MVC Basketball: Longterm impact of losing Loyola and gaining Belmont

Comings and Goings for the league

While the A10 has 14 teams compared to the Valley’s ten, those payments per team are slightly smaller, but routinely the A10 sends twice as many teams to the tournament, so those smaller distributions are more than compensated for.

So, Loyola moves on. The Rambler program chooses to move up. There could be many reasons, like playing in larger markets, or opening the doors of recruiting both players and potential students from the east coast. The main reason, however, is simple. LUC can make more money by playing in the A10.

So, Belmont moves on. The Bruin program chooses to move up. OVC teams have been invited to 15 tournaments since 2007-08 (only three fewer than the Valley), but MVC teams have greater success in the national tournament because they receive better seeds once they get there.

During the same time period, OVC teams have won six games and earned six additional ‘units’. MVC teams picked up TWENTYTWO victories and extra payouts.

Belmont hopes to benefit from greater conference NET and KenPom ratings and receive better NCAA Tournament seedings for themselves and other league members.

KenPom rates the Atlantic Ten as the tenth best conference (of 32), the Valley is eleventh, and the OVC 27th.

What we’ve always known is that conference realignment is about money. We don’t have to call that greedy or power-hungry, but perhaps just helping universities survive the high cost of education.

A recent study showed that one-third of college basketball programs lose money so, gaining those financial assets could be as much about staying competitive and not bleeding their universities, as it is about ‘getting rich’.

While we’ve always known it is smart to ‘follow the money’, I now understand that if programs want to be competitive, they consistently look for ways to improve their possibilities and opportunities.

The comings and goings of the Missouri Valley Conference means they are losing Loyola Chicago and gaining the Belmont Bruins. Rumors abound concerning the Valley adding one or more programs before next season. The right programs could raise the profile and profitability of the league and its members.