Loyola ChicagoA member of the Missouri Valley Conference since 2013, she has accepted an invitation to join Atlantic 10, the association and the school announced jointly Tuesday.

“I am pleased to announce that Loyola University Chicago will be joining the Atlantic 10 conference beginning in the 2022-23 school year,” said Jo Ann Rooney, President of Loyola. “The A-10 is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top leagues for its success both in competition and in the classroom. This move will continue to increase our visibility nationally, while at the same time placing us in a league with three other Jesuit institutions. We are on I am confident that this is a step that will see Loyola achieve greater success, both sportingly and academically, in the future.”

This development is a boost for the A-10, especially in basketball, considering the Ramblers were in the 2018 Final Four and Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championships last season. They are currently 2-0 under head coach Drew Valentine and are ranked 32nd in Kienbaum, higher than any current member of the A-10.

“Loyola University at Chicago is steeped in academic and athletic tradition,” Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade told CBS Sports. “As a basketball-centric organization committed to graduating student athletes, achieving national success in basketball and outstanding success in many other Olympic sports, it is a fantastic addition to the A-10. Adding the Chicago market to the A-10 footprint also gives us a presence in three of the top five media and employment markets in the country.”

This round of reorganization is the latest blow to the Missouri Valley Conference, which was founded in 1907. Schools like butlerAnd CincinnatiAnd CretonAnd HoustonAnd YeahAnd IowaAnd kansasAnd Kansas StateAnd LouisvilleAnd MemphisAnd MissouriAnd NebraskaAnd OklahomaAnd Saint Louis And Wichita All of them have called MVC home at one time or another. It’s clear that the convention lost most of those members decades ago — although Creighton and Wichita State exited recently, respectively in 2013 and 2017.

A source told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports: MVC is expected to respond with further expansion. The league is already set to add Belmont Next year.

Below is the projected membership of the 10th Atlantic Conference in 2022-23: