Butler considers move to Atlantic 10...

[BUFanatic]

Don't be surprised if this hits the Valley very soon.

If what hits the Valley? Teams leaving?

[TheAsianSensation]

Don't be surprised if this hits the Valley very soon.

No rumblings yet, but this definitely can hit Elgin and friends in a few ways.

Theory #1) Horizon needs a new team. They have the travel partner system setup, which means they'd like an Indiana school to team up with Valpo. Evansville fits this profile and them moving down a tier isn't beyond comprehension.

Theory #2) Not really in play anymore because of Butler, but the A-10 would like a travel buddy to go with St Louis, to bridge to that outpost. Since UIC, Detroit, and Loyola aren't good enough programs to play at A-10 levels, the Valley would've held the other contenders. And with Creighton, Wichita, UNI, Drake, and MSU too far away, and their preference against football schools ruling out the ISUs and SIU, and UE not being A-10 ready, an offer to the remaining MVC team wouldn't have been out of the question.

Theory #3) Maybe the A-10 wants an even more western outpost. Creighton/Wichita is a heckuva package deal.

There's also a doomsday scenario that leaves Elgin no choice but to invite all football members for all sports and causes mass reorganization, but that's a looooooooooooooooooooooongshot.

[BUFanatic]

Just another reason the MVC should be pursuing expansion....

[thefish7]

No rumblings yet, but this definitely can hit Elgin and friends in a few ways.

Theory #1) Horizon needs a new team. They have the travel partner system setup, which means they'd like an Indiana school to team up with Valpo. Evansville fits this profile and them moving down a tier isn't beyond comprehension.

Theory #2) Not really in play anymore because of Butler, but the A-10 would like a travel buddy to go with St Louis, to bridge to that outpost. Since UIC, Detroit, and Loyola aren't good enough programs to play at A-10 levels, the Valley would've held the other contenders. And with Creighton, Wichita, UNI, Drake, and MSU too far away, and their preference against football schools ruling out the ISUs and SIU, and UE not being A-10 ready, an offer to the remaining MVC team wouldn't have been out of the question.

Theory #3) Maybe the A-10 wants an even more western outpost. Creighton/Wichita is a heckuva package deal.

There's also a doomsday scenario that leaves Elgin no choice but to invite all football members for all sports and causes mass reorganization, but that's a looooooooooooooooooooooongshot.

I'd be just fine with #2... Or even #2 and #3.

[JMM28]

Creighton may jump very soon. I hope Drs. Glasser and Cross have a plan. An MVC with no Creighton is weak.

[TheAsianSensation]

Keep an eye on the alliance, who will have (at least) one non-football spot open in their league because of Hawaii's arrangement. You could have a western bloc of New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Colorado St, UTEP, Utah St, a couple others, and, say, Creighton.

[Bravesfan]

Creighton may jump very soon. I hope Drs. Glasser and Cross have a plan. An MVC with no Creighton is weak.

Is this based on actual news, or are you just assuming Creighton will jump to another conference?

[tornado]

A writer for the Indianapolis Star in his premium blog has started a rumor that
Evansville is leaving the Missouri Valley and will replace Butler in the Horizon...

There are no official sources to back this up...

http://www.thepurplecode.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=730

[RedSeaElite1]

would that give st. louis university the ability to get into the MVC? even though that would mean the A-10 still needs to replace Temple.

[Da Coach]

It makes little sense to me for Evansville to jump to the Horizon, especially if the Horizon will be losing Butler. Maybe it might make slightly more sense if Butler stayed in the Horizon, because then Evansville would at least have one slightly closer rival (though Butler is almost 200 miles from Evansville). Otherwise, there is nothing close to a rivalry school for Evansville in the Horizon League. Valpo would be the only other Indiana school, and they are not even close to a rivalry school. And Valpo would be the closest conference school at almost 300 miles from Evansville!
The travel for Evansville would not be an improvement by moving to the Horizon. There are significant distances to travel for all 9 other Horizon cities- there are no close schools. Overall, the total cumulative travel distances between Evansville and the other 9 schools in the 2 conferences actually favor the MVC by a bit for overall less travel.

Approximate distances from Evansville to:
Valparaiso, IN- 280 miles
Cleveland State- 480 miles
Detroit- 490 miles
Green Bay- 530 miles
Loyola, Chicago- 300 miles
UIC, Chicago- 300 miles
UW-Milwaukee-410 miles
Wright State (Dayton, OH)- 290 miles
Youngstown, OH- 500 miles

Compared with these distances to MVC cities-
Bradley (Peoria)- 276 miles
Bloomington, IL- 240 miles
SIU (Carbondale)- 100 miles
Terre Haute, IN- 110 miles
Springfield, MO- 390 miles
Des Moines, IA- 520 miles
Cedar Falls, IA- 520 miles
Creighton (Omaha)- 600 miles
Wichita, Kansas- 600 miles

[TheAsianSensation]

would that give st. louis university the ability to get into the MVC? even though that would mean the A-10 still needs to replace Temple.

The A-10 is replacing Temple with Butler, and choosing Butler specifically to cater to St Louis being a western outpost. St Louis won't go to the MVC, Butler won't, Elgin will have lost his expansion avenues and would leave the MVC at 9.

[ncaafreak]

MVC would be a good fit for Depaul. Think they could rebuild that program in the valley

[Indy_BB]

If Depaul ever did decide to leave the Big East, you can bank that it would be to the "new" western A10 (St Louis, Dayton, Butler, and Xavier)

[SFP]

If Depaul ever did decide to leave the Big East, you can bank that it would be to the "new" western A10 (St Louis, Dayton, Butler, and Xavier)

Let's add CU and MU to that equation. I'm not sure if Dayton would be a better fit then BU with Xavier taking care of Cincinnati market. Remember any new league would have to maximize their market size for TV revenue and sharing a mid-size market makes no sense at all.

Milwaukee
Chicago
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Detroit?? - which school here would make sense?
Omaha - because of CU
Then you have to look at programs which offer a total package of good fan base, brings in a decent market and helps market the new conference when it comes to education.

That is the simple formula.....

[TheAsianSensation]

Remember the travel partner model that I think most leagues try to adhere to. Xavier/Dayton is too perfect. Splitting the Cincy market is fine. Dayton has a good program, usually in postseason contention.

If we're operating on the principle that DePaul and Marquette get das boot (I'm skeptical, but let's assume)

Milwaukee market (Marquette)
Chicago market (DePaul)
St Louis market (St Louis)
Cincinnati market (Dayton)
Cincinnati market (Xavier)
Indianapolis market (Butler)
Omaha market (Creighton)
Wichita market (Wichita St)

From there, the question would be rather you want borderline programs good markets or good teams in borderline markets. UMKC, Detroit and Cleveland St would fit the former, The Drake, Bradley the latter.

I think with the emphasis on markets, Detroit and Cleveland St would get the looks, then Drake. Then Bradley. Again, if we're talking about markets, we have a team up north (DePaul) and down south (St Louis) that would mean that we can't extend the geographic footprint any. Which is bad. The Drake even represents a bigger geographic footprint than us.