Best MVC basketball team in the last 10 years was.....

by **Ali** » July 27th, 2011, 5:57 pm

These are the best teams I saw:

2007 Southern Illinois - #4 seed, made Sweet Sixteen
2010 Northern Iowa - made Sweet Sixteen
2006 Wichita State - #7 seed, made Sweet Sixteen
2003 Creighton - ranked in AP Top 10

**Sponsor**

by **valleychamp** » July 27th, 2011, 6:10 pm

2002 SIU also was a great team and made the Sweet 16. And 2004 SIU went 17-1 in the conference.

by **Ali** » July 27th, 2011, 6:14 pm

valleychamp wrote:2002 SIU also was a great team and made the Sweet 16. And 2004 SIU went 17-1 in the conference.

No doubt. I tried to pick one from each school that I think most would consider to be the very best and I went with the 07 Dawgs. I didn't include the 2006 Bradley team even though they made the Sweet 16. Drake had that one year but I wouldn't classify them in this same group. Not sure there are any possible choices for UE, ISU x 2, or MSU.

by **Haha** » July 27th, 2011, 6:15 pm

duh........2010-11 Indiana State

by **valleychamp** » July 27th, 2011, 6:28 pm

I'll try and make a case for '10 UNI.

-Ranked #13 in the final poll
-30 wins, more than any of the other teams in the running
-Beat #1 KU, in what is probably the best win of the modern era for any MVC team
-15-3 MVC record
-Dominated the MVC tournament (closest game was 15 points), and only gave up 40 points in each of the first two games.
-#2 scoring defense in all of college basketball that year

by **glm38** » July 27th, 2011, 6:49 pm

Nice topic. I'd like to say one of the Bears teams but unfortunately that just wouldn't be true.

I'd definitely go with the 09 Northern Iowa team over several other very good MVC teams. That N Iowa squad was just a great team. My son and I loved watching them play and rooted for them all year except when they played the Bears.They were capable of beating anyone in the country that year. With just a few more breaks I think they could have made it to the final four (IMHO).

by **WSUbballer** » July 27th, 2011, 7:24 pm

If I took my blinders off, I would agree that UNI 2009 probably had the best overall resume for a Valley team that year. 2007 SIU was close too IMO, as they were a few points away from an elite 8 against a heavily-favored KU team.

For WSU, the only case I can make for them is that they had won the Valley by 2 games in one of its best years in at least a couple decades. I think that was a pretty good feat. They finished #21 in the polls.

Probably not the greatest team in the last decade, but I'm glad to see it was at least up for consideration.

by **bcg** » July 28th, 2011, 7:23 am

I'd go with the 2002-03 Creighton team. My second best would be the year SIU had Rolan Roberts (2002, I think).

As a Bradley fan, it's hard to pick the UNI team from a couple of years ago since they rolled over in the second half at Carver Arena against an average BU squad.

by **BirdmanBB** » July 28th, 2011, 7:40 am

Had last years WSU team made the NCAA tourney then I would have to go with them. They were extremely similar to VCU's final four team. Wish they had made the tourney instead of Indiana St. so we could see the valley do some damage (sorry ISUblue fans...just how I feel).

Other than that, I will have to go with SIU's sweet 16 team. They had a lot of talent.

by **DoubleJayAlum** » July 28th, 2011, 7:49 am

The 2007 SIU team was the best defensive team I've ever seen. They were physically intimidating and played rough. On top of that, Tatum was one of the most clutch players I've ever seen. They get my vote.