(03-08-2020 10:56 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(03-08-2020 09:55 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(03-08-2020 07:48 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-08-2020 07:36 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(03-08-2020 07:32 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Why not St. Louis? They can have a member in St. Louis. They'd do the A-10 a favor and save them a ton of travel.

Saint Louis (and Belmont) aren’t interested in the MVC. Murray State is the opposite - their president and AD put on mega social media campaigns to replace Wichita. Elgin called Murray “an MVC institution” at the time but claimed 11 was non-negotiable.

With 20 game schedules being the new 18 game schedules and the AAC and Big East going to 11 teams, even though Elgin didn't say so maybe 11 is a possibility.

Another problem with Murray State. They've essentially been passed over by the MVC twice in the 2010's, once for Loyola (I'd say a terrific choice) and once for Valparaiso.

I wonder if the A-10 would ever have the guts to kick St. Louis out. St. Louis should want to leave.

Loyola was a lucky choice, with one good team in 30 years and two in 50 years. Regardless of the Final Four, it should.have been UIC.

Loyola got good because they started investing a ton of money into basketball. MVC was leaning towards UIC, then Loyola pledged a bunch of commitments and their membership was contingent upon it. They renovated the arena, built a state of the art practice facility, and ballooned their budget. The Loyola of today isn’t the Loyola of those decades.

If you come to Chicago, go to a Loyola game and a UIC game and you will see a stark difference. It used to be the opposite 10+ years ago.

Partially, however Loyola's not even that good. They had one semi-fluky run and nothing else so far in the Valley. Their coach is gonna regret not leaving two years ago when he was a hot name in coaching.