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Another possible round of conference changes

Cincinnati has always seen themselves as an "Eastern" school and some of their natural rivalries would disappear with a move to the Big 12. On the other hand, they want to build their football program back to national prominence, and that isn't likely to happen in the AAC. If they move to the Big 12, it is purely because of the draw of football revenues.
 
Here is an interesting article about a sort of mutiny by nearly half of the members of the Jayhawk Conference, a large junior college conference made up of junior colleges in Kansas. 8 of the Jayhawk Conference schools are threatening to leave the conference if it does not loosen conference restrictions on the number of scholarships they can give out, roster size limits, and the restrictions on scholarships to out-of-state athletes. The conference has much stricter scholarship limits than the NJCAA does.
http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/state-college-sports/article107780787.html
 
Vent said:
The Big 12 announced it is staying at 10 teams and not expanding.
Click to expand...

This is a bit of a surprise, since there were several good schools wanting to join that would have seemed to benefit the Big 12 conference, the current members were all in favor of some form of expansion, and it would have significantly increased conference revenues and helped them create a lucrative conference TV network like the Big Ten and SEC have, beside bringing the membership back to 12 teams.
Most experts expected them to add 2 teams and possibly 4, however any new member needed to get 8 of the 10 current members to vote for them and they could not agree on which new applicants to add-
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2016/10/17/big-12-makes-no-decision-expansion/92299150/
 
Wichita, Saint Louis, VCU are all targets for the American Athletic Conference (AAC) looking to expand
..and even talk of Middle Tennessee & NIU
https://tmgcollegesports.com/2017/03/01/american-conference-looking-to-upgrade-hoops/


They have 12 schools for football
Temple, South Florida, UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Connecticut
Navy, Tulsa, Memphis, Houston, SMU, Tulane

and only 11 for basketball
Temple, South Florida, UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Connecticut
Tulsa, Memphis, Houston, SMU, Tulane

A couple potential problems ...

- the bottom 2/3 of the AAC is very weak...7 of the 11 teams have RPI over 100 and three are well over 200 - and this exact same argument
..that the bottom of the Valley is weak - is what Wichita people have been throwing around for years as to why they aren't happy in the MVC
- They would become the far west extreme of the conference members
- Landing Wichita or VCU would help THEM possibly way more than helping Wichita or VCU - they will start whining about having anchors in the league such as Tulane, South Florida or NIU
- then you gotta factor in lots more travel expense
- members are already bolting (Rutgers to Big Ten, Louisville to ACC, and now talk of Cincy, UConn, Houston, SMU all bolting elsewhere (Big 12?)) - thus in a couple years it may be a terribly weak conference
- in the end it'll all come down to whether Wichita, VCU or SLU thinks they will make more money - it will be a pure money decision......
... and history, 65-year rivalries, geography, risk of being left standing at the altar when all the FB schools leave, and being the little sister to the FOOTBALL schools will take a back seat to the prospect of cashing in.
If Wichita does leave, we'd do just fine going after Valparaiso, Oakland or some other relacement
 
I would have to say each of the 11 teams in the AAC that compete in basketball would be extremely competitive in the MVC. If we had any of those teams on our schedule as a non conference home game, we'd be saying how great of an addition they are to our schedule. From a marketing and media standpoint, it's not even close. Philly, Tampa, Orlando, Cincinnati, Hartford, Memphis, Houston, Dallas and Tulsa. Compared to Peoria, Evansville, Terra Haute, Carbondale, Des Moines, Springfield, MO, Cedar Rapids and Chicago.
 
The article in today's paper, regarding the AAC and their Commissioner, is exactly what I think about when I say the Valley needs to be more proactive instead of reactive. They are establishing guidelines for all schools to try to achieve to become one of the Power 5 conferences. I know the MVC will never be in that mix, but wouldn't it be nice to have leadership in the MVC, that is able to unite all the member schools to make the MVC one of the top two conferences, on a consistent bases, among the top mid major conferences? I don't see that happening.

I would rather see the league set an agenda as well as perimeters for making the MVC one of the top mid major basketball conferences in the country on a regular basis. Living on the league's past laurels and hoping for change has led us to where the league is now. I would rather see the league set clear objectives and monitor the progress toward those objectives than stay the course. I believe adding more teams is important, but not as important as where we've been, where we are, where do we want to go and HOW ARE WE GONNA GET THERE. It's difficult to add the correct team(s), until you have a plan of action and the new team(s) plan to be a committed part of that process.
 
their schools all have football, so we can't exactly claim to be among the Power-5
but I do agree we need to market better - and we need to get the schools in the MVC to schedule better and stop using RPI as a tiebreaker - USE Strength of Schedule!!!!
 
I know the Power 5 conferences all play football. That's why I said "we can never be in that mix". We can however be one of the best basketball conferences among the Group of 5. Improving schedules and marketing alone won't do it. You need a comprehensive plan. Playing a better schedule and getting your brains beat out doesn't improve anything but your schedule. That's why you need proactive leadership in the league. What we're doing isn't working. Unless you like the path the league is on.
 
Most of what has brought the MVC down in recent years is nothing Doug Elgin could be considered responsible for, IMO.
How could he have prevented Creighton or Wichita State from leaving?
And the major problem is that so many of the historically strong MVC programs have all tanked in the last 3 to 5 years. The somewhat sudden downturn at Drake, Evansville, Missouri State, Bradley, Indiana State, SIU, and now even at UNI, plus the addition of a weak Loyola program in 2013, has been the biggest reason the MVC has fallen from one of the top 2 mid-major conferences, to a mediocre, 1-bid conference. Every one of those programs, except newcomer Loyola, had good, NCAA Tournament worthy teams within the last decade, but now they are all crappy to mediocre teams at best, and look like they may never make another NCAA Tournament. And now even ISU has blown their chance at an NCAA Tournament appearance and is on their way down. ISU has now gone longer than any other MVC school since their last NCAA Tournament appearance (it will be 20 years and counting).
Maybe it is just the trend and maybe midmajors can no longer compete for the better recruits, better coaches, and better facilities because of the money differences between them and the Power 6 conferences. But again, I don't see how Doug Elgin is responsible for the failure of all these disappointing programs.
 
Over the last several years several other mid major conferences have either caught up with the MVC or we've dropped down to their level. Either way, something is woefully wrong. Either one is not good. I believe it's the later. Otherwise schools like Wichita and Creighton, both non football schools, would not be leaving our league for better competition. I don't know the answers and neither does anyone on this message board. I believe we need new leadership of the league, with fresh ideas, ingenuity and developmental skills. The status quo is no longer acceptable . As Satchel Paige use "don't look behind you, somebody is gaining on you".
 
I disagree about Doug Elgin. It happened on his watch. I'm sure he is getting paid a decent salary to run the MVC. We are quickly heading in the direction of the Summit League. In fact the MVC is rumored to be considering one of their schools to join our league. I'm not familiar with all of the by-laws and such of the league. There has to be some incentives the league can undertake to improve the quality of the conference. It is time for "outside of the box" thinking and leadership.
 
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