STLfan

Because it would add them a school in the city of Chicago (the nations third largest media market) that gets good fan support and it would help bridge the gap to Marquette. If DePaul didn't exist then you would probably see one of Butler (Indianapolis), Creighton (Omaha), Dayton, or SLU in the Big East because no other team in the Chicago market makes sense.

Posts like the above piss me off. I'm not sure why any SLU fan should be calling the MVC a second teir league like we deserve so much better. Many of those programs have had more success then us. In fact we would fit right in with the MVC schools. NCAA tournament apperances by school SLU - 6 MVC Schools: Creighton - 16 Southern Illinois - 10 Bradley - 8 Wright State - 8 Illinois State - 6 Missouri State - 6 Evansville - 5 Northern Iowa - 5 Drake - 4 Indiana State - 3 All time winner percentage. SLU - .537 MVC Schools: Missouri State - .643 Bradley - .604 Southern Illinois - .598 Creighton - .597 Illinois State - .582 Evansville - .566 Indiana State - .541 Wichita State - .537 Northern Iowa - .520 Drake - .460 Last years attendance SLU - 7,627 MVC Schools: Creighton - 15,930 Wichita State - 10,095 Bradley - 9,110 Missouri State - 7,147 Illinois State - 7,118 Southern Illinois - 5,892 Evansville - 5,863 Drake - 5,101 Northern Iowa - 4,212 Indiana State - 4,009 Arena Capacity SLU - 10,600 MVC Schools: Creighton - 17,560 Evansville - 13,252 Bradley - 11,433 Missouri State - 11,000 Wichita State - 10,572 Illinois State - 10,200 Indiana State - 10,200 Southern Illinois - 9,628 Northern Iowa - 7,018 Drake - 7,002

If Majerus feels we would be better off as a program in the MVC, Horizon, or any other league instead of the A10 don't you think we should listen to him? The man has been involved with college basketball since 1967 as a player, an assistant coach, a head coach with 471 career wins, and an ESPN TV analyst. Does Fr. Biondi or anyone else on this message board have similar credentials? I'm not even sure I like Majerus all that much but when it comes to college basketball I tend to think he knows what he is talking about and since we are paying him $1,000,000 a year we might want to listen to him and take his advice. I don't think I will ever understand why some on here are so passionate about staying in the A10. It's not like we have a long history with the league and we are obviously a poor fit geographically. We shouldn't stay in a conference based on the hopes that the Big East might someday break up. After all if they someday do and if the basketball only schools then decide to expand they will care more about the condition of a program then the conference they belong to. If we are a successful program with good facilities, fan support, and a large media market we will be of interest to them. So doesn't it make the most sense to listen to the man who knows college basketball inside and out go to the conference where he feels the Saint Louis University basketball program can best compete and achieve that kind of success?

I'd rather see something like this. Bradley Butler Creighton Dayton Detroit Drake Saint Louis Xavier Similar to the WCC an eight team league of private universities. The conference above could get 2-4 bids a year and we would only be splitting that revenue eight ways. Everyone plays each team home and away so we could really establish some strong rivalries. All have good facilities. Here is each teams arena capacity. Bradley - 11,433 Butler - 10,000 Creighton - 17,560 Dayton - 13,435 Detroit - 8,295 Drake - 7,002 Saint Louis - 10,600 Xavier - 10,250 Similar enrollment: Bradley - 6,105 Butler - 4,200 Creighton - 7,385 Dayton - 10,569 Detroit - 6,000 Drake - 5,221 Saint Louis - 10,633 Xavier - 6,646 Current RPI: Bradley - 105 Butler - 16 Creighton - 114 Dayton - 38 Detroit - 157 Drake - 181 Saint Louis - 127 Xavier - 23 NCAA appearances by school: Bradley - 8 Butler - 9 Creighton - 16 Dayton - 14 Detroit - 5 Drake - 4 Saint Louis - 6 Xavier - 20 All States are connected by at least one border Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Missouri Nebraska Ohio This way we aren't just waiting for the Big East to fall apart and hoping we receive an invite to join the Big East basketball schools. If the Big East stays intact we are in a good conference already and if it does fall apart we have an opportunity to make our conference stronger. We could then make an offer to Marquette and DePaul to become the 9th and 10th members and still continue playing everyone home and away.

Is this our most recent ESPN TV deal? If it is it looks like we will be renegotiating this off season. which will begin with the 2006-07 season and continue through 2009-10 Hopefully this means we will be seeing a much better TV deal next year. My biggest complaint with SLU and the A10 is the lack of TV games.

Found an article about it. Horizon League, ESPN announce multi-year deal through 2013 From the article.

I love watching college basketball and DVR games that might be interesting. Usually I just play them in the background while I work on other things but during the Butler-Wisconsin Green Bay game they announced a new ESPN Horizon league deal. The four bullet points on the screen showed. - Exclusive National Cable Home for Horizon League Men's Basketball - At least 3 regular season games on ESPN/ESPN2 - 16 Men's games on ESPNU/ESPN360. - Women's Championship game on ESPNU each season. Does anyone know what the A10's deal is with ESPN? If the Horizon can get the above surely the A10 can get better. Also does anyone know what ESPN TV deal the MVC has?

In my opinion 96 teams are way to many. Can you imagine filling out your brackets, they wouldn't even fit on single sheet of paper. The NCAA tournament is already the best post season event in sports and there is no need to fix what isn't broken. Right now it is a big accomplishment to reach the tournament and I don't see any good reason to water it down. The only NCAA tournament expansion I would be ok with is adding three more play in games so there is one for each bracket. Whenever this comes up it seems to be only the coaches that are really in favor of the tournament expanding and it's not hard to figure out why. Most coaches receive bonuses for making the tournament and for making it to different levels of the tournament like the S16, E8, F4, and so on. Also few coaches are fired after making the tournament. In my opinion they don't need to expand the tournament they need to cut down on the number of NCAA D1 basketball teams. There are teams that are D1 that play in the equivalent of high school gyms and can't even average 2,000 fans a game. How are these in the same division as teams like Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, or even teams like Xavier, SLU, Dayton ect. Last year there were 110 D1 teams that couldn't bring in at least 2,000 fans a game. The only way these programs can afford to be D1 is by excepting buy games from bigger conference teams. Even worse the following teams couldn't even average 1,000 fans a game. (excluding service academies) Team - 2009 Average Attendance Columbia - 996 Northern Ariz. - 996 Sacred Heart - 982 Coastal Caro. - 980 Savannah St. - 948 La.-Monroe - 907 Long Island - 867 Prairie View - 958 UNC Asheville - 945 St. Peter's - 935 Southern U. - 870 Dartmouth - 855 Texas-Arlington - 848 Eastern Mich. - 830 McNeese St. - 825 Alcorn St. - 803 UC Riverside - 802 Coppin St. - 801 Centenary (LA) - 761 Sacramento St. - 752 New Orleans - 743 FIU - 681 Tex.-Pan American - 563 Fairleigh Dickinson - 533 St. Francis (NY) - 477 Colgate - 406 In my opinion if you move every team that can't average more than 2,000 fans a game over say the last 10 years down to D2 you would eliminate most of the programs that can only afford to be D1 by excepting buy games from the big and mid major conferences. This would create more teams playing home and away. There are currently 11 teams not counted above that are reclassifying as D1. Out of those 11 none average 2,000 a game and 6 can't even average 1,000. A slower more PC way to accomplish the same thing would be for the NCAA to ban buy games and require teams that play each other to agree to either a home and away deal or a two for one deal. This would put many of the above programs in the red and they would have to move down on their own. The NCAA doesn't need to expand the tournament it needs to shrink the number of D1 teams.

To compare here is the current Atlantic 10. Charlotte Dayton Duquesne Fordham George Washington La Salle UMass Rhode Island Richmond Saint Joseph's Saint Louis St. Bonaventure Temple Xavier Basketball arena's listed by Capacity Dayton - 13,435 Saint Louis - 10,600 Xavier - 10,250 Temple - 10,206 UMass - 9,493 Charlotte - 9,105 Richmond - 9,071 Rhode Island - 7,657 St. Bonaventure - 5,780 Duquesne - 5,358 George Washington - 5,000 Saint Joseph's - 4,200 La Salle - 4,000 Fordham - 3,470 Enrollment Temple - 31,600 UMass - 25,873 George Washington - 22,710 Charlotte - 22,388 Rhode Island - 15,650 Fordham - 12,932 Saint Louis - 10,633 Dayton - 10,569 Duquesne - 9,617 Saint Joseph's - 7,542 Xavier - 6,646 La Salle - 6,012 Richmond - 2,962 St. Bonaventure - 2,700 Affiliation Charlotte - Public Dayton - Public Duquesne - Private/Catholic Fordham - Private/Catholic George Washington - Private/Non-sectarian La Salle - Private/Catholic UMass - Public Rhode Island Richmond - Private/Non-sectarian Saint Joseph's - Private/Catholic Saint Louis - Private/Catholic St. Bonaventure - Private/Catholic Temple - Public Xavier - Private/Catholic Ranked by Current RPI 11 - Temple 13 - Xavier 17 - Rhode Island 37 - Dayton 40 - Richmond 49 - Charlotte 109 - Duquesne 113 - Saint Louis 119 - La Salle 132 - George Washington 143 - Saint Joseph's 153 - St. Bonaventure 208 - UMass 293 - Fordham A very good year for the A10. Only two teams below 200 and none below 300. Listed by NCAA tournament appearances Temple - 27 Xavier - 20 Saint Joseph's - 20 Dayton - 14 Charlotte - 11 La Salle - 11 George Washington - 10 Rhode Island - 8 Richmond - 7 UMass - 7 Saint Louis - 6 Duquesne - 5 St. Bonaventure - 5 Fordham - 4 Last year each team appeared in an NCAA tournament 2009 - Dayton 2009 - Temple 2009 - Xavier 2008 - Saint Joseph's 2007 - George Washington 2005 - Charlotte 2004 - Richmond 2000 - Saint Louis 2000 - St. Bonaventure 1999 - Rhode Island 1998 - UMass 1992 - Fordham 1992 - La Salle 1977 - Duquesne

Assuming the Big East doesn't break up I would be more than happy with the following eight team conference. Bradley Butler Creighton Dayton Detroit Drake Saint Louis Xavier Basketball arena's listed by Capacity Creighton - 17,560 Dayton - 13,435 Bradley - 11,433 Saint Louis - 10,600 Xavier - 10,250 Butler - 10,000 Detroit - 8,295 Drake - 7,002 Good facilities and no gyms. Enrollment Saint Louis - 10,633 Dayton - 10,569 Creighton - 7,385 Xavier - 6,646 Bradley - 6,105 Detroit - 6,000 Drake - 5,221 Butler - 4,200 Affiliation Bradley - Private/Non-sectarian Butler - Private/Non-sectarian Creighton - Private/Catholic(Jesuit) Dayton - Private/Catholic Detroit - Private/Catholic(Jesuit) Drake - Private/Non-sectarian Saint Louis - Private/Catholic(Jesuit) Xavier - Private/Catholic(Jesuit) Ranked by Current RPI 13 - Xavier 24 - Butler 37 - Dayton 83 - Bradley 113 - Saint Louis 130 - Creighton 164 - Detroit 186 - Drake No team below 200 in RPI. This conference would be a two or three bid league most years and we would only have to split that revenue 8 ways. Listed by NCAA tournament appearances Xavier - 20 Creighton - 16 Dayton - 14 Bradley - 8 Butler - 9 Saint Louis - 6 Detroit - 5 Drake - 4 Last year each team appeared in an NCAA tournament 2009 - Butler 2009 - Dayton 2009 - Xavier 2008 - Drake 2007 - Creighton 2006 - Bradley 2000 - Saint Louis 1999 - Detroit

If we didn't hire Majerus, Randy Bennett was at the top of my wish list and when Majerus retires I wouldn't mind us going after Bennett. He has done a great job building the St. Mary's program and he was an assistant here under Romar. On one hand I'm not sure he would leave the SMC program he built but on the other hand a million dollar salary and state of the art facilities could go a long way to changing someone's mind.

I agree. If we joined the MVC I would hope one of Butler, Dayton, or Xavier would join with us to be the 12th team. If it is Butler the MVC could split east and west. East Bradley Butler Evansville Illinois State Indiana State Southern Illinois West Creighton Drake Missouri State Northern Iowa Saint Louis Wichita State We would play each team in the West division twice once home and once away and each team from the other division once. It would be fun playing Creighton and Mo State twice each season. One of the other things I like about the MVC is all the teams have pretty good facilities. Arena Capacity 17,560 - Creighton 13,252 - Evansville 11,433 - Bradley 11,000 - Missouri State 10,600 - Saint Louis 10,572 - Wichita State 10,200 - Indiana State 10,200 - Illinois State 10,000 - Butler 9,628 - Southern Illinois 7,018 - Northern Iowa 7,002 - Drake Also if the Valley added SLU and Butler there would be an even split between Public and Private Universities. Private Bradley, Butler, Creighton, Drake, Evansville, Saint Louis Public Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Wichita State

A couple things about this. Looks like the Big Ten is also considering adding three schools and going to 14. from a Chicago Tribune article "Multiple Big Ten sources told the Tribune Wednesday that 14 teams, even 16, could be in play as it relates to the Big Ten's potential expansion. "Anything is possible," one source said, beyond the conventional wisdom of simply adding a 12th school. A conference statement spoke of an "evaluation of options for conference structure and expansion." One option the Big Ten will not pursue is an odd number of schools -- again. But don't be shocked if the conference of Bo and Woody adds three plates -- or more -- to the table. " Chicago Tribune Article - LINK Obviously the more teams the Big Ten takes the more likely it is the Big East is going to be raided which of course makes it more likely the Big East bball only schools might be looking for a new conference which is a good thing for SLU. It also makes Missouri a more likely candidate which I know has been talked about in this thread so here are some of the reasons Missouri would run not walk to the Big Ten. 1. Take a look at the TV revenue from the BCS conferences. This was broken down nicely on a Texas A&M board. Here is a copy of that post "For Missouri, it's a no brainer. If you follow the money, they will make almost $10MM MORE per year going to the Big Ten than in the Big 12. (See below.) TV Contracts Big Ten -- Big Ten Network: 25 years, $2.8 billion* through 2031-32 ($112MM/yr) -- ABC/ESPN: 10 years, $1 billion through 2016 ($100MM/yr) -- CBS: 10 years, $20 million for basketball through 2018-19 ($2MM/yr) TOTAL: $3.82B or $214MM/yr guaranteed over the next 6 years until the first of the three contracts is up. Divided amongst 12 schools = $17.83MM/yr per school for the next 6 yrs Big 12 -- ABC/ESPN: Eight years, $480 million through 2015-16 ($60MM/yr) -- Fox Sports Net: Four years, $78 million through 2011-12 ($19.5MM/yr) TOTAL: $558MM total or $79.5MM guaranteed until the first of the two contracts is up Big 12 schools split their TV revenue in half, 50/50. 50% is shared amongst all schools, so that's $3.3MM/yr per school. The other 50% is put into a pot and divided amongst those that were on TV the most and went to the postseason in the two big sports more. (Baylor rarely sees much of this money.) So assuming Missouri gets 1/10 of this (they've been on TV and been to the postseason more than some), that's another $4MM or so. That's a total of $7.3MM/yr (approx.) for Missouri. Big East -- ABC/ESPN: Six years, $200 million through 2013 TOTAL: $200MM ($33MM/yr) Split evenly amongst all 8 schools = $4.15MM/yr per school SEC -- ESPN: 15 years, $2.25 billion ($150MM/yr) -- CBS: 15 years, $825 million ($55MM/yr) TOTAL: $205MM/yr Divided amongst all 12 schools equally = $17MM/yr ACC -- ABC/ESPN: Seven years, $258 million ($36MM/yr) -- Raycom Sports: 10 years, $300 million for basketball ($30MM/yr) NOTE: Both contracts run through 2010-11. TOTAL: $66MM/yr Divided amongst all 12 schools equally = $5.5MM/yr Pac-10 -- ABC/ESPN: Five years, $125 million for football ($25MM/yr) -- Fox Sports Net: Five years, $97 million for football ($19.4MM/yr) -- ABC/ESPN: Six years, $52.5 million for basketball ($8.75MM/yr) Note: All contracts run through 2011-12 TOTAL: $53.15MM/yr Divided amongst all 10 schools evenly = $5.315MM/yr per year per school Mountain West -- Comcast/CBS College Sports/The Mtn.: Seven years, $82 million through 2013-14 ($11.7MM/yr) TOTAL: $11.7MM/yr Divided amongst all 9 schools equally = $1.3MM/yr per school So, if you are counting: Big Ten $17.83MM/yr per school through 2016 SEC $17MM/yr per school through 2024 Big 12 Approx. $7.3MM/yr for above average success through 2012 ACC $5.5MM/yr per school through 2010-11 Pac-10 $5.315MM/yr per year per school through 2011-12 Big East $4.15MM/yr per school through ? Mountain West $1.3MM/yr per school through 2013-14" 2. There are very strong adademic reasons why Missouri would go to the Big Ten. Any Big Ten member is also included in the CIC (Committee on Institutional Cooperation). CIC universities confer, on average, 15% of all Ph.D. degrees awarded annually in the United States. Collectively, the CIC member universities engage in $5.6 billion in externally funded research annually, employ more than 33,000 full-time faculty members, and enroll nearly one-half million undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The Big Ten has a great academic reputation and is heavy in research. The University of Missouri would benefit greatly from this especially since it is a research university. Mizzou does about 250 Million dollars worth of research already and like all other members of the Big Ten is also one of 62 universities in the country that belong to the AAU. 3. Missouri isn't to happy with a number of things in the current Big 12. Everything revolves around Texas in the Big 12 and in order for any change to take place you need a 9-3 majority vote. TV Revenue isn't split evenly like it is in every other conference, The Big 12 HQ were moved from KC to Dallas, there is talk about the football championship game being played in Dallas as a perminate location, and lastly Mizzou has gotten passed over in bowl games for each of the last three years. The bowl selection rules in the Big Ten wouldn't allow this to happen. In short Missouri is unhappy with the current Big 12, would make more money athletically, would make more money academically, and would get a boost in academic perception as a member of the prestigious CIC. The dominoes of the Big Tens expansion is really going to be interesting. With the Big Ten expanding it looks like the Pac 10 will as well Pac-10 will consider expansion When the Big 12 was formed Colorado and Texas were in talks with the Pac 10 and they might very well look at that again. Especially if Missouri leaves for the Big Ten. The Big 12 only has three large media markets outside of Texas. Denver, Kansas City, and St. Louis. If the Big 12 loses Missouri there isn't another school out there that can bring the markets the size Mizzou does and the Big 12 already has the smallest amounts of TV's in its footprint. Right now in the Big 12 you can't watch every football game on TV but you can see every single Big Ten game. This isn't going to get better if Missouri leaves and takes the second most populated state in the Big 12 with them. So Missouri leaving may well help trigger the Pac 10 to expand and help influence Colorado and Texas to once again look at joining the Pac 10. If that happens the Big 12 would most likely be finished. Back to how all of this could bennefit Saint Louis U. If the Big Ten takes 1 team from the Big East they will be down to seven and have to add at least one football playing member. They might be able to do this and survive but my guess is they would use this as an excuse to become a 12 team football conference with a championship game much like CUSA did when it was raided by the Big East. If the Big Ten expands to 14 or 16 and takes 2 or 3 Big East teams the conference might be finished. 1. The Big East would have to replace to many of their top teams. Would they be able to keep there AQ status? who could they bring in? 2. If the Big Ten goes to 14 or 16 the other power conference most likely will as well. The SEC could use this as an opportunity to add Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and maybe even Texas or Florida State. The ACC would have to look at the top remaining Big East schools. Louisville, Cincinnati, Connecticut, and West Virginia would fit in well in an expanded ACC. The Big Ten's expansion is going to change the college sports landscape especially if they decide to expand beyond 12. This could all work in SLU's favor as it might well lead to the Big East basketball schools going there own way. Add Dayton, SLU, and Xavier to the basketball only schools of the Big East and you have a very good to excellent non football league. No matter what it's going to be interesting to follow.

Pretty sure it was a 2 for 1 deal. Also I think Anderson's wife is from the Tulsa area so that might have played a part in it.

Colorado ended up losing 76-72 but Relphorde had 10 points and it looks like he might be one of their starters so he must not be a horrible player. Anyone remember why he left SLU?

Has 9 points right now playing for Colorado. The Buffaloes are up 54-43 over Gonzaga right now.

Mizzou State? I assume since you put MSU in there you are talking about Missouri State?

53-24 Duke with 4 minutes to go in the 1st half. Not looking good for Charlotte.

Have to work. Would like to DVR the game. Plus getting these games on TV would be good for the Billikens. They could pick up some casual fans and get better exposure in the St. Louis Metro. Your average sports fan might be channel surfing or looking for something to watch Friday night and catch the game on TV. Maybe they like what they see and pay more attention to the Bills this season. In my opinion EVERY game should be televised locally and work to get as many as you can broadcast to a larger audience. (State, Region, or Nationally)

I don't understand why one of KPLR, KSDK, KMOV, KDNL, KTVI or any other local St. Louis station wouldn't want to pick up a local basketball game. Here are what these stations are showing on 10/30 at 8pm KTVI - Dollhouse KMOV - Medium KSDK - Dateline NBC KPLR - Smallville KDNL - Ugly Betty I have to think/hope even an exhibition game would draw better ratings then some of those.

Great news guys. Thanks.

For Comparison from the same conference Xavier has 29 games on TV including games on their local Fox Sports channel (Fox Sports Ohio). That has to help with recruiting and providing good exposure for their program.

With basketball season getting close I took a look at the schedule to see how many games I would be able to watch/DVR and only 7 games are going to be televised with 6 of those on CBS College Sports. A lot of people don't even get that channel(me included unless it will be on CBS) and the final tv game is on ESPNU which is a channel I get but again plenty of people still don't have. I knew our TV deal sucks but is it really this bad or will more games be on TV than what is currently listed on the schedule? It is sad that we can't get more games on ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports Midwest, or at least some local channel. SLU now has a high profile coach with Majerus and our own on campus arena where we don't have to schedule our games around the Blues so I would have expected to get more games on TV. Also is the Chicago Invitational Challenge really not going to be on TV anywhere? Besides the Billikens there is also a Big 12 team, a Big Ten team, and Notre Dame. It might be crazy but it seems to me every Saint Louis University Basketball game should be available on some channel within the St. Louis metro.

State of Missouri Checks in 12 - Washington 88 - Saint Louis 102 - Missouri 128 - Missouri Science and Technology A10 schools 53 - George Washington 61 - Fordham 88 - Saint Louis 110 - Dayton 128 - Duquesne 2010 Rankings

Rivals Top 150 players headed to the A10 so far. #44 - Juwan Staten - Dayton #73 - C.J. Aiken - St. Joseph's #116 - Brandon Spearman - Dayton #120 - Langston Galloway - St. Joseph's #121 - Jordan Latham - Xavier #130 - Jay Canty - Xavier 2010 Rivals Top 150