Illinois-Chicago to MVC

[BenWSU]

KWCH is reporting U of Illinois Champaign

[Rlh04d]

There are some MWC fans very opposed to adding a non football school. I figured gman2 was one of them.

I really don't get why anyone would feel strongly against it.

I'm an ACC fan, and I'm for anyone being added to the ACC that would strengthen it. I wouldn't have a problem with us adding basketball only schools if they were bringing in more money than they were taking out. WSU has brought in $14 million to the MVC in the last ten years just from NCAA payouts alone.

It's not like the MWC has some awesome TV contract we'd be raiding. They have 11 members that split about $12 million. Obviously we wouldn't even get a full share of the TV contract if we were a basketball only school. If we got $250k off that TV contract, and we're bringing in $1.4 million a year in NCAA tournament shares ... that's a pretty damn easy math problem.

The Big East rode the basketball train and turned it into football success. Having basketball-only members not only didn't hurt the Big East, it was pretty much vital to its success as a conference. What success has the MWC had as a football conference? You're irrelevant as a football conference. You're relevant as a basketball conference. Pretty easy to see which one you should focus on to build your brand. There's a reason the Big Priest schools are making almost three times as much as MWC full members from their TV deal. Because they're good at SOMETHING. (... and they're in good markets)

[tropicalshox]

"Site visits to prospective valley schools went well. Despite reports on twitter, no decision made on new member. Still couple weeks off."

Above is a tweet by Cliff Smart, President of Missouri State.

[RoyalShock]

"Site visits to prospective valley schools went well. Despite reports on twitter, no decision made on new member. Still couple weeks off."

Above is a tweet by Cliff Smart, President of Missouri State.

A reply to that tweet included a link to the recent profiles of the four schools plus Murray and ORU.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au3iPGfICmw0dEhfaW45SndEWldyYlBwMWtRZVBmN2c#gid=0

[rrshock]

Ugh. We need out of this conference.

[ShockTalk]

Does anyone have the each of the Valley teams' RPI history over that 10 year period?

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

A reply to that tweet included a link to the recent profiles of the four schools plus Murray and ORU.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...RZVBmN2c#gid=0

Looking at that spreadsheet how could you not go with Belmont? If that's the major criteria it should be a no brainer. Their attendance numbers are low but being in a higher profile conference might help bring those up a little.

Thank God UIC was a false alarm--I'm coming down off the ledge. But I'm still a little PO'd with this whole process. Creighton--even with its uncanny ability to chronically underachieve in the post season--will be irreplaceable, as much as it pains me to say that, due to its national profile, RPI, and the steady stream of NCAA units it earned for the conference. Our best option--hell, our ONLY option--is to grab a program that has been OVERachieving in their current conference. I think that leaves us with 3 viable options--ORU, Belmont, and Murray State. Even looking at programs like UIC and UMKC is a complete freaking waste of time. We need a program that can compete with us, UNI, and Bradley straight out of the gate; not a program that's going to give Drake a punching bag.

[rjl]

Simply uniformed. To paraphrase Rush Limbaugh, a low-information poster.

That Limbaugh calls anyone "low-information" is a laugh in and of itself.

[Shockeriffic]

The Big East rode the basketball train and turned it into football success. Having basketball-only members not only didn't hurt the Big East, it was pretty much vital to its success as a conference. What success has the MWC had as a football conference? You're irrelevant as a football conference. You're relevant as a basketball conference. Pretty easy to see which one you should focus on to build your brand. There's a reason the Big Priest schools are making almost three times as much as MWC full members from their TV deal. Because they're good at SOMETHING. (... and they're in good markets)

The MWC was very close to becoming relevant in football. Before Utah and TCU left, they were on track to become get a BCS automatic bid. Of course the BCS is done now and MWC basketball is better than football. Just a few years ago it looked like it could have been very different.

[ValpoTX]

That spreadsheet leaves out our most recent NCAA bid before this year (2003-2004), not that it matters. The 2008-2009 year was a complete anomaly for us, due to 2 solid players leaving the program just before the school year started, not allowing us to fill their roles. One left for a European contract after his SO year, and the other went psycho and transferred to Evansville (Bryan Bouchie), to see his career fizzle out, after putting up 20+ points on Jon Brockman of Washington. Speaking of which, that spreadsheet also misses some of our Power 6 wins: Washington in that CBI tournament win 2007-2008 (on their court), and a few others. Though not a Power 6 conference, we have beaten Butler 4 times in a row, including once during their title game run. We would initially be a mid-level MVC team, whereas UIC and Loyola would be bottom dwellers until they pick up their recruiting.

[SubGod22]

Looking at that spreadsheet how could you not go with Belmont? If that's the major criteria it should be a no brainer. Their attendance numbers are low but being in a higher profile conference might help bring those up a little.

Thank God UIC was a false alarm--I'm coming down off the ledge. But I'm still a little PO'd with this whole process. Creighton--even with its uncanny ability to chronically underachieve in the post season--will be irreplaceable, as much as it pains me to say that, due to its national profile, RPI, and the steady stream of NCAA units it earned for the conference. Our best option--hell, our ONLY option--is to grab a program that has been OVERachieving in their current conference. I think that leaves us with 3 viable options--ORU, Belmont, and Murray State. Even looking at programs like UIC and UMKC is a complete freaking waste of time. We need a program that can compete with us, UNI, and Bradley straight out of the gate; not a program that's going to give Drake a punching bag.

I don't know if I'd call it a no brainer simply because their attendance is awful. RPI definitely stands out though. And if you look back a bit, ORU was averaging around 6k so maybe there is potential there to grow. Not that I'm supporting them over anyone else. But their arena size allows for it too. Same with Murray

[ValpoTX]

That spreadsheet leaves out our most recent NCAA bid before this year (2003-2004), not that it matters. The 2008-2009 year was a complete anomaly for us, due to 2 solid players leaving the program just before the school year started, not allowing us to fill their roles. One left for a European contract after his SO year, and the other went psycho and transferred to Evansville (Bryan Bouchie), to see his career fizzle out, after putting up 20+ points on Jon Brockman of Washington. Speaking of which, that spreadsheet also misses some of our Power 6 wins: Washington in that CBI tournament win 2007-2008 (on their court), and a few others. Though not a Power 6 conference, we have beaten Butler 4 times in a row, including once during their title game run. We would initially be a mid-level MVC team, whereas UIC and Loyola would be bottom dwellers until they pick up their recruiting.

ORU used to add 1k-2k fans to each game on paper when we were in the same conference. I am not sure if they still do that since we have been in the HL, but they definitely did not average those number up until our last year in Mid-Con/Summit in 2006-2007

[SubGod22]

ORU used to add 1k-2k fans to each game on paper when we were in the same conference. I am not sure if they still do that since we have been in the HL, but they definitely did not average those number up until our last year in Mid-Con/Summit in 2006-2007

Paid attendance is all that matters.

[ValpoTX]

It wasn't necessarily paid attendance though. They would add attendance based on their student population, and students that pay tuition but don't show up to the games. Now, since I played baseball at Valpo from 2000-2004, I can definitely vouch that ORU's baseball attendance figures would be accurate. That place always had a good amount of people willing to yell at us :adoration:

[GoShockers89]

Whoever the Valley adds is going to suck, it's just a matter of how badly. It's perfectly okay to resign yourselves to this fact. Holding out hope for an expansion home run will only lead to frustration.

The true hope for WSU lies in the as-yet-undiscovered escape route to the AAC or MWC. That is our salvation.