Which Conference Should WSU Join?

[SubGod22]

There aren't seven A10 teams worth it just for an auto bid

[CBB_Fan]

There aren't seven A10 teams worth it just for an auto bid

Well, you would have to take either:

A10: VCU (44), Richmond (87), Duquesne (106), Rhode Island (107), Saint Joseph's (116), Saint Bonaventure (120), and La Salle (143)
MVC: Northern Iowa, (75.8), Wichita State (92), Illinois State (113), Missouri State (115), Indiana State (129), Drake (142), and Bradley (159)

They have roughly the same expenditures, and roughly the same RPI over a 5 year span (116 for MVC versus 119 for A10). If the WCC is involved, they would have the best top end teams, but BY FAR the worst lower end teams (average RPI of 148 despite three top 50 averages). Personally, I think the A10 would be a better building block than the MVC, because they have better media markets and more potential to grow, and roughly equivalent teams.

A better combination would add the MWC and nBE to this, giving you a better base conference. Of course, the more FBS you have, the less likely it is to succeed. Since this all theoretical anyway, I think it could have potential.

[wu_shizzle]

nm

[Rlh04d]

How are you going to convince three fairly successful conferences to give up the ONLY sport that leads to money? The conferences would go bankrupt and then you're back to the same issue.

I honestly think the best way to come close to what you're trying to pull off is an arrangement between the conferences to play. Perhaps each school from each conference play a couple of games each year against each of the other conferences.

I wasn't suggesting you can convince three conferences, I was suggesting you convince one. Only the MVC had to give up basketball in my suggestion. I was suggesting the other two conferences simply be created from scratch as non-revenue-only conferences. 7 MVC teams moving their basketball teams into this new conference would then keep the MVC's automatic bid, and all Olympic sports would be left with FCS football in the MVC. The only reason I bothered with the idea of the MVC dropping basketball at all was that we needed the auto bid.

Also ... could the MVC eliminate non-revenue sports from the conference? Where would we be if the MVC simply did not have any sports other than basketball and FCS football? Then create three NEW conferences in the west, midwest, and east. After that, Gonzaga, VCU, George Mason, and others join the MVC in basketball, but place their non-revenue sports in these regional non-revenue conferences. Just drop the "M" from the name and call it The Valley. Is there an NCAA rule that requires every conference to offer non-revenue sports?

Legitimately, how much money does a conference need to operate non-revenue sports? Tournaments, officials, and a couple of admin folks? And could the conference simply charge every school in their conference a certain amount to cover their costs?

To put it more succinctly: Is it within the rules to create geographic home conferences that do not offer basketball, in order to have a national conference that offers only basketball? Four (or three if going west isn't worth it) conferences, three (or two) without basketball, one with basketball. Can you have conferences that do not offer basketball, and conferences that do not offer non-revenue sports, in order to overcome the geographic constraints of non-revenue sports?

[WuShock Reaper]

Mountain West basketball posts lowest attendance ever. Who's to blame? - Nevada Sports Net

BY CHRIS MURRAY
TUESDAY, MARCH 31ST 2020

http://nevadasportsnet.com/news/repo...-whos-to-blame

"After the Mountain West set a record for lowest per-game attendance in football this season, it repeated the feat in men's basketball.

The 2019-20 season drew 6,384 fans per home game played by a MW school. That's down only slightly from the season prior when the conference drew 6,418 fans per game. But it continues a negative trend over the last decade. The conference drew 9,045 fans per game in the first season of the 2010s and watched that figure fall by more than 2,600 fans per game by the last season of the 2010s. It'd be easy to blame the change in membership from 2009-13, but that's not the whole story....

The percentage fall in the MW has been steeper than the national trend, but the conference still sits ahead of the national average, which was around 4,700 per game this season. The most fair comparison for the MW is to the American Athletic Conference, which the MW battles for supremacy among non-power conferences. The AAC drew 7,065 fans per home game in 2019-20, nearly 10 percent more than the MW. (As a sidenote, if the MW took Wichita State instead of allowing the AAC to do so, it would have evened the numbers)...."


and 70%+ of Shockernet.net'ers wanted to head to the Mountain West.

[DUShock]

Nice we’re the one that got away. Thanks for sharing.

I think we all agree the AAC is best place for us to be.

[RoyalShock]

How about whatever league Cincinnati, Louisville and Memphis end up in?

This guy nailed it.

As far as the 70% support for MWC, given the poll choices I'm surprised it wasn't closer to 90%.

[shock]

I think 70% wanted the MWC because the AAC was new and seen as a bunch of castoffs and lower grade teams. AAC is a much better conference for us considering where we recruit.

[Shock Top]

Man, I’d LOVE to lure Louisville back to the American.

A pipe dream though, I am afraid.

[pie n eye]

I was one of the 70% who preferred the MWC. I was wrong.

The American is a great conference to be in as long as Cinci, Houston, SMU, and WSU maintain or continue to improve.

Losing UCONN is a bummer. Yes, I am well aware of their recent track record, but they have the history, resources, and desire to be a perennial tourney team at some point. Wold love to get VCU or Dayton to replace them. I have no idea who the conference is looking to add or if they even are. It’s not currently a pressing issue IMO.

There are also some pretty good coaches even at the schools at the bottom of the standings and the schools seem to have the resources and desire to improve. Hopefully teams like USF, UCF, Tulane, and ECU continue to improve. They don’t have to be world beaters, just stay below the 150 NET mark.

If the lower teams continue to improve it will help the league overall. Villanova’s recent success has really increased the perception of a league like the Big East. IMO Houston, WSU, and Cincinnati have the potential to be a perennial threats for deep runs in the tourney. String together a few of those and the perception of the American could be about as good as any league in the country.

[ShockTalk]

I was one of the 70% who preferred the MWC. I was wrong.

The American is a great conference to be in as long as Cinci, Houston, SMU, and WSU maintain or continue to improve.

Losing UCONN is a bummer. Yes, I am well aware of their recent track record, but they have the history, resources, and desire to be a perennial tourney team at some point. Wold love to get VCU or Dayton to replace them. I have no idea who the conference is looking to add or if they even are. It’s not currently a pressing issue IMO.

There are also some pretty good coaches even at the schools at the bottom of the standings and the schools seem to have the resources and desire to improve. Hopefully teams like USF, UCF, Tulane, and ECU continue to improve. They don’t have to be world beaters, just stay below the 150 NET mark.

If the lower teams continue to improve it will help the league overall. Villanova’s recent success has really increased the perception of a league like the Big East. IMO Houston, WSU, and Cincinnati have the potential to be a perennial threats for deep runs in the tourney. String together a few of those and the perception of the American could be about as good as any league in the country.

I do not find Memphis anywhere in your post.

[JVShocker]

Curious as to how the numbers fared across all the teams in the American.

[WuShock Reaper]

Nice we’re the one that got away. Thanks for sharing.

I think we all agree the AAC is best place for us to be.

Man, we dodged a few bullets there, didn't we?

[StunningSteve]

I think 70% wanted the MWC because the AAC was new and seen as a bunch of castoffs and lower grade teams. AAC is a much better conference for us considering where we recruit.

John Bardo’s vision of the league’s presence in the I-35 corridor having extra meaning that transcends sports is accurate.
And now the Dallas headquarters of the American is aligning with that vision.
Beyond that, the league is very good in both basketball and baseball (football is very good too). Coach Wedge really came at the perfect time in Shockers history.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I don't think the AAC was an option in the poll--and none of us talked about it--because it didn't exist yet in its current form. The Catholic schools had just split off, and I believe they were still in negotiations with the remaining Big East over the Big East name. At the time, the "Catholic 7" wasn't an option for us, and for all intents and purposes, neither was the football oriented Big East.