(04-25-2024 11:07 AM)Keswick_Crusaders_Forever51 Wrote:  11 is great

12 w Missouri St is great

12 w any other non-Dakota FCS call-up reeks of desperation

11 is great

12 with Missouri State would be better.

12 with any of the schools that have been mentioned (including the Dakota schools) would not be appealing to me at this point.

The 11 we have right now is pretty good. I believe KSU and Delaware were both solid adds that will help us in our future media deals and will be competitive across multiple sports pretty quick. I'm not as confident in the ability of number 12, which is why I think the conference should wait until we can get a clear read on what our media partners are willing to pay for each of our options.

Hopefully we will find out soon what conference leadership wants to do (Judy walked back her "get to 12 teams" comment during the Delaware presser).

This is an unpopular opinion but I would add EKU over Missouri State. Why? The EKU WKU rivalry. We should build CUSA off of rivalries because they drawn interest and fan support. I think at times we look at stadium sizes and not long term gain.

EKU is in an oversaturated sports market, doesn’t have a notably sizable or wealthy support base and certainly doesn’t boast “can’t miss” athletic teams or facilties that would immediately raise the competitive level of CUSA. Add them because it’d appease a PORTION of Hilltoppers, those actually okay with elevating Eastern to their level?

Bet the ten other schools (and many at Western) would love that addition as opposed to bringing in Missouri State, or staying with current membership. Both of those options undoubtedly present an opportunity for more “long term gain”.

I love regional rivalries. SHSU’s had a few important ones die over the past decade (one of which is being revived as a NON-CONFERENCE game this fall). Has to be a cutoff though. Can’t just throw together an OVC family reunion and call it day. Long term gain? That’s going backwards.

The SBC’s “regional rivalries” shtick works well (for many reasons, but in part) because they were able to poach the tops of the stronger southern FCS conferences and build upon rivalries that’ve existed for years. The SoCon and CAA schools competed against each other for a generation in D1-AA. No pathway to that for CUSA. Build new rivalries by adding deserving schools.

(04-26-2024 07:46 PM)jones682 Wrote:  This is an unpopular opinion but I would add EKU over Missouri State. Why? The EKU WKU rivalry. We should build CUSA off of rivalries because they drawn interest and fan support. I think at times we look at stadium sizes and not long term gain.

Agree with EKU over Missouri State. EKU is investing in their program and have a desire to get better.

2023 Sagarin Football Ratings

Missouri St.--132
Tarleton------134
EKU---------- 157

2022

Missouri St.---139
EKU-----------169
Tarleton-------185

2021

Missouri St.--- 103
EKU------------150
Tarleton--------189

Basketball Net Rating

2024-- Tarleton- 145, Missouri St.-146, EKU-219

2023-- Missouri St.- 142, Tarleton-162, EKU- 165

2022-- Missouri St.- 72, Tarleton-214, EKU- 269


Athletic Budget

Missouri St.-- 31M

EKU---------- 23M

Tarleton-------21M

Maybe we should give them a few years to see?

(04-27-2024 10:47 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  2023 Sagarin Football Ratings

Missouri St.--132
Tarleton------134
EKU---------- 157

2022

Missouri St.---139
EKU-----------169
Tarleton-------185

2021

Missouri St.--- 103
EKU------------150
Tarleton--------189

Basketball Net Rating

2024-- Tarleton- 145, Missouri St.-146, EKU-219

2023-- Missouri St.- 142, Tarleton-162, EKU- 165

2022-- Missouri St.- 72, Tarleton-214, EKU- 269


Athletic Budget

Missouri St.-- 31M

EKU---------- 23M

Tarleton-------21M

Other Sports

Baseball

Missouri St.--12 NCAA's, 2003 College World Series; TWO Regional Championships

EKU--- 4 NCAA's

Tarleton- none in D1

WBB

Missouri St.- NCAA FINAL FOUR--TWICE, Five Sweet Sixteens, 17 NCAA's

EKU-- Two NCAA's

Tarleton-- Division 2-- Nine NCAA's



https://media.tenor.com/b4PT6URadEcAAAAM...joddle.gif

(04-27-2024 10:47 AM)inutech Wrote:  Maybe we should give them a few years to see?

I may be the only other person in agreement, but I do think less is more. Having lived through the prior iteration of CUSA I do not want to be in a 14 team league with divisions again.

Heck, I still don't even feel like we played Marshall, Charlotte or ODU ever, even though I know we must have played them at least a bit...

(04-27-2024 12:14 PM)jpw67 Wrote:  

(04-27-2024 10:47 AM)inutech Wrote:  Maybe we should give them a few years to see?

I may be the only other person in agreement, but I do think less is more. Having lived through the prior iteration of CUSA I do not want to be in a 14 team league with divisions again.

Heck, I still don't even feel like we played Marshall, Charlotte or ODU ever, even though I know we must have played them at least a bit...

Do miss USM and North Texas though...

(04-27-2024 12:14 PM)jpw67 Wrote:  

(04-27-2024 10:47 AM)inutech Wrote:  Maybe we should give them a few years to see?

I may be the only other person in agreement, but I do think less is more. Having lived through the prior iteration of CUSA I do not want to be in a 14 team league with divisions again.

Heck, I still don't even feel like we played Marshall, Charlotte or ODU ever, even though I know we must have played them at least a bit...

We never hosted ODU in football a single time.

(04-27-2024 12:17 PM)jpw67 Wrote:  

(04-27-2024 12:14 PM)jpw67 Wrote:  

(04-27-2024 10:47 AM)inutech Wrote:  Maybe we should give them a few years to see?

I may be the only other person in agreement, but I do think less is more. Having lived through the prior iteration of CUSA I do not want to be in a 14 team league with divisions again.

Heck, I still don't even feel like we played Marshall, Charlotte or ODU ever, even though I know we must have played them at least a bit...

Do miss USM and North Texas though...

USM fans are the worse

(04-26-2024 11:23 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  EKU is in an oversaturated sports market, doesn’t have a notably sizable or wealthy support base and certainly doesn’t boast “can’t miss” athletic teams or facilties that would immediately raise the competitive level of CUSA. Add them because it’d appease a PORTION of Hilltoppers, those actually okay with elevating Eastern to their level?

Bet the ten other schools (and many at Western) would love that addition as opposed to bringing in Missouri State, or staying with current membership. Both of those options undoubtedly present an opportunity for more “long term gain”.

I love regional rivalries. SHSU’s had a few important ones die over the past decade (one of which is being revived as a NON-CONFERENCE game this fall). Has to be a cutoff though. Can’t just throw together an OVC family reunion and call it day. Long term gain? That’s going backwards.

The SBC’s “regional rivalries” shtick works well (for many reasons, but in part) because they were able to poach the tops of the stronger southern FCS conferences and build upon rivalries that’ve existed for years. The SoCon and CAA schools competed against each other for a generation in D1-AA. No pathway to that for CUSA. Build new rivalries by adding deserving schools.

Agreed.

I like EKU fans, but the likely reason we'd bring them up is bc we lost or are about to lose WKU.

(04-27-2024 09:15 AM)Gemofthehills Wrote:  

(04-26-2024 07:46 PM)jones682 Wrote:  This is an unpopular opinion but I would add EKU over Missouri State. Why? The EKU WKU rivalry. We should build CUSA off of rivalries because they drawn interest and fan support. I think at times we look at stadium sizes and not long term gain.

Agree with EKU over Missouri State. EKU is investing in their program and have a desire to get better.

I appreciate the support, but I wouldn't add us over Missouri State. They are an objectively better athletics program. I'm not certain I'd add us over Tarleton, but that one is arguable.

In fact, from an across the board standpoint I think Missouri State would be the strongest FCS add yet other than Delaware since C-USA fell apart a couple of years ago. The only other one you could even make a case for above them is JSU, but Missouri State's across the board strength outweighs JSU's on-field football success for me.

That said, the "oversaturated sports market" angle mentioned in another post in reference to EKU is oversold. You shouldn't add us over them, but that's not the reason. We have better fan support than any FCS add yet except for JSU & Delaware, and even there it's specific to football. We average more fans per basketball game than JSU's arena even holds, and we outdraw Delaware pretty easily as well in hoops. I suspect interest in the basketball program will only get an additional bump when they finish the ongoing $40 million renovation of the arena.

We are not the best add, but we have an engaged fanbase even with UK in the neighborhood. I think the negative weight of being that close to UK is one of those truisms that is oft repeated but not supported by much evidence. I'm not saying there are no negative effects of it but only that the degree of impact is greatly oversold.

Random Non-informative Update: Conference is still at 11 and that works for me.