Official MVCfans 2011-12 Prediction - 1st Place

[shockalot]

At this point it looks like a coin toss. Both teams have some very good returning players, yet both teams have new guys that will be relied upon to make a difference and its essentially impossible to know how most of them will in fact play out. These teams should be good enough to ensure multiple NCAA bids this year, regardless of which one (or even ISU blue, for that matter) wins the conference. Should be a great season and some great games between the top contenders. Good luck to all!

[SycamorePsycho]

Difficult choice for me. Both teams have a lot of talent. I picked the Shockers.

[sixth ace]

It was a toss up and I went with Creighton. Neither of these were My choice for 1st place and I'll leave it at that.

[DoubleJayAlum]

The MVC is still a guards league and WSU has the better guards.

Creighton is working in 6 players that have never played a game in a Creighton jersey. That is just too many new guys to maintain consistency. On top of that, we have a bunch more guys with only a year or less of college experience. Creighton will be better situated in 2012-13 as there is only one senior on this year's roster.

[LanceShock]

This should be an interesting race. With the question marks both teams have, it would be very interesting to see if WSU and CU fans are picking their schools to win or not. I could easily see Pivovar picking WSU and Sullentrop picking CU since they really see each school's weaknesses as the beat reporter for their respective local papers.

I want to believe that this is WSU's year, but Marshall's teams to this point have not shown the ability to close out a season so I'm going to go with the Jays.

[Red]

I'm 55/45 leaning to WSU.

[MoValley John]

This should be an interesting race. With the question marks both teams have, it would be very interesting to see if WSU and CU fans are picking their schools to win or not. I could easily see Pivovar picking WSU and Sullentrop picking CU since they really see each school's weaknesses as the beat reporter for their respective local papers.

I want to believe that this is WSU's year, but Marshall's teams to this point have not shown the ability to close out a season so I'm going to go with the Jays.

I could agree with this, but I also could see each beat writer predicting the home team. On paper, I'd take Creighton, but I picked Wichita State because of several intangibles. While I think McDermott is a good coach, I was less than impressed with some of his decisions last year. Meanwhile, Marshall is a proven commodity. With regards to McDermott, some of what left me scratching my head last year may be due to the fact that it was his first year with the players. There were several switches he made during runs that killed momentum and I also think he tries to manage the clock and leads too early in the game. In my opinion, this led to many scoring droughts. Again, this could be due largely in part of a new coach, teaching a new system and not having "his" players.

The thing I like most about Marshall is how he gets his players motivated and his up tempo style, which allows his playmakers to make plays. At the same time, this style also seemed to backfire a few times last year with what I saw as players tried to make plays that they shouldn't have, sometimes led to guys getting out of control and also led to stupid fouls.

I simply think that Wichita State has enough guys with enough athleticism and experience that the mistakes will be limited.

[Khan4Cats]

This should be an interesting race. With the question marks both teams have, it would be very interesting to see if WSU and CU fans are picking their schools to win or not. I could easily see Pivovar picking WSU and Sullentrop picking CU since they really see each school's weaknesses as the beat reporter for their respective local papers.

I want to believe that this is WSU's year, but Marshall's teams to this point have not shown the ability to close out a season so I'm going to go with the Jays.

I could agree with this, but I also could see each beat writer predicting the home team. On paper, I'd take Creighton, but I picked Wichita State because of several intangibles. While I think McDermott is a good coach, I was less than impressed with some of his decisions last year. Meanwhile, Marshall is a proven commodity. With regards to McDermott, some of what left me scratching my head last year may be due to the fact that it was his first year with the players. There were several switches he made during runs that killed momentum and I also think he tries to manage the clock and leads too early in the game. In my opinion, this led to many scoring droughts. Again, this could be due largely in part of a new coach, teaching a new system and not having "his" players.

The thing I like most about Marshall is how he gets his players motivated and his up tempo style, which allows his playmakers to make plays. At the same time, this style also seemed to backfire a few times last year with what I saw as players tried to make plays that they shouldn't have, sometimes led to guys getting out of control and also led to stupid fouls.

I simply think that Wichita State has enough guys with enough athleticism and experience that the mistakes will be limited.

That may be the X-factor here-the coaches.

Marshall seems to get great athletes who can certainly make a game lop-sided in a hurry, but they also seem to struggle when the game becomes more of an X's and O's chess-match and they just don't seem to come out on top of those scenarios often. When they can get up on teams, they seem able to bury them. When it's close, they don't seem as able to win the dogfights. They've got some good returning parts, but lost a lot as well.

What you have described about Mc's moves align with some of the questioning that UNI fans had of him when he was here. He likes to be in control-Jake, too for that matter. Sure, he's talking about playing up-tempo and using more players (Jake has done that for several years now as well) but it always comes down to slowing the tempo and maintaining control. He's got some talented first-string players to work with. How the depth builds and the newcomers blend will factor in a lot.

For this poll, I am going with WSU. I think they are a little more experienced in the guards and I think that is more beneficial in Valley play.

For my prediction, I will say this: One of the teams that this board has picked to play on Thursday will not and one of the teams this board has picked to finish in the top 2 will not. I know, going out on a limb there.

[Sycamore_DevilDog]

Athleticism is great, but doesn't address basketball I.Q., nor does it equate to shooting, especially the 3-point shot which is big in today's game.

[TylerDurden]

I took the Shockers.

Over an 18-game season, I think their defense and athleticism will win them 12-14 games this season. I also think that their offense has the potential to be more potent than CU's - it's a style of play thing, IMO.

I also think Creighton will be in that win range, but its style lends itself more to a close game upset or two along the way from a bottom-half team, IMO, of course.

I don't foresee this race being decided by more than a game or two.

I think WSU, CU and maybe ISU blue (or another surprise team) can dance this year.