ... Wichita State is going to have options now.

What options exactly?

[rlh04d]

This is an excellent way of driving an energized Wichita State out of the conference.

As I've said before ... Wichita State is going to have options now.

What options exactly?

Wichita State's always had geography holding them back. They have almost sole ownership of the biggest city in Kansas for sports (KU and KSU are rather far away). A top 40 average attendance nationally. Wealthy donors. Plenty of money to play anywhere in the country. The only thing that I believe has held them back long term is that basketball success hasn't been enough to overcome the geographic problem.

I'm fairly confident that Wichita State is in a very good position now to take an invitation to the A-10 or the Mountain West Conference. It might not happen, and that's just my expansion, but I don't think anyone here can doubt that WSU hasn't been in a better position for expansion than right now in decades.

I'm not sure how good the A-10 would even be if WSU was to expand to it at this point. Which is why what I WANT to happen is a merger between the MVC and the best A-10 schools that would create two geographic pods for regional sports and create a high-level basketball conference that would be able to get a television contract.

There's seriously a thread talking about how the extra $100k from WSU's run in NCAA tournament payouts might save SIU basketball. Do you guys understand what a REAL TV deal means? The new Big East is going to be making $3.5 million per team, per year ... and we're happy about $100k? This is the small thinking that has left this conference in the dust. If $100k is enough to save SIU basketball, what would you guys be able to do with a TV contract that gives you $1.5 million a year (putting it at just 40% of the BE's deal)?

[bigdawg]

The Valley is better than the A10 now.

[rlh04d]

The Valley is better than the A10 now.

It's not. MVC had three top 100 RPI teams last year without Creighton. Even without all of the teams leaving the A10, they still had five (Saint Louis, VCU, La Salle, Richmond, Saint Josephs). Which isn't even counting George Mason, which is good in most years, or Dayton.

And if Wichita State is in the A10, it's not even close ... now it's 2 vs 6. I would assume any move from WSU to the A10 might also try to draw one or two other MVC teams over for geographic help. That move would utterly gut the MVC.

The Valley would survive, but it would be a top 20 conference rather than top 10, and it would be a one bid league for the rest of its existence. NCAA payout money would drop dramatically. CBS' coverage of Arch Madness would be gone. How many of the Valley athletic programs would still be viable if they lost an additional $200k a year?

[Western4Life]

WSU has plenty of options. Keep screwing around with names like ORU and especially UMKC and the Shockers will find a way out. Bradley is down but they will think in similar ways.

People want to be relevant. UMKC screams irrelevant.

[Valleyball]

I don't believe the article is correct. Unless it is basic fact finding. I don't trust CBS to know anything about the MVC.

[rlh04d]

WSU has plenty of options. Keep screwing around with names like ORU and especially UMKC and the Shockers will find a way out. Bradley is down but they will think in similar ways.

People want to be relevant. UMKC screams irrelevant.

You're not excited about the #284 RPI nationally?

I wonder how much replacing Creighton with UMKC would have dropped Wichita State's RPI this year.

Replace two or three games with a top 50 RPI with a 200+ RPI team? Would we have even gotten an at-large bid?