I'm just gonna drop this here

[Rogers101]

Any thoughts on UALR or UMKC?

With all the negatives mentioned, Northern KY might be pretty good.

Haven't heard those three as under consideration; sorta surprised about UMKC, they almost always come up. UALR would be ok I guess, but again haven't seen their name mentioned.

I wish someone like UALR or Oral Roberts would be more of a fit as far as financials ad success. I'd like a closer team to Mo State, but I don't think these teams are better options than teams listed already.

[IllinoisState]

Any thoughts on UALR or UMKC?

With all the negatives mentioned, Northern KY might be pretty good.

Haven't heard those three as under consideration; sorta surprised about UMKC, they almost always come up. UALR would be ok I guess, but again haven't seen their name mentioned.

I wish someone like UALR or Oral Roberts would be more of a fit as far as financials ad success. I'd like a closer team to Mo State, but I don't think these teams are better options than teams listed already.

Oral Roberts is not a school I would want in the MVC.

[Rogers101]

Haven't heard those three as under consideration; sorta surprised about UMKC, they almost always come up. UALR would be ok I guess, but again haven't seen their name mentioned.

I wish someone like UALR or Oral Roberts would be more of a fit as far as financials ad success. I'd like a closer team to Mo State, but I don't think these teams are better options than teams listed already.

Oral Roberts is not a school I would want in the MVC.

I would agree with you.

[squirrel]

Why do you guys like UTA? As someone who grew up in DFW and moved back after graduating from Valpo, I can tell you that they have absolutely no visibility in this area. It is a 90% commuter school, and absolutely no one in area cares about their sports teams. You basically have UT, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston, SMU, and even UNT ahead of them in the sports landscape. My wife graduated from UTA with her Bachelor's degree, and didn't even know that they had sports, when I told her about the recent NIT bid. The MVC does not 'gain access' to the DFW market with UTA, anymore than if Dallas Baptist became a full-time member. Both schools are great baseball programs, however, and I played with several people that had good success at each.

It's not about potential, impact on market or anything of that sort. They are the very prototype of what the Valley's success has been built on: Most of their eggs in the basketball basket. Scott Cross has built a great program there that is the very model of what the league should look for. And they've been successful in the Sun Belt, moving up from the Southland. That indicates to me they are able to compete in a league upgrade.

Probably the biggest knock outside of geography, is actually the exact same knock on Belmont...they could only be successful because of their coach. Both of them are lifers at their respective institutions. What happens after that? But for many Belmont is a highly desirable program. I see little reason UTA should not be as well.

[uniftw]

From the Valpo message board regarding UWMs admin issues

[quote author=a3uge link=topic=1386.msg83794#msg83794 date=1492841307]
UWM has finished inside the top 100 RPI only once in the past 10 years - that was a 94 RPI to finish in 2011. They've been outside of the top 100 kpom rankings every year since their 2006 tournament appearance. They've had 4 200+ RPI finishes since then, with a 310 finish scattered in there. They have an average RPI of 174.7 over the past 10 years and an average RPI of 217.4 over the past 5 years.

For reference, Valpo has had 7 top 100 RPI finishes in the past 10 years, and only 1 season outside the top 200. They have a 10 year average of 113 RPI and a 5 year average of 84.2.

Then take Murray State - 3 top 100 RPI finishes with 1 200+ RPI finish, and a ten year average of 118.1 and a 5 year average of 133.2.

UWM just hasn't had any sustainable success. Touting a practice facility that could maybe possibly exist in the future, and an arena everyone wanted to tear down a few years ago isn't a good enough selling point. "Hey trust us, it's not really our fault" isn't a good argument.

That program has really had a decade of mismanagement and poor play, from the APR ban, to the Klotsche Center debacle, to the coaching transition. It's really spanned multiple athletic directors, chancellors, and state governors. For they sake of the Horizon, I hope all of Jimmy's promises start to come true, but I'll believe it when I see it.
[/quote]

[PantherU]

From the Valpo message board regarding UWMs admin issues

[quote author=a3uge link=topic=1386.msg83794#msg83794 date=1492841307]
UWM has finished inside the top 100 RPI only once in the past 10 years - that was a 94 RPI to finish in 2011. They've been outside of the top 100 kpom rankings every year since their 2006 tournament appearance. They've had 4 200+ RPI finishes since then, with a 310 finish scattered in there. They have an average RPI of 174.7 over the past 10 years and an average RPI of 217.4 over the past 5 years.

For reference, Valpo has had 7 top 100 RPI finishes in the past 10 years, and only 1 season outside the top 200. They have a 10 year average of 113 RPI and a 5 year average of 84.2.

Then take Murray State - 3 top 100 RPI finishes with 1 200+ RPI finish, and a ten year average of 118.1 and a 5 year average of 133.2.

UWM just hasn't had any sustainable success. Touting a practice facility that could maybe possibly exist in the future, and an arena everyone wanted to tear down a few years ago isn't a good enough selling point. "Hey trust us, it's not really our fault" isn't a good argument.

That program has really had a decade of mismanagement and poor play, from the APR ban, to the Klotsche Center debacle, to the coaching transition. It's really spanned multiple athletic directors, chancellors, and state governors. For they sake of the Horizon, I hope all of Jimmy's promises start to come true, but I'll believe it when I see it.

[/quote]

Those are all fair points. I'm not going to act like our program is perfect, nor am I going to act like our program would go first in line ahead of Valpo and Murray State. If I'm Doug Elgin, Milwaukee's the #12 school. That's fine by me.

Belmont's not coming along. Who is your 12th team that fits better than us? UMKC, where they don't just lack "sustainable success" but success period? Omaha, where they're as likely to sink extra money into their hockey program as their basketball team? Oral Roberts, where the only school remotely close to them is Missouri State?

This is what I do know: it's a hell of a lot easier to recruit better players in the MVC. It's a hell of a lot easier to get fans excited about the program in the MVC. It's a hell of a lot easier to build a schedule in the MVC. And we're the best fit as that 12th school.

We're in transition as a program. We got ourselves plenty bloody in the last year, but we're putting it behind us. The team's run to within a couple possessions of the NCAA Tournament inspired our fans, but it was too late for them to hit the turnstiles this season.

The curve is much better if we get into the MVC. I think we'll make you guys proud.

[uniftw]

You keep talking like it's a one year deal where there's been issues. It sure looks like it's a decade, or more, of issues.

Outside of helping with travel partners for women's sports, there's no reason to add another mouth to feed without significant reason to believe that 12th mouth is actually going to contribute

[Rogers101]

I think getting to 11 is fine. Let's see how some of these teams shape up over the next couple of seasons. There shouldn't be a rush to get to 12. We need to add quality, not quantity.

[TOPSTRAIGHT]

MVC could be trying to "flush out" a preferred candidate that is being coy or may not have a consensus on #12.That last opening could look pretty appealing in a year or two.Also--things can change and being at 11 OR 10 gives you more flexibility.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

It's really no secret the preference list of the MVC.

1. St. Louis
2. Belmont
3. Murray State
4. Valparaiso
5. Everyone else, but probably leaning Milwaukee due to geographical reasons.

The only question is can they land the one or two to go with Murray State and Valpo? If they can they just might be able to convince the other top team of their choosing to also come along leaving out Valpo. The consensus is that they will not be able to land St. Louis or Belmont so the decision is stay at 10 or sift through the cluster f*** that is "everyone else"? I say stay at 10 if that's the case. Either way, Murray State is in. Hell, add all five and go to 14, I don't really care. There is no home run addition so it doesn't matter.