Maybe that idea of Ill St dominating the Valley is closer to reality....I mean they only have to dominate Loyola, Bradley, Mizz St, Evansville and IN State... Still Wi St to AAC? Wonder what our AD's take on that is?

Hated it.

In today's day and age of conference realignment, the only thing constant is change, so I don't think you can worry about that.

You really have two options:
1) The Gonzaga/Borna idea of I don't care what conference I'm in, screw you guys, I'm building this myself.
2) You jump to whatever conference best suits your needs TODAY. If that conference loses members/changes in a few years, then go find another conference that better suits your needs later. If one doesn't exist, get your closest friends together and make one (i.e. AAC and new Big East etc)

To much money and possibility out there to be loyal to a sinking ship (conference) anymore.

Outside of some folks on this board, how many people/students/alum do you think really care of we are in the MAC, the Valley, AAC or anywhere else?

TO be honest that is a great point. Building a power that stays in a one bid league....the Midwest is a much better place to do that than Spokane. One day drive to get on BIG, SEC, Big East etc schedules.

Same old same old is better than getting picked apart like the Big East or Conf-USA.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/articl...

Interesting read about how trying to become relevant in football damaged the MVC. Good history lesson.

Something stated in this article I'm curious about: "Almost 50 years later, football still drives conference membership and still pays most of the bills.

I'm interested to know how FCS football pays the bills. I've always assumed it was not a money maker, especially in a conference with basketball seemingly leading the way.

I suppose that's a good point - I over looked that. Given the lower expenses, it probably does truly pay the bills.

Now that it's official who are the candidates to replace the Shockers in The Valley? I would have to think Valley officials have had a pretty good indication that Wichita State was eyeing the door when the Shockers were against any big exit fee being imposed on Creighton when they left for the Big East.

I wish Wichita would have stayed in the Valley, but I understand their move. They did everything right in non-league and get penalized because the MVC has been terrible since Creighton left. For RPI and SOS, they are going to get a much needed boost and hopefully a top seed line that comes with it. For the AAC, this was a very savvy move on their part and I hope it pays off in spades when it comes to basketball revenue.

The Valley I think is going to need to go outside the box on this one. Within their footprint there are not many schools that fit the bill of someone who could jump to the league now. Personally I believed Loyola of Chicago was a stretch take, but I get why they did.

That said, I think it would be a wise maneuver to consider a school like North Dakota State, who currently plays football with Valley teams and have success in other sports. Geographically and fan support wise this is a move that makes a lot of sense for all parties involved and can be beneficial to the membership. Going into the Dakotas in general could be a beneficial move, especially as the oil money up there begins to creep into the university systems up there.

Otherwise, their best move is going to come in the form of snagging Western Kentucky (who would be a great basketball brand in this conference but football would be SOL).

I understand they're separate entities, but at the same time those schools make sense in terms of the types that could fill Arch Madness. I'm sorry but bringing in the four you listed (outside of Valpo) I think would not do any favors for that conference.