This is our time.  We’re ready to show ESPN’s self-proclaimed “experts” that this year we have a solid men’s basketball team that is a force to be reckoned with, especially outside of the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Bluejays haven’t been dancing since Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver won the Valley tournament in 2007.  The Jays haven’t won a game in the NCAA Tournament since they upset the University of Florida as a 12 seed in 2002.   Following solid recruiting classes and improvements on the court last season, this year the Bluejays look to get even and make some noise.

Qualifying for the Big Dance wouldn’t be such a challenge if the Jays weren’t labeled a “mid-major” team in a “mid-major” conference.  In recent seasons the Valley hasn’t received the hype that it has had in the past.  It wasn’t that long ago that four MVC teams were in the Field of 64 (2006.)

The league doesn’t have quite the depth it used to, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve to get an extra at-large bid per year.  Fans of college basketball pull for the underdog teams, the Cinderella teams such as George Mason University, Butler University or even the University of Northern Iowa.  The “mid-major” schools continue to prove their worth year in and year out, whether it be Morehead State University or Virginia Commonwealth University.

Here we are in 2011, in the midst of interesting conference realignment activity across multiple BCS conferences.  The Pac-12 has taken Colorado University from the Big 12 and the University of Utah from the Mountain West, the Big 10 has accepted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Southeastern Conference has taken in Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri from the Big 12, the Atlantic Coast Conference has taken the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University from the Big East, and the Big 12 will soon add Texas Christian University and West Virginia University within the next few years.  Where does this put Creighton?

ESPN loved to gush and rave about the “stacked” Big East basketball conference last season.  Despite sending a record 11 men’s basketball teams to the Big Dance, the Big East failed to impress with only two teams reaching the Sweet 16.  Although the University of Connecticut was the eventual National Champion, “mid-major” teams were more frustrated than ever before with the lack of respect for “mid-major” conferences.

With Pitt and Syracuse leaving for the ACC and West Virginia leaving for the Big 12, the Big East is forced to make a decision.  Either join the Conference USA/Mountain West alliance in some way or try to add new basketball-only schools and keep the Big East basketball conference together.  There have been several recent reports of the Big East extending invitations to Boise State University, Navy, Air Force, Southern Methodist University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Houston.

In addition to perennial powers such as Butler and Xavier University, Creighton has surfaced as a potential candidate if the Big East recruits new members.  I’ll be honest – as much as we all despise Wichita State University and Missouri State University, the idea of playing schools such as Villanova University, UConn, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Louisville in a multi-bid league is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Because the status of these things change so rapidly and unexpectedly, I’ll be closely following to see if conference realignment will affect Creighton or the Missouri Valley Conference in the future.

There’s a very slim possibility that this opportunity would ever materialize.  However, if our Creighton Bluejays take care of business in the Valley and in the Big Dance, we’ll give them plenty to think about and then some.