Conference Realignment ...

[ryano]

Howdy La Salle fans ... friendly neighborhood Wichita State fan here >=)

I've been thinking about conference realignment a lot lately. Wichita is in a very bad position as far as geography for getting a TV deal, so it's been a big issue for us. With Butler and Xavier leaving the A-10, and now Saint Louis and Dayton supposedly leaving soon, I know it's a big issue for you guys as well.

This is what I want to see ... essentially just a combination of the Missouri Valley Conference and the remaining A-10 teams:

VCU, La Salle, George Mason, Richmond, and Saint Joseph's joining the current MVC of Wichita State, Indiana State, UNI, Illinois State, Evansville, SIU, Missouri State, Drake, and Bradley.

This would give us a conference that has now had three Final Four appearances in the last ten years, and somewhere around 15 trips to at least the Sweet 16 (don't know the A-10 crew's stats off the top of my head ... MVC teams have had 7). 9 of those 14 teams had RPIs in at least the top 100 this year.

As far as I'm concerned, with Creighton leaving the Valley and the other four leaving the A-10, we're both very weak, and traditional expansion isn't going to get either of us back to the level we were at this last year. I think this conference has enough momentum going in recent years to get a major television deal and create a stable conference long-term.

What would you guys think about this?

(I'm only suggesting the A-10 teams join the Valley because the A-10 has more teams -- and thus more bottom-feeders. I would be equally happy with Wichita State and a combination of Valley teams joining the A-10. The tough part is having geographic divisions set up for non-revenue sports in either combination.)

[20thandolney]

Did you read my post in the other thread? I half jokingly suggested this knowing that it is next to impossible for it to happen. The Missouri Valley can be the west division and the A-10 can be the East division. You play everyone in your division and then maybe like a handful of teams in the other division. You set the schedule up so that each team goes on two road trips to play the other division to cut down on travel costs.

I think you need to have everyone join from both conferences though because it would be a huge legal mess otherwise. That is why you would only play a handful of teams from the other division so you don't have something like a 20 game conference schedule. 

Edit- I forgot to consider that there are only 9 teams in the MVC ( So 8 games) and there would be 11 teams (assuming Dayton and SLU bail and the addition of George Mason. So that would be 10 games.) So something would need to be done to align that. 

[ryano]

I didn't see your other post, no.

I don't think it's that far out of the realm of possibility, personally.

As for a legal mess ... I don't think it would be a significant problem. All teams that move would have to pay exit fees, but that's about it. What are the A-10's like? In fact, if a majority of the A-10 were to leave at once, could you simply vote to dissolve the conference and move over without any fees? And would that bring NCAA tourney payouts with it? And the same would be true for the Valley ... I know our buyouts are pretty insignificant.

I prefer the idea of keeping the Valley simply because it's the second oldest athletic conference in the country (behind the B1G) ... but really my only goal here is to make the best conference possible out of this mess. I think the Valley and A-10 need each other desperately for the future. There's been so much momentum from these teams in recent years ... we have to capitalize on it however we can. Unfortunately, I think the Valley leadership tends to be incredibly slow and short-sighted, so a move to the A-10 would be preferable.

This is a huge issue for a lot of Wichita State fans. There's debate whether we want to align with A-10 schools or the MWC (if a basketball-only spot was offered), but NONE of us are happy with the status quo.

[crayzeeguy]

At a minimum, conferences like these should have some sort of scheduling agreement, ala the ACC/Big 10 challenge. Throw the Mountain West into that mix. Could see some nice Palestra double headers.

Great exposure for all... You cover coast to coast with that lineup.

[20thandolney]

Ryano, I couldn't tell you what it would take to dissolve the conference or if that is even possible. I do know that the exit fee is 2 million.

[20thandolney]

Mar 30, 2013 23:26:50 GMT -5 crayzeeguy said:

At a minimum, conferences like these should have some sort of scheduling agreement, ala the ACC/Big 10 challenge. Throw the Mountain West into that mix. Could see some nice Palestra double headers.

Great exposure for all... You cover coast to coast with that lineup.

This is a great idea. 

[ryano]

Mar 30, 2013 23:26:50 GMT -5 crayzeeguy said:

At a minimum, conferences like these should have some sort of scheduling agreement, ala the ACC/Big 10 challenge. Throw the Mountain West into that mix. Could see some nice Palestra double headers.

Great exposure for all... You cover coast to coast with that lineup.

I'm all for it, but that's also a very minor fix.

College athletics are all about money now. TV is vitally important in generating revenue for programs. Neither the A-10 or the MVC is going to have much of a TV contract in the near future if all of the moves from the A10 happen.

While a scheduling agreement would help RPIs a little, it doesn't address the larger problem, which is that neither conference is going to be very well set in the future in TV money or in average RPIs. Your conference has a huge impact on your RPI ... a scheduling agreement, while nice, doesn't have that big of an impact, because it's only one or two games per team. And with Creighton gone from the MVC, and at least two if not four of the A-10's best teams gone, average RPIs for both conferences are about to drop dramatically -- not only from their RPIs but from their impact on the RPIs of the other teams (and on and on and on).

Simply put, La Salle doesn't make the NCAA tourney this year if you didn't have Butler and Xavier in the conference. Your RPI wouldn't have been high enough. I think you can easily take 10 RPI spots off every team in the A-10 this year if those two weren't in the conference, and probably more.

I think we need to combine the A-10 and MVC in one way or another and then create a scheduling agreement with the MWC.