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Some news on Conference Realignment

Tommy said:
And the first domino falls.
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Hartford (American East Conference) dropped from Division I to Division III a couple years ago-
www.espn.com

Hartford to D-III after NCAA men's tourney berth

Hartford is expected to transition to Division III by Sept. 1, 2025. The news comes less than two months after the men's basketball team reached its first NCAA tournament.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

and there are reports that there are others contemplating the move. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one MVC school has considered it.
 
I’ve thought about the future of Bradley basketball. Very few students care to attend any games, not counting cheerleaders, Bravettes, or band members. Most students can’t relate to “paid student athletes”. Most of the fans are over the age of 65, and move away or die. It’s is not sustainable to pay our athletes and coaches the money to compete against top programs . Coaches and athletes can leave any time they find a better offer. I’m still going to enjoy this team. They never give up. But, the future appears for Bradley to play at Division 3 at Renaissance Coleseum
 
molar50 said:
I’ve thought about the future of Bradley basketball. Very few students care to attend any games, not counting cheerleaders, Bravettes, or band members. Most students can’t relate to “paid student athletes”. Most of the fans are over the age of 65, and move away or die. It’s is not sustainable to pay our athletes and coaches the money to compete against top programs . Coaches and athletes can leave any time they find a better offer. I’m still going to enjoy this team. They never give up. But, the future appears for Bradley to play at Division 3 at Renaissance Coleseum
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Molar, had it not been for the fans who finally got the attention of the Board of Trustees back in 2014, and helped get Glasser, Geno & especially Mike Cross fired, we'd have been playing in Ren-Col against D3's like Eureka, Augustana and IWU for the past decade.
 
NO- you can not come back to the Missouri Valley!!!!
(Loyola absolutely humiliated again - worst team in the A-10)

IMG_5276.jpeg
 
yoda said:
NO- you can not come back to the Missouri Valley!!!!
(Loyola absolutely humiliated again - worst team in the A-10)

View attachment 529292
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Loyola lost at home to NIU, one of the weakest teams in D1, by 17. This raises the question: How has Loyola been able to win five games so far? Is Sister Jean looking down on them or are they so terrible, just a few years after the Final Four, because she is no longer at courtside?
 
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The Valley needs to look at getting more teams in because I believe Ill.St. will leave soon because of football and join the MAC. I expect this to happen in the next 2 years. I wish there were 16 teams that were good enough to get into the Valley and are regional.
 
tomahawk chop said:
The Valley needs to look at getting more teams in because I believe Ill.St. will leave soon because of football and join the MAC. I expect this to happen in the next 2 years. I wish there were 16 teams that were good enough to get into the Valley and are regional.
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Conferences aren't regional anymore. Cases in point: the ACC and the Big (fill in any number greater than ten) that reach from coast to coast. Also, the MWC is in three time zones plus Hawaii for football. At this point, conferences are going to get any team to join. The Big 6/7/8/12 scrambled for teams wherever they could find them as did the PAC-??.
 
64NIT said:
Conferences aren't regional anymore. Cases in point: the ACC and the Big (fill in any number greater than ten) that reach from coast to coast. Also, the MWC is in three time zones plus Hawaii for football. At this point, conferences are going to get any team to join. The Big 6/7/8/12 scrambled for teams wherever they could find them as did the PAC-??.
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We are not a big conference and traveling costs need to be considered before bringing in teams that are out of your time zone. There are plenty of regional teams out there and another big factor to consider is non football schools or ones that are below D-1 level.
 
Tommy said:
Boy, you hate to see that.
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yeah- really hate to see that....and I don't like to rub it in but
Here are the highlights of Loyola's tenure in the A-10 since leaving the MVC in 2022

2022- after announcing their were leaving the Missouri Valley, they still won the MVC Tourney & went to the NCAA Tourney
as an MVC member in 2022- getting a very favorable 10-seed, and got thoroughly humiliated and embarrassed in their first round game, scoring only 41 points, barely shooting 20%.

2022-23- in their 1st season in the A-10, with a lot of Porter Moser's leftovers, they were TERRIBLE... they went 10-21 overall with
wins over mostly just 300+ NET teams, Finishing deep in dead last place in a 15-member A-10. They were predicted to be among those
at the top of the conference battling for the league lead.

2023-24 - they bounced back and won 23 games, but still got beat by UIC as well as both Tulsa & Creighton (former MVC members)
...and in the end they accepted an NIT bid and got whalloped in an immensely satisfying double digit loss to Bradley

2024-25 - they had a solid year but got bounced from the NIT by the same team Bradley lost to, Chattanooga.
Then there was immense optimism & bragging because Loyola had landed 4 different 4-Star caliber recruits/transfers for 2025-26.

2025-26 - Picked 5th in the A-10 but getting 1st place votes, they got off to a horrible start 5-12 and 1-3 (only one team worse) in the A-10. They don't seem to have anyone who can score,
and they have been held in the low 60's by teams as bad as Mercyhurst, North Texas and held in the LOW 50's
by Northern Iowa and San Jose St. They lost by 17 to NIU, one of the worst teams in DI, scoring just 59 pts, a team Bradley beat by 29!
Their attendance has tanked. Back during Valley play they drew 3,800 to over 4,000...
Their last game, a 15-point loss to conference rival Davidson drew just 1600. Their fans blame it all on injuries, altho many want Drew Valentine fired.
 
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yoda said:
yeah- really hate to see that....and I don't like to rub it in but
Here are the highlights of Loyola's tenure in the A-10 since leaving the MVC in 2022

2022- after announcing their were leaving the Missouri Valley, they still won the MVC Tourney & went to the NCAA Tourney
as an MVC member in 2022- getting a very favorable 10-seed, and got thoroughly humiliated and embarrassed in their first round game, scoring only 41 points, barely shooting 20%.

2022-23- in their 1st season in the A-10, with a lot of Porter Moser's leftovers, they were TERRIBLE... they went 10-21 overall with
wins over mostly just 300+ NET teams, Finishing deep in dead last place in a 15-member A-10. They were predicted to be among those
at the top of the conference battling for the league lead.

2023-24 - they bounced back and won 23 games, but still got beat by UIC as well as both Tulsa & Creighton (former MVC members)
...and in the end they accepted an NIT bid and got whalloped in an immensely satisfying double digit loss to Bradley

2024-25 - they had a solid year but got bounced form the NIT by the same team Bradley lost to, Chattanooga.
Then there was immense optimism & bragging because Loyola has landed 4 different 4-Star caliber recruits/transfers.

2025-26 - Picked 5th in the A-10 but getting 1st place votes, they got off to a horrible start 5-12 and 1-3 (only one team worse) in the A-10. They don't seem to have anyone who can score,
and they have been held in the low 60's by teams as bad as Mercyhurst, North Texas and held in the LOW 50's
by Northern Iowa and San Jose St. They lost by 17 to NIU, one of the worst teams in DI, scoring just 59 pts, a team Bradley beat by 29!
Their attendance has tanked. Back during Valley play they drew 3,800 to over 4,000...
Their last game, a 15-point loss to conference rival Davidson drew just 1600. Their fans blame it all on injuries, altho many want Drew Valentine fired.
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What makes it worse, or ironic, is Loyola isn't that far removed from the Final Four, just eight years and just five years from their last place finish in their first year in the A-10.
 
Politicians getting involved in conference realignment...
Senator Eric Schmitt from Missouri and Senator Jon Husted of Ohio have written a letter to the Commissioner of the Big East Conference to encourage the Big East to accept St. Louis University and Dayton University into the conference.

Senators Schmitt, Husted Call for Big East Conference Membership for Saint Louis University, University of Dayton - Senator Schmitt

‘Schools with Shared Values, Academic Priorities, and Comparable Resource Models Should Compete in the Same Conference’ WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is leading a letter with Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) to Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman to encourage the conference to add...
www.schmitt.senate.gov www.schmitt.senate.gov

They might have a slight conflict of interest. Senator Jon Husted has both a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Dayton, and Senator Eric Schmitt , who has an undergrad degree from Truman State, also has his law degree from St. Louis University.
 
yoda said:
Utah Valley University is leaving the WAC to join the Big West. There appears to be a squabble regarding the fees owed
for exiting so today the WAC Commissioner released a scolding statement and cut UVU off from any further broadcast coverage - even on ESPN+
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Wow. What a crazy retaliation. That just hurts the players, whose games won't be able to be viewed by their families or by other coaches who might be watching for portal transfers, and it hurts the fans, who won't be able to follow the team.
 
yoda said:
Sacramento State (basketball, and all other sports except FB) is leaving the Big Sky Conference,
to become the 12th member of the Big West Conference.
Sacramento State has long been a regional rival of Jim Les & UC-Davis, as they are located just 20 minutes away from each other,
and they have played each other almost every year, so now they'll get to play each other twice every season!

UC-Davis football already plays in the Big Sky where Sacramento State played, but Sacramento State will go independent,
thus they won't be conference rivals there any longer.
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UC Davis and one other BW hoops team were actively recruited and are leaving the BW conferences to join the Mountain West Conference. Bigger markets …very large increase in revenue to UCD….much larger conference tv and media deals. Massive increase in the dollars available to the men’s basketball team …additional coaches and related increased salary spending, support staff and facilities etc etc. All charter travel etc .

With larger conference financial resources The Mountain West actually has a required minimum FLOOR that each school must spend on the basketball program . Great for the UCD basketball team.

But Sac State and UCD won’t play each other ….unless they play in the non conference portion of the season. It’s too bad if they don’t play since their two coaches were both legendary guards for the Kings with lots of local of interest.
 
a couple recent departures from the MVC include Wichita going to the AAC & Missouri State going to CUSA...
..both obviously believing they were "moving up" to stronger conferences.

But currently the MVC ranks HIGHER in both the NET Conference rankings and the KenPom

Even the Big West ranks higher than CUSA

Loyola moved up to the A-10 (whose ranking is boosted by having more teams) but they're gonna finish dead last again this year for the
second time in 4 years

HAqVeybaQAA_Uqr[1].jpg
 
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Wichita St was for basketball, and the AAC is a shell of what it was a few years ago. Quite a few teams have left for greener pastures. I think the biggest were UConn, Houston, UCF, and Cincy. It's interesting that WSU has not ascended to the top of the league with fewer big name programs. Meanwhile, perennial bottom feeder Tulsa is having a great year in the AAC and has already reached 20 wins.

Mo State's departure was solely for football and the additional revenue by being in FBS. I watched the UTEP/NMSU game and the style of basketball in CUSA is very interesting. It seems less about a system and more about one-on-one basketball. After watching some CUSA games this year, I have a great appreciation for the high quality basketball being played in the Valley.

In the A10, it will be interesting to see if SLU and Dayton make a jump to perhaps the Big East. I doubt a Loyola would even be considered. If those two schools leave, Loyola is left out on an island in the A10.
 
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