MVC Weakness

[wizard1]

Wessler is 100% correct in his article today on the MVC. IMO, President Roberts and Chris R. Need to take some action and provide some strong leadership toward a plan that will quickly move the MVC back to being a leading Mid Major conference. If this is not done, BU should begin to look at leaving the MVC for a better conference.
Wizard

[tornado]

better? ...what conference are you thinking?
There are no better conferences that would take us the way we were devastated by 7 years of horrible leadership from our prior admin..
Maybe back in 2006-2008 we were a decent target for some other conference but that window closed.

We need to stay put and help develop the MVC back to being one of the top 6-8 conferences

[Bradleyfan1]

better? ...what conference are you thinking?
There are no better conferences that would take us the way we were devastated by 7 years of horrible leadership from our prior admin..
Maybe back in 2006-2008 we were a decent target for some other conference but that window closed.

We need to stay put and help develop the MVC back to being one of the top 6-8 conferences

Agreed.

[Vent]

There are no good conference options for Bradley to consider. They need to improve their own athletic program first. They have enough areas to improve instead of worrying about the Valley. There's not much they can do about the woes of the league. It's safe to say Wichita is all but gone. We've lost Creighton. Only thing we can do is right our own ship and look at options down the road. Without football, and that's not coming back, unless we turn into a Creighton or Wichita there won't be much demand for us.

[Da Coach]

If there was a better conference option, Wichita State would have moved there already. The fact is, that unless you play football or are a major Catholic University, there simply aren't any other options.
It is highly unlikely that any football playing conference would consider a non-football school like Bradley, though occasionally a football conference might consider an "affiliate" school that does not play football if their other sports are strong enough to benefit the conference.
Also, when you consider geography, that eliminates several others.

Here is a list of all the Division I basketball conferences that do not play football:
American East Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference
Big East Conference
Big West
Horizon League
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Summit League
West Coast Conference
Western Athletic Conference

Of those conferences, clearly the only 2 that would not be a major step down are The Atlantic 10 and the Big East. And they would be an impossible fit because of geography. Plus, because of the level of competition, neither would likely consider Bradley.

So if Bradley were forced to consider another conference, it would have to be a lower level conference such as the Horizon League or the Summit League.

I don't mean this as any insult to those conference, which are nice lower mid-major conference, but is that what anyone wants?

[Vent]

I agree. And in my opinion, right now, we wouldn't win the Horizon or Summit. We've got the fan base, but as I said above, until we improve the entire sports program immensely, on a consistent basis, we need to stay put. When we are in demand, maybe we could consider a move to a better option.

[bradleyfan124]

I don't like leaving the conference. I think if Wichita State were smart they would stay. They dominate right now. Sure fire entrance into the Dance. If they go to another conference would they have that same advantage. I say not. I noticed in the conference The American I think that Tulsa went to. They have not done themselves any good. They are middle of the pack with a losing record. I hope Wichita State stays and we build on that

[Serbiansniper34]

I don't like leaving the conference. I think if Wichita State were smart they would stay. They dominate right now. Sure fire entrance into the Dance.

Only if they win the tournament every year.

[Vent]

Wichita leaving the Valley may be in their best interest. You can't always do what's best for the league. Sometimes you need to do what's best for yourself. Creighton left and a lot of people thought it would be a disaster. Especially when McDermott graduated, many people thought he was the entire program. Well, they have done pretty well for themselves and are making a lot more money, being in a league that has several schools in the NCAA every year. If Wichita were to go to the American Athletic Conference they will have an opportunity to earn more money than they will in the Valley. They would be with schools such as Cincy, Memphis, Houston, UConn, SMU, Tulsa, Temple, Central Florida, Eastern Carolina and Tulane. Each of those schools would be in contention for the title in the Valley. It would also be a much better media market and that means additional revenue.

[wizard1]

MVC Weakness

T....That's exactly my point! BU needs to become highly proactive and take a strong leadership position in developing (Demanding) a rebuilding of the MVC. High standards and membership requirements need to be set and enforced. Maybe we don,t need to be a 10 team conference....maybe 8 teams will do if they are strong, play tough schedules, and have very good rpi's. We don't need to fill our conference with weaker members.
The alternative to this is to build our program to a very high mid-major level and leave the MVC for a much better and stronger conference.
Wizard

[tornado]

wiz, you prob recall...that I started posting on this very subject way back in 2009, 2010, and 2011 saying...
that it is mandatory that we have to get lots better and we have to do it quickly because Creighton was leaving and then Wichita would be looking to do so, and that we needed to get and STAY strong whether we stayed in the MVC or sought elsewhere..

well 5-6 years have passed and the same is true- but unfortunately we wasted 4-5 years with the worst possible captain & crew sailing our ship right into the reefs... without a clue that what they were doing was gonna kill our program and send us down to DIII levels...

Sad to say, but it took forever for the Board and the fans that cheered on that trainwreck named Glasser... now we find ourselves trying to bust our way out of the mess they created
Remember - once Jim Les was able to HIRE his own coaches and recruit his own players HE NEVER ONCE fell below .500 again...
He NEVER had a losing MVC record when he had his own staff & players...
Then when JG meddled and ran off some of our staff and began vetoing players- we dropped to 4-14 in 2010-11. The blame lies on the one who meddled with a good thing... then we have never been close to back to .500 since

[Da Coach]

...If Wichita were to go to the American Athletic Conference they will have an opportunity to earn more money than they will in the Valley. They would be with schools such as Cincy, Memphis, Houston, UConn, SMU, Tulsa, Temple, Central Florida, Eastern Carolina and Tulane. Each of those schools would be in contention for the title in the Valley. It would also be a much better media market and that means additional revenue.

I am not convinced there would be a significant amount of more money in the AAC. First, they would not share in a cent of the football money, since Wichita State doesn't play football.
And although there might be a bit more basketball money, they would probably have to play a couple years in the conference before they would begin to get a full share, since that is how most conferences do it when they expand. Plus, there are now 11 members of the AAC, so Wichita State would become the 12th and would only get 1/12 of the basketball money when they do get a full share, instead of 1/10 of the conference money from the MVC.
Also, the AAC may not always be the better basketball conference. The AAC has existed for 4 seasons, and in those 4 seasons they have had a better conference RPI than the MVC. However, for much of the 10 years prior to the AAC's formation, the MVC's RPI would have actually placed them above where the AAC has been these last 4 years. This year, the AAC is projected to get only 2 teams in the NCAA tournament, probably the same as the MVC, so there would not be that much more NCAA money to share. When you add in an increase in travel expenses that would come with a switch to the AAC, there would not be much financial incentive for WSU to switch to the AAC. I think of there were, they would have already started the process.
I think the powers at WSU would rather try to raise the money to restart their football program, which may or may not be realistic, and then look to join a conference like the Big 12 or the MWC.

[Vent]

The Big XXII would be an extremely difficult sale to Kansas and Kansas State. As for the AAC, in most years Cincy, UConn, Memphis, Temple, SMU will have better chances of playing in the NCAA than Evansville, Drake, Loyola, SIU, Indiana State and Bradley. Take Wichita out of the Valley and the RPI of the league will plummet. The years of multiple team bids will be few and far between. I still believe that eventually the revenue options would be greater in AAC or MWC than the Valley. I would think the officials at Wichita are thinking the same thing. I don't think they'd leave the Valley just to make a point.

[algotrader]

Wichita St. enjoys success now but they were not that successful not that long ago. They could easily fall just as much as Bradley did. You never know.

But I also have been thinking the last few years the MVC has lacked the strong leadership it needs. IMO adding Loyola was a mistake. They have a weak MBB program and an even weaker MBB fan base. I know no one that even remotely cares about Loyola sports in any way shape or form here in Chicago. And I know zero Loyola alum who care either and I currently live with one. They're a total snoozefest.

Aside from perhaps some recruitment help for its members (is that even allowed?) I'm out of ideas for what can help. I can't help but think there have to be SOME talented kids out there who would rather rebuild a historic school's program rather than sit on the bench at Indiana. Perhaps Bradley and even the MVC can work the "build something great" angle for our once great program.

[RoyalShock]

We can't just point to when the MVC was a top-10 conference and assume a return is inevitable. CU is gone and the trend-line, given the seasons SIU, UNI and MSU had isn't favorable. Those three really let the league down by not having solid, top-100 RPI seasons. There is a notable drop in overall coaching talent, player talent and money within the league when compared to the most recent MVC glory days in the 2000s.

As for TV revenue, there is nowhere to go but up with a conference change. As I understand it, MVC schools get no money from the league's TV deal with ESPN (and I think the MVC actually pays ESPN in the deal). It's all NCAA shares. A move to the AAC would have almost no risk from a revenue standpoint.

The comparison isn't the MVC with WSU against the AAC without WSU. It's against the AAC with WSU and other than travel costs for the other team sports, it is about as close to a no-brainer as it gets.