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34. Loyola Chicago: First-year head coach Drew Valentine has seven players back from last year’s Sweet 16 run.

42. Belmont: Everyone of significance is back last year’s 26-4 squad.

44. Wichita State

Wow, was not expecting this.

This seems completely football driven, and might signal a weakening of the Mountain West. Basketball-wise, this doesn’t do much at all for the AAC. For sure not nearly enough to make up for what they’re losing to the Big12.

If true, one has to think the Mountain West absolutely needs to make a big push for Gonzaga. If not….well, like we’ve been saying, the MVC could come out ok in all this reshuffling if they play their cards right.

01grad wrote:This seems completely football driven, and might signal a weakening of the Mountain West. Basketball-wise, this doesn’t do much at all for the AAC. For sure not nearly enough to make up for what they’re losing to the Big12.

If true, one has to think the Mountain West absolutely needs to make a big push for Gonzaga. If not….well, like we’ve been saying, the MVC could come out ok in all this reshuffling if they play their cards right.

Curious what you think the potential benefits for the MVC are? Wichita comes back? In terms of a non BCS public school with good basketball that is affected by the AAC shakeups they're all I can think of.

jmiller2794 wrote:

01grad wrote:This seems completely football driven, and might signal a weakening of the Mountain West. Basketball-wise, this doesn’t do much at all for the AAC. For sure not nearly enough to make up for what they’re losing to the Big12.

If true, one has to think the Mountain West absolutely needs to make a big push for Gonzaga. If not….well, like we’ve been saying, the MVC could come out ok in all this reshuffling if they play their cards right.

Curious what you think the potential benefits for the MVC are? Wichita comes back? In terms of a non BCS public school with good basketball that is affected by the AAC shakeups they're all I can think of.

A weakened AAC and MWC (which if that above scenario plays out they would be, without Gonzaga jumping on board), along with a strengthened MVC, which it already will be with Belmont, is absolutely a potential benefit to the MVC. That doesn’t just mean potential tournament implications, but other things like National pecking order and TV time. They don’t need to add beyond Belmont to still make that true, but if they do and a team is considering options next Spring/Summer, we might look to be as good an option as any non-power conference. That could mean WSU, but it could mean any school.

But, it’s also possible none of that plays out and we tread water where we are now. However, given all of the movement going on that’s not the worst scenario either. What’s happening to the OVC…that is the worst case scenario, and thankfully I think the MVC is taking proactive steps to prevent that from happening.

01grad wrote:This seems completely football driven...

It's totally football for FBS schools and they drive everything else. That's why Kansas isn't leaving the Big 12. Nobody wants Kansas football. If basketball had anything at all to do with realignment, Kansas would be a huge prize. That's why the Texas-OU move and the fallout won't hurt the MVC: for expansion and replacement, he FBS conferences aren't going to pick off MVC schools because no MVC school has a big football program. Wichita was an exception, but I think that was based on the AAC wanting more credibility and maybe the expectation that WSU would add football at some point. It's complicated to mix football schools with basketball-only schools due to revenue issues. That's why I'm skeptical about Gonzaga moving.

Someone posted this on the MVCFans board. Thought it was pretty interesting. There are some scary enrollment numbers in here. I didn't realize how small some of the Valley schools are.

https://youtu.be/3en4npeWKZ4


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While I admire the Evansville legacy and tradition in the Valley and value them in the Valley , has to be difficult with the small enrollment, 2400.

Looks like the AAC is having a hard time finding replacements for departing Cincy, Houston and UCF.

Boise State and San Diego State declined invitations. And to make matters worse, Colorado State and Air Force just backed out of their reported commitment to join.