Belmont to the MVC

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JP4CY

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I read that and it totally makes sense. There's also some smoke that the new WAC is really pressing hard at New Mexico to be the anchor for that league. The Mountain West's biggest problem has always been that nobody really wants to be with Fresno and San Jose but they don't have another viable league to jump to.
Murray is very tradition rich. If the MVC can snag them, that's a good get.
 

cyman05

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I'll answer this an then leave you guys to go after him...

The end game is most likely 14. Murray State, UT-Arlington and Little Rock.

UTA and Little Rock are getting the boot from the Sun Belt because they don't play football and they're geographically a nice bridge to Missouri State who has become somewhat of an outlier. Plus UTA just announced that they're doubling their basketball budget.

Makes the Valley at least on par with the A10 and new American and probably moves it ahead of whatever is going to be left of the Mountain West after the American picks what they want. It's a really good move for the league.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I haven’t heard about Belmont and Murray St but did hear about UTA and Little Rock to the MVC the other day. Moves the geography of the conference south for BB, but I’m guessing Arch Madness remains.
 

Clonehomer

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To not spill the beans on pay walls but The Athletic believes CSU and Air Force would bolt today to the AAC.
SDSU and Boise probably wouldn't because they are hedging that the B12 would expand and snag them.

Well if the Atlantic is reporting that I'd expect the AAC to collapse within the week and the MWC to pick up the pieces.
 
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1UNI2ISU

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I haven’t heard about Belmont and Murray St but did hear about UTA and Little Rock to the MVC the other day. Moves the geography of the conference south for BB, but I’m guessing Arch Madness remains.

Arch Madness isn't going anywhere. They flirted with Kansas City about a decade ago but never really considered moving. They've been there for 30 years at this point and it's still going to be as geographically central as anywhere.
 
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cyIclSoneU

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I'll answer this an then leave you guys to go after him...

The end game is most likely 14. Murray State, UT-Arlington and Little Rock.

UTA and Little Rock are getting the boot from the Sun Belt because they don't play football and they're geographically a nice bridge to Missouri State who has become somewhat of an outlier. Plus UTA just announced that they're doubling their basketball budget.

Makes the Valley at least on par with the A10 and new American and probably moves it ahead of whatever is going to be left of the Mountain West after the American picks what they want. It's a really good move for the league.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

UTA and (to a lesser extent) Little Rock really expand the conference footprint. Belmont does too but they have a long history of success. I don't see UTA and Little Rock additions bumping the MVC up to A-10 or AAC level. The MVC should put out floaters and see if Wichita State wants to come back now that the AAC is weaker. The real power move would be Wichita State plus grabbing SLU and Dayton to go to 14. Then you would be talking about a league that would overtake the A-10 and AAC, but not now or with UTA/UALR.
 

JP4CY

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UTA and (to a lesser extent) Little Rock really expand the conference footprint. Belmont does too but they have a long history of success. I don't see UTA and Little Rock additions bumping the MVC up to A-10 or AAC level. The MVC should put out floaters and see if Wichita State wants to come back now that the AAC is weaker. The real power move would be Wichita State plus grabbing SLU and Dayton to go to 14. Then you would be talking about a league that would overtake the A-10 and AAC, but not now or with UTA/UALR.
Last decade-ish, I've wondered if SLU would ever get a Big East sniff. Now that they've added UConn again, it would get them to 12.
 

cyIclSoneU

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Last decade-ish, I've wondered if SLU would ever get a Big East sniff. Now that they've added UConn again, it would get them to 12.

I agree and I would be surprised to see the MVC raid the A-10. The A-10 probably thinks it has a real shot to be the clear #7 hoops conference now given everything going on. But I think the MVC could give it a shot and if they had Wichita on board it might be enough for SLU and Dayton.
 

cyclones500

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UTA and (to a lesser extent) Little Rock really expand the conference footprint. Belmont does too but they have a long history of success. I don't see UTA and Little Rock additions bumping the MVC up to A-10 or AAC level. The MVC should put out floaters and see if Wichita State wants to come back now that the AAC is weaker. The real power move would be Wichita State plus grabbing SLU and Dayton to go to 14. Then you would be talking about a league that would overtake the A-10 and AAC, but not now or with UTA/UALR.

I wonder if Saint Louis and/or Dayton would consider that a lateral move. SLU obviously makes perfect sense geographically. Dayton would be a bit more home-runnish for MVC (and expand footprint better).

Also, would Saint Louis prefer to hold out for a possible eventual Big East move? (Edit, @JP4CY beat me to this)
 
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1UNI2ISU

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UTA and (to a lesser extent) Little Rock really expand the conference footprint. Belmont does too but they have a long history of success. I don't see UTA and Little Rock additions bumping the MVC up to A-10 or AAC level. The MVC should put out floaters and see if Wichita State wants to come back now that the AAC is weaker. The real power move would be Wichita State plus grabbing SLU and Dayton to go to 14. Then you would be talking about a league that would overtake the A-10 and AAC, but not now or with UTA/UALR.

I would agree with you but Wichita napalmed every bridge on the way out. I don't think you could get enough of the presidents to agree to bring them back after some of the things their chancellor and AD said when they left the first time.

SLU has had a standing offer from the Valley for 30 years. They view themselves as an East Coast institution that happens to be located in the midwest. They aren't coming to the Valley. SLU, Dayton, Richmond, VCU and, now, Loyola would give up anything they could possibly have to to get into the Big East and aren't going to make another move that isn't the Big East.

All in all the Valley is going to come out of this realignment healthier than the last one. Belmont said no the last time around so getting them is huge and the concerns about them losing steam after Rick Byrd retired are pretty much gone. Murray is a good basketball add and stabilizes football because it puts all of the voting power back with the Valley schools and away from the Summit League schools and the absolute prima donna asshattery that lives in Fargo.

I agree on UTA and Little Rock but I just don't see a way the Valley says no to getting into Texas.
 

JP4CY

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I would agree with you but Wichita napalmed every bridge on the way out. I don't think you could get enough of the presidents to agree to bring them back after some of the things their chancellor and AD said when they left the first time.

SLU has had a standing offer from the Valley for 30 years. They view themselves as an East Coast institution that happens to be located in the midwest. They aren't coming to the Valley. SLU, Dayton, Richmond, VCU and, now, Loyola would give up anything they could possibly have to to get into the Big East and aren't going to make another move that isn't the Big East.

All in all the Valley is going to come out of this realignment healthier than the last one. Belmont said no the last time around so getting them is huge and the concerns about them losing steam after Rick Byrd retired are pretty much gone. Murray is a good basketball add and stabilizes football because it puts all of the voting power back with the Valley schools and away from the Summit League schools and the absolute prima donna asshattery that lives in Fargo.

I agree on UTA and Little Rock but I just don't see a way the Valley says no to getting into Texas.
Weren't the Koch's trying to bring back football to Wichita?
 

1UNI2ISU

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Weren't the Koch's trying to bring back football to Wichita?

If the AAC would have required it for membership, they would have done it. You know hindsight and all, but maybe if you wouldn't have constantly cheated and spent the better part of 25 years on probation you wouldn't have had to drop it in the first place.
 

heitclone

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Belmont and Murray would be really solid adds, the trickle down from the p5 is going to be interesting to see play out.
 

OnlyCyclones

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I think this is a great move for the MVC, but could someone please explain what Belmont gets from this? Even if the MVC is a consistent two bid league, their chances at the tourney are reduced now, just based on competition, especially if Murray and others come along too. Is there a financial gap between the OVC and MCV?
 

1UNI2ISU

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I think this is a great move for the MVC, but could someone please explain what Belmont gets from this? Even if the MVC is a consistent two bid league, their chances at the tourney are reduced now, just based on competition, especially if Murray and others come along too. Is there a financial gap between the OVC and MCV?

Huge financial gap. The average Valley basketball budget is about $3.5M, the average OVC budget is $1.5M.

The Valley also has TV contracts with ESPN, CBS and Bally Sports (old FSN) while the OVC pays ESPN to show 3 of their games every year.

Lastly, the OVC is imploding. They've lost 5 members to the ASun and chances are good they'll lose more.
 

LutherClone

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Last time around, there was a lot of talk about UW-Milwaukee wanting in but they ended up taking Valpo instead. They would make a nice add to round out the league to twelve. The Extra Points article that the original post is based off of also mentions Western Illinois is likely to head to the OVC from the Summit League. In that case, I could see the MVC schools trying to get Murray State in order to backfill the open MVFC spot as well.
 

1UNI2ISU

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Pretty heavy reports out of Kentucky that Murray State has accepted an invite as well.

The Valley has passed the Mountain West and is on par with the A10 and new AAC
 
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JM4CY

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Pretty heavy reports out of Kentucky that Murray State has accepted an invite as well.

The Valley has passed the Mountain West and is on par with the A10 and new AAC
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