Key MVC games Thursday and Friday

[vu84v2]

While it is great to see all of the MVC teams playing well in the non-conference, Northern Iowa's success in the Atlantis tournament is the most impressive. UNI has setup a great no lose opportunity against Villanova...if UNI wins, they're probably ranked...if not, no one expected them to win. Anything can happen on that bizarre court at the Atlantis resort, especially if a team keeps playing as hard as UNI is playing. Go Valpo...but go Panthers!

[historyman]

I trust Murray State to come in and compete in the MVC right away more than I trust Milwaukee even if the upside exists for them in theory. They feel like a project like Loyola that will take years to get going if they ever do. They add nothing right now and anything they may add is unrealized potential they may never reach.

I hope if Milwaukee gets invited to the MVC that they are just like Loyola. What motivation that would be for Valpo! It would hurt for a while but Valpo can make a lot of strides off the jealousy of former conference mates and near-by programs (Butler, Indiana State, IPFW, Loyola (once former now current), Detroit, Oakland, even NKU).



Sorry, couldn't help but bring the Loyola rub in.

[VUGrad1314]

I trust Murray State to come in and compete in the MVC right away more than I trust Milwaukee even if the upside exists for them in theory. They feel like a project like Loyola that will take years to get going if they ever do. They add nothing right now and anything they may add is unrealized potential they may never reach.

I hope if Milwaukee gets invited to the MVC that they are just like Loyola. What motivation that would be for Valpo! It would hurt for a while but Valpo can make a lot of strides off the jealousy of former conference mates and near-by programs (Butler, Indiana State, IPFW, Loyola (once former now current), Detroit, Oakland, even NKU).



Sorry, couldn't help but bring the Loyola rub in.

That post is from last November when the season wasn't even two weeks old. Tell me, at the time of that post, what did I say that was factually inaccurate?

Loyola WAS a project when they were admitted into the MVC

Loyola DID take years to get going This year (year 5 for them in MVC play) marked their first above .500 finish in conference play.

Loyola was just starting to show how special their team was at the time of that post. They were finally "getting going"

If anything that post illustrates skepticism about Milwaukee, not doubt of Loyola and what they could accomplish this past year.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this post. In fact it raises several questions:

Why would Valpo reap jealousy from nearby schools for a conference mate's accomplishments while fellow MVC member Indiana State wouldn't?

Why would Butler who reaps more money from their lofty perch in the Big East be jealous at all?

Why would Loyola who has done what we want to do one day  be jealous of any MVC member doing the same? It helps them too. Their success is our success and vice versa.

Why would Milwaukee be added to the MVC before NKU?

I get the notion that a rising tide lifts all boats, so Valpo sees more money, more visibility, better recruiting, and perhaps better scheduling, so I can see the jealousy of nearby non-MVC schools, except Butler and the P5s in the region; but this feels like a strange post at a strange time.

It also doesn't mean we should roll the dice again on another downtrodden big city school. Let's compare Loyola and Milwaukee:

Loyola is in a far more attractive market than Milwaukee.

Loyola is a large  private school. That makes their potential far greater than that of any public school because they are not beholden to another university system and not subject to state funding which leaves them somewhat insulated from economic troubles.

Loyola's endowment far outstrips that of Milwaukee

Loyola's basketball history was arguably better than Milwaukee's at the time they joined the MVC in 2013 even with a long stretch of being terrible. With this most recent final 4 berth, that fact is beyond dispute.

Literally everything was already in place for Loyola to be a great program again before the MVC even came calling. All that was needed was something to get the fanbase and the donor base to care enough to give the program  the push they needed. I'm not convinced the same potential exists for Milwaukee though I could certainly be mistaken.

Don't discount these points. The first three on the Loyola vs Milwaukee list are probably the main reasons why we edged out Murray State for membership when Wichita State left, except we're not as large as Loyola, and we're on the very edge of that big, attractive media market.

Again, I'm not sure what your post was driving at. Would you care to explain?

[VULB#62]

I don't think Milwaukee is gonna pull it together anytime soon and become attractive to the MVC, however, from a purely selfish perspective, I wish Valpo would schedule a long series of H&H games with them, so that every other year Valpo could play in MKE where we have a very strong alumni base and I can get to the game in 90 minutes  )  Oh, on alternate years, maybe a Marquette H&H?  We used to play them when Al McGuire was their coach and it was a great series.

[VUGrad1314]

I would be all for a Marquette home and home, but to get that we'd need to go on a UNI-type run and gain the kind of respect they have won for themselves. I hope they get strong again so that they can keep that respect. It's good for the MVC.  I would even take the occasional one-off game with Milwaukee which could progress to a series if they ever got good again.