We talk a lot about conference realignment and moving conferences and all that fantasy stuff. That's not why I'm here. I want to identify which of our conference mates have the desire and ability to elevate their programs. I don't think it's guided by a formula or anything. It's based off what I see.

So right now, here are the MAC schools I think have both the ability and desire to commit what's needed for their programs:

Ohio
Akron
Toledo
Buffalo

That's it. There's a lot of press about how little Kent is investing in basketball. Miami can't and doesn't really want to increase their budget. BG is small time. Gora at Ball State is pretty anti-athletics. I question Northern's commitment to basketball. The Michigan schools have proven they don't belong in this group.

So these are our peers. These are the people we should be forging ahead with.

And I think maybe we shouldn't marry ourselves to Miami anymore. If we have to leave them, we should be willing to do that.

I agree but maybe WMU deserves some consideration. They kind of got screwed on timing and the 21-win season in 2011 that forced their hand in renewing Hawkins. If he doesn't produce this year, we'll see if they have enough commitment to fire him and eat the rest of his contract.

Remember that BGSU has that huge donation to men's basketball in the pipeline. 

I hate to see Central and Western pay the price for Eastern's impotence.

Central made a big call dumping Ziegler and Western has quality.

Exactly. Wasn't it something like a $10 million endowment?

This whole king of the mountain discussion has been interesting to watch develop.  First let me say that March was a special month for OU basketball AND that on paper, with the new hire of Christian and the roster coming back, the potential exists for another exciting season.  But we were one made basket by Akron away from none of this.  I think we need to be able to at least duplicate this year's performance before we talk about "kicking folks out of the MAC."  As reported in today's Dispatch, the bump in salary wasn't nearly as great as we all thought.  We're all living in the magic moment of the first kiss.  If we find ourselves in this position next year, then let the discussion begin.  I know it's fun to fantasize but there is also this thing called reality.

Time to duck.

And, on a reread of Dragon's original post, I see that I jumped the topic.  Sorry.

I'm not advocating kicking people out. I am advocating identifying who shares our vision and commitment and who doesn't.

Not today.  Seriously, Love, what's wrong with giving ideas and opinions the same respect many of us give to yours?  Any of us could take pot shots at each other all day long.  At the end of the day that serves no purpose at all.  Of course if you were just having a bit of fun with me, that's a different story.  Ben does it from time to time and I know it's all in good fun. 

Again, I'm not talking about results, I'm talking about money. Buffalo, with exactly one championship in football and basketball combined, makes the cut while Miami, the most successful school in the conference's history, does not. After all, Temple's not going to the Big East because they killed in the MAC. This is something I had been pondering for some time; Schaus' recent actions gave me an appropriate impetus for public comment.

If this was an election, I'd set up a SuperPAC for Ted Thompson and I'd steal Jeff McKinney's campaign lawn signs. And possibly urinate on said lawn.

I like Ted's platform of being tough on the have-nots-and-never wills of the MAC. I call him Ted the Plumber because he's the one who can get elbow deep and unclog this toilet of a conference. So long, EMU! 

Jeff sounds like a directionalist and a conference-builder... a terrible combination. The policy of McKinneycare is sure to eventually promise welfare-based conference invitations to the tired, poor directionals. Not only do they take resources from the top, hard-working teams, they could even take an automatic bid. YOUR auto bid!

There are, from my perspective, three schools that are worthy of exactly this type of discussion as it relates to men's basketball:  NIU, EMU, and CMU.  NIU and CMU on the other hand are solid football programs. 

Eastern is at the bottom of this conference in pretty much every major sport.  I'll grant you that they showed basketball improvement this year, but other than that, I haven't seen much to legitimize them as a Division I program.  The only positive spin on them for the MAC that I see is the proximity to the Detroit TV Market.