How about Wichita State and Creighton to the MWC.

[SubGod22]

This is terrible

Those are pretty much the best non-football teams in the relative area. All have an average RPI over the last 8 years of under 115 or so. So they're a lot better than about half the conference already.

[SubGod22]

For the record...

ORU - 110
Belmont - 112
Milwaukee - 115
Wright State - 115

In comparison

CU - 66
UNI - 69
SIU - 83
WSU - 87
MSU - 87
BU - 118
ISU - 139
DU - 156
ISUb - 159
UE - 193

More research would have to go into it. What potential would certain schools have with the Valley backing. An upgrade in conference can lead to more success with the right people in place. Milwaukee and Wright State also intrigue simply because they'd bring in Milwaukee and Dayton to the Valley. Belmont would bring in Nashville. ORU obviously Tulsa. All that would play a roll as well. We're not getting Butler, Xavier or Dayton.

[ABC]

18-24+ teams screams chaos and unsustainability.

The only time there's been a 16-team conference, which was the WAC after they added Tulsa and others, it imploded and the best programs formed the Mountain West.

[ripemupshocks]

The MWC was a nice option, but this new conference looks terrible. C-USA had a worse RPI than the MVC for seven out of the last eight years; And that was with Memphis. Most of what is left in C-USA just isn't very good. Best to avoid the new MWC/C-USA mega-conference like the plague. Once again, if we have to jump, I say WSU and CU team up and offer ourselves to the A-10. Or we could do what several teams in the B-12 did. Get rid of Elgin, or we're leaving. But we better have a backup plan first.

[Ta town]

For the record...

ORU - 110
Belmont - 112
Milwaukee - 115
Wright State - 115

In comparison

CU - 66
UNI - 69
SIU - 83
WSU - 87
MSU - 87
BU - 118
ISU - 139
DU - 156
ISUb - 159
UE - 193

More research would have to go into it. What potential would certain schools have with the Valley backing. An upgrade in conference can lead to more success with the right people in place. Milwaukee and Wright State also intrigue simply because they'd bring in Milwaukee and Dayton to the Valley. Belmont would bring in Nashville. ORU obviously Tulsa. All that would play a roll as well. We're not getting Butler, Xavier or Dayton.

well then for the record...thats terrible

[SubGod22]

We could do worse, but I get what you're saying.

[RoyalShock]

Yeah, I think the lesson from that exercise is that if those schools are the best options (and they may indeed be), we need to look in another direction.

For that new MWC/CUSA merger to work with additional teams (beyond 16), it needs to look at itself as a super-conference with two sub-conferences (like divisions but with more emphasis on playing within the sub-conference. Otherwise, that's just too darn big.

I'm starting to like the idea of trying to join the A10 (along with CU) since it's looking more and more like its members aren't going to get pulled into the BCS re-alignments.

[Ta town]

We could do worse, but I get what you're saying.

After reading how I wrote that I wasn't trying to be insulting. Nor am I ripping any of those schools, infact if the valley ever has to replace a team I think ORU would probably be a good "replacement". However to add any of these is just not adding value.

[Ta town]

I think CU/WSU should get together with VCU/GMU, then they go out and recruit 4 quality basketball schools between the coast and here that don't play football. Start a new league all together, I really think having everybody on the same page with no football is really important.

[SubGod22]

Are they willing to become the A16 and expand farther West? Can you imagine that basketball conference? Wichita, Creighton, Xavier, Dayton, Temple?, Saint Louis, Saint Joseph's, Charlotte, Richmond and UMass. That could be a pretty solid group. Would be a lot of fun and give SLU a few teams a little closer.

[ABC]

What about adding Tulsa and say UTEP to the MVC for all sports but football? That kind of arrangement seems to be the rage. Maybe they could play football for the MWCUSA monster.

[SubGod22]

I think CU/WSU should get together with VCU/GMU, then they go out and recruit 4 quality basketball schools between the coast and here that don't play football. Start a new league all together, I really think having everybody on the same page with no football is really important.

I know it's only RPI, but here are the top 25 schools that don't play football based upon it. As always, based on the last 8 seasons.

Gonzaga 31 (way out west)
Xavier 41.75
Marquette 50.125 (Big East)
VCU 61.125
Creighton 66.25
Saint Mary's 74.125 (way out west)
George Mason 78.25
Wichita State 87.75
Saint Joseph's 89
Senton Hall 100.75 (Big East)
Providence 104.625 (Big East)
Hofstra 108
Oral Roberts 110.25
Belmont 112.75
George Washington 114.75
Vermont 114.875
Milwaukee 115.25
Wright State 115.375
Drexel 117.875
Bradley 118.75
College of Charleston 120.375
Pacific 121.375 (way out west)
Northeastern 125
Saint Louis 125.125
Siena 129.625

You want 10? The best I can come up with, and trying to be as realistic as possible would be Creighton, Wichita, Bradley, VCU, George Mason, Hofstra, George Washington, Milwaukee, Wright State and Drexel.

That would get you in Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, DC and Pennsylvania.

How would you feel about that setup?

[Ta town]

I don't see enough there, it really needs to be teams that can invest and have strong fanbases like a WSU or CU. It's fruitless....outside of somehow scoring an A-10 membership I don't see anything.

[Kung Wu]

Big 12 needs to add 4 non-football schools.

[MadDog]

I still think the new MW and CUSA combo is the best option. A10 has schools every bit as bad and financially weak as the MVC. Fordham, St Boneventure, LaSalle to name a few. They are also all private schools. If we could get in the west division of this new conference, there is a lot of basketball power there. Theyre also state schools with similar basketball budgets, and generally speaking higher profiles than Wichita State. It would be a move up annd lock in our future in the top tier of athletics.