Ex Missouri Valley Teams - Are they "Truly" Better Off

[Go_Braves]

With the exceptions this year being Louisville and Cincinnati – are these ex Mo Valley teams truly better off? Maybe from a financial angle they are. But from a National exposure standpoint. At this time only Cincinnati of the AAC conference is nationally ranked and one has to wonder how much Wichita State, Tulsa, Cincinnati, and Memphis State fans enjoy traveling to conference opponents from Connecticut to South Florida to Houston? The AAC is “not” a power 5 Conference. The same with Creighton. How many fans in Omaha travel all the way to the east coast to watch a game? Many of these schools are in the middle of the pack of their conferences and their only hope to be invited to the NCAA dance is to win their conference end of the season tournament. And if they don’t, they realize that they may not even be invited to the NIT. This is even true for New Mexico State who leads the powerful WAC conference. I wonder if their fans miss the Valley and may think –- what is better - to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond or as they are now a smaller fish in a bigger pond. Many of these ex Mo Valley teams are not getting the National exposure as they use to when they were in the Valley. Last year Loyola Chicago put the Mo Valley back on the National scene. It was magical and this year I hope the Valley Arch Madness winner goes deep into this year’s tournament and makes some noise. I know that Wichita State, Creighton, Tulsa and many others won’t.

Ex Missouri Valley Teams; Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis State, Tulsa, Wichita State, Creighton, Saint Louis, New Mexico State, North Texas State, West Texas State (now Div II)

[tornado]

let's not fool ourselves - they don't care about "better off" in any respect other than the Benjamins...
That was the sole reason those teams went seeking another conference -
http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...trip=1&vwsrc=0
https://www.kansas.com/sports/colleg...148119174.html

..but in their first year outside the MVC- they also LOST the $1 million or so that each MVC team got from the Final Four revenue
..plus some of the revenue THEY EARNED for the MVC during their big NCAA runs - is still being paid out to MVC teams but NOT to them!



Here's an article from a couple years ago pointing out that Wichita's benefit from being the BEST TEAM in the MVC
amounted to about $550 MILLION in financial benefits and positive publicity!!!
and yet now - being an also-ran in a conference that may be getting even less publicity in the area where they draw their applicants...is likely far less
http://www.sportingnews.com/us/other...o1sku6r3q6l1rn

[Vent]

With the exceptions this year being Louisville and Cincinnati – are these ex Mo Valley teams truly better off? Maybe from a financial angle they are. But from a National exposure standpoint. At this time only Cincinnati of the AAC conference is nationally ranked and one has to wonder how much Wichita State, Tulsa, Cincinnati, and Memphis State fans enjoy traveling to conference opponents from Connecticut to South Florida to Houston? The AAC is “not” a power 5 Conference. The same with Creighton. How many fans in Omaha travel all the way to the east coast to watch a game? Many of these schools are in the middle of the pack of their conferences and their only hope to be invited to the NCAA dance is to win their conference end of the season tournament. And if they don’t, they realize that they may not even be invited to the NIT. This is even true for New Mexico State who leads the powerful WAC conference. I wonder if their fans miss the Valley and may think –- what is better - to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond or as they are now a smaller fish in a bigger pond. Many of these ex Mo Valley teams are not getting the National exposure as they use to when they were in the Valley. Last year Loyola Chicago put the Mo Valley back on the National scene. It was magical and this year I hope the Valley Arch Madness winner goes deep into this year’s tournament and makes some noise. I know that Wichita State, Creighton, Tulsa and many others won’t.

Ex Missouri Valley Teams; Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis State, Tulsa, Wichita State, Creighton, Saint Louis, New Mexico State, North Texas State, West Texas State (now Div II)

There were not a lot of Bradley fans that traveled to Las Cruces, NM or Amarillo, TX to see a road game. New Mexico State and West Texas State were added to the MVC to stop the bleeding. One down season by any of the teams that exited the MVC, is hardly a good way to decide whether they made a good decision or not. As a basketball fan, I’d much rather be able to see teams from the Big East, ACC or AAC come to Peoria to play Bradley for a conference game as opposed to what we have. If just about any member of those leagues came here for a non conference game, it would be a huge upgrade to our schedule. As for being a middle of the pack team, we are, and if us or any other team doesn’t win the tournament in St.Louis they aren’t going to the NCAA or probably the NIT.

[tornado]

one Big Ten AD just said this...
"their 20 game schedule was designed to deny non P5 (non-Power5 = midmajor) teams NCAA bids.."
https://twitter.com/EnthusiAdams/sta...99903332999168

the big schools are scared to DEATH of a Missouri Valley team trampling all over them on their way to the Final Four!
They will do just about anything to help their conferences get more teams in, make more $$, and keep mid-majors out.

[Da Coach]

Most of the Power conferences are expanding their conference schedules and playing more conference games and fewer non-conference games. Playing their Power conference opponents and omitting games with midmajors will help keep their NET ratings higher. But it will also deprive midmajors from playing the major schools, and 1) avoid embarrassing upsets that harm the majors' NET, and 2) help prevent the midmajors from improving their NET's and keep them out of the tournament.
Large budget schools can afford to buy multiple home games every year, pick their opponents, and end up playing virtually all their non-conference games at home. Some midmajors buy games, too, but they are usually against the low-level, Chicago State types of schools that don't really benefit their NET.
All one has to do is look at the NET rankings, or at ESPN's Joe Lunardi's bracket predictions to see that the NET is accomplishing exactly what it was intended to do. 8th place teams that have losing records in the Power 5 conferences are projected to make the tournament. Oklahoma and TCU are 6-10 in the Big 12, Minnesota and Ohio State are 8-10 in the Big Ten, yet are in the bracket projection. He has Indiana just missing the NCAA field, and they are 6-12 in the Big Ten! There will be almost no at-large bids that will go to midmajors this year.

ESPN bracketology-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

[Go_Braves]

one Big Ten AD just said this...
"their 20 game schedule was designed to deny non P5 (non-Power5 = midmajor) teams NCAA bids.."
https://twitter.com/EnthusiAdams/sta...99903332999168

the big schools are scared to DEATH of a Missouri Valley team trampling all over them on their way to the Final Four!
They will do just about anything to help their conferences get more teams in, make more $$, and keep mid-majors out.

Most of the Power conferences are expanding their conference schedules and playing more conference games and fewer non-conference games. Playing their Power conference opponents and omitting games with midmajors will help keep their NET ratings higher. But it will also deprive midmajors from playing the major schools, and 1) avoid embarrassing upsets that harm the majors' NET, and 2) help prevent the midmajors from improving their NET's and keep them out of the tournament.
Large budget schools can afford to buy multiple home games every year, pick their opponents, and end up playing virtually all their non-conference games at home. Some midmajors buy games, too, but they are usually against the low-level, Chicago State types of schools that don't really benefit their NET.
All one has to do is look at the NET rankings, or at ESPN's Joe Lunardi's bracket predictions to see that the NET is accomplishing exactly what it was intended to do. 8th place teams that have losing records in the Power 5 conferences are projected to make the tournament. Oklahoma and TCU are 6-10 in the Big 12, Minnesota and Ohio State are 8-10 in the Big Ten, yet are in the bracket projection. He has Indiana just missing the NCAA field, and they are 6-12 in the Big Ten! There will be almost no at-large bids that will go to midmajors this year.

ESPN bracketology-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...l/bracketology

Thank you Tornado and Da Coach for bringing all this to surface and everyone's attention. And everyone realizes that College Basketball is no longer "really" played "In the Name of the Game" but really "In the Name of the Business". I don't know how much Bradley's AD Chris Reynolds can say or do with regards to the NCAA selection process - this is his first year in being a part of the NCAA Tournament Selection committee. We can not expect to much but hope for the best. As I stated last year - after Loyola was defeated in the Final 4 - I really didhn't have any interest watching another set of Power 5 schools play for the championship. Chicago Loyola got the Nations attention last year - and it will be interesting when another true Mid-major makes it to the Final 4. GO MID-MAJORS and GO BRADLEY. Again Thank You

[bradleyfan124]

Thank you Tornado and Da Coach for bringing all this to surface and everyone's attention. And everyone realizes that College Basketball is no longer "really" played "In the Name of the Game" but really "In the Name of the Business". I don't know how much Bradley's AD Chris Reynolds can say or do with regards to the NCAA selection process - this is his first year in being a part of the NCAA Tournament Selection committee. We can not expect to much but hope for the best. As I stated last year - after Loyola was defeated in the Final 4 - I really didhn't have any interest watching another set of Power 5 schools play for the championship. Chicago Loyola got the Nations attention last year - and it will be interesting when another true Mid-major makes it to the Final 4. GO MID-MAJORS and GO BRADLEY. Again Thank You

I don't know what Dr. Reynolds thinks about all this. Lets ask him. And while we are at it lets ask the Bradley President. Everyone is getting tired of the elite groups and special interest groups in Washington but they let this play out in the NCAA. Lets have him on here and find out what can be dome about it

[Vent]

Hopefully sometime we can get back to winning on a consistent basis and get an opportunity to move to a stronger conference. I still maintain the fans at the schools that departed the MVC are happier seeing the likes of Georgetown, Duke, North Carolina, Dayton and even DePaul or Virginia Commonwealth come to their town every year or every other year. As I said before, we would be elated to see any team from those leagues come here for a non-con game. The teams that exited our league, that were at our level one time, put themselves in a position to move on. Maybe someday we will.

[egib52]

... DePaul ...

I doubt DePaul is a draw for any Big East team, other than for the potential W. They have been in way over their heads since joining the Big East.

[Vent]

But you can bet they’d be a draw if they came to Peoria and played Bradley. That’s my point...it’s easy to criticize other programs that have moved on or those that may have bitten off more than they can chew, which is far a few between. At least they were in a position to move on. We are still mired in the middle of the pack of a middle of the pack conference. Until we reach the level of those that have left us, I long for the time when we talk about the success of our program as opposed to the failures of others.

[egib52]

But you can bet they’d be a draw if they came to Peoria and played Bradley. That’s my point...it’s easy to criticize other programs that have moved on or those that may have bitten off more than they can chew, which is far a few between. At least they were in a position to move on. We are still mired in the middle of the pack of a middle of the pack conference. Until we reach the level of those that have left us, I long for the time when we talk about the success of our program as opposed to the failures of others.

I highly doubt they'd be more of a draw than when we used to beat them before. As for being "in a position to move on", they were in CUSA, which at its height was better or as good as the current Big East. They just lucked out that their school fit the mold of the new Big East: Catholic, major market, and no D1 football. I am not sure if you are confusing DePaul with some other school.

[BravesWinINStyle]

There were not a lot of Bradley fans that traveled to Las Cruces, NM or Amarillo, TX to see a road game. New Mexico State and West Texas State were added to the MVC to stop the bleeding. One down season by any of the teams that exited the MVC, is hardly a good way to decide whether they made a good decision or not. As a basketball fan, I’d much rather be able to see teams from the Big East, ACC or AAC come to Peoria to play Bradley for a conference game as opposed to what we have. If just about any member of those leagues came here for a non conference game, it would be a huge upgrade to our schedule. As for being a middle of the pack team, we are, and if us or any other team doesn’t win the tournament in St.Louis they aren’t going to the NCAA or probably the NIT.

Then go root for those conferences. No one's stopping you.

Nothing screams irrational expectations than a line like that. Mid-major basketball is either for you or it isn't. Make a decision and move on.

[BravesWinINStyle]

Hopefully sometime we can get back to winning on a consistent basis and get an opportunity to move to a stronger conference. I still maintain the fans at the schools that departed the MVC are happier seeing the likes of Georgetown, Duke, North Carolina, Dayton and even DePaul or Virginia Commonwealth come to their town every year or every other year. As I said before, we would be elated to see any team from those leagues come here for a non-con game. The teams that exited our league, that were at our level one time, put themselves in a position to move on. Maybe someday we will.

You fundamentally do not understand collegiate realignment. Look at the locations of schools who moved up to the ACC or the Big East or the AAC. Presidents of those types of schools have no interest in recruiting Peoria for students. Gonzaga has been Gonzaga for 20 years and it wasn't until last year they received interest in moving up a league. Why? They're located in Spokane.

[tornado]

Altho I did not like seeing teams of the caliber of Creighton & Wichita leave the MVC...
The two replacement teams Loyola & Valpo are teams that are NEAR or right inside the big concentrations of the Bradley fan base.
In time I believe we will see (and already have seen) large contingents of RED clad BU fans at Loyola & Valpo every year - much moreso than we'd have ever seen driving to Wichita or Creighton.

[Go_Braves]

Altho I did not like seeing teams of the caliber of Creighton & Wichita leave the MVC...
The two replacement teams Loyola & Valpo are teams that are NEAR or right inside the big concentrations of the Bradley fan base.
In time I believe we will see (and already have seen) large contingents of RED clad BU fans at Loyola & Valpo every year - much moreso than we'd have ever seen driving to Wichita or Creighton.

Exactly Tornado.... Bradley's furthest Valley opponent is Drake at 266 miles from Peoria followed by Northern Iowa at 240 miles from Peoria. One has to wonder how many Wichita State, and ACC alumni as well as Creighton alumni follow their teams as they use to with their respective conferences now so spread out.... Another aspect is - has anyone ever looked up the cost for a ticket at a Duke game - google it... I did and here is the google response: " Currently Duke has an average price of $409, which is $87 more than Kentucky basketball tickets. After that Kansas Basketball tickets is third with an average price of $298 " I say that I get just as much enjoyment watching Valley games as I do watching Power 5 conference games. And those attending Valley games are getting their money's worth compared to those attending Power 5 conference games. I really don't care to watch a "freak of nature" Zion Williamson play basketball. He'll be a lottery pick and then forgotten like Anthony Davis. I don't even care to watch the NBA..... OK - I'll get off my soap box. GO MO VALLEY and BRADLEY....