First games on Friday feature pre-season top-tier teams Creighton and Indiana State opening at home with what should be warm-up games against lower competition while Missouri State and Illinois State could really get the Valley off on the right foot with road games against WAC foes Fresno State and Nevada. Both of those are winnable and would help in building the Valley's non-conference profile.
Saturday's match-ups feature a couple "official" tune-up games for lower predicted teams Drake and Southern Illinois against non-Division I foes, while Northern Iowa travels to solid mid-major program Old Dominion for what could be the Valley's first real good road scalp opportunity. The feature game on Saturday, however, is Evansville opening their new arena with two-time NCAA runners-up Butler and possibly adding a high-profile scalp to theirs and the MVC's resume. They did it last year, why not again?
Sunday finishes off the opening weekend with another cupcake home game for Creighton, while Wichita State and Bradley both open their seasons at home with winnable games against lower tier teams.
All in all a very good chance for the Valley to get off to a good start. The toughest wins are probably Evansville-Butler (though I see the Aces riding the excitement of the grand opening to a win), UNI-ODU (Old Dominion is in a similar situation as UNI with trying to re-load with younger players, but they get the home court), and the two MVC-WAC games on Friday (not because they are overly top-notch teams but because they are road games). I don't see any reason for any of the Valley home games to end up in losses other than the UE-Butler tussle which I rate as a toss-up.
I predict 9 victories with a good chance at 10 and not unreasonable to think all 11 with some breaks. Off to mix up the Kool-Aid Elgin sent me now.
