Missouri Valley Adds Loyola (Chicago) to Replace Creighton

According to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, the Missouri Valley Conference has responded to its first membership change in almost two decades.

After Creighton's announcement that it would leave for the new-look Big East, the MVC was down to nine members from the optimum 10 that it rode with since Tulsa left in 1996. The Valley will not, however, play a game as a nine-school league with the addition of Loyola University of Chicago, late of the Horizon League.

Honestly, Maryland Refreshingly Honest About Big Ten Money Grab

College sports fans are a hell of a lot smarter than they were a decade ago about how the conference-realignment sausage gets made. As the University of Maryland announced its intention to join the Big Ten, it became the first school willing to give the unwashed masses that kind of credit.

Instead of blathering on about "academic culture" and "ideological fit" and "Delany's ass looks hot in a pair of Wranglers" and all the other reasons people give for awkward hookups, Maryland president Wallace Loh and athletic director Kevin Anderson looked dead into the camera lenses and microphones and pulled back the usual curtain of bullshit.

It's all about the Benjamins, baby.