MVC basketball previews

[Khan4Cats]

And you could just as easily argue that WSU's success coincided with the existence of its football team. When WSU and others in the conference chose not to have football or fully fund what they have (like Drake) and stay at the I-A or FBS level, is at the same time as the drop in the conference. Certainly its the reason Tulsa left the conference in the early 90's, it's clearly what is holding WSU back from being in a "greater" conference now.

Can you name a consistent top-10 or top-20 basketball program that doesn't have a football program? Even if they only play FCS, they have one.

Or you could argue that WSU achieved its great success at roughly the same time as it was earning its reputation with the NCAA.

Either way, we are all now in the same boat and bitching and whining about the past or complaining about the make-up of the conference does nothing to move the conference forward. Looking at ways in which to move forward with what is here and in the current situation of college athletics is what can move us.

[Khan4Cats]

I forgot, there is another option. That is to hold out for the collapse of the Big XII-minus 2 and return Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Iowa State to the conference.

[DoubleJayAlum]

we are all in the same boat.

Help me out here. When was it that UNI was in the number 1 ranked basketball conference in D1? WSU got a F4 and an E8 before the MVC was diluted with a bunch of D2 teams. WSU had multiple stretches of teams ranked in the top 10 in the polls.

WSU played in one of the top basketball conferences in the nation from some time in the '50's until some time in the '70's.

I shouldn't blame the teams that joined the MVC, I should blame the idiot WSU admins who elected to stay in the MVC.

I've watched the #1 and #2 teams in the polls duke it out on the court at WSU. I've watched many games where both teams were ranked in the top 10 in the polls. WSU used to get several of those home games every year.

When UNI gets a #1 or #2 national rank and gets the team that's either #1 or #2 on their home floor, then I'll gladly accept the "same boat" comment.

The argument that the addition of D2 teams to the Valley didn't hurt WSU is really weak. As long as WSU was playing top-10 teams, WSU was recruiting players at that level. When WSU started getting schedules that included transitional D2 school instead of top-20 schools, the ability to recruit was seriously compromised.

That affected the level of coaches WSU was able to hire - and there were some huge hiring errors about that time.

Long-time WSU fans have watched WSU's conference go from #1 nationally to as low as #14 nationally. But WSU fans aren't supposed to blame the conference, or any teams added to the conference for the fact that WSU basketball is only a skeleton of what it was when I became a WSU fan.

Aargh, I think you are viewing this in a vacuum. A cynic could just as easily attribute WSU's recruiting successes in its glory days to some of the recruiting shenanigans that lead to WSU being placed on probation.

Don't blame the league for WSU's fall off. WSU's falloff probably had more to do with NCAA sanctions and really poor coaching hires than anything else.

[jayball]

Are you seriously complaining that the conference has changed since the late 1960s? And that has hampered WSU's recruting?

wow.

If I were a Drake fan I would be really pissed. In 1925 they were in a conference with Iowa St, Kansas, KState, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Okie St, and Missouri.

Times change. Time to adapt to the new realities. You are in the same boat as the rest of us.

You can try to deny it, but reality is not going anywhere. 1970 is a long time ago. Vietnam is over. Most women work now. The Soviet Union no longer exists. The Middle East is still a mess, but orange isn't nearly as popular of a color anymore.

IMO, you can keep complaining about the loss of the "glory days", or you can STFU and start winning the weak arse conference you are in now on a regular basis and getting to the NCAAs.

And the answer is no, WSU fans are not supposed to blame the conference, or any teams added to the conference for the fact that WSU basketball is only a skeleton of what it was when you became a WSU fan.

UNI and Evansville didn't hire Randy Smithson and Scott Thompson.

That could be the biggest crybaby post in the history of MVC messageboards. Way to shirk all responsbiliity for the last 40 years.

[valleychamp]

we are all in the same boat.

Help me out here. When was it that UNI was in the number 1 ranked basketball conference in D1? WSU got a F4 and an E8 before the MVC was diluted with a bunch of D2 teams. WSU had multiple stretches of teams ranked in the top 10 in the polls.

WSU played in one of the top basketball conferences in the nation from some time in the '50's until some time in the '70's.

I shouldn't blame the teams that joined the MVC, I should blame the idiot WSU admins who elected to stay in the MVC.

I've watched the #1 and #2 teams in the polls duke it out on the court at WSU. I've watched many games where both teams were ranked in the top 10 in the polls. WSU used to get several of those home games every year.

When UNI gets a #1 or #2 national rank and gets the team that's either #1 or #2 on their home floor, then I'll gladly accept the "same boat" comment.

The argument that the addition of D2 teams to the Valley didn't hurt WSU is really weak. As long as WSU was playing top-10 teams, WSU was recruiting players at that level. When WSU started getting schedules that included transitional D2 school instead of top-20 schools, the ability to recruit was seriously compromised.

That affected the level of coaches WSU was able to hire - and there were some huge hiring errors about that time.

Long-time WSU fans have watched WSU's conference go from #1 nationally to as low as #14 nationally. But WSU fans aren't supposed to blame the conference, or any teams added to the conference for the fact that WSU basketball is only a skeleton of what it was when I became a WSU fan.

First of all, you completely missed my point about being "in the same boat". I was referencing your little story about how KU tries to hold WSU down. We ALL have to deal with that in our own states. Quit acting like WSU is more disadvantaged than the rest of us.

Also, as I pointed out the D2's didn't come to the Valley until the 90's. The schools you referenced were replaced by NMSU, Ill St, SIU, and Indy St.

NMSU was arguably one of the best basketball programs in the country when they came to the MVC, coming of numerous NCAA tournaments and deep runs in the tournament.

Ill St came in off of the heels of several NIT appearances. This was a program that produced the #1 pick in the NBA draft before they were even in the MVC. Once in the league, they immediately made several NCAA appearances.

SIU, also came in off of an NIT championship, and upon entrance into the conference they almost immediately made a sweet 16 run.

Indy State made it to the national championship game in their first few years in the MVC.


Your argument that the "D2's brought us down" absolutely holds no water whatsoever.