Now that Loyola has been in the MVC a couple of years....

[valleyclimber]

Was thinking about the strength of the Valley, and at the time I was a supporter of the Valley adding Loyola (as CU departed), but I've definitely changed my mind.

Loyola has been been so-so to bad so far, and the Ramblers future looks to be a lower level MVC team. As far as LU bringing in the Chicago media market, well that's been a complete joke as the Ramblers are barely a blip on the radar.

Even when the Valley's best teams visit LU's Gentile Center, the attendance is absolutely embarrassing. We all heard about Loyola's resources and how the Ramblers were going to do big things in the MVC, well color this longtime Valley fan as skeptical to say the least.

So far Loyola has been a bust, what other teams should the Valley have brought in that could/would have been a better choice than the Ramblers.....thoughts?

[tornado]

Loyola could win the NIT and the Chicago media would barely notice...

[Da Coach]

As I have said before, I agree with this 100%. Adding Loyola to replace Creighton was a huge mistake-

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=825118701#post825118701

The MVC traded a perennially strong team (Creighton) that lead the MVC in attendance for a weaker team (Loyola) that has set records for lowest average attendance by an MVC team.

When Bradley played at Loyola this season (Jan. 13) the attendance was a measley 1,386, and many of those were Bradley fans! Their official home average attendance this season was 1,832. And probably even that number is inflated somewhat.
Bradley draws more than that for scrimmages and exhibitions!
And that is considering Loyola had a pretty good team coming into this season, and were coming off a CBI Championship season in 2014-2015!

When Loyola left the Horizon League to join the MVC in 2013, they had drawn seasonal averages of between 2208-2428 over the previous 5 seasons in the Horizon League. Everyone optimistically predicted that with their move to a better conference, with several potential natural rivalries in the MVC, and with an improving team, and with a nicely remodeled Gentile Arena, that Loyola's average attendance would skyrocket.
But it has done the exact opposite!
Here are their average attendances for their 3 seasons in the MVC-
2015-16 1832
2014-15 1745 (included 4 home games in the CBI that averaged only 1454 per game)
2013-14 1928

Obviously, those predictions about their attendance rising were wrong. It has dropped significantly from where it was when Loyola was in the Horizon League.

By comparison, Bradley's opening exhibition game this past season against a Division III opponent Edgewood College, drew 5,829, and even a last place Drake, which had the next lowest attendance, still averaged nearly twice what Loyola did.

And, yes, the wildly optimistic prediction that even our local media guys raved about, that adding Loyola would somehow make the Chicago media wake up and pay attention to the MVC, also could not have been more misguided. Loyola gets little to no coverage by the Chicago media. They actually had more games on Comcast and other Chicago stations before they joined the MVC, than they have had the last couple years.

So if WSU leaves the MVC, and they are forced to add again, they cannot afford another blunder like they made when adding Loyola.

[Vent]

Adding Loyola was a huge mistake by the MVC. On the other hand, how many schools in the midwest that don't play football, would really improve the quality of basketball in the MVC? I mean teams that really have an established basketball program that consistently get into the NIT or NCAA. The league has always been a basketball league. In order for the league to improve, the teams already in the league, must improve themselves first. This includes improving their schedule of non conference opponents and winning those games as well as getting into post season tournaments such as the NIT and NCAA. Competing in tournaments such as the CIT and CBI, may give their fans a warm and fuzzy feeling, but it does nothing to improve the quality of the league or the reputation of league on a regional or national level.

I don't know what the answer is but every year it seems as if there are two very good teams in the league, followed by a team that barely misses out and then everybody else that is not very good.

I wonder how many players from the MVC are currently playing in the NBA. You can't include Creighton anymore since they aren't in it.

[Da Coach]

Adding Loyola was a huge mistake by the MVC. On the other hand, how many schools in the midwest that don't play football, would really improve the quality of basketball in the MVC? ...

Belmont, Denver, or Oral Roberts would have all been better choices among private, non-football schools. There are also some state schools that IMO would have been better.

I wonder how many players from the MVC are currently playing in the NBA. You can't include Creighton anymore since they aren't in it.

Unless you want to completely exclude Creighton-
Kyle Korver and Anthony Tolliver, who played their entire careers in the MVC, are still in the NBA, as is Doug McDermott did play 3 seasons in the MVC.

Wichita State's Cleanthony Early is still on the Knicks' roster, though he has played in only 12 games this season, and is averaging a team-low 1.2 ppg.
2 other Ex-WSU players- Toure Murry and Gal Mekal both played in the NBA for just parts of last season (2014-15), but not this current season.

Other than that, the last MVC players to play in the NBA were Bradley's Anthony Parker, who played with Cleveland and retired after the 2011-12 season, and Missouri State's Blake Ahearn, who played in 7 games for the Utah Jazz late in the 2012 season.

[Vent]

I would agree with you on Belmont and Oral Roberts. I'm not quite sold on Denver. I wonder if it might be in the Valley's best interest, to at some point in time, to form a mega-conference with the Horizon and go to an East/West divisional format. Other than that, their best interest may be to hand pick a couple of teams from the Horizon such as a Valpo and maybe another of the stronger teams.

Thanks for the info on Valley players in the NBA. There aren't any other than from Wichita. I don't even believe Valley players are getting drafted.

The Valley desperately needs to improve in basketball from the teams finishing 3rd on down. I wonder if a change in the commissioner would be beneficial. The league seems to have hit a flat spot the last several years.