Article: A10 should look at adding Wichita St

[BCPanther]

Every one of these discussions make it more and more clear that UNI and Illinois State need to look at the MAC. Once Wichita bolts (which, IMO, will happen after another year or two to the AAC) this league is a trainwreck.

Pretty easy to see a scenario where after Wichita goes that UE, Indiana State, and SIU jump to a revamped OVC where they could continue to play FCS football. Bradley and Drake find a home in a new A10 that adds some midwestern members that is basically two conferences that happen to have the same name. Missouri State bolts for either the SunBelt or CUSA.

That leaves Loyola (who cares), UNI and Illinois State scrambling. UNI and Illinois State need to get ahead of the curve...

UE doesn't play football. I would find it much more likely they stay in the MVC with Bradley, Drake, and Loyola, and add some other midwestern private schools like Valpo, Belmont, Detroit, ORU, etc... or some basketball-centric schools from the Hozion or OVC.

UE is a great geographic fit for the OVC, there is no reason they wouldn't land there if (when?) the Valley implodes.

[rlh04d]

Serious question for WSU fans, would going to the A-10 really be very attractive?

I don't think so. The biggest attraction to WSU would be a small increase in finances. The A10 has a better TV deal and will make more in NCAA revenue. Actually, the biggest attraction is that WSU would get more exposure on the east coast, where the media is.

Best play I can see here would be for WSU to toy with A10 interest to encourage the AAC or MWC to speed up expansion moves with the idea that WSU could be locked into a bigger conference buyout with the A10. Both of those conferences now have odd numbers of basketball teams thanks to Navy and Hawaii as football members.

The MVC has no plan for keeping WSU because the only thing that will keep WSU long term is lack of options. That is still the most likely thing to happen.

[rlh04d]

The only thing that keeps the football schools for splitting is the fact that for the last decade, and as long as it stays together as it sits right now, the MVC is a higher rated BB conference and BB is more important to the FB schools. That could easily change, very quickly, if the conference RPI standing starts to drop to levels of other conferences.

I don't understand the idea of a football split. A football split would only be interesting if the resulting conference would be better in basketball than the MVC. With FCS football, I don't see any benefit to reorganizing around bad football with mediocre basketball schools.

[rlh04d]

Wichita is a significant outlier, though, and would need at least 2 MVC teams of their choice to make the jump with them.

The AAC is the only conference WSU wouldn't be a significant outlier in. Hell they're a significant outlier in the MVC now.

If the A10 became a serious goal, I would want Bradley as a minimum to come with us.

[Wufan]

I think that what WSU fans want is to be a non football member of the AAC to offset the addition of Navy in 2015.

That would be WSU/Navy, Cincy, UConn, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, East Carolina, UCF, South Florida.

Once Navy is a done deal, I would hope for an invite for the 2016-17 season.

Here's a link to the discussion on Shockernet: http://shockernet.net/forum/showthread. ... hita-State

As a bonus, I could become a Navy FB fan.

[rlh04d]

Once Navy is a done deal, I would hope for an invite for the 2016-17 season.

I think there is a significant chance of this happening. The Shockers will need to not fall off the map in the next two years, but with Baker and Van Vleet playing both of those years, I don't see that being a problem.

[Wufan]

Once Navy is a done deal, I would hope for an invite for the 2016-17 season.

I think there is a significant chance of this happening. The Shockers will need to not fall off the map in the next two years, but with Baker and Van Vleet playing both of those years, I don't see that being a problem.

I'm not sure what the odds are, but as far as realignment, this is the closest we've come to being attractive.

[TheAsianSensation]

On the one hand, VCU can fill the same gap Navy can, and VCU and Navy are geographic neighbors.

On the other hand, division play in a east/west format favors Wichita greatly:
Tulsa/Tulane/Memphis/SMU/Houston/Wichita
UConn/Cincy/USF/UCF/ECU/Temple

I'm STILL surprised the Mountain West hasn't acted on their imbalance. You would think for a league in danger of losing touch with the lead pack of conferences, Wichita would be gold.

As for Evansville, I would imagine the Horizon would be more desirable.

Missouri St seems like a program who not only wants FBS, but might now realize the number of tickets to FBS might be down to 1 and needs to hurry.

[uniftw]

The only thing that keeps the football schools for splitting is the fact that for the last decade, and as long as it stays together as it sits right now, the MVC is a higher rated BB conference and BB is more important to the FB schools. That could easily change, very quickly, if the conference RPI standing starts to drop to levels of other conferences.

I don't understand the idea of a football split. A football split would only be interesting if the resulting conference would be better in basketball than the MVC. With FCS football, I don't see any benefit to reorganizing around bad football with mediocre basketball schools.

That's what I was saying.

If WSU bolts and s*** starts to get crazy the conference RPI is going to plummet. That could mean that the MAC, if an option for either ISUr or UNI would be a very attractive option to allow football to continue and play in a league better than the OVC, Summit, etc...

It's the basketball that's kept them around and will keep them around as long as it's at a highish level.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Every one of these discussions make it more and more clear that UNI and Illinois State need to look at the MAC. Once Wichita bolts (which, IMO, will happen after another year or two to the AAC) this league is a trainwreck.

Pretty easy to see a scenario where after Wichita goes that UE, Indiana State, and SIU jump to a revamped OVC where they could continue to play FCS football. Bradley and Drake find a home in a new A10 that adds some midwestern members that is basically two conferences that happen to have the same name. Missouri State bolts for either the SunBelt or CUSA.

That leaves Loyola (who cares), UNI and Illinois State scrambling. UNI and Illinois State need to get ahead of the curve...

If Wichita gets poached, I don't see your scenario unfolding at all. The MAC values James Madison Football more than Illinois State FB or Northern Iowa FB -- they've been trying to ink the Dukes for a few years. Northern Illinois' FB success is derived from hitting on so many of the IL/WI/MN/IA/MO/etc. recruits that the B1G/BXII miss on, and with no other non-BCS alternative for players in those states to flock to. Northern Illinois summoning a voting bloc against ISU/UNI is likely. I also doubt the MAC sees values out west in UNI and ISU to add to their ESPN deal -- the MAC's looking east for a reason. ISU becomes attractive to the MAC if the AAC nabs Northern Illinois, which is unlikely.

Evansville, Southern Illinois, and Indiana State do not see value in the Ohio Valley. The A-10 will go west for Wichita, but not a Drake or Bradley (unless packaged with WSU to the Shockers' demand, but WSU is in the AAC in this scenario).

What's more likely is the following:
1 Drake
2 Northern Iowa
3 Loyola
4 Illinois State
5 Bradley
6 Southern Illinois
7 Indiana State
8 Evansville

If Missouri State is NOT invited to the Sun Belt:
9 Missouri State
10 Oral Roberts or Belmont

If Missouri State IS invited to the Sun Belt:
9 Belmont
10 Oral Roberts/North Dakota St/South Dakota St/Murray State

The Ohio Valley is not poaching the Missouri Valley.

A watered down Missouri Valley under an apocalyptic scenario? Yes, but not to the extent that it's a carcass circled by the Ohio Valley, Horizon, and Summit. Come on now.