Can we agree on Xavier, Butler, and Creighton

[Chaim Levine]

Before I get to my question of the C7 supporters, here are some statistics on Creighton. Between the 03-04 season and the 10-11 season (8 seasons) Creighton only finished in the top two teams in the Missouri Valley one time. I repeat, ONE TIME. This was in 08-09 when they won the league. During this time Wichita State won the league 3 times, Drake twice, and Missouri State twice. Bradley came in second 3 times, Southern Illinois twice, Missouri State once, Illinois State once, and Northern Iowa once.

What in the world? I don't think I've seen a less accurate, less researched paragraph in my life. I'll go through each of them and you figure out if you have any that are actually correct:

Between the 03-04 season and the 10-11 season (8 seasons) Creighton only finished in the top two teams in the Missouri Valley one time. I repeat, ONE TIME.

Finished 2nd in 03-04, T-2nd in 05-06, 2nd in 06-07, and T-1st in 08-09. That's 4 times in your 8 year period. I won't include last year where the 2nd place would have made it 5 in 9 years in the top 2.

During this time Wichita State won the league 3 times

Wichita State won it once during your period (05-06). You can make it twice if you include last year but if you include last year then Creighton again finished second which makes your previous comment even more inaccurate. Either way you're way wrong again.

Drake twice

Drake won it once in 07-08 and they were never close in any other year.

and Missouri State twice

MSU won it once in 10-11.

Bradley came in second 3 times

Bradley hasn't come in first or second in any of those years.

Someone at one of the C7 schools needs to explain to me the fascination with Creighton. I have followed the Missouri Valley Conference for years. The one thing that is a constant in Valley is the consistent turnover at the top.

So basically you've following the MVC over the years but you wrote a complete paragraph of "facts" and didn't have a single one correct. And really the one constant in the Valley has been turnover at that top as in who is competing against Creighton for the title. I've certainly been disappointed that we haven't won more regular season championships but the lowest we've finished in that period is 4th and we've been one or two during half of that time. That is consistent.

[SixTwentySix]

Creighton guys - 2
Everyone else - 0

[XU85]

Jet:

Nice slide show presentation.

[thegalen]

Casey,
I'm sorry, I hate hearing this talk about Creighton being all about Doug McDermott. 8 NCAAs in the last 15 years and we are sure to make it this year as well. If you do the math, McDermott has only been here 3 years. So not only do we make it to the NCAAs over 50% of the time over the last 15 years (not a bad sample size), we boast top 10 attendance. 15K over the last decade, 17K this year. 12,000+ season ticket holders, 4 million dollars earned a year just from the "Jaybackers" club.

Hate to be that guy, but Tom Shatel got his numbers mixed up:

The Jays bring in $4 million a year alone from their booster club, the Jaybackers.

From Creighton:

The Jaybackers Organization strengthens and promotes broad-based support
for intercollegiate athletics at Creighton University by serving as ambassadors
and providing funding to offset the increasing costs of competing at the
Division I level.

Through the years, the Jaybackers Organization has touched the lives of
many CU student-athletes – young women and men who have worked to
balance academic excellence with superior sports performance. Many have
gone on to represent Creighton University in professional sports, many more
have earned a college degree and the means to pursue successful careers,
and all have grown from their association with the CU athletics program.
The long-range goal of the Jaybackers Organization is to raise 100 percent of
the money needed to fund Creighton University’s athletic scholarships on an
annual basis. Creighton’s annual scholarship bill for student-athletes currently
stands at over $4 million – and gifts to the Jaybackers Organization currently
pay only a fraction of that bill.

Jaybackers Organization funding helps supplement many areas of the
Athletics budget which ensures the future growth and success of all
Creighton University athletics programs which currently include eight
women’s sports (basketball, crew, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis
and volleyball) and six men’s sports (baseball, basketball, cross country, golf,
soccer and tennis).

Over 2,600 families and businesses joined Jaybackers for 2011-12 and gifts
to the organization totaled over $3.3 million, reaching all-time highs in 14 of
the last 15 years. In the last 16 years, the Jaybacker Organization has more
than quadrupled in members while gifts have increased from $376,000 in
1996-97 to over $3.3 million in 2011-12.

Total 2010 Basketball revenue was $4,825,617, so like I say I think Shatel zigged when he should have zagged...

Here's 2012 MBB spending:


There are 3 clear tiers, and all the expansion candidates are within range of one another in that lower tier. Money won't be an issue for any of these schools:


Now here's one reason why Creighton's not getting in:


Here's another:
http://collegesportsinfo.com/ncaa-map/

[Jet915]

Haha, so your huge rebuff is that it's not 4 million but 3.3 million and a graph showing population growth in 3 different states dating back to 1895? Make sure you send this to the BE7, I'm sure it will seal the deal for VCU.

[yorost]

B1G chose Nebraska over Missouri.

[thegalen]

your huge rebuff is that it's not 4 million but 3.3 million and a graph showing population growth in 3 different states dating back to 1895? Make sure you send this to the BE7, I'm sure it will seal the deal for VCU.

Not a rebuff, just some house keeping. Tom wrote the piece in such a way that it sounded like Creighton's Men Basketball boosters were dropping $4mil a year. Instead, all donors are dropping a little over $3mil for all sports in their biggest year to date. I don't think the elision was intentional, but it's worth noting, isn't it?

As for the population graph, do you really think it doesn't matter that Creighton's in a state that's added ~400k residents since the 1930s? On top of being so far west, this is just irrelevant? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Fox Sports 1 isn't being set up as a charity... What's the play here? Do a reverse B1G in picking up a geographic outlier to get into the opposite of a market like UMD's?

There is a reason that, of the expansion candidates, administrators at Creighton are the only one's talking....

[Jet915]

your huge rebuff is that it's not 4 million but 3.3 million and a graph showing population growth in 3 different states dating back to 1895? Make sure you send this to the BE7, I'm sure it will seal the deal for VCU.

Not a rebuff, just some house keeping. Tom wrote the piece in such a way that it sounded like Creighton's Men Basketball boosters were dropping $4mil a year. Instead, all donors are dropping a little over $3mil for all sports in their biggest year to date. I don't think the elision was intentional, but it's worth noting, isn't it?

As for the population graph, do you really think it doesn't matter that Creighton's in a state that's added ~400k residents since the 1930s? On top of being so far west, this is just irrelevant? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Fox Sports 1 isn't being set up as a charity... What's the play here? Do a reverse B1G in picking up a geographic outlier to get into the opposite of a market like UMD's?

There is a reason that, of the expansion candidates, administrators at Creighton are the only one's talking....

Talking? One article from the President saying "no comment" and "too early to speculate" and one article from the AD saying "we haven't been invited yet" over a month ago is talking? AD's of Butler, Dayton and SLU have had articles written about their willingness and interest in the BE7. You continually misinform and make blanket statements hoping no one corrects you.

[thegalen]

B1G chose Nebraska over Missouri.

are you really comparing the two situations/schools?

B1G is pushing East. About the dumbest thing the C7 could do is spread themselves thin out west and leave themselves open to an ACC trying to keep itself together and connect north to south. Fortunately, they're not dumb, and neither is Fox. No school west of Indy will be added.

[yorost]

B1G chose Nebraska over Missouri.

are you really comparing the two situations/schools?

B1G is pushing East. About the dumbest thing the C7 could do is spread themselves thin out west and leave themselves open to an ACC trying to keep itself together and connect north to south. Fortunately, they're not dumb, and neither is Fox. No school west of Indy will be added.

More of a 'just saying.' That state population chart is not an end all that will kill Creighton. The B1G is selling a channel and passed up Missouri for Nebraska, Creighton isn't a no go simply because they are in a less populous state. I do think if they are taken and the conference goes to 12 they will have to come with St. Louis, though. Be curious to see if they are taken in a 10 team alignment, I think with 10 VCU or Richmond get the call over even Dayton. Actually, the more this goes on the more I think Dayton is going to be disappointed.