To understand what seems to be an uncertain future for the Missouri Valley Conference, one needs to look to the league’s past.
Faced with the daunting prospect of needing to re-invent itself after losing banner programs Creighton and Wichita State in the last four years, this is nothing the nation’s second-oldest NCAA Division I conference has not overcome before in its flagship sport of men’s basketball.
“If the Valley has been anything during the century since its founding, it’s been resilient and not defined by a single institution,” MVC commissioner Doug Elgin said.
Ninety years ago, six of the Valley’s 10 schools — Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Iowa State — defected to form the Big Eight, now the Big 12.