Missouri State to Sun Belt Conference?

[uniftw]

Are they taking more than 4 of those teams? If not, then yes the A10 is still a better league. The Valley is toast until football implodes on itself in 15 years.

If they take 4 of them (I think 14 is most likely) is it a push?

VCU is the wild card and if the BE will take a public.

at least those programs and conference leadership have shown SOME notion of giving a s***, which is more than can be said for most of the programs and the leadership in this conference over the past several years.

That I don't disagree wiht.

The complete lack of balls to push the envelope is damn near criminal*. There is no reason that MVC couldn't have made a legit play at NMSU/Belmont/ORU and keeping Creighton had they don't ANYTHING before Creighton decided to leave.


* No. I don't believe it's actually criminal...just a FOS

[Snaggletooth]

There is middle ground, meaning that we have recieved an informal offer (according to multiple sources) and we have x amount of time to let them know. If we do leave it wouldn't be until the end of next year.

Informal offer? LOL.

Is that code for you don't have an offer, but you wish you had and offer and you hope you get an offer if and when all their first, second and third choices decline their offers, so in the meantime you are going to pretend you have an "informal offer" from unknown sources who are cousins to somebody who know Ron Burgamy. Is that about right?

[uniftw]

There is middle ground, meaning that we have recieved an informal offer (according to multiple sources) and we have x amount of time to let them know. If we do leave it wouldn't be until the end of next year.

Informal offer? LOL.

Is that code for you don't have an offer, but you wish you had and offer and you hope you get an offer if and when all their first, second and third choices decline their offers, so in the meantime you are going to pretend you have an "informal offer" from unknown sources who are cousins to somebody who know Ron Burgamy. Is that about right?

If that's the case Indiana State got a formal "informal" invite a couple years ago...

The SBC has also reached out too UNI, ISUR and SIU in the last couple years...

[Cdizzle]

Question for MSU fans....

Does all this potential movement being out in the open cause recruiting difficulties for the non-football sports?

Looking at the situation, if I was a prospective recruit, it would seem pretty obvious to me that the school was willing to sacrifice everything in all of it's non-football programs in order to move football from non-competitive in the FCS to non-competitive in the FBS. That wouldn't exactly make me excited to sign on to play basketball for MSU.

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

Question for MSU fans....

Does all this potential movement being out in the open cause recruiting difficulties for the non-football sports?

Looking at the situation, if I was a prospective recruit, it would seem pretty obvious to me that the school was willing to sacrifice everything in all of it's non-football programs in order to move football from non-competitive in the FCS to non-competitive in the FBS. That wouldn't exactly make me excited to sign on to play basketball for MSU.

I can't speak for men's basketball, but I don't believe that is the case for most sports. The new Sun Belt is pretty good across the board. I can see it hurting women's volleyball possibly. I would wager that it has no effect on basketball, it might turn some people off, but it would probably bring us into living rooms in the Sun Belt footprint that we wouldn't have been previously. That's a really talent rich area.

[Snaggletooth]

I can't speak for men's basketball, but I don't believe that is the case for most sports. The new Sun Belt is pretty good across the board. I can see it hurting women's volleyball possibly. I would wager that it has no effect on basketball, it might turn some people off, but it would probably bring us into living rooms in the Sun Belt footprint that we wouldn't have been previously. That's a really talent rich area.

Sun Belt #19 ranked conference - men's basketball

[uniftw]

I can't speak for men's basketball, but I don't believe that is the case for most sports. The new Sun Belt is pretty good across the board. I can see it hurting women's volleyball possibly. I would wager that it has no effect on basketball, it might turn some people off, but it would probably bring us into living rooms in the Sun Belt footprint that we wouldn't have been previously. That's a really talent rich area.

Sun Belt #19 ranked conference - men's basketball

24th in womens (MVC 19)

and

depending which computer rating you look at the MVFC, CAA, Big Sky, and Southland all rated within .05ish points or a head of the Sun Belt.

[TheAsianSensation]

I think we have to press on Dayton and St Louis, and as part of any deal agree to waive any exit fees if they get into the Big East in a couple years. It's worth the gamble. And I don't even think that'll work after a season where they parked 6 teams in the tournament.

I think we're reaching the point where the MVC is clearly behind the A-10 in any realignment scenario. It would be more likely that the A-10 starts poaching MVC schools.

Yeah, the MVC has lost the war, but still a chance to win a couple battles. A-10 is clearly trending east, so we can try and talk those 2 into sacrificing a little basketball power for geography. A-10 may be better, but this year was a big outlier in terms of what they did in the RPI, and they converted it into everyone but Dayton losing earlier than they should have.

But that said, the A-10 isn't poaching us unless St Louis and Dayton put, in writing, that they're not leaving for the foreseeable future. But if it does happen, I'm willing to bet money some combination of Wichita/Drake/Bradley/Detroit get a call from the A-10.

Back to the topic of Missouri St....it seems like this would be part of the Sun Belt getting to a 12/14 setup, getting a championship game for football. I think in theory this also puts New Mexico St in the 'Belt for the rest of their sports. But still, the Sun Belt is still a catastrophic idea from a basketball standpoint. NMSU and MSU would basically become the best 2 programs in the conference.

[BCPanther]

There's no way Lusk is hanging around to coach in the Sun Belt, right??

[agrinut]

Depending on who would replace MSU the valley will take a hit. I also can't imagine Wichita will be hanging around long to play what's left. Is the sun belt great no, but the future if the valley isn't either. This move would be entirely based on getting in the other group before the next shift happens.