Best MVC basketball team in the last 10 years was.....

[DoubleJayAlum]

I think Mullins was one of the best true PG in this league in the last decade or so. The only other person that I think compares is Ryan Sears. Everyone else pales significantly. To compare Mullins to Moran is completely off base as Moran is not near the player that Mullins was.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Another way to look at it would be to say how many members of each school's team would make an all-MVC team for the decade. I think the SIU team has a solid three players that would be in the discussion whereas every other team would have a hard time boasting more than two. As I said earlier, I tip the scales to SIU because I really believe they had one of the best, if not the best, defense in the entire country.

Just as you say you shouldn't look at seed lines as a determining factor, I don't think it's fair to look at players who made all-Valley lists. A lot of the times, the best *teams* had talent evenly distributed throughout and thus a lot of players' roles were important that just simply putting the ball through the hoop. There were plenty of players up for an All-decade team that had teams that didn't sniff an exit out of the play-in rounds. Sure there were some really good players on some really good teams, but using a subjective list to help decide the stature of certain teams is a bit over the top. Otherwise, you'd have Kyle Korver's Creighton team surging all the way to the top because he has clearly been the best player the league has seen, but that doesn't demonstrate the true merit of the team.

I think you make a pretty fair point Baller. Just because a team has great players, it doesn't mean that they are a great team. However, when the team also has a ton of great players, I think it is reasonable to take into account. The fact is that SIU 2007 had great players AND was a great team.

UNI 2010 was a great team, but lacked great players. I would rank them number one if the category was, "Which team got the most out of its talent" as I don't think that UNI had as much talent. I suppose that is a testament to its great chemistry and coaching, but that wasn't the question in this thread.

I've never despised a team they way I despised SIU 2007. Fortunately or unfortunately, my feelings were ultimate;y driven by the fact that I really respected their toughness and skill. When watching SIU 2007, the games were ugly as hell, but you got the feeling that if SIU took a lead, the game was most likely over.

[FreddyMac]

I'd say the '07 SIU team was the best of the decade and if I were drafting a team of guys from the past decade I think I'd take Tatum first. They nearly beat KU to go to the Elite Eight and frankly got completely screwed on the calls and I rarely comment on refs. However, they were big and fairly obvious calls that were completely missed. The first was an airball as the shot clock expired that a KU guy grabbed and dunked clearly after the buzzer went off but KU got the bucket. The other one Tatum got fouled and put up a shot. The KU guy grabbed the net which shook the hoop as the ball was on the rim. It clearly should have been a goal tend but it wasn't called and thus Tatum only shot two free throws.

UNI of a couple of years ago was awfully good and frankly after they beat KU they could have pulled a Butler or VCU and made it all the way to the Final Four and I wouldn't have been shocked.

WSU could be considered but I think they are just a notch below the other two. I probably discount them a bit because CU ALWAYS gets swept by the conference champ and that was a year that we actually didn't so from a CU fan perspective that hurts that team.

The CU team had great talent, probably as much as any other on this list, but there's no comparison between them and the other teams. Their actual accomplishments fall far, FAR below that of the other teams so they simply can't be considered.

[2livewu]

UNI gets too much credit for beating KU in the tournament.

Please don't misunderstand me, they outplayed KU and were the better team that day, and no doubt it was the single biggest win of the decade for the conference. And that team was a GREAT team, but they were really on a roll at the end of the year with some unbelievable bench play and team chemistry, especially the last 9 games or so starting with the CU game. But that team played a very, very soft non-con with by far their best win in the BB against ODU (and that was a very quality win).

The '07 SIU team beat a very solid Virginia Tech twice and their BB win at Butler certainly overshadows the ODU win for UNI. Yes they lost to KU, but to me, they went toe to toe with KU athletically more than the '10 Panthers. UNI gets credit for winning the game for sure, but I give the entire season edge to SIU.

That leaves the '02 Dawgs. Personally, I think the that team was the toughest, but the entire package goes to the '07 team, by a hair.

The '04 SIU team suffer a lot from the same thing the '06 WSU team suffered from...no really good wins (OOC). CU's '03 team had a super record but lost to a very average CMU team in the first round of the NCAAs. I believe the '04 SIU team was great...I wish they had played some better teams and beaten that Alabama team in the NCAAs (they were so much better than the Tide). The '06 WSU team played a far more challenging schedule. IF (big IF) that WSU could have pulled off 1 (certainly 2 would have done it) of those wins, they would be in the discussion for the top spot. But they didn't, and so it goes to SIU. I was tempted, even admitting my bias, to put the '06 WSU team higher because I don't think you can over-estimate how good the top of the Valley was that season. UNI, SIU, BU and CU, in addition to the Shocks all had really, really good, talented and well coached teams. Winning the league that season has to count for something. All 7 teams listed below are close and have wins on which to hang their hats as well as shortcomings.

1. 2007 SIU
2. 2002 SIU
3. 2010 UNI
4. 2004 SIU
5. 2006 WSU
6. 2003 CU
7. 2008 DU

[LMS]

CU had a great team with a super record that played almost nobody and beat less.

Wrong wrong wrong. The 02-03 Jays beat Notre Dame who made the sweet sixteen and the Irish were ranked #5 in the nation just weeks after losing to CU. That team also beat BYU and Nebraska and lost at #19 Xavier with David West 75-73 in the greatest game no one saw.

CU went 29-5 and was ranked in the top 20 pretty much all year. How they lost to Central Michigan still confounds me.

[2livewu]

CU had a great team with a super record that played almost nobody and beat less.

Wrong wrong wrong. The 02-03 Jays beat Notre Dame who made the sweet sixteen and the Irish were ranked #5 in the nation just weeks after losing to CU. That team also beat BYU and Nebraska and lost at #19 Xavier with David West 75-73 in the greatest game no one saw.

CU went 29-5 and was ranked in the top 20 pretty much all year. How they lost to Central Michigan still confounds me.

Thanks for pointing that out. I stand corrected and will adjust my post. I must have incorrectly lined up a different season for CU's opponents that season because I certainly blew it on how good ND and BYU were. I don't think you should tout the Nebraska win though at 11-19 (unless I am still screwed up).

[bigdawg]

Just out of curiosity, for the older posters, has there been a run like what SIU put together from '02 to '07?

It's amazing that a team widely regarded as the league's best (07 SIU) over the last decade could fall so far so fast that most fans expect them to finish last just a couple years later. What the hell happened?

[DoubleJayAlum]

Just out of curiosity, for the older posters, has there been a run like what SIU put together from '02 to '07?

It's amazing that a team widely regarded as the league's best (07 SIU) over the last decade could fall so far so fast that most fans expect them to finish last just a couple years later. What the hell happened?

I think the same disease hit SIU and Creighton at the same time. Because of their success, they started going after higher rated recruits who simply didn't have the same work ethic and were much more high maintenance on and off the court. These four star recruits also had a bit of an entitlement chip on their shoulder which just became bigger because they may have felt like they settled for a mid major. The respective coaches didn't know how to deal with this type of player and everything collapsed.

[achrist70]

I know that this is a homer pick but I have to go with UNI '10. When you look at the title of the thread it is best team in the last ten years. If it was what team had the best players or most talent then it wouldn't be this team but just there hard work and balance gives them the nod in my opinion. Looking at this team it had 10 players who could have been the leading scorer on the team any given night. I really don't think there was another team in the last 10 years that at times got better when the next 5 were on the floor. The other factor that really set them apart in my opinion was the fact that they were so much better defensively than any other team, there were many nights when they didn't shoot well and were still able to pull out a victory. I know there were quite a few good teams from Creighton and SIU but from what I remember from those teams they just aren't quite at the level of the '10 Panthers.