Updated Conference Predictions

[E-Villan]

1- INST - Williams and Neese appear to be fitting in seamlessly. I'm not sure they will have the first seed headed into STL but they could very well be playing Sunday. They've surely impressed me in the noncon.
2- Drake - Wow, who saw this coming. Nick Norton, a native of Bloomington IL, has been exactly what the Dr. ordered for the dogs.
3- Loyola - Despite some struggles and games they should have one, they still went to the Final 4 last year. The key for them will be to see Krutwig take that next step. He has not regressed at all but I'd like to see some progression from the young fella and I'm sure we will.
4- SIU - Hung around Buffalo twice, Kentucky, and Murray State, took down SLU, but lost to Winthrop at home. They've show flashes of being able to hang with some good teams, but haven't gotten over the hump.
5- Redbirds- There may be some bias in this pick. The Redbirds have been horrible this noncon. They have shown zero signs of playing defense and seem to really lack "give a sh*t" mentality. Into the last game of the noncon at UCF, Muller has had to "play guys that wanted to be in there." In the past when coach has done that with this team, the attitude has seemed to be not "Man, I let my team down," and more of "See, you can't win without me." I hold out some hope because Muller teams tend to get it together a few games into conference season. They will not be a Thursday night team.
6- Bradley - They looked pretty good at the start of the noncon with the wins against Penn State and SMU, but the loss to IUPUI, Eastern Illinois, and the slide by of SE LA they were trending downward.
7- Missouri State - Dana Ford has done some great things there in his short time. He's recruiting well, like he does everywhere and I wouldn't be surprised for them to stay off Thursday.
8- UNI -
9- Evansville
10- Valpo.

Considering he has no insight on his bottom 3,I normally wouldn't even bother, but he gives SIU high marks for "hanging" with Murray.....They got absolutely throttled by Murray in Carbondale. His 9th place team is the only MVC team to "hang" with Murray.

[Go4Valley]

1. SIU...in my view the best overall team
2. Loyola...battle tested played good non conf schedule
3. Indiana St...like their guard play
4. Bradley...enough talent and grit to win games
5. Drake....didnt expect to see 10 wins so early
6. Missouri St...expect the unexpected with this squad
7. Illinois St....lack of discipline and talent is always bad
8. Evansville...McCarty guys play hard but lack talent
9. Northern Iowa...I can only see PIG come 3/7/19
10. Valpo...could flip flop them with UNI but need more

So for Arch Madness I am saying

Rematch of PIG from 2018 UNI vs Evansville with winner against SIU

Redbirds vs Valpo with winner to face Loyola

Rematch of 2018 quarterfinals Drake vs Bradley

Friday nightcap of Mo State vs Indiana State

STL will be one wild affair!

[VUGrad1314]

You'll get no argument from me at this point slotting Valpo tenth. That's where we belong until we prove that we don't. It sucks to think that you might have the talent to make the race interesting and at least contend for the top six only to have the team underperform and underwhelm to such a degree that you wonder if there's even one team in the conference that they'll finish ahead of. Hopefully some year soon we'll prove ourselves to be a worthy addition to the MVC.

[Go4Valley]

Who knows...Valpo could get 6th. Never know how teams have meshed by February when you play teams for the 2nd time. Also injuries I am sure will play a factor

[isumvc1]

guessing here based on seeing most MVC teams in the non conference games, but honestly, how teams perform in the non conference means nothing when MVC play starts, in non conference play the opposing coaches don't know the MVC teams like the MVC coaches do, so we're able to get some good wins in non conference play. In MVC play there will always be upsets, it just happens

1. Indiana State
1. Drake
3. Loyola
4. Southern Illinois
5. Illinois State
6. Bradley
7. Evansville
8. Missouri State
9. UNI
10. Valpo

[BirdsEyeView]

guessing here based on seeing most MVC teams in the non conference games, but honestly, how teams perform in the non conference means nothing when MVC play starts, in non conference play the opposing coaches don't know the MVC teams like the MVC coaches do, so we're able to get some good wins in non conference play. In MVC play there will always be upsets, it just happens

1. Indiana State
1. Drake
3. Loyola
4. Southern Illinois
5. Illinois State
6. Bradley
7. Evansville
8. Missouri State
9. UNI
10. Valpo

I agree with this prediction 100%. However, in your commentary, not many good wins were had in non-conference play.
Indy St - only concern is the over-reliance on 3s. If that ever goes cold, they will start losing more.

[All-MVC Fan]

guessing here based on seeing most MVC teams in the non conference games, but honestly, how teams perform in the non conference means nothing when MVC play starts, in non conference play the opposing coaches don't know the MVC teams like the MVC coaches do, so we're able to get some good wins in non conference play. In MVC play there will always be upsets, it just happens

1. Indiana State
1. Drake
3. Loyola
4. Southern Illinois
5. Illinois State
6. Bradley
7. Evansville
8. Missouri State
9. UNI
10. Valpo

I agree with this prediction 100%. However, in your commentary, not many good wins were had in non-conference play.
Indy St - only concern is the over-reliance on 3s. If that ever goes cold, they will start losing more.

Normally I’d agree with you, but they just don’t take too many threes. They’re a weird team, shooting well from three, but that’s not their whole offense. But their 2pt% isn’t great, so yes, you could be absolutely right.

That said, ISUb always seems to find a way to disappoint, so I would never pick them to win the conference. If history is any guide, they’ll avoid Thursday, but finish no higher than fifth.

[jackwagon]

Yeah ISub will be the 5-6 team they always are. Not sure what people see in them. Few guys have shot the lights out and will fall back down to earth. They will start 0-2
in the league.

[isumvc1]

guessing here based on seeing most MVC teams in the non conference games, but honestly, how teams perform in the non conference means nothing when MVC play starts, in non conference play the opposing coaches don't know the MVC teams like the MVC coaches do, so we're able to get some good wins in non conference play. In MVC play there will always be upsets, it just happens

1. Indiana State
1. Drake
3. Loyola
4. Southern Illinois
5. Illinois State
6. Bradley
7. Evansville
8. Missouri State
9. UNI
10. Valpo

I agree with this prediction 100%. However, in your commentary, not many good wins were had in non-conference play.
Indy St - only concern is the over-reliance on 3s. If that ever goes cold, they will start losing more.

As someone said, we shoot well from the 3, but this year we've only taken 169 three point shots, the next closest MVC team to us in attempts is SIU at 236 attempts, a difference of 67 attempts. That's quite a bit.

We'll just have to see how MVC play goes, our 2 point percentage isn't the best either, but it should be ok in MVC play, we certainly won't see teams of the caliber of TCU, Colorado, or UNLV on a consistent basis.

I expect Williams and Neese to do pretty well in MVC play, they've only played 4 games for ISU, so they're sort of getting warmed up yet. Williams in particular should do pretty well, if Neese shoots the 3 as well as we think he can then he'll do well also.

Our bigs, Kessinger, Rickman, and Thomas, simply have to do better finishing at the rim. We miss way too many close up shots. And one other point about these 3, they're AWFUL free throw shooters, so if MVC teams are smart they'll foul our bigs, they rarely hit FTs

But yes, since 2011 ISU has tended to disappoint no less, will this year be any different under Lansing? We're more guard oriented, so this is all new for INS, we'll just have to see.

[isumvc1]

guessing here based on seeing most MVC teams in the non conference games, but honestly, how teams perform in the non conference means nothing when MVC play starts, in non conference play the opposing coaches don't know the MVC teams like the MVC coaches do, so we're able to get some good wins in non conference play. In MVC play there will always be upsets, it just happens

1. Indiana State
1. Drake
3. Loyola
4. Southern Illinois
5. Illinois State
6. Bradley
7. Evansville
8. Missouri State
9. UNI
10. Valpo

I agree with this prediction 100%. However, in your commentary, not many good wins were had in non-conference play.
Indy St - only concern is the over-reliance on 3s. If that ever goes cold, they will start losing more.

also, you're right that we didn't have any marquee wins in non conference play this season, but historically we have had very good wins in non con play. This year hopefully, was a one year outlier.

I'd guess our best wins were Drake over NMSU, INS over Colorado and UNLV, Valpo over UNLV, Bradley's 2 wins in their MTE, SIU over Tulsa and St Louis. I may have missed some others, but that is not much to write home about. Our win over Colorado and the BU win over Penn State may have been the only wins we had over P5 schools all season