MVC Week 5 Discussion Thread

[jackwagon]

Just reinforces that college basketball is really all about the coach [ and his staff]. Look at the most recent returns and how quick the results have been made clear; Evansville definitely made the wrong hire, MSU looks like they did too, Drake looks pretty good long term and SIU won the lottery. The fortunes of those 4 teams are fixed for at least 2-4 years. Results may vary but the atmosphere around their programs and the chances for success seem pretty clear. The only reason I limit the years influence is we all know how quick coaching changes can happen. You want to believe that Mullins and DeVries look like guys that might hang around even with success, but ya never know.

You go back 2 months and Evansville fans thought they had won the lottery and this time last year bears fans were singing the praises of what ford was doing. I'd be careful saying Mullins is the next big thing just yet.

[Saluki 4 Life]

Just reinforces that college basketball is really all about the coach [ and his staff]. Look at the most recent returns and how quick the results have been made clear; Evansville definitely made the wrong hire, MSU looks like they did too, Drake looks pretty good long term and SIU won the lottery. The fortunes of those 4 teams are fixed for at least 2-4 years. Results may vary but the atmosphere around their programs and the chances for success seem pretty clear. The only reason I limit the years influence is we all know how quick coaching changes can happen. You want to believe that Mullins and DeVries look like guys that might hang around even with success, but ya never know.

You go back 2 months and Evansville fans thought they had won the lottery and this time last year bears fans were singing the praises of what ford was doing. I'd be careful saying Mullins is the next big thing just yet.

The difference is that Mullins and DeVries seemed to have instilled a culture of work and success very early on... Dana looks like a complete fraud in my opinion. DeVries and Mullins do not.

[BEARZ77]

A little strong on Ford there; he's not the one who jumped up and said we were the favorite, in fact he said we shouldn't be. So I don't think he's frauded anybody, he's just not been able to get it done yet and may not.
As far as how I evaluate DeVries and Mullins, it's not so much wins and losses, but how quickly they established their cultures and the way they want their guys to play. That's been Fords biggest problem; maybe he learned some lessons about fit over flash or maybe he won't get it done even with some roster churn, but I guess we'll find out.

[NuncEstBibendum]

A little strong on Ford there; he's not the one who jumped up and said we were the favorite, in fact he said we shouldn't be. So I don't think he's frauded anybody, he's just not been able to get it done yet and may not.
As far as how I evaluate DeVries and Mullins, it's not so much wins and losses, but how quickly they established their cultures and the way they want their guys to play. That's been Fords biggest problem; maybe he learned some lessons about fit over flash or maybe he won't get it done even with some roster churn, but I guess we'll find out.

Regardless, I am pretty sure Mullins is the real deal. Where he can take a cash strapped program in a school like SIU will be a supreme challenge.

[SalukiWorld]

Predict the next Saluki loss... It's pretty hard to do... The run they're on has been amazing... There's a pretty compelling argument that they can and will keep this train rolling all the way to the McLeod Center against UNI. The only reason I give Valpo any chance at all is because we're at home. It could be us but I don't know. Our next three games are brutal and don't leave much margin for error down the stretch if we want to avoid Thursday unless we get some surprise results.

Evansville scares the crap out of me, almost picked them in pick'em. I know they're gonna get someone at some point.

[VUGrad1314]

I know what you mean about Evansville. They're far too good to go winless. Both of our games against them were absolute grinds and had moments where I thought we would lose.They're going to win a couple of games that make you really scratch your head because it's the Valley.

[uniguy]

Well if you aren’t ready to call SIU a contender yet you haven’t been paying attention.

[VUGrad1314]

Does everybody else feel better about their teams' losses to the Salukis? Because I sure do. I'm really not even sure we're going to beat them at home. This upcoming stretch is brutal for us. Yes it's two home games but it's against the Valley's two best teams and its hottest team. Tough sledding. Hard not for forecast three straight Ls which really puts pressure on us when it comes to avoiding Thursday. We'll basically have zero margin for error the rest of the way if we want to succeed.

[Saluki44]

A little strong on Ford there; he's not the one who jumped up and said we were the favorite, in fact he said we shouldn't be. So I don't think he's frauded anybody, he's just not been able to get it done yet and may not.
As far as how I evaluate DeVries and Mullins, it's not so much wins and losses, but how quickly they established their cultures and the way they want their guys to play. That's been Fords biggest problem; maybe he learned some lessons about fit over flash or maybe he won't get it done even with some roster churn, but I guess we'll find out.

Regardless, I am pretty sure Mullins is the real deal. Where he can take a cash strapped program in a school like SIU will be a supreme challenge.

Fortunately, despite them being cash-strapped at the moment, that program has some of the best facilities, and arguably the best tradition, of any program in the conference, making Mullins' job not so challenging.