The Valparaiso Crusaders will leave the Horizon League and join the Missouri Valley Conference next season, it appears, in an interesting bit of mid-major college basketball news. The MVC extended a formal invitation to the Crusaders on Tuesday, with terms to be negotiated in the days to come. Anyway, this is happening.
Valparaiso joining Missouri Valley Conference, replacing departed Wichita State
The Crusaders are replacing a top mid-major, and they get to level up a good ways themselves.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Valpo will replace Wichita State, which left the MVC (in hoops only) to join the American Athletic Conference. The AAC is the best non-power league in the country in both football and men’s basketball, and the Shockers have been the country’s best mid-major program of late. That move made sense on the surface, though it wasn’t without its risks. This move for Valpo seems pretty smart all around.
The Crusaders have enjoyed on-and-off hoops success since the mid-1990s, when they were still a member of the old Mid-Continent Conference. That’s when Homer Drew got the program to five NCAA tournaments in a row, the first in the school’s history. His son, Bryce Drew, took over for him in 2012 and made a couple more tournament appearances out of the Horizon League.
All told, Valpo’s made nine tournament showings since 1996, winning two games in the Dance. For a mid-major, that’s more than a little bit respectable.
The MVC is a decent-sized jump for the Crusaders.
It was the 10th-best conference of the 32 in Division I last year, according to Ken Pomeroy’s opponent-adjusted efficiency metric, while the Horizon was 20th. Losing Wichita State will drag the MVC down a long way, but Valpo is a solid replacement.
The Crusaders should contend for the league title with Illinois State going forward, and they’ll be in what appears to be a slightly better league. (How much better the MVC is without Wichita State remains to be seen.) It’s also not that hard a league to win.
It seems Valpo isn’t making a move in football.
The MVC is an excellent football conference in the Football Championship Subdivision. Its teams include recent five-time consecutive national champion North Dakota State, as well as South Dakota State and this year’s national finalist, Youngstown State.
Valpo plays in the Pioneer League on the gridiron and went 4-7 last year. Being competitive in football, if the Crusaders had moved there, would’ve been really hard.
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