Messages

A bit of a head start on MVC abbreviateions for our, hopefully new conference mates.

If Murray State is added, as it appears, the Valley is going to have 2 ISUs and 2 MSUs - would also have 2 panthers is UWM comes along. UNI fans also have Iowa State we play. The FCS world has a couple other ISUs and MSUs. Thus we, as MVC and half of us FCS fans, developed the following system

Illinois State is ISUr, to a much lesser extent IlSU. The R is actually for red. It's a color connotation. It just happens to be a word in their mascot.

Indiana State is ISUb, to a much lesser extent InSU. The B is for blue, their primary school color.

For UNI fans Iowa State is IaSU, ISUc (cardinal) or ISUs ( ). In the FCS world there is also Idaho State which is usually IDSU or ISUo (orange)

Moving forward I'm trying to start the MSU trend to avoid confusion.  When I say MUSU it's Murray State and MOSU is Missouri State. I suppose we could also go MSUB and MSUM for blue and maroon but MUSU and MOSU are more fun.

If you see someone, mostly UNI fans reference sCUm it is Creighton University and all the scum and sleeve associated with them.

Come conference tournament time there is PIG and Drake Night. That's Thursday night in the conference tournament. It's the bottom 4 teams 7-10) playing in for the final 2 spots on Friday's quarterfinals. Thus PIG is Play In Game(s). It is also called Drake Night or the Drake Invitational. This is because Drake has been there something like 15 of the last 16 years or something crazy like that. The only year they missed was 08 when they somehow managed a top 20 ranked team that blew their 5 seed in the tournament.

EDIT

Oh, there is also Evansvilling/Got Evansvilled. This comes from Evansville's tendency to schedule garbage OOC teams and go like 11-1 or 9-3 in the OOC schedule and then finish sub .500 in conference play. Yet along the line they will beat at least 2 of the top 4 in the conference yet never beating other PIG teams. Getting Evansvilled is being the top team and losing to them at the worst possible time, which is always the case.

There is now a push that WSU fans were pushing about getting UNIed. UNI is known for our OOC SOS. He schedules we pull off are a bit legendary at the mid major level. This typically means UNIs OOC record is like 8-4 in a good year but 6-6 or 7-5 is likely. UNI then goes on to finish top 3 in the conference with between 10-13 conference wins. The thought is that UNIs OOC record hurts the conference by finishing that high. UNI hasn't been a PIG team in 15 years. Longest streak in the conference. Second longest was WSU who just got to 7 this year. UNi also hasn't finished below .500 in conference play at that time. UNI hasn't finished in 6th outright in that time either. Only time UNi has been worse than a 3, I believe, has been because of tie breakers.

Bradley is about a 30 minute walk - 5 min by car/bus. I think they run a shuttle for students who want to go. Some theorize that hurts attendance. They do have an on campus facility, but it is small and needs renovation compared to the Civic Center.

The Ford Center is over an hour walk from Evansville's campus. It's about a 10 minute drive. No idea on student shuttle.

UNI is on campus.
DU is on campus
SIU is on campus
MSU is on campus
LUC is on campus
ISUr is on campus
ISUb is on campus

.

After visiting the MVCFAN forum these past couple of weeks and seeing the great enthusiasm and involvement that fan base shows, I couldn't help contrasting that with the HL Fan Forum. 

http://horizonleaguefans.freeforums.net

There's nothing really happening or no recent spirited discussions that I could find.  There was one topic "Which HL teams will the MVC Poach?" that was started on April 10, one I thought would be really charged, but it had only 12 replies since then and there was a lot of talk about IPFW going D-II.  Where's the passion?

Just one more piece of information that could fold into the decision-making process.

I think what you'll be seeing on MVCFans moving forward - especially if it is Valpo and MUSU in - is that we are starting to get to a unified vision for the first time in years. There has always been a public/private (football) split that has caused a rift. I think what we are seeing moving forward, if/when WSU fans finally bugger off, is that fan bases like Creighton and WSU were actually dirving the divide by trying to big time the conference.


There is still left over, pent up, smack talk tendencies driven from always being talked down too by WSU and Creighton. What I'm picking up on is that WSU is like a hang nail, or splinter, getting pulled. When it happens the pain/shock of it hurt. However, after a few seconds - days/weeks in real world time - it starts to feel like the it is for the best. The skin starts to grow back together and heal together as one.


There will always been smack talk on MVCFans, but it seems like the fan bases can finally have a discussion, even if heated, without it getting personal. The presidents/admin of universities in the conference seem to have agreed to what the vision and path for the conference should be. Hopefully that continues moving forward .

Question-----     For scheduling simplicity and to allow for open and available facilities would the girls bb programs have to duplicate the mens schedules? If yes then would there be resistance? Obviously the mens and women's group rankings would never perfectly align.

I don't know how it works in the HL, but in the MVC MBB plays midweek games on Wednesday's and then half the conference on Saturday and half on Sunday.


Women's plays strictly Thursday/Saturday in conference season.


Mens basketball doesn't ad-hear to "travel partners" due to programs making money and able to fly to mid week games and be home that same night. Women's programs, and volleyball, utilize travel partners to the fullest extent. The reason for Thursday/Friday is they can bus (or fly if long distance) to one place on Thursday AM (or Wed night) and play that day, then spend Friday on a bus to the next location, then head home after. It's a cost savings measure. It's why a program like Oakland, UT-Arlington, NMSU, etc... can be talked about but won't happen.


This is part of the reason 10 worked perfectly. The travel partners have been


SIU/Evansville
ISUr/Bradley
ISUB/Loyola
UNI/Drake
MSU/WSU


This is part, if not largely, the reason 12 is in play. 11 makes travel partners tough for non-revenue sports. 11 would make a nice 20 game conference schedule, but the travel issues would outweigh it.


11 team partners

Missouri State would be alone
UNI/Drake
Valpo/Loyola
Bradley/Illinois State
Indiana State/Evansville
SIU/Murray


I'm guessing that's where Milwaukee comes in. The "potential" of growth there plus travel partners.

Drake/Missouri State-This is the worst one but there's nobody else to put with MSU.--6 hours
UNI/Milwaukee--4 hours
Bradley/Illinois State--90 minutes
Evansville/Indiana State--3 hours
Valpo/Loyola--1 hour
SIU/Murray--90 minutes




The drawback to 12 is unbalanced schedules. There are a billion options but none of them great. The MVC has long pride itself on a double round robin true champion - it's why 11 with a 20 game schedule is still on the table as an option. 12 is the most likely outcome. Maybe not this year but in a year or two. Go to 10 or 11 this year with the known intention of getting to 12 by 2019. I'd almost rather stay 11 now and force those who want the 12th spot to "prove" their worth for a year or two

The OVCs buy out isn't an issue for MSU. They approved a 1.46 million dollar slush fund for athletics almost exclusively for the exit fee.

Budget your about 5th or so at 2.66m. I've heard Murray State, currently at like 2.28m, tell the conference they are willing to get to UNI/Bradley/Evansville levels which is 2.99-3.01

Better photo of the McLeod. Shows the difference the stain used on the court makes. This was our court until 2015



Again, I'm not questioning the on court production or that a place that size can rock when full.

I can also tell you we've been on ESPN dozens of times the last few years and every game there is none of the yellow color

And....correct me if I'm wrong, but is the MVC now going after Murray St and Milwaukee but not Valpo?  Or am I just paranoid we are being left out for those guys?

From what I can ascertain, the UWM rumor is mainly spinning off the MVCFAN board posts.

It's actually seeming to come from beat writers of the MVC and Murray State. I've seen references to it from Murray State, Indiana State, SIU and brief potential mention from UNI (who is an Indiana State alum)

I'm not sure I buy it yet, but there appears to be a smolder behind it. I wouldn't be shocked if Valpo and Murray were this year and a 12th was a year behind.

As for the arena upgrades: I don't care about expanding your capacity. If you can fill 5,000 then have 5,000. Though I'd guess filling 5,000 against UWGB and Youngstown State probably means 6.500 against UNI, Illinois State, Loyola, etc... is possible but so be it.

As I said earlier, I think the main concern upfront would be making it look like a D1 arena and not a large HS gym. New seats. Better lighting. I have no idea what the score board looks like.  You would be shocked the difference modern lights and new seat backs would make in just making. The place feel brand new. Maybe a fresh coach of paint. I know your school colors are brown and yellow, but every game I watch on TV/photo o see the facility has a yellow and brown tint in the air. Not in the "school color" way but in the dark and old school lighting kind of way.

Drakes Knapp center isn't great. But they recently replaced the lights and upgraded the lower level seats and it looks brand new inside the seating area. It was all cosmetic but makes a big difference.

Old knapp


Upgraded seating, lights scoreboard and court not stained with a yellow base stain

Has it really made a *big* difference? Drake has lost 70 games in the past 3 years. They've literally declined in attendance every year for the past ten years.

I'm just dubious of the notion that the MVC knows how to spend Valpo's money to improve their basketball team more than Valpo themselves. Are valpo recruits really concerned about the seating situation at the arena, and choosing to attend Bradley and Drake instead?

Drake has hired garbage coach after garbage coach. So no, it hasn't translated to wins. Facilities help but don't create wins simply by looking nice.

The Valley is all about how things are presented. I'm not concerned that the facility is costing Valpo any recruits. It's when Valpo gets the home ESPN game in Jan/Feb against UNI that the arena doesn't look dark, dank, and old on national TV. I wouldn't be shocked if there is discussion regarding it. This is important to the MVC, be it right or wrong. MSUs president wasn't just blowing smoke when he said Loyolas commitment to the facility was important. I have well connected sources that echoed the same thing. Sadly, it caused us to add the wrong school, in haste, last time.

What it looks like in person is/can be very different than TV and photos. Every game and photo I've seen in the ARC has that feel. It doesn't match the product I see on the court, which is disappointing. Due to the colors of the program it takes extra lighting effort in the facility to counter that.

UNI


MSU


Siu


ISUR


Bradley


ISUB-getting a 70m renovation


Evansville


Even Loyola is small but upgraded.

It's worth noting that when the arena is smaller the "presentation" counts for more than larger arenas. ARC would be the second smallest arena by over 2k seats, a head of only Loyola in size. Murray State is 8,600 and is a bigger, nicer, version of the Knapp.

Please don't take this as "I hate VU and don't want you in". Quite the opposite. I would like MUSU and VU. That means I want the arenas I will be watching in TV to look as nice as possible.

So while upgrades may not break the deal the unwillingness to commit to getting to "average" in the MVC could be a turn off for some.

And....correct me if I'm wrong, but is the MVC now going after Murray St and Milwaukee but not Valpo?  Or am I just paranoid we are being left out for those guys?

From what I can ascertain, the UWM rumor is mainly spinning off the MVCFAN board posts.

It's actually seeming to come from beat writers of the MVC and Murray State. I've seen references to it from Murray State, Indiana State, SIU and brief potential mention from UNI (who is an Indiana State alum)

I'm not sure I buy it yet, but there appears to be a smolder behind it. I wouldn't be shocked if Valpo and Murray were this year and a 12th was a year behind.

As for the arena upgrades: I don't care about expanding your capacity. If you can fill 5,000 then have 5,000. Though I'd guess filling 5,000 against UWGB and Youngstown State probably means 6.500 against UNI, Illinois State, Loyola, etc... is possible but so be it.

As I said earlier, I think the main concern upfront would be making it look like a D1 arena and not a large HS gym. New seats. Better lighting. I have no idea what the score board looks like.  You would be shocked the difference modern lights and new seat backs would make in just making. The place feel brand new. Maybe a fresh coach of paint. I know your school colors are brown and yellow, but every game I watch on TV/photo o see the facility has a yellow and brown tint in the air. Not in the "school color" way but in the dark and old school lighting kind of way.

Drakes Knapp center isn't great. But they recently replaced the lights and upgraded the lower level seats and it looks brand new inside the seating area. It was all cosmetic but makes a big difference.

Old knapp


Upgraded seating, lights scoreboard and court not stained with a yellow base stain

My $.02 on this hasn't really changed yet. 

Unless Murray's football situation has been resolved, and by resolved I mean that:

Murray State will be allowed to complete in the OVC as a football only member for a set period of duration, and by virtue of same they will not be sued by the OVC as an entity or by any other member institution for breach of contract or in any other capacity because of their move to the MVC; or

Murray State will compete as an FCS Independent while maintaining their current fall FCS football schedule, and by virtue of same they will not be sued by the OVC as an entity or by any other member institution for breach of contract or in any other capacity because of their move to the MVC,

I just can't see them entering the MVC for the 2017-2018 season.  Anything less is unresolved.  The next coming weeks should be very interesting!

Here's the deal with MSU football and changing conferences.


1. The MVC doesn't sponsor football. It has nothing to do with this. Though I'm sure discussions about the MVFC making a place for them, or finding them a new home are involved.


2. They couldn't leave OVC football this year no matter what. Schedules are set. Football schedules aren't as able to be modified as basketball schedules. They are set years in advance. The OVC likely makes them ineligible for the conference titles - which doesn't matter for MSU anyway. They can't join the MVFC before 2020. MVFC conference schedules are set through 2019. It's why North Dakota isn't joining the MVFC from the Big Sky until 2020, even though they are joining the Summit from the Big Sky in 2018.


The options for MSU football are this:


A. Continue in the OVC as an affiliate member "full time". This helps the OVC keep it's perfect round robin schedule for the conference, and limits number of OOC games that need to be filled, which is very tough in the FCS.


B. Continue in the OVC until 2020 as an affiliate that is ineligible for the conference automatic bid to the playoffs. This is what happens in almost every situation. It is what North Dakota is doing in the Big Sky - and UND won the Big Sky last year. It's what happened when Georgia State, Coastal Carolina, App State, Georgia Southern, Texas, State, Old Dominion, etc... all moved from their conferences to the FBS but had to play in the old league for a year or two during the transition. It is what Liberty is now doing with their move from the Big South to FBS Independent status.


C. They can join the PFL, though it will probably take a year or two for them to be able to do that due to schedules. This would allow more money to be put into basketball and other sports the MVC wants to be good. They would be in the same league as Drake and Valpo. It makes for a nice hom.


D. Drop football - very unlikely


E. Play indy - which is a death sentence in the FCS. would lead lead to D.






With UND joining the MVFC in 2020 that league is going to be at 11. Adding MSU would allow for a 12 team league with a faux-divisional set up.

No worries, whatsoever, on our ability to continue our winning ways.  Recruits see the championship banners hanging in our HS gym, which helps to cement strong players coming to Valpo, despite the gym.  It is not just because of the Drews, but because of the school itself, and our commitment to winning in Men's Basketball.  Coach Lottich has proven that he can recruit the same level of talent, but is also a better in-game coach than Bryce was.  We are something like 10-2 over the last 5 years against MVC teams, and 3-0 versus some very solid Murray State teams.  Our regular season championship teams would have been just as competitive in the MVC, as we were in the HL those years. 

Also, we have more than 2 wins in an NCAA tournament.  We have only been competing at the current D-1 level since 1978 (I believe), and had several wins in the former 'Small College' (now D-2) format of the NCAA tourney:

I HAD TO REMOVE LINK AS I'M NOT ALLOWED TO POST OUTSIDE LINKS

That's good. I'm not overly concerned, but if you're an outsider looking at the last 30 years of Valpo basketball, more specifically the last 10 it's relatively easy to see where our concern may come in. There are some pretty striking similarities to Evansville. The Aces were "the team" of the MCC (Horizon) in the 80s - specifically late 80s early 90s. Jim Crews came in and took a team from 13-16 the year before he got there to 21-8 in year 3 and 25-6 with an NCAA berth and win in year 4. He Also made the NCAA tournament in 92 and 93 before getting an MVC invite.  From years 3-MVC move UE averaged 21 wins per year - which was greatly impacted by one 14-14 year. UE's first year in the MVC saw a 3 win drop, then another 5 win drop in year 2. Year 4 saw an NCAA first round loss, but then it was 5 win drop, 4 win drop, and by year 8 Crews was fired after going 7-21. That was 2002. Since 2002 UE has finished below .500 9 times. Only finished over .500 in conference play 3 times. Finished OVER .500 overall just 4 times. 23 years in the MVC and one NCAA bid. They finish in the PIG (play in games at the conference tournament, bottom 4 teams) more than they finish outside of the PIG.


Yes, Valpo has a better structure built around their program than UE does. So I don't really believe that drop to happen. But to those outside of the Crusader program there is historical precident that moving from top dog in the HL to the MVC doesn't go well. There is also historical precedent showing that Valpo struggles to win without a Drew in charge. 12 seasons of D1 ball before Homer showed up and the best record was 13-12 and that was the first season. Only 4 seasons of double digit wins and just the 1 winning record.


Yes, the ability to recruit and show the NITs and past NCAAs will help. As I said though, with some there is a concern that it's just 2 NCAA appearances since 2004 and only 1 year with NCAA tournament wins which was 20 years ago. A post later on also says it is a bit concerning that 4 years with Alec Peters got just 1 NCAA tournament bid. Sure, there was probably AL quality team that didn't get one because of the conference, but sometimes ALs are earned on name recognition as much/more than resume. 30-7 Valpo being left out a year after making the NCAAs half shows the name recognition is starting to fade nationally.




With all of that said - I still want you in the MVC. I think you should have been the add over Loyola a few years ago. The move would be greatly beneficial for both sides. I'd love for you to come in and be a top 3 team every year. No question. I think the natural rivalry you have with UE and Loyola would be great. I think the geographical rivals would be superb with ISUr and Bradley. I think quality of play and program rivalry with UNI would be fantastic. Valpo/UNI would be "the name" match up in the MVC. I think from a university stand point Valpo/Drake would be a potentially great rivalry as well. I want it to happen. I hope all of the potential concerns us outsiders see are false. I want them to be. I want a good team. We fans for all teams want good teams. It's why we get sooo pissed on MVC fans about UMKC, UIC, SEMO, Omaha, South Dakota, Austin Peay, etc... being considered/thrown around. We don't have time for that crap. Occasionally that mentality spills over into clouding our view of Valpo (and Murray). Don't take most of MVCFans too seriously. The site (And the old site we used to have) was over run by over the top arrogant pricks from WSU and sCUm. All we know is complete vitriol and retaliation attacks. Hopefully with those two fan bases gone we can have rivalry games, heated games, heated discussions BUT able to keep it rational and mostly cordial.

With Wichita State leaving, and Illinois State turning over it's roster, are you worried that the whole conference may start trending down, especially with new teams?

Absolutely. It's why it is vital to get this addition(s) correct. Illinois State's roster turn over is very concerning to me. Look at the players they've lost the last few years to transfer. They've lost enough talent to start a MVC champion team, and they were still MVC champions this year. Muller might be the best recruiter in the conference. He just also happens to be 1 of the 3 worst X and O coaches in the conference. His player talent trumps his coaching ability more than it doesn't though. He also has a history (as does ISUr's football team) of looking past significant legal/academic issues and not suspending/booting players that help them win.

So yes, the turnover is very concerning out of ISUr. As well as SIU and MoSU.

You seem to have an inaccurate view of RPI, or at least of overall conference RPI. The bottom of the league playing a soft schedule is actually a good thing. Remember, RPI is 25% your own winning percentage and 50% your opponents winning percentage. Only 25% is dependent on your opponents opponents winning percentage.

Say Missouri State finishes their ooc schedule 6-6 with an RPI of 220, with a bunch of SWAC and MEAC teams on their schedule.

Drake finishes their ooc schedule 2-10 and has an RPI of 210 because they played Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky.

Which one is better for the conference? Missouri State is the team that's helping the overall RPI of the conference because they have the better win percentage (50% of everyone's RPI calculation)... NOT Drake.

Yes, the top of the league needs to schedule in a way to ensure a top 100 RPI (because arbitrary round numbers matter to selection committee), but the bottom of the league's individual RPIs are rather irrelevant. The perception of a 200 RPI loss is basically the same as a 250 RPI loss. Therefore, a good win loss record for the bottom dwellers is better for the league.

If you take a look at the MAC, they've got this down to a science. Every year their teams have a bad out-of-conference strength of schedule, but their conference RPI is usually strong. The top few teams in the league end up with really good RPI despite never beating anybody decent. The selection committee hasn't caught on to this yet and they've gotten better seeds than a lot of quality mid-majors with better out of conference wins. True, no team is built for an at-large bid in that league, but their top teams typically have great RPIs (didn't really work out this year because everyone beat up on each other).

Who you play, and in turn who your opponents play - especially conference you play twice in a year - and their RPI is important.


Look at 2006-2007 as a perfect example. The MVC finished 6th in the RPI and played an OOC SOS rank of 6th. Records/RPI  of the MVC that year?


7 SIU 26-6 SOS 29
20 CU 22-10 SOS 19
36 MSU 21-10 SOS 43
39 BU 20-12 SOS 21
86 UNI 17-13 SOS 81
100 WSU 16-14 SOS 72
114 DU 16-15 SOS 74
133 UE 14-17 SOS 90
138 ISUR 14-16 SOS 103
139 ISUB 12-18 SOS 54


Compare that to this year where the overall conference record isn't all that much worse - though it is - but the SOS ranks were


WSU 140
ISUR 124
SIU 103
UNI 99
LUC 198
EU 110
MSU 212
BU 135
ISUB 139
DU 146
Conference 11th


Sure, you still have to win to help RPI but SOS plays a MASSIVE factor in it. It's not a coincidence when that SOS mandate went away the bottom of the league fell off the table for RPI. Remember, opponent win % matters. Thus the bottom of the league playing SWAC/MEAC teams that are going to go 1-10 or 3-9 in the OOC kills their RPI, which then kills everyone's RPI. Go look at conference RPI finish and then their SOS rank. It's almost 100% match up


Conf RPI-SOS rank for this last year
1-1
2-2
3-3
4-4
5-5
6-6
7-9
8-8
9-7
10-10
11-12
12-11 - MVC
13-16
14-13
15-14
16-15
17-19
18-18
19-17 - HORIZON
20-20


Get the picture yet? Conference RPI is determined by team RPI. Team RPI is VERY heavily determined by SOS.


Since you used Drake at 2-10 but playing Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky I'll go a head on use this years schedule and remove a the 2 SWAC and 1 WAC games and add those in to see what we end up with. We end up with a total RPI of 265 and an SOS of 77. Still bad but significantly better than 314 for an RPI with an SOS of 146. That kind of domino affect through the entire league following that pattern (not to the extreme of Duke/UK/KU obviously) makes a significant difference.


Understanding the lay out of the formula is one thing. Knowing how it impacts the conference through a domino effect is another. MVC fans know this FAAR better than almost any other conference. We've watched it happen over the last 7 seasons. The records at the bottom of the league haven't really gotten any worse. But the SOS's have gotten significantly worse.

It was gotten rid of. The official stance is probably something along the lines of "it's impossible to follow with how games are drying up". The reality is the bottom of the league - Drake, Bradley, Evansville (to name a few) got tired of having to schedule that way and led a push to get rid of it. Since then those 3, along with Missouri State, have played historically bad OOCs, which kill RPI before the season ever starts. Evansville and Missouri State have each loaded up on 4 SWAC teams in 1 year - including playing at SWAC programs.


It needs to come back and there needs to be punishment for not following it - like not getting full/any NCAA share

Hey guys,

UNI fan if you can't tell by the name. Same UNIFTW as MVCFans. I regiestered a while back but couldn't get my activiation e-mail until today. I don't remember what I was going to address back then, but I'll add a few thoughts from my perspective (and semi-MVC perspective)

1. There is no replacement for WSU. However, Valpo and MUSU is about as it gets - especially since Belmont seems to have no interest. I'd welcome Valpo to the league. There could be an arguement to be made that Valpo and MUSU continuing where they have been, combined with ISUR, UNI and potentially MSU if they ever get a coach that can coach X's and O's have a real shot at multibids. Loyola, as much as almost all MVC fans hated that addition, has been racking up the talent on the roster lately. Much like Missouri State, who might actually have the most talented roster in the conference next year, Porter and Paul Lusk (MOSUs coach) are horrendous in game coaches. So is Muller at Illinois State. All 3 can recruit like crazy but can't coach a lick. Or retain players. Seriously, go look at the players those two have lost the last few years.

2. The key will be getting the bottom of the league to not be as bad as they have been. The key difference in RPIs between 05-11 and now is that the MVC used to have a scheduling mandate for OOC SOS. That means RPI's at the bottom of the league were kept artificially high, which kept the top of the league higher. There were a handful of years the MVC had only 1 or 2 teams worse than 200. Now the bottom of the league has multiple teams 250-300 or worse. If we can get those RPI's up, everyone moves up.

With that said, there are some concerns many of us have about Valpo and Murray State. Maybe they turn out to be nothing, but I think they are worthy of worry.

3. What will Valpo be like post Drew and Alec Peters. I don't need to tell anyone here what Valpo was before Drew family. Yes, that goes back to the late 80s. There is reason to wonder what life A.D. (after Drew) is going to look like, especially with a guy like Peters now gone. It should also be noted that almost 100% of Valpo's national name recognition is off the Drew shot in the 98 tournament. That shot turns 20 this season. That is the only season Valpo has ever won a NCAA tournament game. 82 seasons of basketball, only 1 of them involved an NCAA tournament win (yes, I know it was 2 that year). Not only that - only 2 NCAA appearances since 2004. That's also in a league/leagues that aren't at the level of the MVC. Maybe there isn't a drop. For the MVC's sake I hope there isn't if you get an invite. I think combining UNI and Valpo as names could be a great thing.

4. Facilities. No need for a new facility. However, a face-lift wouldn't hurt? Maybe Google only has bad imagines, but it looks like you have the old school yellow colored lights. Those are dim and when combined with a school wearing brown and yellow it looks...well...dank. You're arena is set up nearly identically to Drake's Knapp Center - just smaller 5k vs 7.1k. The big difference is the lights and the seat backs. It also looks to be a smaller version of the arena MUSU plays in, which holds 8,600. All 3 are strikingly similar. I don't think the Valley would be out of line to ask for renovations. Even Loyola did some pretty significant face-lifting that coincided with their move. I would attach files but they are too large so google it. Or it's on my twitter - which was already posted in this thread.

5. The MVC needs Valpo? False. It would be nice, but the league has been around for 110 years. It's the second oldest conference in the country behind only the B10. If done correctly the MVC can survive, and thrive, at 9. Valpo and MUSU are added benefits.

6. If Murray State is added we have Murray State, Missouri State, Illinois State and Indiana State. For quick learning reference:
MuSU - Murray State
MoSU - Missouri State
ISUr/IlSU - Illinois State
ISUb/InSU - Indiana State
Also, it's UNI not NIU. It's not funny to intentionally flip it - or even accidentally. Also, UNI's basketball coach is JacobsOn not JacobsEn.

Look forward to potentially teaming up with all of you as conference mates. I'll be mostly friendly....mostly.