Who Will Be The Next HL Addition(s)

The Horizon League will increase by just one team and that team will be Northern Kentucky. I truly hope I'm wrong, but it looks like just one addition.

By the way, some of the Horizon League brass peruse this message board. Hopefully they'll get a feel for what the fans are expressing. Not that we matter all that much. We just pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition and fees which helps some people keep jobs, including Presidents, Commissioners and Athletic Directors. Just saying.

I know I've posted that the HL will only have one team. But I'm still hopeful that through some miracle we can get to 12, with the other two being Belmont and Evansville. Murray State was the first option to go along with Belmont, but they're so entrenched that it would truly be a miracle to uproot them.

At this point, Evansville would be a better choice than just Northern Kentucky and would be a better travel partner with Belmont. If the Horizon League goes to 12 teams, then all three would make perfect sense.

I've listed in the table below about every school I think is even remotely a candidate for Horizon expansion. I've also listed just direct basketball-related performance criteria - budget and three year average RPI and attendance. Obviously geography, facilities, size, public/private mix, APR, and other factors come into play. But I'm just looking here at how they seem to fit in in terms of immediate commitment to basketball (budget) and recent success, as reflected in RPI and attendance. I start with the Horizon schools, at the top, and then list various candidates.



I'm assuming here that that MVC won't start to fall apart, which would open up Drake and Bradley as candidates. I've included Denver - other than geography, they'd be a great fit, so I've listed them as a personal fave. Omaha and UMKC are a pretty good geographic reach, but I've seen their names bandied about, so they make the cut. Other teams that might be worth considering would include James Madison from the Colonial (but they've got football) or Georgia State. For my money, the odds of Duquesne leaving the A10 are somewhere between .000003% and 0, but again, I've seen them mentioned with some frequency, so I put them in the table. Other OVC schools might be faint possibilities, or going hard east with not only Niagara and Canisius but trying for Siena or Stony Brook.

Originally posted at udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/273/horizon-league-expansion

I really like Denver - they'd be a great pick up except for geography. But also, they too lack baseball. If the league were to add 3 teams to go to 12, that wouldn't matter much - they just need one or two with baseball. My fear is we'll be totally reactive again. I outline what I think ought to be the objectives of expansion (and conclude that the Horizon should look to add at least 1 team) and evaluate these teams a bit more here: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/273/horizon-league-expansion

Belmont is obviously the prize, and really should join. I don't see Murray State joining because of football, and while I'd be very happy to have them, I don't see them as the prize some others do. That doesn't leave much else.

wishful thinking here. but i personally would like to add nku niagara & canisius lol poaching to the nth degree. both schools have baseball, but also have hockey & canisius has lacrosse to boot as well. it would even appease the private schools.

you people rip my picks, but have kansas city, omaha, fort wayne & iupui as possible additions? gtfoh. both of my picks far outweigh ANY of those programs.