(St. Louis, MO) – The second phase of the Missouri Valley Conference expansion process is underway. Rumors have been flying on the internet that Valley officials have begun campus visits, and source close to the situation has verified to me that campus visits have begun.

When Wichita State officially pulled out the MVC on April 7, the clock began to tick for the nation’s second oldest conference. When Creighton left in 2013, it took the Valley roughly six weeks to replace the Bluejays. Here in the midst of the third week after the Shocker departure, the league appears to be close to landing one or more replacement teams.

Leading contenders are rumored to be Murray State (see our story on the Racers’ chances) and Valparaiso. Other contenders seem to be Nebraska-Omaha, Milwaukee, UMKC and some of the Dakota schools. Belmont a favorite of many fans and commentators, still could be in the mix, but the signals coming out of Nashville don’t seem promising.

There are issues for each of these programs, I’m told the Ohio Valley Conference (Murray State and Belmont) has a large exit fee to be paid if they leave without the prescribed time period.

At Murray State’s recent Board of Regents’ meeting, University President Bob Davies said that MSU would need to invest between $3.5 and $4 million to upgrade their programs to compete in a larger conference.

This just in! Dave Reynolds (@DaveReynolds2) just tweeted about specific visits to Murray State, Valparaiso, Milwaukee and Omaha!

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Sources have told me that Valley officials visited Murray State Monday, is at Valparaiso today and has visits set for Milwaukee and Omaha. — Dave Reynolds (@DaveReynolds2) April 25, 2017

Competitive strength is important to the Valley which is trying to maintain its reputation as a league with good potential to earn multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. Valpo and Murray State have each averaged more than 20 wins over the past five seasons. Oral Roberts (78), Omaha (76) and Milwaukee (74) are the next best teams in total wins over that five year period.

Geographic considerations are an interesting side bar to these considerations. If the Missouri Valley would expand to twelve teams and add Valpo, Murray State and Milwaukee, there would be instant geographic rivalries among Loyola, Valparaiso and Milwaukee and each of those teams would be reasonably close to Illinois State and Bradley.

Murray State would become a geographic connection for Evansville, Southern Illinois and Indiana State. The Valley teams that seem to receive no real benefit are the Iowa schools (Northern Iowa and Drake) and Missouri State.

For those wondering about new fan bases traveling to St. Louis for Arch Madness, Nebraska-Omaha (436 miles) would encounter the longest drive, with Oral Roberts (394) and Milwaukee (373) being closer, but not near as close as Murray State (220) or UMKC (248).

One other OVC team that seems to have fallen far out of the running is Southeast Missouri. At 117 miles from St. Louis, and a traditional rival of both Missouri State and SIU, this writer has consistently believed the Redhawks would be a solid fit.

With the campus visits being conducted, the finalists are being interviewed. The answer could be coming before Mother’s Day.

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