MVCfans.com

A poll just for fun, but I'm trying to keep this as realistic as possible. There seem to be 5 or 6 teams that have at least a realistic chance of becoming members should we expand to 12.

The 6 in the poll are Murray State, Northern Kentucky, Oral Roberts, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and South Dakota. There is also an "other" option (please comment). I included South Dakota incase anyone wants both South Dakota teams or if someone wants Murray State and South Dakota, etc. We did target Omaha, so why not South Dakota?

I didn't include Belmont or St Louis because neither has seemed to express great interest in the past and I doubt either will. Grand Canyon and New Mexico State are just too far in my opinion and currently have nothing in common with the MVC. (I know NMSU was once in the MVC, but it's been quite a while.) Some view the Dakota schools as too far as well, but they do have football in the MVFC so they are worth looking at.

If you want to vote for SLU, Belmont, GCU, NMSU, and/or any other team feel free to by voting "other" and commenting. I'll try to tally up the votes for the "other" options.

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OTHER VOTE Tally:

IPFW (or is it PUFW?)= 1 vote
SFA= 1 vote

Realistically, Grand Canyon won't even be considered, which is a shame. So, I didn't vote for them. I chose NKU to go along with Murray.

Murray St is a no brainer #11. Having them in the MVC is a dream of mine and would be so much fun.

I'd be thrilled with Oral Roberts or N Kentucky as #12.

Other options don't excite me.

I don't consider GCU/NMSU/NDSU/SDSU possible as MVC has made it clear expanding outside the region isn't realistic.

Murray State is by far the best #11 option.

I think that Oral Roberts and Northern Kentucky are the best #12 options. South Dakota is barely in the footprint due to being located in the very southeastern corner of South Dakota. The problem is that they wouldn't have a travel partner.

Oral Roberts spends $2.74 million on basketball per year and their average attendance is 3,317.
Northern Kentucky spends $1.62 million on basketball per year and their average attendance is 2,296.

Both schools have MVC quality arenas, although it can be argued that NKU has the nicer facility. My biggest problem with NKU is the fact that they are very new to D1. Oral Roberts to me has been around longer and has more potential and they also keep the publics and privates split at 6-6.

Now let's compare ORU's and NKU's budgets and attendance to Valpo and Murray State.

ORU= $2.74 million, attendance 3,317
NKU= $1.62 million, attendance 2,296
Valpo= $2.66 million, attendance 3,572
Murray St= $2.21 million, attendance 3,266

Based on those numbers I just feel like ORU matches up better with Valpo, Murray State, and the rest of the conference. In fact ORU spends more than both Valpo and Murray State and they also average better than Murray State. Oral Roberts hasn't had as much on-court success, but they definitely have potential, which is what is important. They also give Missouri State a close opponent and a potential rival. Oral Roberts takes baseball pretty seriously and the MVC is a good conference in baseball. They would definitely compete well with Missouri State and Dallas Baptist. (I think it's important to note that ORU has made the NCAA tournament for baseball 18 times since 1998!!!)

Based on that info I voted for Murray State and Oral Roberts. Both are within the footprint and both have potential to make the conference better. I like the Dakota schools, but if we add Murray State it makes our football conference more stable if the Summit teams ever left (and I don't see that happening anytime soon). I'd be extremely happy if we can get those two schools to join our league.

This poll sets forth the problem. Murray State is acceptable, none of the other options do anything for MVC basketball. Need to concentrate on non-football schools.

Murray State is my 11 and I would have added them this year.

I'm bullish on Northern Kentucky. Great facility and located right in a hotbed for college hoops. Just need more time at D1 to build up the fanbase. They would have been my front runner for the wait and see 12th spot.

Drakey wrote:This poll sets forth the problem. Murray State is acceptable, none of the other options do anything for MVC basketball. Need to concentrate on non-football schools.

You have to be able to look into the future. See the potential. NKU has that and is within the footprint. Missouri State will have to travel with Southern. It's doable. It's only a 45 minutes further to Carbondale than Wichita was.

No to Oral Roberts. Their institution has been in serious financial trouble the last decade and they have an admin that meddles in athletics.

No to the Dakotas. No schools who prioritize sinking money into the FCS pit.

Northern Kentucky is a project with a shoestring budget and coaches salary.

I'd go
1. SLU
2. Belmont
3. UWM
4. UIC
5. UALR
6. UTA

Don't add just to add. If we're talking about oral Roberts and UIC we might as well just stay put at 10.

The Dakota States and it's not even close for me.