Compton

What's "DO"?

This schedule leaves us at the mercy of the A10 being strong this year. You need name wins to make a case to the committee and we won't have any opportunities to get them in non-conference.

Sounds like it'll be a lackluster non-conference. However, if one season of no P5 opponents results in a recurring annual MTE in St. Louis, then I'm for it.

Got it. Yeah, I'm on board with that. Get the bid for winning the season, and then just get the banner/trophy for winning the conference tourney. But to ACE's point, no one would care about the OVC, MVC, etc.... conference finals if it didn't carry that weight. Whereas right now they at least get a little national attention and television. Then again, maybe folks would tune into the regular season more if it had tourney implications.

I don't think that's a good assumption to make. ISU had an excellent NET (28). The top NETs in some conferences were terrible SWAC (Southern U - 257), MEAC (Norfolk St - 223), NEC (Merrimack - 213), MAAC (Quinnipiac - 160). If those teams win their conference, but not their conference tourney, I don't see much of a reason to give them a bid. No need to reward winning both a terrible conference and a terrible conference tourney.

If the tournament expands to 76 I hope the NCAA revisits Dayton always hosting the First Four. The favoritism toward Indianapolis by the NCAA is more than enough. No need to give Dayton special treatment as well. There are plenty of small American cities that would be great hosts for any "play-ins."

Fortunately "results" is just one consideration of many when it comes to conference expansion.

This tells me that Hurley is doing things the right way. Perhaps no one's hands are 100% clean in the NCAA these days (or maybe they are since the money is now allowed!?), but the guys with skeletons in the closet take the money and run.

Could also take it to 8 teams with different regional (or at least drivable) conferences represented: A10: SLU SEC: Mizzou C-USA: Mo State Oh Valley: Lots Mo Valley: Lots Sunbelt: Arkansas State Summit: UMKC ASUN: Bellarmine, Lipscomp, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas

Jalen Johnson belongs in that group too: SLU > Louisiana > Miss St. > Texas A&M I believe Jimmy Bell Jr. will take the lead (5 schools) if he gets picked up from the football transfer portal.

When Wichita St. left the MVC in 2017 they took a close look at UW-Milwaukee and Omaha before inviting Valpo. I'd guess both are still top candidates. Missouri State and their boosters have been angling to go FBS for years. When they hired Coach Steckel from Mizzou they explicitly said it was in hopes of positioning the school for FBS. That was just after Georgia Southern and Appalachian state made the leap from FCS to the FBS. After Steckel they hired Bobby Petrino for the same reasons. Their years of work are paying off. Whether C-USA, Sunbelt, or MAC, I think they were ready to take whatever came their way.

True. There's the inability to hold onto them on one side of it. On the other, some credit has to go to the MVC programs and coaches for getting the HS talent and/or coaching them up to the point of being attractive transfer targets for P5 programs. I imagine the MAC, CAA, Sunbelt, and C-USA schools have similar financial constraints while cranking out less than half the P5 transfers as the MVC.

The number of MVC transfers to P5 schools is impressive. Tied with the American for 4th behind the BigTen, BigXII, and ACC.

Anyone in their right mind.

Agreed. Hard to see why he's winding up there given his abilities. McNeese, the Southland, and Port Arthur don't have much to offer. Outside of the Ivy's, some ACC and Big Ten schools, and a handful of others, are there that many programs that hold themselves to a significantly higher academic standard than the NCAA? If he can can go to McNeese and not have to go to JuCo I'd think he'd be eligible at about 300 other DI programs.