ORU a good fit for MVC (TW)

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For out-of-towners, from yesterday's Tulsa World.  I just didn't get around to posting it.

ORU a good fit for MVC

By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columist

6/27/2006

The perfect league match for Oral Roberts is the Missouri Valley Conference.

Since Tulsa left the Valley, the MVC has become a basketball and baseball powerhouse.

TU, with football but no baseball, is a much better fit in its new home in Conference USA.

ORU, with nationally competitive basketball and baseball, would be a great catch for the Missouri Valley.

One problem: ORU may be looking for options but, unfortunately, there's no room in the MVC for the Golden Eagles.

That could change, and ORU should be ready to make a move.

However, until then, ORU will likely have to make the best of the Mid-Continent Conference.

ORU is at Mid-Con Conference meetings this week for discussions about the league's future.

Valparaiso, arguably the highest-profile basketball school in the conference, is leaving for the Horizon League. Chicago State is also leaving the league. That leaves the Mid-Con under the minimum to retain its automatic NCAA Tournament bids.

That is especially important to ORU. The Golden Eagles earned automatic bids to the NCAA men's basketball and baseball tournaments this past school year.

So, there is some urgency to get new membership 

to stay above the new minimums within the next two years.

ORU, after scrambling for years to find a conference home, finally landed in the Mid-Con for the 1997-98 school year.

It has been a good fit. Oral Roberts has dominated the league in a variety of sports, especially baseball, and has been competitive in all sports. The Eagles have regularly won the Commissioner's Cup as the league's top overall athletic department.

This past school year, the Golden Eagles won their first Mid-Con title in men's basketball to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. ORU lost to top-seeded Memphis in Dallas in the first round.

Still, it was proof that ORU's decision to get out of independent status and find a conference home was the right move.

ORU eventually found a league, and coach Scott Sutton got the Eagles into March Madness this year.

Originally, it was thought by many that ORU, which was on the road back after dropping down to the NAIA for a few years, would land in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Eagles certainly fit into that league geographically, a conference dominated by Texas and Louisiana schools. However, that league was actually looking for football-playing schools.

So, eventually, the Mid-Con opened up. It wasn't a perfect fit. The league had teams as far away as Buffalo and Utah, but it was better than being an independent. Over the years, they have fit together better.

However, losing Valpo and Chicago State may alter the landscape. Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and Dallas Baptist are among the possibilities mentioned. But there might be a long list of candidates since there is no shortage of teams looking for a Division I-basketball league to call home.

Still, just to be smart, ORU needs to keep its options open.

ORU needs to look no further than across town for a perfect example.

When Tulsa left the Missouri Valley Conference, it did so for football. The Hurricane needed a home for football, so it jumped at the chance to join the new 16-team Western Athletic Conference.

The WAC wasn't perfect -- 16 teams were far too many -- but it was better because it gave football a home.

When eight schools broke off to form the Mountain West, Tulsa was caught by surprise and learned a valuable lesson. It needed to be ready to move if things altered the collegiate landscape.

So, Tulsa aligned itself closely with SMU and Rice and kept its ears open. When the Atlantic Coast Conference expanded, making room in the Big East for new members, Conference USA had a need for new members.

A chance to be a member of a league with better geography for Tulsa was perfect.

For the same reason, ORU needs to stay alert. It needs to make sure it has some partners that can move with it (such as Missouri-Kansas City).

The Missouri Valley Conference, with 10 members, doesn't need to expand. It had four teams in the NCAA Men's Tournament and a fifth (Missouri State with an RPI of 21) that should have been included.

The Valley had two baseball teams reach the regional finals.

ORU, in the NCAA men's basketball tournament and in an NCAA baseball tournament super regional, would be a great addition to the Valley.

Someday, it should happen. Until then it is up to ORU to make its league home the best it can and stay ready.

You never know when the landscape of college athletics will undergo another shift.

When it does, Oral Roberts should be ready to leap.