The Rise & Fall of the Valley

[Shoxcity]

You know the Valley is bad when Loyola thinks they have a chance at winning it.

[Shoxcity]

This is only my gut feeling, but the privates will probably always feel defensive and protective of the public/private ratio, especially after what WSU did in terms of budget. And they have enough votes to block any school they want from joining. Assuming Valpo gets added, bringing the split to 5/5, they could easily keep Murray or any other public from tipping the balance back in favor of the publics. Would they? Who knows. Bradley is the only one of the current privates who, IMO, could excel no matter what the league dynamics are.

It said seven schools need to approve of a new member. So if Valpo, three public schools need a yes. With Murray, two privates need a yes.

[another shocker]

You know the Valley is bad when Loyola thinks they have a chance at winning it.

ku denizens were giving that exact same vibe before march 2015.

the valley will still be top-11 out of, what, 30 conferences? just wait until wichita state makes the ncaa tournament (again) and has to play, say, uni or illinois state. will you be that flippant then?

[Shoxcity]

ku denizens were giving that exact same vibe before march 2015.

the valley will still be top-11 out of, what, 30 conferences? just wait until wichita state makes the ncaa tournament (again) and has to play, say, uni or illinois state. will you be that flippant then?

The Valley is still a quality conference outside the Power Five. However, the Mountain West is now better, and the gap is shrinking between the Valley and Conference USA, Horizon and MAC.

[DwShock]

Americas Renaissance Conference!

[ShockBand]

If Newman bumped up to Div 1, they could add them to recapture the Wichita market, right? That would also give another private school for "balance."

[Cdizzle]

ku denizens were giving that exact same vibe before march 2015.

the valley will still be top-11 out of, what, 30 conferences? just wait until wichita state makes the ncaa tournament (again) and has to play, say, uni or illinois state. will you be that flippant then?

Yes? WSU went 68-4 against those teams the last 4 years with a MoV of nearly 20. And that was with half of those games on the road and 1/4 of those games officiated by Janssen.

[ky-mike]

Murray State not being invited to join MVC, per their AD

[RoyalShock]

Murray State not being invited to join MVC, per their AD

Just adding Valpo is going to bite them in the butt. We'll never know, but you have to wonder if the privates saw an opportunity to get to a 5/5 balance.

[BOBB]

Murray State not being invited to join MVC, per their AD

Keeping 10 allows for 2 more road buy games or for Evansville to continue the DII November Invitational. A very Valley choice.

[SHOCKvalue]

Just adding Valpo is going to bite them in the butt. We'll never know, but you have to wonder if the privates saw an opportunity to get to a 5/5 balance.

Even though the MVC lowered themselves to inviting LOLoyola in the last go-'round, simply to preserve the precious 6-4 public-private split.

Glad we're gone from that hot mess.

[BOBB]

Does the Valley make sense for Missouri State now? What about UNI?

[Aargh]

Does the Valley make sense for Missouri State now? What about UNI?

MSU is skewered. Replacing trips to Wichita with trips to near Chicago, while facing $750,000 in cuts in the athletic department is going to be tough. Springfield to Omaha was a relatively short trip (compared to going to other MVC sites). That got replaced with trips to Chicago. MSU is now the ultimate outlier.

MSU to the Sun Belt makes a lot of sense, except for that part about moving up a level in football and what that costs. Springfield doesn't appear to be a good geographic fit for FCS football. If their funding porblems continue, they may havwe to (some day) evaluate going to D2.

UNI doesn't seem to have similar problems. The movement of the league further north and east doesn't affect them as severely. What could hurt them the worst is the loss of Creighton and WSU on their schedule. That may have an effect on their basketball recruiting. Recruiting doesn't seem to be one of Jacobson's strong points. He does very well with the players he brings in.

[Walker]

It's really striking the difference between our reception into the American and all the fanfare and warm welcomes that came with it to Valpo's reception into the Valley. It's like they're embarrassed and pissed off that they even have to put out a statement. I get that one situation is mutually beneficial and just all around awesome while the other is born out of disaster and is kind of meh, but geez...you'd think there would be a "Welcome Aboard Crusaders!" at the very least.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

You'd think at the least they would have called this a "historic announcement." But perhaps it's not as big of a deal as keeping the conference tournament in the same place it's been for years.