UPDATED: Stories now that it’s official.

—MVC, UE get a presence in Chicago market through Loyola

—Notes: Loyola drew big crowds to UE in MCC days

ORIGINAL: In conjunction with the Missouri Valley Conference, Loyola University Chicago will announce that it’s accepted an MVC invitation in an 11 a.m. press conference at the Ramblers’ on-campus Gentile Arena.

Speakers include MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin as well as Loyola’s president, athletic director and men’s basketball coach Porter Moster, who coached at Illinois State from 2003-2007.

The MVC will live stream the announcement here and conduct its Q&A portion through the Twitter hashtag #MVCLoyola.

By the way, the school asks for Loyola on second reference, not other uses such as Loyola (Chicago), Loyola of Chicago or Loyola (Ill.). The Ramblers’ up-to-date logo is the one attached to this post.

Loyola University Chicago has scheduled an 11 a.m. Friday news conference on its campus to announce Missouri Valley Conference membership, making the Ramblers the league’s 33rd all-time member.

An MVC official relayed the information this afternoon.

The Courier & Press reported Saturday that MVC presidents extended an invite to the current Horizon League school and that Loyola has accepted. A Chicago Tribune report later confirmed the information.

The private, Jesuit university will join the MVC officially on July 1, the same day as former MVC member Creighton enters the new Big East Conference.

There’s been no word yet on whether the MVC will expand beyond 10 schools.

Todd Hefferman, Salukis beat writer for the Southern Illinoisan newspaper, tweeted Monday that MVC presidents unanimously voted Loyola into the league.

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Courier & Press on Saturday that the Missouri Valley Conference is set to add a familiar foe.

Loyola University Chicago, one of UE’s former Midwestern City Conference rivals, has accepted an invitation to join the MVC and will be announced as the its newest member at a news conference Friday.

The private Jesuit university replaces another with the same values, as Creighton’s departure for the new Big East Conference next season created the opening.

(A Loyola school official confirmed the move to a Chicago Tribune reporter late Saturday.)

Loyola, a current Horizon League member, has an enrollment that exceeds 15,000 and plays its men’s basketball games at Joseph J. Gentile Arena, a recently renovated multi-purpose facility on campus.

The large-market university was one of a few Horizon League schools, along with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, that MVC leadership visited and evaluated in the last month. An early March report from USA Today indicated that Belmont, Oral Roberts and Denver were also in play to restore the MVC’s membership to 10 institutions.

Fielding a 10-member league allows for continued round-robin scheduling in men’s and women’s basketball, where each team plays the others twice to determine a regular-season champion.

There are no indications as of now that the MVC will expand beyond 10 schools.

The Ramblers claim the only men’s basketball program in Illinois to ever win a national title, which they did in 1963. George Ireland’s teams back then were known for racial integration in the game, including starting four black players against Cincinnati in the 1963 title game.

The program’s other top moment came by making the 1985 Sweet 16.

More recently, the women’s basketball program tabbed WNBA great Sheryl Swoops its coach on Friday.

Any realignment moves made effective for the 2013-2014 MVC sports season likely needed to be made before July. Creighton announced its intention to leave on March 20.

Along with Detroit, Loyola is the only Horizon League (formerly MCC) member left over from the league’s start in 1979, when UE originally joined before its departure in 1994.

The same Milwaukee-based blog that last fall reported UE was going to the Horizon League is now saying that Illinois-Chicago will join the Missouri Valley Conference.

To PantherU.com’s credit this time — the blog covers Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Horizon League athletics — the Green Bay Press Gazette has also confirmed the news.

Illinois-Chicago was one of a few Horizon League schools, along with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, that MVC leaders were expected to evaluate now that Creighton has officially announced plans to leave for the new Big East Conference.

I spoke with UE president Tom Kazee on Wednesday for a weekend story about the MVC’s realignment situation. Kazee, on his way back from Chicago and a visit to perspective MVC additions, said the league’s presidents council isn’t at a point where it’s ready to vote on new membership.

(Another source, speaking off the record, confirmed that Illinois-Chicago hasn’t been extended an invite yet.)

“Now that Creighton has announced it’s leaving, the presidents council has been in a series of conversations about replacing them,” Kazee said. “Those conversations haven’t gotten very far with respect to finding a new member or members. Now when I say, or members, I’m not suggesting we’d want to be more than 10 members. But if we replaced only Creighton, we’d restore it to 10.

“We’re not at a point where we know how it will all turn out. We do want to move with some dispatch given that we’re coming to the end of one academic year and will be starting the next academic year here in a few months. We’d like to get this resolved in as timely of a manner as possible, but beyond that I can’t really tell you much because it’s in that stage of the conversation where we’re still looking around, and hopefully we’ll be able to move this to a conclusion fairly soon.”

Missouri State’s president added this:

Site visits to prospective valley schools went well. Despite reports on twitter, no decision made on new member. Still couple weeks off.

— Clif Smart (@ClifSmart) April 4, 2013

Illinois-Chicago is a public institution with more than 28,000 students enrolled. The Flames, who have made three NCAA tournament appearances (1998, 2002 and 2004), play in the 6,958-seat UIC Pavilion.

Any moves made effective for the 2013-2014 season need to likely be made before July, though commissioner Doug Elgin has said the MVC can play its next basketball season with nine competing members.

So how long before MVC presidents motion to add a school — if they choose to add one at all?

“That’s a fair question, but I really can’t comment on that,” Kazee said. “It would be fair to say our conversations at the presidents council level have been really wide ranging, and the list of schools that folks have mentioned is quite long. It would be premature for me to say anything more about it than that.

“I say that not because I want to be coy – I don’t – but because if I was the president of an institution that was being considered by a conference, I know I have a lot of homework to do in my own backyard with the board of trustees, alumni and faculty. And I wouldn’t want that work to be made more difficult by a lot of rumor or speculation.”

Now that it’s official — Creighton will no longer be a Missouri Valley Conference member as of July 1 — possible replacements for the long-tenured basketball power have started emerging.

The Kansas City star reported Sunday that Missouri-Kansas City will receive a visit from interest MVC officials along with a number of Horizon League schools: Valparaiso, Loyola (Chicago) and the University of Illinois-Chicago.

An early March report from USA Today indicated that Belmont, Oral Roberts and Denver are also in play to restore the MVC’s membership to 10 institutions.

Any moves made effective for the 2013-2014 season need to likely be made before July, though commissioner Doug Elgin has said the MVC can play its next basketball season with nine competing members.

As of March 20, when Creighton announced its departure for the new Big East Conference, Elgin described talks with any future MVC members as “preliminary.”

“We will act very expeditiously moving forward,” Elgin said. “We are not in a rush. There’s no panic involved. We don’t think we absolutely have to expand our membership, but if we find a willing and an institution that meets the threshold of acceptability in terms of what they bring to our league, that will strengthen our league competitive and otherwise, we would act.”

The commissioner added: “I think the really important criteria and characteristics are strong basketball tradition, geography within the footprint and certainly in major markets or near major markets. Those will continue to be the driving forces in our review of potential expansion of our membership.”

UMKC doesn’t have much basketball tradition — no NCAA tournaments since moving to Division I — but the Kangaroos recently hired former UE player and assistant coach Kareem Richardson to take over next season.

UPDATE: Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin said Wednesday that any discussions with potential new conference members are preliminary only at this point.

Elgin also said the MVC, which officially lost Creighton when the Bluejays announced their departure for the new Big East Conference, could play with nine members this season as the league searches for new membership.

Read below for Elgin’s comments.

ORIGINAL: Creighton announced Wednesday, in conjunction with a Fox Sports news conference in New York delivering the same news, that it’s officially leaving the Missouri Valley Conference for the new Big East Conference.

The Big East signed a 12-year deal to have its games aired on a new Fox Sports channel and will continue playing its conference tournament in Madison Square Garden. Creighton’s new league will offer a reported $3 million in revenues to members as compared to about $300,000 to MVC institutions.

Not long after Creighton’s announcement, MVC commissioner Doug Elgin released a statement on Creighton’s resignation from the league:

“As communicated during the Big East press conference earlier this morning, Creighton University will resign from the Missouri Valley Conference membership effective June 30, 2013.

Creighton has been a valued member of the Conference for many years.  We respect the decision by the University to resign from the MVC, and we wish them well in their future athletic endeavors.

I want to be clear in stating that the Missouri Valley Conference is not defined by any one institution.  The Valley’s history has shown, time and again, that it finds the strength, resources, competitive determination, and leadership to rise to higher levels at times of change.  We will continue to be a great basketball and all-sports league, as we have been since our founding in 1907.

The MVC Presidents Council will continue to chart the future course of the Conference and has been proactively engaged in evaluating membership options.

Doug Elgin

Commissioner”

So far, the MVC has remained mum on Creighton’s departure despite its imminency for about a month now. A USA Today story published March 8 indicted the league considered Denver and Belmont as favorites to replace the Bluejays, while Oral Roberts and Loyola (Ill.) are also in the mix.

Elgin also spoke to the media via teleconference on Wednesday afternoon. Click to read his comments.

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“Creighton University will make a special announcement Wednesday at 10 am Central inside D.J. Sokol Arena. Public is invited.”

That’s a tweet from the Bluajays’ official athletics Twitter account sent out today.

At the same time in New York, presidents from each of the new Big East Conference colleges will attend another news conference in Madison Square Garden along with Fox TV representatives to announce details on the new league that will separate Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference.

And so the worst-kept secret in college athletics is out.

Per a league spokesperson, the MVC won’t make any statements or announcements of its own until after Creighton’s deal is official.

But among what’s left to be determined:

—Will the MVC try to get a 10th basketball-playing member for next season?

—Does the league want to expand beyond 10 teams or preserve the current round-robin format?

—What type of institution will replace Creighton — perhaps another private school — and in which market?

Previous conference realignment posts:

March 15: Local papers confirm Creighton’s exit from MVC
March 7: Catholic 7 ready to announce new league
March 4: More on the MVC and conference realignment
March 1: UE plenty happy with the MVC right now
Feb. 28: Creighton likely joining Big East next season
Dec. 1: Bluejays ‘near definite’ to join Catholic 7