Missouri State fan here. Don't confuse my nickname with my views on the SBC. Just an old username that I use on all boards. I, along with many MSU fans, see the Sun Belt as a good potential opportunity for our university. I love the MVC but like a lot of MSU fans now I dont think we can successfully grow our university without FBS football.

I'll be up front in saying that Missouri State football has a lot of work to do. That said, I think that a move to the SBC would force our university to finally commit 100% to football. The potential is there. Finally our leaders are showing they are willing to put forth the effort to grow the program, and the stadium renovations are just the first step.

There are a lot of Bears fans who oppose the move, thinking that it would water down our basketball program. There are others who (no offense to current SBC basketball teams) see a move to the SBC as good for basketball because it would definitely increase our chances of going dancing again. Although we have not made the NCAAs in basketball since 99, our mens basketball program is THE thing at Missouri State University. Our arena is big time. Keep in mind that we have also been competing with Wichita State, Creighton, and even some good UNI teams. We have gotten snubbed twice and even hold the record for best rpi not to be selected. Another growing frustration with fans is that when we finally won our conference regular season championship in 2011, we did not make the dance since we lost in the tourney in a down overall year for the league. I know football is the driving force but I also hope that some SBC fans can look past our failures in football and see the potential that we bring in other sports.

Anyway, just a bears fan stopping by, sounds like things should be interesting in the future. Hope things turn out!