There's a chance, but I don't that it's a "great" chance. Dayton is almost certainly one of the 2 expansion teams if they expand because of its ties to Xavier and it's traditional, consistent success and fan support. Then it comes down to one of the Richmond schools - either VCU or Richmond - vs. St. Louis for the final spot.

Richmond has the advantage of having much more historical success than SLU and has been a similar program recently (though SLU is "up" right now and Richmond is rebuilding).

VCU is not a catholic school, but it has MORE recent success than SLU, and has some national cachet because of it.

I think the new Big East is a major conference, and IF SLU gets in and IF SLU establishes itself as a consistent program in the Big East, maybe a series makes sense at that point. It is more attractive... but probably still not as attractive as using that spot to schedule a good team from another major conference.

Even if SLU gets in, it still falls pretty down the pecking order in that league in terms of setup for consistent success. SLU is looking at being the 10th-12th most attractive program in that league, long-term.

Missouri would be happy to play SLU in Columbia, and that game would be on the schedule next season if SLU would accept it without a return game. But there's the rub.

But you're exactly right about a home-and-home/playing in Scottrade already.

SLU stopped playing us because Majerus wanted two straight games in Chaifetz. Our AD said no and Majerus went into a huff. Now that he's gone, I think MSU and SLU could restart their series. As for Mizzou, I don't expect MSU to ever play them again, in Columbia or elsewhere. Maybe the NCAA or NIT will force a game at some point...

EDIT: Took me a minute to realize what school you were referencing. That's one of the reasons I will always think the name change was not as advantageous for national sports profile as folks in Springfield though. Say MSU, and most peoople think Michigan State, Miss. State, Memphis State....

You're a Missouri State guy?

I didn't know the details of what went down with SLU. Guess it thought it was too big-time for you guys.

I imagine the Bears would get the same response any other team in Missouri would get about scheduling a series with Mizzou: Welcome to play in Columbia and would love to play them in Columbia. But not committing to a straight home-and-home.

MSU. Basketball scheduling has been down lately, Tulsa was the only non-con draw this year. We don't get many top 10 programs to visit Springfield (thank you Shockers), so we need regional games to boost attendance. Liberty and Alabama A&M aren't cutting it.

Come to think of it, I can't remember Mizzou and MSU (SMS) ever playing by choice. I remember the '98 game was part of the preseason NIT. I believe they also played in an early-season tournament in the late 80's.

Not that anything matters this season with Marshall out and Pickens nursing constant injuries.

It didn't matter anyway, at least to me. I had no postseason expectations for this team. I thought next year would be the big leap up.

Mizzou is clearly a superior school and hoops program to SLU, probably one of the top 30 all time but I point out the factoid We can't dictate our schedule ("you owe it to generations of fans to continue!") but MU can. That's really the point. You sorta see the point, but many of your fellow fans can't.

Over the last fifteen years, Wichita State has averaged 22 wins per season, while St. Louis has won an average of 21 wins a season in that time. So again, their performance has been quite comparable.

In addition, before Wichita State's final four appearance, there was no discernible difference between WSU and SLU's success in the postseason.

These numbers surprised me, so I checked on them. I've got SLU at 18 wins/year over the past 15 years, starting with Charlie Spoonhour's last year as head coach in 98-99. 269-213 overall.

I've also got WSU right around 21 wins a year in that time frame. 310-174. So there's a slight difference in record, 3 wins a year, which is significant.

The biggest thing, in my opinion, is that Wichita State has made different runs with different casts of characters. In addition to the Final Four run a year ago, they also made a Sweet 16 run in 2006. They have reloaded several times and made the NCAAs with several different groups of stars.

All of SLU's real significant basketball accomplishments in the past 15 years have been last year and this year, and those are almost all on the backs of two recruiting classes.

And there's still a big gap in tourney success. WSU has two Sweet 16s and and Elite 8/Final Four run in that time frame. SLU hasn't made it out of the opening weekend.

Ah, that would explain the discrepancy, I was beginning from the 97-98 season. Before WSU's final four run last year, I never saw much difference between the stature of SLU and WSU's programs (Your analysis about the programs successful "casts of characters" is sound, however).

Anyone at the Bama game today that can report if there was another standing O for them like last year?




09 Jan 2013 02:06
FINAL SCORE: Mizzou 84, Alabama 68, at Mizzou Arena. Alex Oriakhi leads the way with 16 points as the Tigers improve their record to 12-2. Next game: Saturday at Ole Miss, 7 pm. M-I-Z!


09 Jan 2013 01:36
Mizzou Arena getting loud as the Tigers take an 11-pt, 62-51 lead with 8:36 to play.


09 Jan 2013
looking for my family in the Mizzou Arena crowd. Turner's stand up! Lol


09 Jan 2013 01:25
Always great to see a packed Mizzou Arena for their first SEC opener! Love their passion!! Guess on the flip side it will be less "1st SEC WIN" T-Shirts to pass out ( assuming they win)!


09 Jan 2013 00:51
Mizzou fans: your team is on ESPN and the lower bowl of the arena is 1/3 of the way empty. You guys are tenth in the country. Gotta fill that arena. Maybe I'll have to go out and catch a game. Tickets gotta be cheap there with all those empty seats.


09 Jan 2013 00:35
Prior to the starting lineup announcements tonight @ Mizzou Arena. All the fans gave the Alabama Basketball Team a huge standing ovation to congratulate the school on last nights National Championship victory. I don't say this often but, well done Mizzou fans that showed some real class!

http://first-thoughts.org/on/Mizzou+Arena/

Still working on those links for Saul, Prison Bitch?

I just provided it. I've provided like 7 proving the standing O happened. Do I need to provide 249?

How about those Travis article links?