Valpo to be visited by MVC this week, thoughts?

[valpotx]

Not very many mvc fans are happy Valpo is a lead candidate....

Awesome!  We experienced the same from the HL school fans, and we came to dominate the conference in men's basketball.  Let's do the same in the MVC!

[usc4valpo]

Has this message ever been this active? This could be a tremoudous time for Valpo athletics.

[covufan]

We could be the league's standard bearer in 2 years. That's all we can do. The rest is up to the other 9 to stop living off someone else's success and elevate their own program to tournament worthy status. Most of them aren't even close in terms recruiting, scheduling, and in some cases coaching.

I think we can be competitive in year one.  In recruiting sense, we are at the top, along with UIC and Oakland, of the Horizon.  In the MVC, without Wichita St, we would also be at the top - recruiting-wise.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/conferences/horizon

http://www.verbalcommits.com/conferences/missouri-valley

[UNIfan]

I could get behind the idea of adding you guys and Murray State, and I think I will be pulling for that as a best case scenario for the valley based on the reality of the situation. Belmont would be great, but we all know that is a stretch. I would look forward to having some fresh competition coming to the McLeod Center!

[VULB#62]

Not very many mvc fans are happy Valpo is a lead candidate....

Well, what school(s) do they put ahead of Valpo???        Kansas State? UMKC? Iowa State?  Belmont? The Dakota schools?  Denver Unversity?  Omaha?       The options, realistically, are not that numerous.

[VULB#62]

Can someone post MVC board?

Try this....

http://www.mvcfans.com/viewforum.php?f=2

[hailcrusaders]

A few things to consider regarding Plains schools:

I doubt SDSU would be too keen on leaving the Summit when the conference tournament is in their own backyard (Brookings to Sioux Falls is less than an hour). That'd be like Oakland leaving the Horizon and Motor City Madness, supposing they could actually win games at the Joe.

NDSU has natural rivalries in SDSU and soon-to-be UND in the Summit. Summit is a better geographic fit for NDSU, and Fargo not the best for the MVC. That said, NDSU basketball has had reasonable success in the last few years and may want to take a step up.

UNO is not in a good financial situation. They would probably have to increase spending to compete in the Horizon, plus balance a D-1 hockey program (expensive), which is not likely considering the budget shortfall in the UN system.

[IrishDawg]

Makes sense to add an FCS program along with Valpo to keep both sides of the league happy, and the 20 game conference schedule also makes sense, especially with the MVC wanting to get home and homes with power conference teams, and not having much success doing it.  The schools are better off playing each other rather than a couple games against the Chicago State's of the world.

The TV money will be better for a couple more years, and the leftover tourney money will be better (though probably not for Valpo and Murray State), and I'm sure the conference games will generate more fan interest, though it'll be interesting to see just how much more interest that amounts to.

The Horizon will be interesting going forward assuming Valpo leaves (which if they're invited, I'd be shocked if they didn't).

[bigmosmithfan1]

Have to say I'm amused at the posters on the MVC board going on and on about how terrible we were "without Peters." As opposed to all those Valley teams that would just keep rolling after losing an All-American the week before the conference tournament, I guess?

[Valpo89]

sorry to bring this up, but could you imagine how Bill Steinbrecher or Alan Harre would handle this situation?

Never would have happened back in the day, particularly when Jon was the Mid-Con commissioner.

[wh]

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/850414562079887361
https://twitter.com/mid_madness/status/850414808226770945

https://www.fanragsports.com/news/mvc-targeting-valpo-murray-state-additions-following-wichita-states-departure/

MVC targeting Valpo, Murray State as additions following Wichita State's departure
By: Jon Rothstein
Posted on Apr 7, 2017

The Missouri Valley Conference is targeting both Valparaiso and Murray State as potential additions following Wichita State's departure to the American Athletic Conference, multiple sources told FanRag Sports.

Those two additions would give the league 11 teams in total which would lead to each team playing twice during the regular season in a 20-game league format, according to separate source.

FanRag Sports reported earlier this week that the MVC presidents and athletic directors would meet on Sunday in Saint Louis to discuss the future of the league.

Wichita State officially joined the American Athletic Conference on Friday.

The Shockers became the 12th basketball program in the league. They join Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa as current conference members.

While operating in the Missouri Valley Conference, Wichita State managed to make six-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Since Gregg Marshall became the program's head coach in 2007, the Shockers have an overall record of 261-90. Marshall just finished his 10th season as the head coach of Wichita State.

FanRag Sports will have more on this situation as it develops behind the scenes.

Over on the Milwaukee board Jimmy Lemke just said we're not leaving. He's saying Rothstein has it wrong. I guess that confirms that we are leaving.

[VULB#62]

I just got confirmation that we're leaving. Over on the Milwaukee board Jimmy Lemke said we're not. He's saying Rothstein has it wrong.

That's funny!

[NativeCheesehead]

So it appears doing a quick perusal of the few active message boards in the HL and the top few in the MVC that nobody likes us. Is it wrong for me to take a perverse pleasure in that?

[a3uge]

I just got confirmation that we're leaving. Over on the Milwaukee board Jimmy Lemke said we're not. He's saying Rothstein has it wrong.

That's funny!

He's still holding out hope for that UIC to MVC "done deal"

[Valpo13]

Since 2010 Valpo is:
4-2 vs. Loyola (including HL games)
5-0 vs. Missouri State
0-1 vs. Evansville
1-0 vs. Drake
2-0 vs. Indiana State

3-0 vs. Murray State (seems to be preferred choice of MVCfans.com)

[FieldGoodie05]

Since 2010 Valpo is:
4-2 vs. Loyola (including HL games)
5-0 vs. Missouri State
0-1 vs. Evansville
1-0 vs. Drake
2-0 vs. Indiana State

3-0 vs. Murray State (seems to be preferred choice of MVCfans.com)

But geez, without Alec Peters VU is not Valley material.  Good to know Alec has played with us for 7-years.

[FieldGoodie05]

So it appears doing a quick perusal of the few active message boards in the HL and the top few in the MVC that nobody likes us. Is it wrong for me to take a perverse pleasure in that?

I can't imagine why schools with 12,000+ students (HL schools like UWM, OU etc) don't eat us for lunch.  It's their inferiority complexes and nothing else.  Not sure we put out a vibe of elitist corn boys...

Even in the summit league (Mid-Con in my days) I don't recall this type of hatred towards us.  Maybe it's proximity of the fan base, ORU and SUU were quite a ways.

Goes to show what winning gets you.

[FWalum]

So it appears doing a quick perusal of the few active message boards in the HL and the top few in the MVC that nobody likes us. Is it wrong for me to take a perverse pleasure in that?

I don't think that there is any real hatred toward us on the MVC forum (OK, maybe a few). It seems to be more concern about whether we can sustain the program without Alec and Bryce. They don't seem to know that we were down more that just Alec those last few games and they have no idea who we have coming in for next year. I think we are just reloading and certainly will not be a 250 rpi program like one of the posters thought. 

[bigmosmithfan1]

Yeah, the prevailing notion over there that our program somehow didn't exist before 2015 is quite perplexing. (Though I will credit one of their more data-savvy posters who noted that both us and Murray have the highest KenPom ratings over the past 11 years of any of the candidates being mentioned...)

[bigmosmithfan1]

This one cracked me up...

Since you asked....

1) Saint Louis. Convince them their best path to the Big East is through the MVC like Creighton.
Gives them the potential to be the next Wichita St or Gonzaga which isn't happening in the A10

So, your pitch to add a better team to your conference is to convince them it will be easier to *leave for a better conference* in a few years, putting your league right back where it is right now?

Look, if you can convince SLU to move to a league fewer bids, go for it, but I'm fairly certain this won't be the approach.

[ISUBird]

As an ISU fan I have seen a lot of people who are supportive of you moving to the MVC.

[valpotx]

When was the last time that our RPI was over 200?  Probably in 2008-2009, when we had several key players leave for various reasons?  When before that??  We have a winning record in what, 22 of the last 24 seasons?

[M]

Jimmy is full of himself, and a bunch of other stuff. My favorite was Bryce to Northwestern was a done deal.

[vu72]

If we moved we would be in the top 3 in the Valley.  Matt will have gained his coaching legs, Joe and Bakari are studs,Tevonn is all conference, our bigs gain a year of "growth" and we add probably the most athletic class ever to join the team.  Other than that, we will suck!   

[wh]

Valparaiso reportedly in consideration for Missouri Valley
Paul Oren Times Correspondent Apr 7, 2017 Updated 5 min ago 

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/valparaiso-reportedly-in-consideration-for-missouri-valley/article_0de463b5-3af0-5a3c-8520-a03a48c76901.html