Is the MVC big on balance? I know most people talk about adding Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota as football only members, but if I were the commish I would fear that the MVFC schools would eventually break apart (especially if it was a 7/5 split). If it were me, I'd add a full member, a non football member, and a football only member, just to try to keep that balance. Not sure if it would make much of a difference though, those football schools might end up breaking off anyway.

To me, it seems like the conference is trying to copy the CAA look (though, not sure if that's a great idea as we are starting to see that conference teams at once).

So UNO full time, UND to Summit/MVFC, and then a basketball school, not sure who though.

omaha dropped football & joined the summit league. southern utah is going to the big sky after next season. if the MVFC offers an invite to ND for football only they could go to the summit league before 2012 without an exit penalty from the big sky. the addition of ND & northern kentucky trying to transition up to division 1 could convince tom douple to invite both ND & northern kentucky to bring the summit to 12 members. a win for all conferences in that scenario.

I hope this happens, but who would the MVFC get to come in w/ UND? They don't want 11. The YSU to CAA for fb rumor seems to be BS.

I saw you have GVSU moving up in one of your posts. They aren't coming. Their Prez or AD wrote a story last year about how it's better to be the big fish in D-II. I'm on the D-II board all the time, not happening. They are good in most D-II sports too. They are bigger than Fresno St.

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tbh honest i dont know a thing about the mvc, caa, YSU or GVU. so it was mostly from just reading articles & speculation. i went to oakland university & had a few friends up at GVU. michigan is a HOT bed for atheletes & tbh, most people in the state of michigan believe GVU should transition up. michigan has so many quality d1 programs in all sports & i guess thats why most michiganders think they should tansition.

i also thought i read something after GVU's AD talked about not wanting to move up last year, about them still exploring the idea? maybe im thinking of a different article for a different school?

The Missouri Valley adds Dallas Bapitst as a provisional member for baseball:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/dallas/co ... r-with-mvc

If DBU somehow swings a full membership in the MVC, Oral Roberts may be #12. DBU already sponsors 14 sports, with everything but baseball in Division II's Heartland Conference.

nice find, I doubt it will become more than that. If the MVC goes to 12. I would be NDSU and SDSU or Butler and St.Louis

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Yup - DBU and OBU would be way down on any MVC expansion list.


St. Louis and Butler would be 1 and 2

Right on jon. Both schools have what is virtually an open invite by the MVC. Butler is content as is...easier path to tourney...really has become Zaga of the midwest by being big fish in Horizon. St. Louis has the Majerus comments 2 years ago about the MVC, but all parties above RM put that to rest.

MVC is in good shape though. other than those 2, nobody really helps. Not like they need to bring in dakota schools with risk of them leaving elsewhere for football. MVC holds the cards.

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St. Louis may bail on the A-10 once the Big East blows up (I am really betting on that happening soon). If a 12th member for the MVC can be found (SEMO might be a possibility) then the SLU to MVC rumors get to high gear. The ONLY reason I can figure on the RM comments being squashed a couple years ago is due to the fact that SLU is not exactly on the A-10's favorite list right now being one of the outliers.

SEMO is way down on the list of any MVC candidates.

They would look first at SLU, as you mentioned, then Butler, then one of the Dakota schools.

SLU's membership in the A-10 seems to be part of a "bet".

The administration (namely Father Biondi, who is a pretty sharp cookie, and the guy who hired Majerus) had to make some decisions back in 2003.
SLU was one of 4 non-football schools in the CUSA. DePaul and Marquette latched on with the Big East (as prt of the 8 + 8 "Gavitt plan")
and UNC-Charlotte and SLU wrangled invitations to the A-10.

A lot of people ASSUMED at the time that the Big East would split, and SLU wanted to position itself to align with the 8 Catholic non-football schools.
(SLU has had long-standing "rivalries" with Marquette and Depaul, along with Xavier, Dayton, Notre Dame, etc.).
Biondi seems intent on playing this out, waiting for a Big East split and taking his chances on linking up with the Catholic schools.
Meanwhile, Majerus is sick of the travel, and has publicly wondered if this split, etc. is ever going to happen.
If not, MVC would be a great home... In fact the MVC is headquartered in St. Louis, and plays their BB tournament in St. Louis ("Arch Madness").
If SLU moved to the MVC, the Arch Madness might still work, since the Scottrade Center is a "neutral" court.
SLU BB has moved to a new on-campus Chaifetz Center.

I give this about a 2% chance of happening, but I though it could be an interesting idea so here goes:

If Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State go to the Pac-16 (seems likely), and Missouri, Kansas, and Kansas State go to the Big East (I sure hope not), then Baylor and Iowa State are left by themselves. Baylor can likely find refuge in the MWC, C-USA, or in desperation even the WAC. But what about Iowa State?

* Their in-state rival Iowa is in the Big Ten, but Iowa State is not getting in there anytime soon.
* The Big East would be full at that point
* They won't be an expansion target of the SEC or ACC
* They are really outside any place of relevance for the MWC or C-USA

That leaves FBS options as the WAC, MAC, or Sun Belt, none of which are very good options. Perhaps Iowa State could try to (re)join the Missouri Valley, and join the MAC for FB only (or go independent in football, which would be one of the most bizarre outcomes of recent realignment). If the MVC wanted even numbers, invite Butler too.

Interesting but I think the worst scenario for Iowa St would be the MAC they would not pass up on them, they'd just grab MTSU, WKU, or even an FCS upgrade like YSU to get to 14/16, still I think that is less than 10% ISU is probably going to join the Big East, CUSA, MWC, or a new conference with the AQ leftovers from the BE/B12 like USF and Baylor...

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The only conference outside the top 5 that MIGHT pass on Iowa St. would be the Big East. All the others would take them if need be, including the MWC, if it meant getting KU. But even if MWC passes, you'd still see, like you said, MAC interested. CUSA as well as Sun Belt. The big hit is that they might be out of the BCS, but they'd have an FBS home no matter what.

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MWC would take both Baylor and ISU. plus you would likely see BE take KU, KSU, ISU right at the beginning if Mo ends up in the SEC. If not then wait a few weeks. Say FSU is SEC #14, then the ACC takes Syracuse, BE replaces them w/ ISU.

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