Stanley: No truth to another UE-to-Horizon League report

John Stanley

UPDATE: After checking again with athletic director John Stanley and a number of UE athletic officials Saturday at the Ford Center, it’s now obvious that reports of the Aces to the Horizon League were unfounded.

Missouri Valley Conference presidents will plan to conference sometime this weekend to discuss Creighton’s future now that the Big East Conference’s seven basketball-only schools have made their intention to leave official.

ORIGINAL: Athletic director John Stanley denied a report Saturday by Dave Reynolds, long-time Bradley beat writer at the Peoria Journal Star, that UE would be leaving the Missouri Valley Conference for the Horizon League.

“I’m hearing that announcements on Creighton and Evansville leaving Valley are coming today,” Reynolds tweeted, later adding “Creighton going to the Catholic conference, Evansville to the Horizon.”

Stanley said current Missouri Valley Conference administrators would soon discuss Creighton and the likelihood that the Bluejays could join seven Big East Conference Catholic schools to form a new league.

UE’s departure will not be a part of those discussions, Stanley said.

This is the second time in three months Stanley has shot down a UE-to-Horizon League rumor, the other coming in September.

Though a move to the Horizon League wouldn’t be a huge surprise — UE has by far the smallest enrollment among the MVC’s 10 members — the school’s athletic administration previously discussed realignment earlier this year and decided not to become part of it.

Those decisions can always change, however, given the current landscape.

“We understand that the conference world is changing rapidly and has over the last couple years, so we always have to be aware of the circumstances surrounding us, and we’ll make decisions based on events as they occur,” Stanley said in September. “We enjoy the Missouri Valley Conference, but we need to be cognizant of the world surround us as it comes to athletic conferences.”