Dark Horse in Valley

[rlh04d]

I don't see MSU finishing better than 4th if things go great for them or worse than 6th. I'm guessing 5th. I don't understand why rhl is so focused on the Bears not improving. They were playing better at the end of the season no matter what the record says. And they were something like the 5th youngest roster in all of college and were playing a number of FR. Those kids should improve a decent amount going into this year and MSU should be much better.

I definitely think MSU is going to improve. And I think they'll probably finish 5th. I have a problem with some MoSt fans regularly going on about how they have one of the most proven and talented rosters in the conference and then hedging their bets with "top half or better." 5th place in the conference next season will probably still be sub-.500. If the team has as much talent as the Bears fans keep claiming (what was it about being more talented and deeper than the MoSt team that won the conference?) 5th place should be a big letdown.

I figure they're a 16 win team and probably 8-10 in conference.

[agrinut]

I don't see MSU finishing better than 4th if things go great for them or worse than 6th. I'm guessing 5th. I don't understand why rhl is so focused on the Bears not improving. They were playing better at the end of the season no matter what the record says. And they were something like the 5th youngest roster in all of college and were playing a number of FR. Those kids should improve a decent amount going into this year and MSU should be much better.

I definitely think MSU is going to improve. And I think they'll probably finish 5th. I have a problem with some MoSt fans regularly going on about how they have one of the most proven and talented rosters in the conference and then hedging their bets with "top half or better." 5th place in the conference next season will probably still be sub-.500. If the team has as much talent as the Bears fans keep claiming (what was it about being more talented and deeper than the MoSt team that won the conference?) 5th place should be a big letdown.

I figure they're a 16 win team and probably 8-10 in conference.

You don't get it do you.... You expect a team, who by your own admission is going to be better to only win 1 more game in a conference that is much easier? As for talent and depth being better then the 2011 team depth is an easy one for me since we only had 7 regular players that year. Talent is a different animal though as that team was highly skilled offensively and played good team defense.

[rlh04d]

You don't get it do you.... You expect a team, who by your own admission is going to be better to only win 1 more game in a conference that is much easier?

You don't get it do you ... there's more to basketball than wins and losses. You don't get to argue that 7-11 is the only thing that defined your team last year.

Your 11 losses last year were by an average of nearly 14 points. It's not just a matter of wins and losses -- MoSt's scoring margin over the course of the season was -7.5, which is utterly God awful. You improved to -5.7 in conference -- but that was still nearly double SIU's margin over the whole season (although much better than SIU's -6.9 in conference). Drake actually had a better margin in conference. Oh, and while we're discussing MoSt's big improvement at the end of the year -- the scoring margin was actually -8.1 over the last ten conference games, and -7.2 over the last five. Both of those were worse than the overall conference scoring margin, and comparable to the performance in the noncon.

I don't think there was one top half Valley team last year that didn't have a positive overall scoring margin or a positive conference scoring margin. So predicting you as a top half team isn't just saying "one more win" -- it's also saying +8 points per game over the entire season, and +6 in conference. Just to be borderline.

I think WSU, Indiana State, and UNI all sweep you. Swap home wins with Loyola, Illinois State, Evansville, and Bradley. Sweep Drake and SIU. That's an 8-10 record, but I think the margin will be a lot closer than last year. 7-11, 9-9, or 10-8 wouldn't surprise me, either, or up to 18 wins overall. There's too many unknowns with Loyola, IlSU, Evansville, and Bradley. Basically, I'm guessing 0-6 against the top 3, 8-4 against everyone else.

I just don't see how the numbers work in your favor.

[shoxrox]

I don't care what game of the season it's in, when you lose to a SWAC team, your arguments hold a little less weight with them.

Mo State will be improved, but per usual for any fanbase, there are a few fans who get defensive when they take a perceived slight or think their team is going to do a miraculous turnaround simply based on young talent alone.

[glm38]

The Bears wont get swept by ISUb and UNI. No one in the Valley we dont match up well with except WSU. We'll finish in the top half and be very competitive. Good young talent generally does improve year to year.

[rlh04d]

The Bears wont get swept by ISUb and UNI. No one in the Valley we dont match up well with except WSU. We'll finish in the top half and be very competitive. Good young talent generally does improve year to year.

What do you and other Bears fans actually have as an expectation for wins in conference next season?

Let's stop hedging bets with "top half" predictions. It's pretty clear none of you guys are actually predicting a .500, 5th place finish. I gave my prediction

[Redbird23]

The Bears wont get swept by ISUb and UNI. No one in the Valley we dont match up well with except WSU. We'll finish in the top half and be very competitive. Good young talent generally does improve year to year.

What do you and other Bears fans actually have as an expectation for wins in conference next season?

Let's stop hedging bets with "top half" predictions. It's pretty clear none of you guys are actually predicting a .500, 5th place finish. I gave my prediction

Your right they probably finish in that 8-8 tie that happens every year and finish around 5th

[glm38]

The Bears wont get swept by ISUb and UNI. No one in the Valley we dont match up well with except WSU. We'll finish in the top half and be very competitive. Good young talent generally does improve year to year.

What do you and other Bears fans actually have as an expectation for wins in conference next season?

Let's stop hedging bets with "top half" predictions. It's pretty clear none of you guys are actually predicting a .500, 5th place finish. I gave my prediction

But saying "top half finish" is safer..... Seriously though I expect us to finish at about 4. Could be higher depending on some things going right. Our problem is we have a lot of unknowns. New players and Gulley coming back from such a severe injury. Not to mention a still unproven coach.

[rlh04d]

But saying "top half finish" is safer..... Seriously though I expect us to finish at about 4. Could be higher depending on some things going right. Our problem is we have a lot of unknowns. New players and Gulley coming back from such a severe injury. Not to mention a still unproven coach.

Haha. I know it's safer

Seriously, how many wins? If you disagreed with my statement of who you would win/lose against as to Indiana State and UNI, you're predicting no worse than 10-8. Do you actually expect to split with Illinois State, Loyola, Evansville, and Bradley? Indiana State returns everyone from a very solid team; Illinois State returns no one. Surely you expect to sweep Illinois State if you expect no worse than a split with Indiana State?

[Redbird23]

But saying "top half finish" is safer..... Seriously though I expect us to finish at about 4. Could be higher depending on some things going right. Our problem is we have a lot of unknowns. New players and Gulley coming back from such a severe injury. Not to mention a still unproven coach.

Haha. I know it's safer

Seriously, how many wins? If you disagreed with my statement of who you would win/lose against as to Indiana State and UNI, you're predicting no worse than 10-8. Do you actually expect to split with Illinois State, Loyola, Evansville, and Bradley? Indiana State returns everyone from a very solid team; Illinois State returns no one. Surely you expect to sweep Illinois State if you expect no worse than a split with Indiana State?

We have Zeisloft, Keane, and former walk on Stacho back. Plus forward John Jones who has been practicing with the team the past two years but will have his first chance to play this season. I don't believe we are going to have a winning record in the MVC, but I think ISU finishes in the 5,6,7 area trying to avoid Thursday...