by mvfcfan » August 6th, 2017, 8:26 pm
So here's a serious question. I know that the MVC and MVFC are not technically the same conference, but in reality they are. Some of the members on this forum are against NDSU and SDSU because we are a basketball first conference. What I don't understand is if we are basketball first than why does our football seem to always have more success than basketball as of late? The past 6 seasons the MVFC has made the national title game. One year it was even an all-MVFC title game. Basketball on the other hand gets 1 bid and typically doesn't get any farther than the second round.
Simple Mean (Sagarin) Ratings for the MVC last year
With Wichita State= 74.12 (ranked 10th)
With Valpo instead of Wichita= 72.72 (ranked 11th)
Simple Mean Ratings for MVC with potential candidates
With Murray State and Oral Roberts= 71.95 (ranked 11th)
With Murray State and N. Kentucky= 72.40 (ranked 11th)
With NDSU and SDSU= 72.44 (ranked 11th)
Simple Mean Rating for MVFC last year
MVFC= 57.97 (ranked 9th, ranked #1 in FCS)
with UND= 57.96 (ranked 9th, ranked #1 in FCS)
with UND and Murray State= 56.39 (ranked 10th, ranked #1 in FCS)
As can be seen there are no two schools out there that raise our ratings for basketball. In fact all of them lower our simple mean ratings. NDSU and SDSU lower it the least. However as can be seen none of the combos lowers our overall ranking. No matter what we stay at #11. Murray State would drop us in football in our overall ranking, but the MVFC would still be ranked #1 in the FCS standings.
Based on this information I think that NDSU and SDSU are probably the two best additions. They contribute heavily to the MVFC and they also bring in solid basketball. NDSU and SDSU have definitely proven themselves worthy of an invite IMO. The only downfall to them is travel.
To be honest as long as it is either NDSU and SDSU; or MuSu and ORU I will be happy. I still prefer MuSu and ORU by a hair because of travel. However both combinations are full of potential and neither combination makes the MVC any worse in the overall conference rankings. We are pretty much a solid #11 right now no matter what we do. The only thing that will bring it up or down is when our teams take the court in the late Fall.
And honestly I think a lot of people wouldn't have a problem with ORU except they don't agree with them politically or they hold something against them that happened well over 10 years ago, that has nothing to do with the current administration. The fact is that they play in an MVC quality facility, as opposed to a glorified high school arena. They spend the same amount as almost every other MVC team. They give MSU a travel partner. They get Murray State in the conference. They keep the public-private split even. There's really not much question in my mind that Murray State and Oral Roberts should be the first two schools on the MVC's "contact list". Also as I stated above this combination does not bring the conferences rating down. It would stay at #11. Oral Roberts just had their worst season in a while, as did Murray State, so I'd expect that rating to go up. I don't think a MuSu / ORU combo would be a rushed decision, I think it would be the right decision.