MVC targeting Valpo & Murray State to create 11 team league

[BirdsEyeView]

There is no "next Wichita". It's why adding to get to 11 or 12 with strong teams being the addition, is the best option if we are going to add teams.

Correct, not from the get-go. I would much prefer pick up a school with the potential to be the next Wichita. That is, a commitment to athletics and a willingness to put money towards athletics.

I really don't think that's Valpo

[havoc]

What would Arch Madness look like with 11 teams? Only top 10 make it? 10 vs 11 Wednesday PIG just to make it to the Thursday PIGs?

Thursday
8 vs 9
7 vs 10
6 vs 11

Friday
1 vs 8/9
4 vs 5
2 vs 7/10
3 vs 6/11

Saturday
Semifinals

Sunday
Championship Game

For whatever reason you don't see it much outside of the NFL, (there probably is one I can't think of) but I'd like to see an adjustment of the bracket following the first round of games. #1 seed plays in the lowest remaining seed, #2 plays the next, and so on, then continue the regular bracket style tournament from there on out.

[Svoboda]

Budgets per 2015 OpEd data:

$3,128,419 - Bradley (no football) - 121st nationally
$2,899,699 - Northern Iowa - 132nd nationally
$2,899,667 - Evansville (no football) - 133rd nationally
$2,745,553 - Loyola (no football) - 139th nationally
$2,666,213 - Valparaiso (non-scholarship football) - 143rd nationally
$2,472,212 - Drake (non-scholarship football) - 153rd nationally
$2,452,961 - Illinois State - 156th nationally
$2,279,917 - Missouri State - 171st nationally
$2,241,413 - Southern Illinois - 175th nationally
$2,218,712 - Murray State - 177th nationally
$1,832,975 - Indiana State - 208th nationally

[AndShock]

There is no "next Wichita". It's why adding to get to 11 or 12 with strong teams being the addition, is the best option if we are going to add teams.

Correct, not from the get-go. I would much prefer pick up a school with the potential to be the next Wichita. That is, a commitment to athletics and a willingness to put money towards athletics.

I really don't think that's Valpo

The only next Wichita in college basketball is Grand Canyon and the Valley isn't going to want to spend the money to travel there. Set your sights lower.

[squirrel]

Re-seeding a conference tourney only works if you have a break between games. I would imagine if the league is targeting 11, it's to get 6 fan bases on site for the opening day of the tournament, and keep 3 for another day.

There are a couple conferences out there that do re-seed even for the next day, but one team that had won just absolutely got waxed because they went from the late game to early the next day. I don't think we'll see that in the Valley. Usually that is done to deliberately protect a league's top team(s).

The Big West does it, and one year ended up with the 5 and 7 seed in the championship.

[straykat]

or does going to 11 really mean that Evansville is headed to Horizon????(so back to 10)

There have been strong rumors the Horizon was looking at "expanding".

Hypothetically, if Valpo does move to the MVC, UE would be a home run for the Horizon.

They are Valpo, but with better facilities....and much less success. That could change in the Horizon though. Evansville dominated a smaller conference prior to moving MVC.

Evansville left the Horizon (Then it was called Midwestern Collegiate Conference) to join the Valley. Why would they go back?

[TheAsianSensation]

As a comparison, the MAAC has a 20 game conference schedule, and I'd argue it cost Manhattan an at-large bid in 2016, and maybe a couple others this decade as well.

I'm guessing you mean Monmouth as I can't imagine the 6th place team in the MAAC is typically in at-large contention.

It is all hypothetical as you don't know who Monmouth would have scheduled in place of 2 MAAC games. However, I don't see many fans of current MVC schools being upset at the prospects of playing a non-conference game against Valpo or Murray State recently. At best it is a resume helping win, at worst it is much better than a SWAC game.

crap dangit all to hell how do I mix up Manhattan and Monmouth

I know it's all hypothetical, but the issue with Monmouth was losing 3 league games on the road at sub-200 teams. By having to play each team twice, you absorb every single bad opponent in the league twice. By having an 18-game schedule, you can manipulate it to help the top teams avoid the calorie bombs in conference. This is what the AAC will likely do with Wichita, making them play all the top teams twice and USF/UCF/Tulane once.

[TheAsianSensation]

What I like about Valpo is that they were Horizon favorites coming into the year...and scheduled like it. They knew they'd be good so they tried to give themselves a legit chance at an at-large. That's the type of attitude I want to see out of an invited team.

[BirdsEyeView]

There is no "next Wichita". It's why adding to get to 11 or 12 with strong teams being the addition, is the best option if we are going to add teams.

Correct, not from the get-go. I would much prefer pick up a school with the potential to be the next Wichita. That is, a commitment to athletics and a willingness to put money towards athletics.

I really don't think that's Valpo

The only next Wichita in college basketball is Grand Canyon and the Valley isn't going to want to spend the money to travel there. Set your sights lower.

I mentioned them in another thread on here earlier today. Would love Grand Canyon

[mvfcfan]

Evansville is not going to the Horizon. Murray State and Valpo should both be coming in and everyone should be happy about that. They are both traditionally good basketball programs that are both pretty close to all the other schools in our conference. Literally the farthest I'd have to go to go watch a road game from Terre Haute is either Springfield or Cedar Falls. I'm thrilled about this. I think it would be cool if we could get Belmont to join as well. I'm optimistic that our conference will be better next year than it was this year. Bye Wichita! You won't be missed.