urbanSTL

Shimmy wrote:


But, Salukis have seemed to straighten their ship out at the right time. I'd look for them to make a run again.

Um, nevermind.

Shimmy wrote:

Shimmy wrote:


But, Salukis have seemed to straighten their ship out at the right time. I'd look for them to make a run again.

Um, nevermind.

That's okay. My pick, Creighton, lost too. Looks like only 2 Bids for the Valley this year as long as Illinois State wins tonight.

jlblues wrote:Um, OK, I have no doubt that the MVC would love to have SLU in the conference, but why would SLU want to be in the MVC??? Maybe the A-10 isn't a perfect fit for SLU, but it is a much better fit than the MVC. All you have to do is look at the locations of conference members.



MVC:



Des Moines, IA, Bloomington-Normal, IL, Carbondale, IL, Omaha, NE, Cedar Falls-Waterloo, IA, Peoria, IL, Springfield, MO, Terre Haute, IN, Wichita, KS, Evansville, IN. Not one of these schools has a large following in any Top 25 TV market.



A-10:



Charlotte, NC, Dayton, OH, Pittsburgh, PA, New York City, NY, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, PA (3 schools), St. Louis, MO, Cincinnati, OH, Amherst, MA, Kingston, RI, Richmond, Va, Olean-Allegany, NY. That's like 8 or 9 schools in Top 25 TV markets. There is just no comparison from a market, visibility, recruiting, or academic standpoint.

You better hurry up and tell that to Rick Majerus and/or Biondi and/or Miklasz.



You want big markets -- A-10 is better.



You want quality athletics -- MVC is better.



SLU is getting a new 10,000 seat arena. SLU wants to fill the arena. SLU will join the MVC.



I know all you Billikens think you are better than the MVC schools ... and, what the hell, maybe you are (although you are not as much better than Southern as you think you are)... but unless you are talking IVY, athletic conferences are for ... athletics. If you want to have a good athletic program, join a good athletic conference. If you want to be a great academic school, join Wash U. and the U. of Chicago in Division III. A large focus of the MVC schools is athletics and that is why the MVC excels. I know you would still like to be with DePaul and Louisville and Marquette and Cincinnati ... but, face it, you didn't get picked for that team. Now you have a chance to join another good team right in your backyard ... but instead you are moping around on your high-horse pretending to still be important and equal to all the rest. (If you didn't know Wash U. used to be a member of the Valley ... until its head got too big and stopped awarding non-academic scholarships ... and now it is in D-III. That's cool and it worked out okay for Wash U., obviously they are still a great school ... but ask some average Joe somewhere outside the midwest if he knows who Wash U. is ... and then ask him if he knows who SIU is.)



POINT IS, GET OVER IT SLU - YOU WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE PICKED FOR THE BIG EAST - IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!



Join the MVC, play quality competition every night, boost your RPI numbers, get back in the NCAA's and beat the hell out of Louisville and Marquette ... all the while laughing at your old pals Cincinnati and DePaul as they waste away with losing season after losing season (the MVC was 2-0 against the Big East this year ... their wins, Cincinnati and DePaul). That is what Memphis is doing. You don't see them whining around. Instead, they took advantage of the shakeup and now are better off than when they were with Louisville, Marquette, Cincinnati and SLU. That is what Majerus wants. He just wants to win and get in the Dance and that is what SLU should want too. Swallow your pride and do what's best.



Besides, if SLU joins up another team is coming with them. Either only 1 of Butler (Indy), Xavier (Cincy) or Dayton, or all 3. Media market problem solved. And, there is a difference in being the #1 draw in Omaha and the #42 draw in NYC. There is a reason Fordham has a 3000 seat arena they can't fill and Creighton has a 17,000 seat arena that sells out every game. Or, maybe putting it this way is better ... SLU is building a new 10,600 seat arena ... Missouri State is building a new 11,000+ seat arena.



I know your ego's were bruised and I can understand that ... but as I see it you can either (1) continue with the 14 team floundering A-10 and not fill the new arena most nights, (2) keep praying to God for the Catholic League that isn't coming, or (3) join the best non-BCS conference in the country, fill the arena every night and start turning things around. Seems like a pretty simple choice and if you don't make it soon, the only good thing SLU has going for it, Majerus, is going to leave too.

datawhse wrote:Up next the 2008 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships! I'll be there. This has been a very successful event for the city and NCAA when held here. Here are some stats from the past championships held in St. Louis



2000 - Savvis Center



- created $7 million in economic impact for the St. Louis region.

- 92 percent of the fans attending were from out-of-town.

- more than 15,000 fans and participants visiting St. Louis specifically for the event

- set an all-time total attendance record. (96,994 fans)

- account for 12,000 hotel room nights



2004 - Savvis Center



- generated between $8 and $10 million in economic impact

- total attendance was 87,675 and more than 10,000 downtown hotel room nights were occupied during the three-day tournament.



2005 - Savvis Center



- total attendance of 95,459 at Savvis Center in 2005 was the second highest in the tournament's 75-year history

- $10 million into the local economy

- 15,000 visitors

Haven't there been rumors that St. Louis is making a run at permanently hosting the NCAA Wrestling Championships? Kind of like how Omaha has the College Baseball Championships.

Will The Nature Boy be wrestling?

Well, looks like the A-10 got both Xavier and St. Joe's in. I believe that the MVC only got Drake in, but that's just from memory.



But, Xavier is my top upset team as a 3 seed. I have them losing to that red hot Georgia team in the first round.

Shimmy wrote:Well, looks like the A-10 got both Xavier and St. Joe's in. I believe that the MVC only got Drake in, but that's just from memory.



But, Xavier is my top upset team as a 3 seed. I have them losing to that red hot Georgia team in the first round.

The Valley was screwed, only Drake. The A-10 did okay with 3.



Look for lots of talk of moving the Valley tourney to championship weekend, instead of the week before. It is nice the week before because the Valley is the major tourney going on and gets all the publicity and the national CBS broadcast, but it is clearly hurting our tournament bids. Illinois State was a tourney worthy team, but it was a week since they played and the consistently dropped down the bubble. Even in this year where the bubble was horrible and most teams on it lost, Illinois State (who made it to the championship game) still slide down the bubble for no other reason than they were not in people's minds. We saw this before a few times with Missouri State where they were clearly in after the MVC tournament but then as that week passed they just kept sliding and sliding.



The Valley is paying a price for the national publicity of having it a week before and look for them to reschedule that in the upcoming years to have the champion crowned later. It is great having it over the weekend and really makes for good attendance numbers, but it is killing the Valley schools on the bubble.

Well, Illinois State losing by 30 in that championship game certainly didn't help their chances.

Little Egyptian wrote:

Shimmy wrote:Well, looks like the A-10 got both Xavier and St. Joe's in. I believe that the MVC only got Drake in, but that's just from memory.



But, Xavier is my top upset team as a 3 seed. I have them losing to that red hot Georgia team in the first round.

The Valley was screwed, only Drake. The A-10 did okay with 3.



Look for lots of talk of moving the Valley tourney to championship weekend, instead of the week before. It is nice the week before because the Valley is the major tourney going on and gets all the publicity and the national CBS broadcast, but it is clearly hurting our tournament bids. Illinois State was a tourney worthy team, but it was a week since they played and the consistently dropped down the bubble. Even in this year where the bubble was horrible and most teams on it lost, Illinois State (who made it to the championship game) still slide down the bubble for no other reason than they were not in people's minds. We saw this before a few times with Missouri State where they were clearly in after the MVC tournament but then as that week passed they just kept sliding and sliding.



The Valley is paying a price for the national publicity of having it a week before and look for them to reschedule that in the upcoming years to have the champion crowned later. It is great having it over the weekend and really makes for good attendance numbers, but it is killing the Valley schools on the bubble.

It had nothing to do with timing. When a bubble team like Illinois State gets blown out by 30, they slide down the ladder.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:It had nothing to do with timing. When a bubble team like Illinois State gets blown out by 30, they slide down the ladder.

Yeah, but they lost by 30 in the title game. At least they made it to the title game against the 16th ranked team. Some bubble teams didn't do that, namely Arizona, Kentucky, Oregon, Villanova, and Kansas State. Heck, Saint Joes made in basically only because they made it to the title game of the A-10 tourney. I am sticking by my analysis that Illinois would have been in had the Valley tourney been last weekend.



Valley teams are punished for any reason they can find. The Committee tries to find ways to keep them out. Whereas they try to find ways to get BCS teams in.



Here are the numbers:



Overall Conf Overall Non-Conf

W-L W-L RPI SOS RPI SOS

20-12 9-9 51 47 38 159

18-13 9-9 58 37 67 167

18-14 8-10 38 2 5 5

23-9 13-5 33 71 62 117

18-12 12-4 57 19 210 100

19-11 10-6 50 34 95 84

21-12 9-7 44 53 63 118



One of these teams didn't make it. Of course, I am sure you can guess which one didn't make it and which team that corresponds to.



It was a screw-job. The media were unjustifiably down on the Valley all year, so the Committee knew they wouldn't complain when the Valley only got 1.

jlblues wrote:And, remind me again, SLU should want to be in the MVC because...?

Because it is a better conference than the A-10 and it is right in SLU's backyard.



Don't let this one year fool you. The A-10 had its best year and the Valley was down but in the final RPI conference assessment they were basically tied (.5399, A10 - .5391 MVC). Even in the A-10's best year, they are only equal to the Valley. And don't let the bids fool you. The A-10 was staring 1 bid square in the face as recently as last week. And last week it was pretty certain that the MVC was getting 2. The Committee screwed the MVC and rewarded Saint Joes (which I don't totally understand other than beating Xavier). It looks to outsiders like the A-10 was far superior (3) to the Valley (1). But that is not the case whatsoever. They were essentially equal conferences this year ... and this in a year when NONE of the Valley regulars had good years (SIU, Creighton, Wichita, Bradley).



Did the A-10 have a good year ... sure. Good for them getting 3 bids. Now they have to show they are going to stick because otherwise this was a flash in the pan. The A-10 has been a 1 bid league for the past few years and now that they had a good year they have to show they can sustain it before anyone can even start thinking they are better than the Valley, which has consistently been the best non-BCS league.

SShoe wrote:They did it three years ago, which happened to be the year that SLU chose the A-10 over the MVC. My point is that the A-10's peak is superior to the MVC's peak.

For now. These things go in cycles.

I thought SLU moved out of the MVC because they were going to be required to have a football program? And supposedly the A-10 doesn't require you to have football to be a part of the conference.



Is that true?