Redbirds4Life wrote:As for the replacing Creighton talk, kind of an easy argument to make for this season with it's current state. One thing I haven't seen anyone bring up(if someone did, I apologize), but people forget that Wichita State hasn't always been the class of the league, there were some lean years for a while. The 90s weren't good to Wichita State. I am not saying things are the same today, but its probably not the end of the world if Wichita State leaves, because at some point there is a team that will step up like SIU of the mid 00s and WSU of the early 10s....
That is the hope. But it's not guaranteed. Even SIU of the mid-00s and WSU of the early-10s aren't all that similar. SIU became a good team, but when the coaching staff moved on, they cratered, and hard. And at the end of it, they had a couple league titles and a few NCAA wins to show for it, which is great, but they hadn't elevated the program. They still operate as a mid-major. The budget, travel, recruiting, scheduling, coaching hires, it's all still mid-major.
I'll hate on Creighton, but what they and WSU have done is a bit different. They've built up programs, and in so doing changed the way their programs operate for the better. Budgets, fan bases, facilities, travel, recruiting, have all improved. They've also both sustained a coaching change. I think the only program in the league that could do that right now is Bradley.
The rest of the league is going to tap out more in line with what UNI has done. Which is fine. That's a fine program. But it's going to lead to a lot of 1-bid years.