Air Force to valley? WTH

[Ta town]

http://www.gazette.com/sports/gen-126331-west-names.html

Not sure how they figure to compete in oly sports better in the MVC. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

I see where if they were going to big east they might look for a different home for oly sports but this article suggest playing football only in MWC and oly in MVC, thinking they would compete better. Um sure but not by any amount that would make it worth it.

[kcshocker11]

Wouldnt help the conference

[Ta town]

Wouldnt help the conference

I agree, terrible travel and doesn't help. So I'm sure if floated by elgin he would be all for it.

[kcshocker11]

Wouldnt help the conference

I agree, terrible travel and doesn't help. So I'm sure if floated by elgin he would be all for it.

8) :posterwsu:

[AndShock]

Bring in Air Force and kick out ISUb. Works for me. I'd say kick out Evansville, but I want to watch Marty Simmons's teams for a couple more years.

[Ta town]

Bring in Air Force and kick out ISUb. Works for me. I'd say kick out Evansville, but I want to watch Marty Simmons's teams for a couple more years.

You do realize AFA is in Colorado Springs right?

[AndShock]

Bring in Air Force and kick out ISUb. Works for me. I'd say kick out Evansville, but I want to watch Marty Simmons's teams for a couple more years.

You do realize AFA is in Colorado Springs right?

Sucks for the rest of the Valley, not us. If a couple Valley schools need to take a 15 hour bus ride every once in a while, I'm not gonna complain

[_kai_]

From the standpoint of Wichita State, it really doesn't hinder us very much. It's UNI, ISUb&r, and SIU that get shafted.

[shock]

From the standpoint of Wichita State, it really doesn't hinder us very much. It's UNI, ISUb&r, and SIU that get shafted.

In that case... bring em :good:

[Ta town]

Thought about it and only way I would like this is if the valley was able to find a 12th member from the eastern footprint that would offset adding crappy AFA sports, more specifically mens basketball. I have no clue who that would be cause I doubt Butler would even give it the least of consideration. However if they could do that then you could have an east/west divisional conference. Even then it would be sort of iffy.

For selfish baseball reasons I would also be down with AFA if they added ORU as well but I know that ORU isn't a reality for the valley.

[_kai_]

Thought about it and only way I would like this is if the valley was able to find a 12th member from the eastern footprint that would offset adding crappy AFA sports, more specifically mens basketball. I have no clue who that would be cause I doubt Butler would even give it the least of consideration. However if they could do that then you could have an east/west divisional conference. Even then it would be sort of iffy.

For selfish baseball reasons I would also be down with AFA if they added ORU as well but I know that ORU isn't a reality for the valley.

You could add another western team, and still split up in east and west divisions, since we aren't already split up east and west. No need to add another opponent that is another far road trip for WSU.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I see zero value in adding AFA. All it would do is further divide the revenue streams (NCAA tourney money, TV money etc) without providing any benefit.

If the MVC is going to expand, it should keep two main principles in mind:

(a) Does the expansion candidate make the TV contract more desirable to TV networks (i.e., the market probably needs to be decent sized); and

(b) Does the candidate have a strong reputation in basketball circles that would increase the MVC's perception nationally?

Air Force does none of those things. While it may be nice to get into the state of Colorado for recruiting purposes and to potentially expand our footprint, I just don't see that AFA provides all that much.

[_kai_]

I see zero value in adding AFA. All it would do is further divide the revenue streams (NCAA tourney money, TV money etc) without providing any benefit.

If the MVC is going to expand, it should keep two main principles in mind:

(a) Does the expansion candidate make the TV contract more desirable to TV networks (i.e., the market probably needs to be decent sized); and

(b) Does the candidate have a strong reputation in basketball circles that would increase the MVC's perception nationally?

Air Force does none of those things. While it may be nice to get into the state of Colorado for recruiting purposes and to potentially expand our footprint, I just don't see that AFA provides all that much.

A) We expand into Colorado. And Air Force will always have somewhat of a national following since it is an Academy.

B) They were RPI'd at 110 last season. They didn't really have a tough NonCon which worries me, because they relied on BYU and SDSU's ultra high RPI's.

I'm not saying Air Force is the best choice, or even a good choice, but the MVC could definitely do a lot worse.

[cjp27]

How about a trade? AFA to the Valley for all but football, and WSU to the Mountain West?

[1972Shocker]

With all due respect to our great Air Force Academy I have to agree that adding them to the MVC doesn't excite me.

Not sure what OLY sports Air Force is concerned about.

They have 17 men's sports and 11 women sports. I suppose they can do that because of the ratio of males to females in their student body which I assume is significantly higher than most non-military academy universities.

Of their 17 men's sports the MVC only competes in 8 of those sports. The MVC does not have Boxing, Fencing, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Rifle, Swimming & Diving, Water Polo or Wrestling.

Of their 11 women's sports the MVC does not have Fencing, Gymnastics or Rifel. The MVC does have women's swimming and diving but only 5 schools participate.

Not sure the Air Force will find a good fit for their lineup of OLY sports.