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UIC to join the Missouri Valley

You would think with Wich St. in the final four as we speak, and 2 MVC schools ranked off and on throughout the season, and a national player of the year candidate, the MVC would have a little clout right now. I think who we select is huge because the future of this conference could hinge on this selection. Bringing in a school with very little to offer like UIC sure isnt going to help convince a school like Wich St. to stick around much longer. If we lose Wich St. too we're done. Any cred the MVC has built as a "high" mid-major conference is gone with the loss of Creighton and Wich St. Unfortunately, there's really not a lot out there right now, and nothing that even remotely compares to Creighton. Sad to think about, but this could be the beginning of the end.
 
UIC to Join the Missouri Valley

UIC to Join the Missouri Valley

This is a terrible move for the MVC. What in the world is wrong with Doug Elgin?? This weakens the conference and makes it even more likely that Wichita will move after next year.

The BU President and her AD should begin to aggresively pursue a new conference affiliation. This coming year should be our last in the MVC!!!
 
BUFanatic said:
I'd prefer schools with rich basketball traditions like Loyola and Valparaiso. UIC just seems like TOO BIG of a step down.
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I agree. It's a large school with good academics (especially graduate level) but there is no tradition, pride or sense of identity. Loyola and Valpo have that. Heck, UW-Milwaukee has more of that.
 
As a little corollary to this...remember last year when everyone was bemoaning how ALL the D-I schools in Illinois bombed out and none made the NCAA??

Early on this season, tho, everyone was saying it's quite different this year - UIC was off to a hot start - as were Loyola, WIU, even BU started 8-4...

...and although Illinois made the NCAA Tourney (many thought they were borderline, were under .500, look horrible at times) ..in the end we kinda got the SAME THING this year...
Illinois schools did horrible...

In the MVC - SIU, BU, & ISU all finished deep in the Valley race with SIU & BU the two lowest seeds...
Loyola & UIC were among the bottom end teams in the Horizon...
And tho WIU had a good W-L record - still disappointing - no NCAA bid..
DePaul, Chicago State, NIU, EIU, SIUE, Northwestern..pitiful - even the ones with new coaches there's talk of the HOT SEAT!!!
A few wins against alphabet soup teams in low level post-season tournaments don't alter the facts...
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1928...s-come-up-empty-again-in-ncaa-final-four.html

So, I guess a year didn't make as much difference after all-
Meanwhile something that link mentions- lots of the best Illinois talent is headed elsewhere...
 
Thanks Mike. The rumor never actually went away, despite some denials of it. UIC is a strong candidate to be added to the Valley.
 
Future Walk-On said:
I'd rather have 2 Drakes...

this sucks and UIC sucks

Once Wichita even hints at leaving we need to leave too
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Leave? Where would we go? It's not like we have invitations to the Big East or ACC laying on Dr. Cross' desk. I am pretty sure there aren't any invitations sitting there, so if we pull out, we'd be an independent with nobody to play.
 
Da Coach said:
Leave? Where would we go? It's not like we have invitations to the Big East or ACC laying on Dr. Cross' desk. I am pretty sure there aren't any invitations sitting there, so if we pull out, we'd be an independent with nobody to play.
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A-10 is a much more aggressive and progressive conference that has shown it's firmly committed to Basketball. ...Meanwhile the MVC is actually considering UIC...
 
amckillip said:
A-10 is a much more aggressive and progressive conference that has shown it's firmly committed to Basketball. ...Meanwhile the MVC is actually considering UIC...
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The A-10 is the only option anyone ever mentions, which by itself shows how few options we actually have. The A-10 might be a slightly better conference than the MVC in recent years, but with all the changes they will be going through, who knows what it's future is. It's not like they have been around for 100+ years like the MVC, and they change members every couple years as opposed to the MVC which rarely changes. There are few natural or geographical rivals for BU in the A-10, and they will be losing their best teams over the next couple years. Every road trip would involve thousands of miles of travel, and I don't think Bradley fans would ever get excited about rivalries with Fordham, UMass, Richmond, Rhode Island, Duquesne, St. Bonny's, etc. IMO, it would be a huge mistake. Bradley would be the redheaded stepchild of the A-10, and recruiting in the midwest to play in an Eastern conference would be difficult. Fan interest is already at an all-time low, and switching conferences could kill it further. It would be another step in the demise of our once proud basketball program.
 
Da Coach said:
The A-10 is the only option anyone ever mentions, which by itself shows how few options we actually have. The A-10 might be a slightly better conference than the MVC in recent years, but with all the changes they will be going through, who knows what it's future is. It's not like they have been around for 100+ years like the MVC, and they change members every couple years as opposed to the MVC which rarely changes. There are few natural or geographical rivals for BU in the A-10, and they will be losing their best teams over the next couple years. Every road trip would involve thousands of miles of travel, and I don't think Bradley fans would ever get excited about rivalries with Fordham, UMass, Richmond, Rhode Island, Duquesne, St. Bonny's, etc. IMO, it would be a huge mistake. Bradley would be the redheaded stepchild of the A-10, and recruiting in the midwest to play in an Eastern conference would be difficult. Fan interest is already at an all-time low, and switching conferences could kill it further. It would be another step in the demise of our once proud basketball program.
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I think the end game we need to be working on is a merger of A10 and MVC to try and solidify the type of conference that will be the top basketball only mid-major conference. It could be split into East and West to keep costs down on non basketball programs.
 
alczervik75 said:
I think the end game we need to be working on is a merger of A10 and MVC to try and solidify the type of conference that will be the top basketball only mid-major conference. It could be split into East and West to keep costs down on non basketball programs.
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I was just going to post something along these lines as I was scrolling down. Seems like a pretty good option.
 
PeoriaLou said:
It would definitely help long-term survival for the "mid-major" schools.
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Except then it only means 1 automatic bid for 16-20 schools. I'm amazed the big shots of the BCS haven't thought of this and forced a low and mid major shuffle into only about 10 conferences so they have about 16 automatic qualifiers in the field.
 
I will say I'd miss the tourney in St. Louis though. Not that i've ever gone yet but I had planned to eventually. It would also make BU have to choose a conference like the Pioneer League or go Independent in FCS if they ever re-instated football (like my pipe dream haha). Then there's always hockey, I've thought that BU could have done well in D-I hockey but they would have to either be independent or join yet ANOTHER conference as the Pioneer League doesn't have hockey. Hey, though, if the Rivermen leave town we've got an open market for hockey at the PCC ;) hehe
 
BUBalum05 said:
Except then it only means 1 automatic bid for 16-20 schools. I'm amazed the big shots of the BCS haven't thought of this and forced a low and mid major shuffle into only about 10 conferences so they have about 16 automatic qualifiers in the field.
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This is a good point. You would hope that league would be good enough to be a mult-bid league, but it's not a guarantee.
 
Da Coach said:
The A-10 is the only option anyone ever mentions, which by itself shows how few options we actually have. The A-10 might be a slightly better conference than the MVC in recent years, but with all the changes they will be going through, who knows what it's future is. It's not like they have been around for 100+ years like the MVC, and they change members every couple years as opposed to the MVC which rarely changes. There are few natural or geographical rivals for BU in the A-10, and they will be losing their best teams over the next couple years. Every road trip would involve thousands of miles of travel, and I don't think Bradley fans would ever get excited about rivalries with Fordham, UMass, Richmond, Rhode Island, Duquesne, St. Bonny's, etc. IMO, it would be a huge mistake. Bradley would be the redheaded stepchild of the A-10, and recruiting in the midwest to play in an Eastern conference would be difficult. Fan interest is already at an all-time low, and switching conferences could kill it further. It would be another step in the demise of our once proud basketball program.
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I think it's well documented we don't often agree on BU basketball but I agree with this post 100%. We would be like the redheaded stepchild. I have gone on record that I don't think the answer is UIC either.Not sure what the answer is because I'm not privy to who may be interested but certainly hope its someone MUCH better than UIC.
 
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