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The Missouri Valley Conference is ...

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Bubbler, Dec 10, 2006.

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  1. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    ... 5-1 against ranked teams, 61-18 against nonconference teams, 41-1 at home against nonconference teams and 13-11 on the road.

    As of now, it is No. 2 in the conference RPI, only trailing the ACC. Bear in mind, with the season starting a week earlier, the nonconference portion of the schedule is already approximately 75 percent complete.

    Wichita State, Missouri State, Creighton and Indiana State -- picked a resounding last in the preseason conference poll -- all have beaten ranked teams. Indiana State beat Preseason NIT champ Butler by eight on Saturday, Creighton beat Xavier at the same time.

    Is it time to shed the mid-major label and welcome the MVC into the pantheon of the major conferences?

    Discuss.

    (A_F ... I'm looking at you first!)
     
    Bubbler, Dec 10, 2006
    #1
  2. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    ...not very good. [/Billy Packer]
     
    BYH, Dec 10, 2006
    #2
  3. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    NO!

    They simply don't match up in terms of money, arena sizes, fan bases, and TV exposure. Are they as good as most other teams in the country? Oh sure. Of course, we were saying that 10 years ago about the A-10 back when UMASS was a Final Four contender, Temple was a regularly ranked team, GW was making Sweet 16 appearances under Mike Jarvis, and teams like St. Bonaventure, Xavier, and even Ace Custin and Va Tech were playing well.

    It didn't last. Until they get a major TV deal generating lots of exposure, take control of some big media markets and such, they'll always be mid-major. That's even if they're playing at a major level.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Dec 10, 2006
    #3
  4. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    TV exposure? No argument, but the national nets are catching up.

    Money? A problem for some, not all. Creighton and Wichita State pay at a major conference level.

    Fan base? The MVC ranked 8th in attendance last season, drawing 1.2 million fans overall.

    Arenas? You're wrong there. The smallest MVC arena seats 7,002 (Drake). Creighton (17,272) plays in a new NBA-caliber arena as the main tenant. Evansville (11,600), Bradley (11,164), Wichita State (10,478), Illinois State (10,200), and Indiana State (10,200) are all five-digit sized facilities. Missouri State is building an arena that will seat over 10,000.

    The arenas, the markets some MVC teams are in, and their fan bases are one thing that sets it apart from the Atlantic 10.
     
    Bubbler, Dec 10, 2006
    #4
  5. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Not so sure about that. The A-10 has teams in NYC, Philly, Wash DC, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Boston right off the top of my head. I'm not sure that Omaha or any other of the cities in the MVC can compare.

    And again, this has nothing to do with the quality of ball being played RIGHT NOW. I'm just not convinced it'll last.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Dec 10, 2006
    #5
  6. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    The difference being that the Atlantic 10 teams in most of those markets (Cincinnati and probably Philly are exceptions) are afterthoughts vis a vis their pro franchises, etc. No one in Pittsburgh is getting geeked up about Duquesne. The fan interest pie is much more fractured in those places.

    In the Valley markets, they are almost without exception the team of choice and the team that gets, or at least shares on some equal footing, the media exposure and fan interest.
     
    Bubbler, Dec 10, 2006
    #6
  7. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Yeah, but if you do well in those markets you'll get attention. GW used to be a big deal in DC back when Yinka Dare was playing there. Now? They're fourth just in college hoops in DC. If you have a winning program you'll get attention. And face it, the attention coming from major markets even if it's at a bandwagon level means more than the mid markets that have a more intense following. Omaha may be a nice town with good steak, but it's not going to be that big a deal very often east of the Missisippi or west of the Rockies.

    The major conferences have staying power and will always be major. The mid majors have their few good years and then fade away. Princeton had it's time a few years back. The A-10 had its good years a few years back. The WAC and Mountain West have even had a peek at the big time, though not like the MVC. None of it ever lasts. And it won't for you guys in flyover country. Sorry it sounds elitist, because I enjoy watching mid majors that succeed, which the MVC undoubtedly has.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Dec 10, 2006
    #7
  8. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    North Atlantic had a run similar to the A-10 in the late 1980s and early 1990s when BU (Jarvis coaching), Northeastern (Calhoun/Reggie Lewis) and a few other teams made the league a very strong mid-major.

    Schools like Creighton and Wichita State have been good perennially, though. And ISU did made a title game with the Hick.
     
    wickedwritah, Dec 10, 2006
    #8
  9. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    There has never been a mid-major conference that has smacked around teams with the depth that the MVC has the last two years. 2nd in conference RPI? That is insane. Unthinkable that a mid major would do that even five years ago. And it doesn't seem to be a fluke.

    They're gonna get five teams in this year. Is it going to last? I dunno. But it's spectacular and unprecedented.
     
    poindexter, Dec 10, 2006
    #9
  10. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Last two years does not a major conference make, even if the MVC gets six teams in and the Shockers as a top-2 seed. Do it for four or five straight years, then we'll talk. A-10, Big West, Midwestern Collegiate/Horizon and West Coast have all made cases for being "major" in the last 10-20 years, but they've fallen off. I say have similar success for two more seasons, and if that happens, then you go from two-paragraph previews on teams in the college basketball magazines to full color pages.

    By the way, if I misspell a lot of words today, I broke my glasses and until I can repair them, I'm damn near blind. At least I'm spared looking at myself for a few hours.
     
    Mystery_Meat, Dec 10, 2006
    #10
  11. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    No, not until the MVC teams not only do it on a consistent basis, but match up against these teams on a consistent basis...
     
    slappy4428, Dec 10, 2006
    #11
  12. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    Sure, the majors are rushing to schedule the MVC. No-win situation, thus the MVC gets frozen out.
     
    wickedwritah, Dec 10, 2006
    #12
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