Missouri State to Sun Belt Conference?

[Wufan]

I am not going to say done deal yet but it is pretty close. With realignment unexpected stuff happens last minute (see Banowsky's last second change of heart a couple of years ago). I have more mixed emotions than I thought I would have. This has been a good home for us.

You backed off a bit from the CUSA debacle of a few years back, but AGAIN, it didn't happen.

[PantherSigEp]

I'm telling you guys, Casey is the anti-Nostradamus when is comes to this stuff.

[Snaggletooth]

It should be a done deal, JMU just rejected the sun belt, looks like SWMO is waiting for 3am phone call...

“Consistent with these values and principles and the ongoing issue of conference alignment, JMU will not pursue or accept an invitation from a conference that does not meet our criteria,” James Madison president Jonthan Alger

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

I am not going to say done deal yet but it is pretty close. With realignment unexpected stuff happens last minute (see Banowsky's last second change of heart a couple of years ago). I have more mixed emotions than I thought I would have. This has been a good home for us.

You backed off a bit from the CUSA debacle of a few years back, but AGAIN, it didn't happen.

Right dude, it didn't happen. That absolutely does not mean that it wasn't a realistic possibility and that real dialogue was occurring between the conference and the school. Things change with realignment very quickly.

Right now we are seeing kind of a civil war at MSU. Some people want to pursue the big time and some want to gut the football program. We'll see what eventually transpires. I can tell you this much, I wouldn't trade places with WSU. You all are on top of the world right now in basketball but this is as good as it ever gets.

[BCPanther]

So you wouldn't trade a half full JQH, an empty Plaster Field with a terrible team playing in it, declining volleyball, and underachieving women's basketball for a Final 4, 1 seed, and NCAA berths in WBB and VB??

Wow, I'm no Wichita apologist, but that is somewhere between asinine and delusional. You must really love Springvegas and Branson...

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

So you wouldn't trade a half full JQH, an empty Plaster Field with a terrible team playing in it, declining volleyball, and underachieving women's basketball for a Final 4, 1 seed, and NCAA berths in WBB and VB??

Wow, I'm no Wichita apologist, but that is somewhere between asinine and delusional. You must really love Springvegas and Branson...

I wouldn't trade it for their future. No way. The Final Four is awesome but it is just like our 2003 CWS trip. After a few years all you really have is a ratty looking commemorative Final Four shirt. I rock that t-shirt at the gym quite a bit and all people say is nice t-shirt dude.

I am somewhat envious of their success in men's basketball and volleyball. But it is all cyclical. Being #3 in the pecking order in a small, rural state doesn't scream long term, sustained success.

[Cdizzle]

So you wouldn't trade a half full JQH, an empty Plaster Field with a terrible team playing in it, declining volleyball, and underachieving women's basketball for a Final 4, 1 seed, and NCAA berths in WBB and VB??

Wow, I'm no Wichita apologist, but that is somewhere between asinine and delusional. You must really love Springvegas and Branson...

I wouldn't trade it for their future. No way. The Final Four is awesome but it is just like our 2003 CWS trip. After a few years all you really have is a ratty looking commemorative Final Four shirt. I rock that t-shirt at the gym quite a bit and all people say is nice t-shirt dude.

I am somewhat envious of their success in men's basketball and volleyball. But it is all cyclical. Being #3 in the pecking order in a small, rural state doesn't scream long term, sustained success.

I'm feeling better all the time about the sustained success of WSU athletics.

I still think our biggest problem in this year's tournament was not that the region was loaded, but that Casey didn't come by to predict our 30-point loss to Kentucky.

Some people having been predicting this 1-hit wonder bubble to pop for like 5 years now. How much longer will anyone take them seriously?

[shocktheheart]

So you wouldn't trade a half full JQH, an empty Plaster Field with a terrible team playing in it, declining volleyball, and underachieving women's basketball for a Final 4, 1 seed, and NCAA berths in WBB and VB??

Wow, I'm no Wichita apologist, but that is somewhere between asinine and delusional. You must really love Springvegas and Branson...

I wouldn't trade it for their future. No way. The Final Four is awesome but it is just like our 2003 CWS trip. After a few years all you really have is a ratty looking commemorative Final Four shirt. I rock that t-shirt at the gym quite a bit and all people say is nice t-shirt dude.

I am somewhat envious of their success in men's basketball and volleyball. But it is all cyclical. Being #3 in the pecking order in a small, rural state doesn't scream long term, sustained success.

Trying to compare a CWS trip to a Final Four is just dumb. If you think having a marginal FCS football team puts you in better position for realignment then you really don't see what is going on in BCS football. Those six conferences will eventually break away from the CUSA, MT West, MAC, Sunbelt, and whatever other conference is in FBS. Maybe WSU never leaves the Valley, but I will take there position over MSU any day of the week.

[MoStBear93]

Casey, as a fellow Bear fan, you are frickin' delusional. If the Bears made the Final Four, we would be on top of the world for a long time. WSU fans should be sticking their chest out for a while...they've had two amazing years in a row. Missouri State does have a bright future, but I think you are going a little far. I, for one, am not a fan of taking a step DOWN to the Sun Belt in basketball. FBS football aspirations are great, but if you are not an SEC school or Big 10 school, it really doesn't matter that much. Perfectly content with FCS football being played in our renovated stadium....

[uniftw]

What's funny is this all sounded like it could really happen...then casey shows up and it now sounds like MSU is on the cusp of not getting an invite/saying no thank you before an invite even has a chance to show up...