St. Louis Post-Dispatch: MVC Winners in Realignment

by **MissouriValleyUnite** » January 19th, 2023, 1:34 pm

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns ... 8838c.html

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by **bradley_townie** » January 19th, 2023, 1:45 pm

Nice to see some coverage about the MVC in St. Louis. Not sure how much it moves the needle in Arch Madness sales, but nice to see some interest.

Also kind of funny that we are not even halfway through the first season of realignment and are already being called winners for dumping Loyola. That's the kind of thing you can't really assess until like 5+ years out.

by **Kyle_Saluki_17** » January 19th, 2023, 1:45 pm

I agree with this. One thing I’d maybe point out, Loyola is not competing in a bad A10 and wouldn’t compete very well in this bad year in the MVC. Both leagues are 1 bid leagues this year. Also, some may remember that Loyola held the 4 seed in Arch Madness last year.

by **BCPanther** » January 19th, 2023, 1:54 pm

bradley_townie wrote:Nice to see some coverage about the MVC in St. Louis. Not sure how much it moves the needle in Arch Madness sales, but nice to see some interest.

Also kind of funny that we are not even halfway through the first season of realignment and are already being called winners for dumping Loyola. That's the kind of thing you can't really assess until like 5+ years out.

Sure you can. Murray and Belmont both have decades of sustained success while everyone with a functioning brain knew that this Loyola run was built off one recruiting class and even Porter knew it.

Everybody on this board has been saying that the league was better off the moment the switch happened and it's just bearing itself out a lot faster than any of us thought.

Oh, and Saint Thomas (the player) quit the team at Loyola and dropped out of school this morning.

by **siudawgs** » January 19th, 2023, 2:00 pm

I like the additions and have been especially impressed with how Belmont has gotten up to speed despite so much roster turnover, but I would like to see a multibid season or two before taking a full victory lap. This year obviously no one is close to at-large material, but I'm not judging anything off one year. If the Valley remains one-bid the vast majority of the time, and now you have 12 teams fighting it out for one bid, that's not anything to do cartwheels about. Also curious to see what kind of steps UIC takes in the coming years because this league definitely does not need another program on the perennial struggle bus.

by **Kyle_Saluki_17** » January 19th, 2023, 2:24 pm

siudawgs wrote:I like the additions and have been especially impressed with how Belmont has gotten up to speed despite so much roster turnover, but I would like to see a multibid season or two before taking a full victory lap. This year obviously no one is close to at-large material, but I'm not judging anything off one year. If the Valley remains one-bid the vast majority of the time, and now you have 12 teams fighting it out for one bid, that's not anything to do cartwheels about. Also curious to see what kind of steps UIC takes in the coming years because this league definitely does not need another program on the perennial struggle bus.

Assuming that half the league doesn’t have to rebuild this next offseason like the previous, I could see this league being a lot better in the future. Keep in mind the big dominos from realignment take place this next season. For example, the AAC will suck next year.

by **Adunk33** » January 19th, 2023, 2:55 pm

Kyle_Saluki_17 wrote:I agree with this. One thing I’d maybe point out, Loyola is not competing in a bad A10 and wouldn’t compete very well in this bad year in the MVC. Both leagues are 1 bid leagues this year. Also, some may remember that Loyola held the 4 seed in Arch Madness last year.

If you ask Jon Rothstein, Loyola is struggling because they're in a different weight class now in the A10.

by **BEARZ77** » January 19th, 2023, 3:14 pm

Adunk33 wrote:
Kyle_Saluki_17 wrote:I agree with this. One thing I’d maybe point out, Loyola is not competing in a bad A10 and wouldn’t compete very well in this bad year in the MVC. Both leagues are 1 bid leagues this year. Also, some may remember that Loyola held the 4 seed in Arch Madness last year.

If you ask Jon Rothstein, Loyola is struggling because they're in a different weight class now in the A10.

Yeah I confronted that thinking on twitter. Also, this need to evaluate everything under the glass of NCAA tourney bids is just silly. The ability to get an at large is so skewed in today's arena; the year the Valley got 4 and had MSU and Creighton right there as well, all those teams had 10 or more losses. In today's climate, we maybe get a second bid in with those records simply because of how good those teams were . You don't see 10 loss MM get an at large now, and we got 3 that year.

Latest bracketology I saw was so ridiculous. They had Oklahoma St on the bubble, and OSU is 9-8 , 1-6 vs Q1 and 5 of their 9 wins were Q4. Just a sham process anymore.

by **siudawgs** » January 19th, 2023, 3:58 pm

BEARZ77 wrote:
Adunk33 wrote:
Kyle_Saluki_17 wrote:I agree with this. One thing I’d maybe point out, Loyola is not competing in a bad A10 and wouldn’t compete very well in this bad year in the MVC. Both leagues are 1 bid leagues this year. Also, some may remember that Loyola held the 4 seed in Arch Madness last year.

If you ask Jon Rothstein, Loyola is struggling because they're in a different weight class now in the A10.

Yeah I confronted that thinking on twitter. Also, this need to evaluate everything under the glass of NCAA tourney bids is just silly. The ability to get an at large is so skewed in today's arena; the year the Valley got 4 and had MSU and Creighton right there as well, all those teams had 10 or more losses. In today's climate, we maybe get a second bid in with those records simply because of how good those teams were . You don't see 10 loss MM get an at large now, and we got 3 that year.

Latest bracketology I saw was so ridiculous. They had Oklahoma St on the bubble, and OSU is 9-8 , 1-6 vs Q1 and 5 of their 9 wins were Q4. Just a sham process anymore.

If evaluating by the number of NCAA bids is silly, someone should tell MVC administrators and coaches, several of whom were trumpeting these additions as a pathway to getting multiple bids more often. If that's not going to be the case, I think it's a reasonable debate whether going to 12 teams (harder to get the one bid, have to split the NCAA money 12 ways, lose the round robin scheduling, etc.) is a good move.

I do, though, agree that the current at-large landscape for midmajors is a sham.

by **Kyle_Saluki_17** » January 19th, 2023, 4:50 pm

Adunk33 wrote:
Kyle_Saluki_17 wrote:I agree with this. One thing I’d maybe point out, Loyola is not competing in a bad A10 and wouldn’t compete very well in this bad year in the MVC. Both leagues are 1 bid leagues this year. Also, some may remember that Loyola held the 4 seed in Arch Madness last year.

If you ask Jon Rothstein, Loyola is struggling because they're in a different weight class now in the A10.

Literally the dumbest take I’ve read from an “expert” this year. Their crappy NET should speak volumes.