Espn Best of the rest

[oneNEIGHBOR]

Well at least it has two valley teams...
http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/ ... /best-rest
and I am not sure if you can read this if you don't have insider .

[Snapshot9]

from the above article:

Five league races we can't wait to see
Eamonn Brennan
ESPN.com

Missouri Valley: Last season's best team, Northern Iowa, delivered so many thrills in the 2010 NCAA tourney that asking for more almost feels like greed. It's hard to follow an act like Ali Farokhmanesh's. (It's also, this many months removed from March Madness, hard to remember how to spell Ali Farokhmanesh.) But it's possible the 2010-11 version of the Missouri Valley will be just as interesting.

It also will be more competitive. UNI lost five seniors from its Kansas-killing Sweet 16 team (Farokhmanesh, Jordan Eglseder, Adam Koch, Brian Haak and Adam Rodenberg), three of whom (Eglseder, Koch and Farokhmanesh) were among UNI's top four scorers. Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson is looking to follow the mid-major molds of Butler, Xavier and Gonzaga by building a team that can win its conference and make a deep NCAA tournament run each year. To do that in 2011, he'll need guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe to take a leap into leading-scorer territory while getting bigger contributions from seniors Johnny Moran and Lucas O'Rear. O'Rear, purveyor of entertaining sideburns, decided to come back to school after being drafted higher than expected by the Cincinnati Reds.

If it will be hard for UNI to maintain its high level with all those losses, it will be just as difficult to hold off what was already a very tough Wichita State team. The Shockers, who finished 25-10 and 12-6 in the MVC in 2010, lost leading scorer Clevin Hannah to graduation, but nearly every other player from last year's team -- which for much of the season looked as though it would push UNI's conference title hopes to the brink -- returns. Those returnees include seniors Toure' Murry, J.T. Durley and Graham Hatch and junior center Garrett Stutz.

The race between those two teams will be buttressed by Greg McDermott's first year at Creighton, where leading scorer Kenny Lawson Jr. returned after a brief dalliance with the NBA draft. Rutgers transfer Gregory Echenique will give McDermott some immediate talent come conference season, and if UNI and Wichita State don't break away from the pack early, Creighton could nab the conference title as early as McDermott's first season.

In other words, a nondominant UNI team means a wide-open race for the MVC's top spot. The conference won't be as deep as its mid-aughts heyday, but it ought to be just as much fun to watch.

------------ By the way Toure' Murry is a Junior, not a Senior

[Snapshot9]

Also from the article, Katz's view:

Wichita State: Coach Gregg Marshall has his best squad since taking over for Mark Turgeon in Wichita. The balanced Shockers have steadily become a tough out in the Missouri Valley Conference, and for the first time in three years the new favorite will not be named Northern Iowa. How Wichita State handles those expectations is tough to know, but we'll find out soon enough with that Thanksgiving week trip to Maui.

-- Andy Katz

Also, games to watch:

Wichita State vs. Connecticut (Maui Invitational), Nov. 22: The Shockers are the pick in the Missouri Valley. UConn will need to ride Kemba Walker this season. If Wichita wants to make its name early, taking down Connecticut in the first round is a must. WSU would then continue on against Michigan State. If we assume the Shockers lose that game, they still would face the Kentucky-Washington loser. See the value of winning the first game? If the Shockers lose that one, the Shockers would play Chaminade and then either Virginia or Oklahoma. The all-important RPI would not be helped in that scenario.

[Khan4Cats]

Also from the article:

Non-conference games to watch:
Northern Iowa at Syracuse, Nov. 12: If there was ever a time to play the Orange this season, it's in Game 1, when Syracuse will be integrating a talented but young roster. Northern Iowa lost plenty off last season's dramatic team that beat Kansas in the second round. But the Panthers are still fully capable of being a major pest, led by senior guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe.