Early Valley Predictions

[siufan4life]

Yep, garbage program with a laughable reputation.

Yes because 10 NCAA Tournament appearances(tied for most in Valley), 3 Sweet 16s(more than UNI), and being the most dominant team in the MVC in the last decade is garbage. You think you're team is so good because you won back to back conference titles. That's cute. We won 5 conference regular season titles and 1 tourney title in a 6 year span. We're the team whether you like or not that put the MVC on the map in the 2000s. Before trash talking get your facts straight.

[uniftw]

Yep, garbage program with a laughable reputation.

Yes because 10 NCAA Tournament appearances(tied for most in Valley), 3 Sweet 16s(more than UNI), and being the most dominant team in the MVC in the last decade is garbage. You think you're team is so good because you won back to back conference titles. That's cute. We won 5 conference regular season titles and 1 tourney title in a 6 year span. We're the team whether you like or not that put the MVC on the map in the 2000s. Before trash talking get your facts straight.

Learn to comprehend what is said before acting like a douche.

DJH, was CLEARLY, being sarcastic about UNI being a garbage program.......

[valleychamp]

Yep, garbage program with a laughable reputation.

Yes because 10 NCAA Tournament appearances(tied for most in Valley), 3 Sweet 16s(more than UNI), and being the most dominant team in the MVC in the last decade is garbage. You think you're team is so good because you won back to back conference titles. That's cute. We won 5 conference regular season titles and 1 tourney title in a 6 year span. We're the team whether you like or not that put the MVC on the map in the 2000s. Before trash talking get your facts straight.

lol, wow. Good job on that too.

SIU has a great program and an amazing bball legacy. Too bad your reading comprehension and sarcasm detection do not live up to those same high standards.

[rlh04d]

1 good season. Who are we talking about here? Drake? Indiana State? Wichita State? I know it isnt UNI, because UNI has been good for a decade. You might not have even been a senior citizen yet the last time UNI finished in the bottom half of the league.

It's cute how you just haphazardly toss WSU into the same category as Drake and Indiana State.

For the record, WSU has 111 wins in the last four years. UNI has 114 wins in the last FIVE years. And that has nothing to do with this last season -- UNI also had a 30 win season in that stretch. It was the three non-Final Four years that gave us almost as many wins as UNI had in the other four years. And you want to talk about being good for more than one year? Fine, I'll play:

What time frame do you want to compare here? WSU has more wins in the last five years (128-to-114). More in the last ten years (225-to-215). More in the last fifteen years (292-270). More since UNI joined the MVC, which of course includes the worst stretch in WSU history (370-356). More since UNI joined D1 (I'm not counting back that far, but it's not even close). Are we comparing NCAA wins? WSU has a 6-3 NCAA record in the last decade versus UNI's 2-5, and it only gets more dramatic from there. NIT? 7-2 for WSU versus 0-1 for UNI in the last decade. Regular season championships? We're tied, 2-2 in the last decade. Conference tournament championships? Finally a category UNI wins, 3-0 in the last decade.

But we've had one good season? Which of these do you think was the bigger statistical aberration: our Final Four run or your Sweet 16 run? We had 29 wins and an NIT Championship two years ago, one other Final Four, four runs to at least the Elite 8, five runs to at least the Sweet 16 -- UNI hasn't had another season with more than 23 wins since the 50's in DII and only has one other NCAA win in program history. Who had the one good season?

This is a comparison you aren't going to win. You should stop.

Thank you for all of the statistics. You assuredly spent many hours putting this together, and we all appreciate that. I congratulate the Shockers on the fabulous run they have put together.

That being said, it was not me who said anything about WSU having one good season. It was DrWu, and he said it in reference to UNI, which is where my response was directed. Nice try though.

Yep. It takes hours to copy and paste win loss records into Excel. Tough stuff.

UNI has had only one good season. That's simply truth.

You clearly implied WSU had done likewise. You are wrong. Nice try at deflecting, though.

[rlh04d]

I think that next year will be really unpredictable if a team loses a player or two. I would also like to point out that the last 4 Valley teams that made it to the Sweet 16 and beyond didn't make the tournament the next season.
Bradley- After a Surprising Sweet 16 finished 22-13(10-8) and made it to the Second Round of the NIT and finished 4th the following year.
Wichita State- After a dominating run out of the first weekend and a heartbreaking Sweet Sixteen loss to George Mason, the Shockers after being ranked as high as 8th finished 17-14(8-10) and missed postseason play with a 6th place finish(would have likely made it to CBI or CIT if it was around at the time.)
SIU- After what was regarded as the best season in Saluki history and a dominant Sweet Sixteen run, SIU finished 18-14(11-7) and made it to the Second Round of the NIT with 3rd place finish.
UNI- After its Sweet Sixteen run highlighted by a 69-67 upset of Kansas, the Panthers finished 20-14(10-8) and made it to the Second Round of the CIT with a 5th place finish.
Wichita State- After a Final 4 where they dominated the West Region, the Shockers are expected to win the MVC.
History is not in Wichita's favor but I do think that they make a return trip to the NCAAs

Bit odd to be comparing Sweet 16 runs to a Final Four run.

They are not comparable.

[2livewu]

Here they go again, trying to lump their own programs along side WSU's.

You're right, there is NO comparison between a Sweet16 and a Final 4. None.

Second, the quality depth of the Valley was MUCH better when SIU was in the midst of their spectacular multiple season run. That simply isn't the case next year.

Keep trying UNI. You just might convince yourself UNI can compete long term nationally, even though everyone else knows they can't. I don't know why it bothers you so much though. It's not a bad thing. UNI performs above it's ability more often than not. That's a good thing. But it doesn't make you a national player. Sorry. You can keep saying it does, but that doesn't make it so.

[2livewu]

I would also like to point out that the last 4 Valley teams that made it to the Sweet 16 and beyond didn't make the tournament the next season.

This statement is poorly phrased at best. "The Sweet 16 AND BEYOND" suggests some other Valley team played another game after the Sweet 16 other than WSU, which hasn't happened until this year and clearly they haven't been a part of the other half of the equation yet.

[valleychamp]

Yep. It takes hours to copy and paste win loss records into Excel. Tough stuff.

UNI has had only one good season. That's simply truth.

You clearly implied WSU had done likewise. You are wrong. Nice try at deflecting, though.

Nope, I did not imply that. You guys did that on your own.

I would like to know what one has to accomplish for it to be considered a "good season". If its "simply truth" that UNI has had "one good season", you would also have to agree that WSU's '11 NIT title and WSU's '12 MVC title and NCAA appearance were in fact not good seaons. But, I'm guessing that you do not believe those things to be true.

[valleychamp]

Here they go again, trying to lump their own programs along side WSU's.

You're right, there is NO comparison between a Sweet16 and a Final 4. None.

Second, the quality depth of the Valley was MUCH better when SIU was in the midst of their spectacular multiple season run. That simply isn't the case next year.

Keep trying UNI. You just might convince yourself UNI can compete long term nationally, even though everyone else knows they can't. I don't know why it bothers you so much though. It's not a bad thing. UNI performs above it's ability more often than not. That's a good thing. But it doesn't make you a national player. Sorry. You can keep saying it does, but that doesn't make it so.

We don't need to convince anyone anything. UNI has been competing very successfully for 10 years.

[mvcfan]

Here they go again, trying to lump their own programs along side WSU's.

You're right, there is NO comparison between a Sweet16 and a Final 4. None.

Second, the quality depth of the Valley was MUCH better when SIU was in the midst of their spectacular multiple season run. That simply isn't the case next year.

Keep trying UNI. You just might convince yourself UNI can compete long term nationally, even though everyone else knows they can't. I don't know why it bothers you so much though. It's not a bad thing. UNI performs above it's ability more often than not. That's a good thing. But it doesn't make you a national player. Sorry. You can keep saying it does, but that doesn't make it so.

We don't need to convince anyone anything. UNI has been competing very successfully for 10 years.

I would agree that UNI is a competitive program. Not flashy but competitive.