Should we have stayed in the Valley?

[ShockTalk]

This thread makes me sad. :frown:

No reason to be sad.

This is just ShockerNet at times.

One group over-reacting to what they viewed as over-reacting by a another group with both sides providing a sh.tload of sarcasm.

Unfortunately, there's a third group that get caught in the middle not sure what the h*ll to believe.

[WichitaStateGuy]

FWIW, I voted yes because I knew no one else would, and I felt bad yes wasn't getting any love.

No, I'm not a democrat.

[WstateU]

[Aargh]

This thread amuses me. I find it humorous in its own way.

It's like someone who booked passage on the Titanic and then cancelled to take a later boat asking if they should have kept their reservations on the Titanic, so they could have had first-hand experience witnessing the historic event.

Other potential titles for this thread:

Should we have just given up and cancelled our basketball program?

Should we readjust our post-season aspirations to playing in the CBI tourney where we might get a home game?

Should our athletic department save some money by firing Marshall and hiring Paul Lusk?

Should we have recruited worse players in order to make the Valley more competitive instead of leaving?

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Think of it this way:

If we were still in the Valley, we'd win the regular season championship and may have needed to win in St. Louis just to get into the dance, and then we'd have a double digit seed.

Right now, we're tied for second in the American, lost three conference games but still ranked in the top 25, and projected to be somewhere around a 5-8 seed.

I'll take the few punches in the mouth we've gotten from our new conference mates. It's worth it.

[proshox]

That is silly - WSU is a low single digit seed in this year's valley... With the non-con we had and the likely record in the MVC we would get a great seed...Am I the only one that remembers getting a 1 seed with a relatively weak MVC?

I am not for being in the MVC, but this idea that we had trouble getting in the tournament because of the valley is contradictory to all available evidence. The reason our seeds sucked in the last few years was because we did nothing in non-con to help verify the team's ability.

[ShockerEngineer]

Regarding our 1 seed: I'd call that an outlier in just about every sense of the word. We got it because we won 34 games in a row and the committee didn't have a choice. I remember everyone online bitching and moaning about it until the Kentucky game, too.

I'd say the issue with the Valley isn't that we'd have more trouble getting into the tournament, it's that there was far less margin for error, which could lead to larger swings in how we're perceived, potentially leaving us out of the tournament if one of the RPI bombs at the bottom of the conference were to go off on some random night (because it was almost inevitable that someone else would take the auto bid). We're playing teams that are actually closer to our abilities, which means losing more, in order to play all around better competition and be ready for March, and not having to be practically perfect in conference play. In other words, I think this move enables us to sink or swim on our own merit more so, and less on the perception of others.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Silly? We literally had to go undefeated to get a one seed. That was the ONLY way. I do not agree that with the noncon we had, and with this year's weak Valley, we'd get a great seed. No one respects the Valley, and we missed a couple of opportunities for great noncon wins. It would be the same narrative as it had been the past few years. Maybe--and it's a big maybe--we would get a 9 seed if we ran the table in the Valley, but I wouldn't have held my breath.

[Shockm]

Last year we were really inexperienced during the non con. The year before that FVV was injured so we're still inexperienced. Having a chance at better wins in Jan and Feb is better.

[1972Shocker]

I think it is pretty clear that at the time the decision was made and as of today Wichita State's move to the AAC was the right thing to do. The goals and aspirations of Wichita State and those of the rest of the Valley had clearly diverged leaving the Shocks on an island.

There is no question that the move to the AAC has aligned Wichita State with schools that are far more likely to share Wichita States goals and aspirations. From a competitive standpoint, a recruiting standpoint and a reputational standpoint the move was a no brainer.

Perhaps the only issues that could potentially arise are financial and/or future conference realignment. Perhaps 10 years from now we will know the answers to those issues as well. But that is a two-edged sword. 10 years from now those issues could be problematic or they could just as easilty prove to have been very beneficial. I guess the next round of TV rights negotiations will have a lot to do with that.

Being able to join a BCS football conference without having to add a football program was a godsend and something we couldn't pass up and the option to add football is still there if ever considered feasible.

I think if we had stayed in the Valley we would have gradually regressed back to the level of the top end of the Valley. Finances would probable be less of a challenge on the expense side but that might be matched with cuts on the revenue side. On the expense side it is hard to say how long Gregg Marshall would have hung around if we had stayed in the Valley. My speculation is not much longer. So again we maybe cut our expenses substantially but we also have no idea on what that does to our program especially when whatever recruiting class he has lined up bails out.

Moving to the AAC gives us opportunity for bigger and better things. As Tom Brady said about the Super Bowl you can't win the game unless you are in the game.

[shoxlax]

No reason to be sad.

This is just ShockerNet at times.

One group over-reacting to what they viewed as over-reacting by a another group with both sides providing a sh.tload of sarcasm.

Unfortunately, there's a third group that get caught in the middle not sure what the h*ll to believe.

This thread makes me laugh which was the intention in the first place. The fact that you all debated it to the six page threshold is marvelously rich. Your mind at least was taken off the Temple debacle if only for 48 hours.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Thank you for that. The liquor and Xanax wasn't working.

[DUShock]

We are an opinionated lot.

[shoxlax]

Now if we lose tonite I don’t know WTF I’m going to do for a diversion.