I dont understand this view that the Velly and A10 are noticably different or that the MVC would be terrible for the program. Look at some facts:
1. Over the last five years, the MVC has been a consistently better league. Last year was the first year in since 2004 that the A10's RPI was above the MVC's and it was by a very small margin. In each of the previous years, the MVC's RPI was significantly higher. In fact, in each of those years the MVC's RPI was closer to 2 or more BCS conferences than it was to the A10's. This year the A10 will be better by a big margin, last year they were slightly better, the few years before the valley was significantly better.
2. Similar Schools? From the standpoint of Catholic, this is a fair point, but in terms of private similarly sized schools the Valley has Drake, Bradley, and Creighton.
3. "Going to the Valley is a step back" in terms of visibility. I'm not sure how you measure this, but the facts seem to say the MVC would win out. Consider the fact that the Valley is currently receiving more NCAA tournament "shares" (they have played in more NCAA tournament games over the last 7 years) and their conference championship is televised on CBS. The A10 has second rate coverage at best.
4. The MVC makes SLU a mid-major forever. SLU is a mid-major. The A10 is a mid-major conference. The MVC is mid-major conference.
5. Distance clearly favors the MVC