Loyola-Chicago joining MVC this week (Oakland to Horizon League)

[4Q_iu]

ESPN is reporting 'rumors' of discussions between the 7 non-football/non-scholie football (Catholic) members of the Big East to form a NEW Conference... those schools are:

DePaul Univ, Georgetown Univ, Marquette Univ, Providence College, St John's Univ, Seton Hall Univ and Villanova Univ

While only those 7 were mentioned; the smart money would have them pursue Dayton, St Louis and Xavier from the Atlantic-10...

Hint: Anyone want to guess the odds they WON'T admit schools planning to add, upgrade their football programs???

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I'd bet Creighton is also on their wish list.

 

[Chief_Quabachi]

I look for Creighton to leave the MVC and become a member of a Catholic B'ball "only" conference.

 

[4Q_iu]

I'd bet Creighton is also on their wish list.

That would be a possibility; if the NE schools are willing to fly to Chicago and Milwaukee; Cincinnati, Dayton, St Louis and Omaha are only ~30-45 minutes more flying time...

Who replaces Creighton if they bolt for this or other conference?

ESPN LINK: And pay attention to the language that if all seven leave together, THEY get the auto bid to the NCAA BBall Tournament. Current Big East Conference rules allow for dissolution of the league and these 7 schools can vote it in; the other 3 remaining schools (UCinn, South FLA and UConn) can't stop it AND the 'new schools' (Temple, San Diego St, Boise, etc aren't voting members.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...-schools-leaning-leaving-big-east-sources-say

 

[bent20]

Losing Creighton might hurt the MVC's prestige but it would help level the playing field.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Losing Creighton might hurt the MVC's prestige but it would help level the playing field.

Yeah, both Creighton and Wichita State have a distinct advantage we've talked about elsewhere since they don't field football teams. Since none of the University resources get allocated there, they dump buckets of money into the hoops program.

 

[bent20]

Yeah, both Creighton and Wichita State have a distinct advantage we've talked about elsewhere since they don't field football teams. Since none of the University resources get allocated there, they dump buckets of money into the hoops program.

That and Creighton being privately funded.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

If this goes down a certain way, with the Big East 7 poaching a few A-10 schools, and then coming to Creighton AND Wichita State, the Valley could be in trouble. The "Big Dogs" of the conference are gone, our prestige goes down the toilet, and we become the Horizon League II. Some teams like UNI and Illinois State could possibly try and bolt for FBS football, although I think that's a bit far fetched - but it could happen. Shoot, we could become worse than the Horizon League...

This could be a very, very bad development for the MVC. Or, if things break another way, we might be able to poach Dayton, St. Louis, or some other good programs from a splintered A-10.

This could get very interesting. I hope Elgin and his staff have a plan...

 

[Southgrad07]

Losing cu and wsu wouldn't be a good thing. We would be more competive yearly but our conference would be much weaker and I fear our attendance would even be worse. Cu and wsu are the biggest draws we get on a yearly basis and some years like last season they lead to tv appearances which helps our recruiting. Losing quality schools does not help ISU in any way. Elgin should definitely be proactive in this matter before its too late.

 

[ISUCC]

I just do not see this ending well for the MVC, like everyone has said, losing WSU and CU immediately makes us Horizon League II, then who do we add.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I just do not see this ending well for the MVC, like everyone has said, losing WSU and CU immediately makes us Horizon League II, then who do we add.

Personally, and I'm likely in the minority here, but I'd like to see a unification of the regular and football conferences if at all possible. Or, at the very least, make sure all teams in the MVC also field a football team, even if it is at the Pioneer League level like Drake. I think there is something said for at least attempting to level the financial playing field. North Dakota State is one school that I'd be interested in adding. I think you look to the Summit because that has been a natural progression path in the past -- pulling UNI, Missouri State from there.

 

[Bally #50]

This is time I jump in and talk about my DREAM idea (possibly the 3rd time I have brought this up) where the Illinois and Indiana schools in the MVC merge with the Indiana, Ohio and Michigan schools of the MAC. These MAC schools fall back to D-1AA and we all go home happy. I am convinced the MAC schools are already pondering such a move. That's all I want under my Tree this year (or next year).

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

I personally wouldn't get all that caught up in this news until it plays out. These conference alignment talks seem to be pretty fluid. This basketball conference is the only conference besides the Ivy League to not to have any teams exit or added in the last 10 years. I think that says something about the leadership and schools in this conference.

I'm also not convinced that the scenerio would be so terrible for the MVC. Again, I will wait for it to play out before I offer any opinion as at this time its mere speculation and that is a waste of my time and yours.

 

[bent20]

That's also some even longer road trips for Creighton if they move to a conference like that, not that that would probably deter them and their deeper pockets.

 

[4Q_iu]

This is time I jump in and talk about my DREAM idea (possibly the 3rd time I have brought this up) where the Illinois and Indiana schools in the MVC merge with the Indiana, Ohio and Michigan schools of the MAC. These MAC schools fall back to D-1AA and we all go home happy. I am convinced the MAC schools are already pondering such a move. That's all I want under my Tree this year (or next year).

I don't see ISU-Muncee and Northern Illinois making plans to 'scale back' ESPECIALLY No Illinois; they're gonna use this Orange Bowl appearance to build, Build, BUILD.

I also don't see WSU being on the radar of any new East Coast/Private School - Catholic institution Conference... Creighton? Possibly.
WSU -- I don't see it.

They may pursue a Duquesne University or St Joe's (Philadelphia) before they chase St Louis, Dayton or Xavier OR they may stand pat at the 7...

 

[BankShot]

If this goes down a certain way, with the Big East 7 poaching a few A-10 schools, and then coming to Creighton AND Wichita State, the Valley could be in trouble. The "Big Dogs" of the conference are gone, our prestige goes down the toilet, and we become the Horizon League II. Some teams like UNI and Illinois State could possibly try and bolt for FBS football, although I think that's a bit far fetched - but it could happen. Shoot, we could become worse than the Horizon League...

This could be a very, very bad development for the MVC. Or, if things break another way, we might be able to poach Dayton, St. Louis, or some other good programs from a splintered A-10.

This could get very interesting. I hope Elgin and his staff have a plan...

I've always felt that he MVC should've been matching cards w/ the big conferences & shopping for NEW member schools. If we lose WSU & the Jayz and turn into a "Horizon II," it's Elgin's fault for not be pro-active on the idea.

I like Bally46's idea re: the MAC...a true GEOGRAPHIC match.

 

[Bally #50]

I don't see ISU-Muncee and Northern Illinois making plans to 'scale back' ESPECIALLY No Illinois; they're gonna use this Orange Bowl appearance to build, Build, BUILD.

I also don't see WSU being on the radar of any new East Coast/Private School - Catholic institution Conference... Creighton? Possibly.
WSU -- I don't see it.


They may pursue a Duquesne University or St Joe's (Philadelphia) before they chase St Louis, Dayton or Xavier OR they may stand pat at the 7...

4Q, there are some obvious MAC teams that will go up in this "hypothetical" break up of the Mid-American and NIU is clearly one of them. Central Michigan is likely going to stay up. In Michigan, EMU, and WMU are the ones I was talking about. In Ohio, Kent State will stay up as might Ohio U and maybe another, but some are not looking too strong. Western Michigan, I think I just read, was the lowest attendance in D-1 football at around 2K a game. BSU was around 9K I think. Ugh, WMU might not even be good enough for my dream conference.

 

[sycamore tuff]

I'm with Jason on this one. We need to add the mvfc schools to the mvc. If that were to happen, maybe we could attract eastern illinois back.

 

[4Q_iu]

4Q, there are some obvious MAC teams that will go up in this "hypothetical" break up of the Mid-American and NIU is clearly one of them. Central Michigan is likely going to stay up. In Michigan, EMU, and WMU are the ones I was talking about. In Ohio, Kent State will stay up as might Ohio U and maybe another, but some are not looking too strong. Western Michigan, I think I just read, was the lowest attendance in D-1 football at around 2K a game. BSU was around 9K I think. Ugh, WMU might not even be good enough for my dream conference.

Oh, I agree that the MAC should move to the NCAA Div 1 - FCS classification; I'm not sure of NIU and Ohio's attendance (or Kent's) but MOST FBS schools have less-than-stellar attendance on a weekly basis.

My point is regardless of what they SHOULD do, all of the MAC is going to remain at the FBS level; they'll point to THIS season (they have what, 7 schools in Bowl Games? NIU - Orange, Ohio - Independence, Bowling Grn St - Military, ISU-Muncee - Beef O'Brady's, CMU - Little Caesar's Pizza, Kent - GoDaddy.com, Toledo - Famous Idaho Potato...) and call it a HELLUVA season...

Some would argue, they're correct. They got a BCS bid, have two ranked teams, another team spent time in the Top 25 and TOOK a bowl bid AWAY from the Big Ten (sic)

But will they be able to CONSISTENTLY put 25-30K in seats every saturday? I don't think so

 

[Bally #50]

Oh, I agree that the MAC should move to the NCAA Div 1 - FCS classification; I'm not sure of NIU and Ohio's attendance (or Kent's) but MOST FBS schools have less-than-stellar attendance on a weekly basis.

My point is regardless of what they SHOULD do, all of the MAC is going to remain at the FBS level; they'll point to THIS season (they have what, 7 schools in Bowl Games? NIU - Orange, Ohio - Independence, Bowling Grn St - Military, ISU-Muncee - Beef O'Brady's, CMU - Little Caesar's Pizza, Kent - GoDaddy.com, Toledo - Famous Idaho Potato...) and call it a HELLUVA season...

Some would argue, they're correct. They got a BCS bid, have two ranked teams, another team spent time in the Top 25 and TOOK a bowl bid AWAY from the Big Ten (sic)

But will they be able to CONSISTENTLY put 25-30K in seats every saturday? I don't think so

That is why I call it a DREAM. I don't know what there total amount of schools (16 or so) are now, but I will admit, they screwed me this year by qualifying for that many bowls. Usually 1 or 2.