Missouri State leaves the MVC

[BUfan14]

I agree. As much as I like the history and tradition of the valley, things are just changing too much right now. With BU's fanbase, a basketball focused conference could very well be interested in adding us imo. It would be a big shame if the MVC diminished greatly over the next several years and BU doesn't take any chance it has to move to a better position.

Absolutely agree too. Reynolds and Wardle seem like smart guys, and Reynolds seems to have made a lot of national in roads. I would hope they’ve been looking at possibilities for a while now and now seems like the time to strike.

All the more reason this season is so important, another good year this year makes us seem like a consistently good and top 70-100 program that belongs in such a conference.

Hopefully fans show up more this year too to make our case better. Make it a good non-con schedule cause there won’t be much in conference it seems. Hopefully next spring we could be announcing an agreement to move to an A10.

[Stryker]

Absolutely agree too. Reynolds and Wardle seem like smart guys, and Reynolds seems to have made a lot of national in roads. I would hope they’ve been looking at possibilities for a while now and now seems like the time to strike.

All the more reason this season is so important, another good year this year makes us seem like a consistently good and top 70-100 program that belongs in such a conference.

Hopefully fans show up more this year too to make our case better. Make it a good non-con schedule cause there won’t be much in conference it seems. Hopefully next spring we could be announcing an agreement to move to an A10.

Agreed, hopefully BU gets an NCAA tournament appearance next year and makes a bit of noise. Just from market and attendance though, BU average 4,947 last year at Carver. Significantly higher than the A10 average of 4,354 last year, and near the AAC average of 5,737. The PAC-12 and MWC only averaged 6,373 & 6,624 respectively.

Also, when I am at Carver I do not see as large amount of fans as blue hairs anymore like I did when I graduated in 2008. The large amount of fans that were adults in the 70s & 80s have filtered out now for the most part, and the attrition shouldn't be as bad in the future. If the program stays relevant I only see attendance being stable or continuing to increase in the future for BU. I think in the current sports climate BU is positioned fairly well. Hopefully that can be used to the programs advantage going forward.

[Da Coach]

Each time this discussion about Bradley being "proactive" comes up, we start looking at other conferences and talking about which would be the best for BU. But my opinion hasn't changed. I believe Bradley needs to stay in the MVC and try to help the conference make the best decision on adding new schools.
There is realistically only one non-football option that would be equal to or superior to the MVC-- the A-10. But I do not see that the A-10 would have any interest in Bradley. If they are even interested in expanding, which is unlikely since they already have 15 members- the largest mid-major conference in the country, they would want schools in big cities and major media markets. And they obviously favor schools from the states on the East Coast.
So IMO, Bradley isn't going to waste time and resources reaching out to other conferences. The MVC will survive and losing Missouri State isn't going to set them back a bit. Missouri State will be a lot easier to replace than Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, and even Loyola was. No offense to their sports programs (though they haven't made the NCAA Tournament this century), but nobody liked going to southwest Missouri anyway. I know I won't miss them.

[BUfan14]

Each time this discussion about Bradley being "proactive" comes up, we start looking at other conferences and talking about which would be the best for BU. But my opinion hasn't changed. I believe Bradley needs to stay in the MVC and try to help the conference make the best decision on adding new schools.
There is realistically only one non-football option that would be equal to or superior to the MVC-- the A-10. But I do not see that the A-10 would have any interest in Bradley. If they are even interested in expanding, which is unlikely since they already have 15 members- the largest mid-major conference in the country, they would want schools in big cities and major media markets. And they obviously favor schools from the states on the East Coast.
So IMO, Bradley isn't going to waste time and resources reaching out to other conferences. The MVC will survive and losing Missouri State isn't going to set them back a bit. Missouri State will be a lot easier to replace than Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, and even Loyola was. No offense to their sports programs (though they haven't made the NCAA Tournament this century), but nobody liked going to southwest Missouri anyway. I know I won't miss them.

Just seem like we’re a couple moves away from being a low major conference. Who are the traditionally good schools in the Valley anymore? Murray and Belmont, who are pretty new. Indiana State outside of a few years hasn’t had much since Bird. We will see what happens with them.

UIC, Valpo, Evansville are all not traditional Valley type high mid major programs. Illinois State hasn’t been much of a program nationally that I can ever remember. Drake hasn’t been good consistently outside of DeVries so now we will see.

That leaves SIU and UNI and they’re football programs that could make decisions based on that. So there’s maybe 4-6 really solid basketball programs left outside of us and that’s it. The bottom half is bad. If there’s a path to making the Valley relevant or multi-bid consistently again I’d be all for it, and I agree the A10 will take some more success, but I have to believe we should at least be discussing what to do. Certainly we have to be by far the most storied historical basketball program left in the Valley from 10 years ago.

[Da Coach]

Note that Conference USA had a conference RPI ranked 16th this past season. The MVC was 9th- https://www.warrennolan.com/basketba...rpi-conference

[Stryker]

Just seem like we’re a couple moves away from being a low major conference. Who are the traditionally good schools in the Valley anymore? Murray and Belmont, who are pretty new. Indiana State outside of a few years hasn’t had much since Bird. We will see what happens with them.

UIC, Valpo, Evansville are all not traditional Valley type high mid major programs. Illinois State hasn’t been much of a program nationally that I can ever remember. Drake hasn’t been good consistently outside of DeVries so now we will see.

That leaves SIU and UNI and they’re football programs that could make decisions based on that. So there’s maybe 4-6 really solid basketball programs left outside of us and that’s it. The bottom half is bad. If there’s a path to making the Valley relevant or multi-bid consistently again I’d be all for it, and I agree the A10 will take some more success, but I have to believe we should at least be discussing what to do. Certainly we have to be by far the most storied historical basketball program left in the Valley from 10 years ago.

This is reality at this point.

Indiana State & Drake - Have had some good seasons over the past 15 years but before that weren't relevant at all and basically low major programs.

ISU and SIU - have the capability of being strong mid majors but haven't done much in 15 yrs seemingly...

UNI - Probably has had the most success in the Valley since Creighton and WSU left besides Loyola, and BU to an extent.

Belmont and Murray - have the chance to be solid programs, but who knows. They are kind of a toss up but I'd bet they will fairly solid, but probably not consistently top 100 programs.

Valpo - Honestly the MVC should probably force them out at this point.

UIC & Evansville - Likely to remain near the bottom of the MVC and 150+ type programs indefinitely.

Ultimately with how drastically things are changing right now, I am not sure what to think. I think success in the portal is going to drive wins at this point going forward. Bradley is positioned very well in comparison to most the Valley teams. If I were to guess I think UNI, SIU, ISU, Murray St. & Belmont have a decent shot at being solid mid major programs going forward. ISUb and Drake are real toss ups at this point.

[egib52]

Each time this discussion about Bradley being "proactive" comes up, we start looking at other conferences and talking about which would be the best for BU. But my opinion hasn't changed. I believe Bradley needs to stay in the MVC and try to help the conference make the best decision on adding new schools.
There is realistically only one non-football option that would be equal to or superior to the MVC-- the A-10. But I do not see that the A-10 would have any interest in Bradley. If they are even interested in expanding, which is unlikely since they already have 15 members- the largest mid-major conference in the country, they would want schools in big cities and major media markets. And they obviously favor schools from the states on the East Coast.
So IMO, Bradley isn't going to waste time and resources reaching out to other conferences. The MVC will survive and losing Missouri State isn't going to set them back a bit. Missouri State will be a lot easier to replace than Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, and even Loyola was. No offense to their sports programs (though they haven't made the NCAA Tournament this century), but nobody liked going to southwest Missouri anyway. I know I won't miss them.

I agree with DC, unless it's the Big East calling, I wouldn't move. I would rather build a team capable of dominating the Valley, see Gonzaga, than move conferences for a somewhat lateral move. Maybe the Valley should get creative and go to a school like Saint Louis and see what it would take to lure them away. There would have to be no revenue sport benefits. Alternatively, I like the idea of NKU or maybe Tennessee Tech.

[Afreck2430]

Each time this discussion about Bradley being "proactive" comes up, we start looking at other conferences and talking about which would be the best for BU. But my opinion hasn't changed. I believe Bradley needs to stay in the MVC and try to help the conference make the best decision on adding new schools.
There is realistically only one non-football option that would be equal to or superior to the MVC-- the A-10. But I do not see that the A-10 would have any interest in Bradley. If they are even interested in expanding, which is unlikely since they already have 15 members- the largest mid-major conference in the country, they would want schools in big cities and major media markets. And they obviously favor schools from the states on the East Coast.
So IMO, Bradley isn't going to waste time and resources reaching out to other conferences. The MVC will survive and losing Missouri State isn't going to set them back a bit. Missouri State will be a lot easier to replace than Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, and even Loyola was. No offense to their sports programs (though they haven't made the NCAA Tournament this century), but nobody liked going to southwest Missouri anyway. I know I won't miss them.

I disagree that we should stay in the valley if the A-10 has called. I understand the tradition and history with the valley but at some point you can't lean on that and have to move forward. I think you need to reach out to potentially better options if it presents itself. I believe the valley will eventually fold in the next 5 years because of the football schools

[houstonbrave]

I am not a big college football fan but does this really bring in that much money ? I mean FIU, Jacksonville State, Liberty,La Tech, Middle Tennessee,New Mexico State, Sam Houston, UTEP, Western Kentucky, Kennesaw State, Delaware. I see a bunch of travel cost but no real TV revenue…..ya do get to visit Las Cruses and Huntsville, Texas though.

[patrick_o'brian]

Bring back the Wheat Shockers!!

[Tommy]

I agree with DC, unless it's the Big East calling, I wouldn't move. I would rather build a team capable of dominating the Valley, see Gonzaga, than move conferences for a somewhat lateral move. Maybe the Valley should get creative and go to a school like Saint Louis and see what it would take to lure them away. There would have to be no revenue sport benefits. Alternatively, I like the idea of NKU or maybe Tennessee Tech.

Couldn't agree more with the Gonzaga comparison. The WCC is not exactly a powerhouse conference and wasn't ranked as high as the Ivy League on Coach's post. Let's stick in the MVC, dominate, and become the next Gonzaga. Winning brings in fans, players, and revenue, so we should embrace an opportunity to become the dominant force in the Valley.

[Stryker]

Couldn't agree more with the Gonzaga comparison. The WCC is not exactly a powerhouse conference and wasn't ranked as high as the Ivy League on Coach's post. Let's stick in the MVC, dominate, and become the next Gonzaga. Winning brings in fans, players, and revenue, so we should embrace an opportunity to become the dominant force in the Valley.

Because the only thing that matters now with NIL and the transfer portal is money. Every decent D1 basketball program now has to buy their players every year. It won't be long, but imo, the haves and the have nots will separate even further in the future. There really wont be a way to become a Gonzaga in the future, because as soon as a mid major has great talent it will be gone in a year.

Also, fans aren't interested in watching low major teams come to Carver. They want solid mid majors coming in an playing the Braves. Filling the home schedule with teams like Chicago State or something isn't going to get interest, and if the MVC slides further down the conference rankings we won't be getting solid teams to come to Carver anymore.

[bradleyfan124]

Each time this discussion about Bradley being "proactive" comes up, we start looking at other conferences and talking about which would be the best for BU. But my opinion hasn't changed. I believe Bradley needs to stay in the MVC and try to help the conference make the best decision on adding new schools.
There is realistically only one non-football option that would be equal to or superior to the MVC-- the A-10. But I do not see that the A-10 would have any interest in Bradley. If they are even interested in expanding, which is unlikely since they already have 15 members- the largest mid-major conference in the country, they would want schools in big cities and major media markets. And they obviously favor schools from the states on the East Coast.
So IMO, Bradley isn't going to waste time and resources reaching out to other conferences. The MVC will survive and losing Missouri State isn't going to set them back a bit. Missouri State will be a lot easier to replace than Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, and even Loyola was. No offense to their sports programs (though they haven't made the NCAA Tournament this century), but nobody liked going to southwest Missouri anyway. I know I won't miss them.

Agree. Missouri Vally and Bradley have endured defections thru the years, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Memphis, Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, etc and survived. Everybody keeps talking about joining the A-10. The 3rd best team in the Missouri Vally just beat the champion of the A-10. They should want to join us

[yoda]

I am not a big college football fan but does this really bring in that much money ? I mean FIU, Jacksonville State, Liberty,La Tech, Middle Tennessee,New Mexico State, Sam Houston, UTEP, Western Kentucky, Kennesaw State, Delaware. I see a bunch of travel cost but no real TV revenue…..ya do get to visit Las Cruses and Huntsville, Texas though.

there are issues looming on the horizon that could not only change college football, but even "destroy" it.
Thus far, NCAA has dodged a couple bullets, massive lawsuits regarding head injuries, brain damage, and other liabilities,
but some think the day is coming that more and more lawsuits will be filed going after the bloated NCAA coffers, and
some are going to be successful some day, possibly crippling NCAA, forcing new rules & changes & hurting the sports' appeal.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/12/ncaa-had-brain-damage-information-that-would-destroy-football-docs/

In the meantime, NCAA basketball is on the rise- with surging attendance and ratings in both men's & women's

https://kjzz.org/content/1876133/final-four-attendance-could-reach-pre-pandemic-levels-first-time

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2024/3/28/...%20over%202023.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/10/12438...20since%202019.

There could come a day when basketball rivals FB for importance...

[Peoria_bradley_fan]

Agree. Missouri Vally and Bradley have endured defections thru the years, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Memphis, Creighton, Wichita State, Tulsa, etc and survived. Everybody keeps talking about joining the A-10. The 3rd best team in the Missouri Vally just beat the champion of the A-10. They should want to join us

Every team you mentioned is in a better position now for their program after leaving the Valley, yet some don't think we should try and follow those footsteps? That is puzzling to me. So we just wait until we're the last ones to shut off the lights?

We have to adapt and make moves to survive and thrive as a program. If the opportunity shows it's face to go to the A-10 it would be huge for our program.

The Valley doesn't have many great programs in it left. I would argue Bradley is the only one, and we don't even have a tournament win in 18 years! Sure some good teams over the last decade, but consistently good programs? No where near the liking of the A-10. I would far rather host the likings of Dayton/SLU/Richmond/VCU as opposed to the top 4 or 5 the Valley has to offer.

We have to stop being so fearful of change (NIL, potential conference realignment, etc) and start to embrace and operate at the forefront of the CBB landscape.

Side note, I love the hilariousness and irony that would be SLU coming to the Valley after the whole Schertz promotion. Would be amazing on multiple levels.