We don't have to. If we dropped football we would just have to add other men's sports to remain compliant.
You and others are free to disagree (and I know you / they probably will), but all of those schools are private universities. How many public universities out there that don't have football are big time basketball brands? Here's what I came up with.
1) Wichita State- I think one of the Koch brothers may have died recently, but they give Wichita State a lot of money. A lot of the MVC schools, both private and public, were happy to see them leave for this fact alone.
2) Vermont- Farthest they've ever gone is the round of 32 once in 2005. Since 2003 they've made the tournament 9 times. They also have 13 regular season conference titles this century. Like Murray State in the OVC, it could just be the result of just being a big fish in a little pond.
Others (all public, no football) that every once in a while have pretty good years in no order.
- UNC Asheville
- UNC Wilmington
- UNC Greensboro
- College of Charleston
- UT Arlington
- UA Little Rock
- Wright State
- Northern Kentucky
So there's two exceptions to the rule, 8 or so that make noise sometimes, and then there's a longer list of public, no football schools that are never relevant.