To Toledo et al !! And what have NU DePU and the rest in Chgo on ??? Nada !!! But Media has ALWAYS been a Big 28 or whatever plus Ray Meyer fans !!

It is THAT simple. We change that this year !!!

The thing I love best about the MVC is the long basketball traditions of its teams. Loyola was undefeated in '29, lost its only game of the '39 season in the NIT final, and reached the NIT semis in '49. LU was a national power, 1961-68. A few other highlights: Bradley had great teams in the '50s and '60s, reaching the NCAA Finals once and winning two NIT championships. Drake was an original MVC member and had a run in '68- '71, reaching the Final Four in 1969. Indiana State has a rich history culminating with the Larry Bird years and the NCAA final in 1979.

SIU came from the small college division and won the NIT with Walt Frazier in 1967 and had runs of post-season appearances in the early '90s and 2000s. Evansville was a small college power with five NCAA championships and featured Jerry Sloan in the '60s. Valparaiso had a long tradition in the small college ranks and then appeared consistently in the NCAA Division I tournament for about a decade beginning in the mid-'90s. Missouri State has appeared in four Division II championship games and won two NAIA championships. The Bears were regular post-season participants from '86 - '07 after joining Division I.

Illinois State featured Doug Collins, '71-'73 and has had a number of runs of post-season appearances since then. Northern Iowa is the only team whose success has been concentrated in this century.

So there is a lot of history - at least good if not great - in the MVC; unfortunately, among the teams remaining in the conference, much of it is only historical. If you include teams that have left the conference, the history is truly great.

Many of the MVC teams (including us sadly) are historically great in the same way that my beloved Cleveland Browns are great...which is to say that for many what happened 50 years ago doesnt cash very many credibility checks today.

I do think we are certainly on the right track and am very very excited about the upcoming season. But I agree with Toledo's overall point of, if we want respect lets earn it.