Expectations

[sixth ace]

Do I detect just the tiniest bit of sarcasm in your recent posts?

Not at all. The Valley is by FAR the most under-rated conference top to bottom, nobody wants to play any of our teams on their home courts, and after the building process of the last couple of years where only UNI manned up and held up their end of the bargain, all the teams seemed loaded for bear and poised for greatness!!!! Sure Drake may a tad young and Evansville a tad under-manned, but they make up for it with great coaching, heart the size of lions and fierce and loyal fan base that takes a back seat to NOBODY!!!!

The Valley will be heard from this year folks! The VALLEY OF DEATH is BACK!!!!!!!

[valleychamp]

Wichita is good this year. I only expect the shocker fans to get crazier and crazier. This is only the beginning.

[Shockerfan13]

I expect the Shox to make the NCAA tourney. If Marshall can't do it with this squad (assuming everyone stays fairly healthy) then it may never happen. By far too much talent and experience not to make a run at the tourney.

[Aargh]

Well, I'll risk laughter, derision, and countless accusations of drinking too much Kool-Aid.

WSU goes 16-2 in league play, sweeping both CU and MSU.

Before people wonder how I can dare make such a prediction, scheduling favors WSU on those courts. WSU gets CU in Omaha fairly early in the conference season (Jan 12 - 6th Valley game). I'd prefer it in December. Got to get to CU before they figure out how the lineup works with Echinique playing.

WSU gets MSU in Springfield on their Sr. Night. That's normally a tough game, but if MSU is going to have a weakness this season, it will be fatigue by the end of the season. WSU seems likely to have fairly fresh legs late in the season.

1st or 2nd in StL and at least one win in the NCAA's.

That's it. Nothing outlandish or unrealistic

P.S. - no, you do not notice a touch of sarcasm in DrWu's posts. That's definitely not a touch of sarcasm.

[WSUbballer]

Wichita is good this year. I only expect the shocker fans to get crazier and crazier. This is only the beginning.

Kinda like a few UNI fans from last year?

[WSUbballer]

Interesting results so far. I hope at least one fan from every team can make some kinda gauge on what they expect from their team(s).

WuDrWu, does have a point though. It seems like a lot of teams aren't short of optimism this year, which could mean one of two things: the Valley is gonna be good, like 2006 x 2 good, or quite a few people will be severely disappointed.

Remember, not everybody is gonna start St. Louis on Friday.

[unipanther99]

Kinda like a few UNI fans from last year?

Sadly with Valleytalk dying we were denied our chance to rub it in to the non-believers... Maybe that explains some of the exuberance of Panther fans.

Seriously though, WSU fans have every reason to be excited about the upcoming season. Any team that has fans that are as passionate and consistently support their team like Shocker fans do deserve to have a championship caliber product on the floor/field at least every few years.

[Little Eddie]

Do I detect just the tiniest bit of sarcasm in your recent posts?

Not at all. The Valley is by FAR the most under-rated conference top to bottom, nobody wants to play any of our teams on their home courts, and after the building process of the last couple of years where only UNI manned up and held up their end of the bargain, all the teams seemed loaded for bear and poised for greatness!!!! Sure Drake may a tad young and Evansville a tad under-manned, but they make up for it with great coaching, heart the size of lions and fierce and loyal fan base that takes a back seat to NOBODY!!!!

The Valley will be heard from this year folks! The VALLEY OF DEATH is BACK!!!!!!!

Someone want to check on wudr to see if he hit his head? I'm a little worried...

[jayball]

I think DrWu has turned over a new leaf. He has given up on his dreams of WSU playing in the Big XII and is now focused on making the Valley the premier nonBCS league in the country. I heard he is sending money to the ADs at all schools in the league. He has purchased hats, sweatshirts, and pompoms for every school. He has subscribed to the webcast feeds for every MVC member. He has even started renting a place in St Louis so he can help Doug Elgin out with whatever he needs.

He is now MVCDRMVC.

[cu8493]

Don't know what to expect from CU. We still have most of the same group who could not (would not) rebound last year, and had trouble stopping drives to the bucket. I'm not sure that can be corrected in the course of one season. Can the juniors from last year who did not display much vocal leadership or demand accountability and who allowed two goofballs in Cavel and P'Allen to destroy any semblance of team chemistry be expected to suddenly change their personalities and become the type of senior leaders a successful team needs to win? Can several players adjust to new roles? Young appears to have the talent, but does he have the personality to put the team on his shoulders and take over a tough game like Nate Funk? Will Echinque live up to the hype? Is Doug McDermott the real thing - or did he just look really good against a DII defense? Will Korver find his shooting stroke or take up space? Will Wragge figure out how to play without fouling for more than 90 second stretches?

My best guess is CU drops several non-conference games, including the one in Lincoln - where they have rarely played good basketball - one to Iowa State and probably to BYU. Might even drop another one in there that no one expects to lose. I also guess they will lose a few early conference games and make the turn somewhere around 5th to 7th place. However, I expect (hope for) a late improvement to push them back into the 3rd to 4th place finish and reach the finals in St. Louis.