Archie Miller re-ups with Dayton through 2022

[TheSultan]

I would give serious thought at expansion right now. More product. More quality schools. IMO it can only help. 10 is great for things like round robin scheduling, but I think the larger a conference is, the more it moves the needle.

[DCwarrior]

I'd only take Dayton if we could sub out DePaul.

[Mucrisco]

I would give serious thought at expansion right now. More product. More quality schools. IMO it can only help. 10 is great for things like round robin scheduling, but I think the larger a conference is, the more it moves the needle.

Agreed! Add Wichita State too. I wish we would have added both schools at the start. The thing about round robin schedules, if your conference is on a down year, you have to play those crappy teams twice.

[IWB]

Dayton, St. Louis, Wichita State - I would be absolutely shocked if the conference expanded with two of these teams and nobody from out East.

[MayorBeluga]

Does a new school add to the pie such that each existing school gets more? If not, there is no need to expand.

[jpvegas52]

I would think Dayton would be a possibility for expansion as would St. Louis, Richmond or maybe even Davidson. Wichita State and VCU would be no goes, profile of those school does not fit with the rest of the conference.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Any expansion needs to likely include one East Coast team for every Midwest team. Georgetown seems to have veto power on VCU, who else is there? Richmond? Rhode Island? Old Dominion? Charlotte? The only viable option seems to be the old chestnut about UConn dropping football. Can't see it.

[Mucrisco]

Does a new school add to the pie such that each existing school gets more? If not, there is no need to expand.

And that's always the one argument that gives me pause to expansion...

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Does a new school add to the pie such that each existing school gets more? If not, there is no need to expand.

If Dayton kept Archie, I think the answer would be yes. Over the past two years, they earned 7 tournament shares. That's a pretty sizable amount. Though if Archie leaves, I'm not sure they sustain that. They'll likely have trouble sustaining it even if he stays, but I do think they would be able to perennially make the tournament with him, and that alone for me would be worth it. It's not just about TV money, but March success that gives a program value.

But it all comes down to who comes with them. If it's Wichita State, fine, do it. But as Jim noted, it would probably have to be an East Coast team, and as I asked, are there any of value? VCU has enough cachet and is a reliable enough bet to make the Dance that I'd say yes. I'm slowly starting to believe Smart might become their Mark Few. But who else on the East Coast is worth it? I'm not sure anyone is.

[MU/Panther]

I've always like Dayton as they draw well and are in the top 10 in the country in TV ratings per city. There fan base is very easy to hate.