MVC Week 9 Discussion Thread

[uniguy]

This is going to be so much fun! I wasn't terribly excited about this tournament the first two years because I didn't feel like i had any hope that Valpo would do much of anything, but this year feels different. I'd like to say I'm looking forward to it but Valpo has a piece of business beforehand that is just too important for me to just ignore and brush aside thinking about St Louis. We need to show up and play well and win in Terre Haute to give ourselves the best chance and yes it will be very tough to win that game without Javon, but if we can get a few of Clay Krikke McMillan Gordon Sackey Fazekas Kiser and Morgan to step up, we might still have a chance yet. Even with a loss, we might still avoid Thursday if SIU defeats Missouri State although I don't want to leave that in other teams' hands.

Strikingly similar situation to UNI last year, who was 9-8, 14-16 going into the final game in Terre Haute needing a win to guarantee avoiding Thursday.....only to lose and have SIU bail us out getting us the 6-seed. Then we went to the ship. So there's that.

[VUGrad1314]

I hope we just take care of business on our end. I don't want our fate to be in the hands of another team. And I think this team could make noise especially if we have JFL back for the tournament. The only team that I think is clearly better than us is UNI (I say that because we battled Loyola to two single possession losses even though we were swept by them. I think we'd have a chance against them on a neutral floor. Of course a win puts us in the 4-5 game and puts us on the UNI side of the bracket. I hope Javon can come back and give the people what they want: One more JFL Vs A.J. Green matchup! How would that be for your Semifinal Saturday? I think everybody would want to see that! Two of the cornerstones of the future of the Valley on display once more!

Long term, I think Valpo is on a similar upward trajectory to UNI who I think is going to be good for awhile. If we keep everyone together with JFL Clay and Krikke as our core and our incoming class (especially Ognacevic) is supposed to be really good. I think we might really start to make some noise within and outside of league play next year! I'm not going to make any predictions for where we might finish or if we'll contend for an at large or anything but I am a big believer in Valpo's potential if this team stays together.

[VUGrad1314]

Also so much for those Sycamore fans who said their team was a for sure lock to play on Thursday... Yeah about that... That didn't turn out to be true at all...

[Saluki 4 Life]

Gotta give it up to Indiana State last night. Played fantastic. Clutch shot after clutch shot, Key was out of control. Answered every SIU run. Those senior guards are really tough. Rooting for the Sycs this weekend because I want the rematch in the 4/5 game in STL next Friday. Should be a fun one!

[usmcsaluki]

Indiana State might be the best offensive team in the league when they're hot; they're my dark horse for St Louis this year, and Laravia just takes them to another level. Barnes and Key have always been a dangerous duo on the exterior, but now with Laravia the Sycs finally have balance and they're just a more complete team. Last night they would have beat anyone, and props to their game plan for effectively shutting down Domask.

St Louis is going to be fun this year!

[MissouriValleyUnite]

2 national tv games. One with 8500+. The other a 7100+ sellout with an environment the announcer says “rivals the Gonzaga games I do”.

[Bulldog2323]

Drake's performance today was flat out embarrassing. Since the UNI game in Cedar Falls I don't think there's a performance I (or any other Bulldog fans) have been happy with. The players simply cannot execute if their life depended on it right now. I'm expecting a quick Bulldog exit on the first game in St. Louis to end the season. Hopefully our core sophomores (Robbins/Penn/Wilkins) gain some IQ, Thomas gets consistent, our injured/redshirts come on strong next year and we have a good recruiting class.