Contenders and Pretenders

by **achrist70** » January 6th, 2014, 6:44 pm

I think we know that Wichita and Indiana St. are contenders but after that who do you see as being the quality teams in the league?

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by **AndShock** » January 6th, 2014, 7:13 pm

Everyone at home. No one on the road.

by **Wufan** » January 6th, 2014, 7:47 pm

AndShock wrote:Everyone at home. No one on the road.

Good answer. So far the home teams are 8-2. Indiana State has a road win at Evansville and WSU has a road win at SIU.

Drake, MSU, Evansville, Illinois State, Loyola are building towards next year.

by **2livewu** » January 7th, 2014, 6:17 am

A team other than WSU or Indiana State winning (or frankly being within 2 games of the winner) would stun me. I don't see another team being consistent enough to challenge.

UNI is a little better than I thought they would be, mostly due to Mitchell. He's a little more in control and a little better athlete than I remember and they are better defensively than I expected. I don't think BU or DU are as bad as their bad games in the Valley. I expect DU to finish at .500 or better. BU has different issues and I don't think they are as likely to fix those mistakes. Just my opinion.

Illinois State, Loyola and Missouri State appear to wild cards at the moment. But still, a reasonable person can't look at the 8 non Shocker or Tree teams and see anyone winning very many road games.

by **jackwagon** » January 7th, 2014, 8:41 am

Why it assumed isub is a contender after beating 2 sub par valley teams? If they win at drake tomorrow they would deserve to be in a separate class from all of the other 8 teams.

by **Mike** » January 7th, 2014, 8:48 am

Realistically, there is really only one contender (WSU) and 9 pretenders.

by **PantherSigEp** » January 7th, 2014, 9:19 am

jackwagon wrote:Why it assumed isub is a contender after beating 2 sub par valley teams? If they win at drake tomorrow they would deserve to be in a separate class from all of the other 8 teams.

Yeah I'm sorry but their SOS is sub-200 by a lot of different measures whether you look at their overall rank or just non-conference rank. That loss to Tulsa straight up reeks and is Belmont the team that can beat UNC and compete with Kentucky or the one that lost by double digits to teams like South Dakota State and Denver (by 30 pts)? Although I'm not sure how the rematch win by the trees will affect the committees view of things, that could be seen as a bad loss unless Belmont can win the OVC again and in convincing fashion.

I don't see how we can assume they are a contender when they've beaten no one and do have some head scratching performances for a team with that talent and leadership. I'll be interested in seeing how easily they handle Drake, Bradley and Mo St before I start believing they are in a 2nd tier in the Valley all by themselves and not just another name in the hat for 2nd and beyond

by **tribecalledquest** » January 7th, 2014, 11:27 am

Mike wrote:Realistically, there is really only one contender (WSU) and 9 pretenders.

Correct.

by **jturner38** » January 7th, 2014, 11:40 am

PantherSigEp wrote:
jackwagon wrote:Why it assumed isub is a contender after beating 2 sub par valley teams? If they win at drake tomorrow they would deserve to be in a separate class from all of the other 8 teams.

Yeah I'm sorry but their SOS is sub-200 by a lot of different measures whether you look at their overall rank or just non-conference rank. That loss to Tulsa straight up reeks and is Belmont the team that can beat UNC and compete with Kentucky or the one that lost by double digits to teams like South Dakota State and Denver (by 30 pts)? Although I'm not sure how the rematch win by the trees will affect the committees view of things, that could be seen as a bad loss unless Belmont can win the OVC again and in convincing fashion.

I don't see how we can assume they are a contender when they've beaten no one and do have some head scratching performances for a team with that talent and leadership. I'll be interested in seeing how easily they handle Drake, Bradley and Mo St before I start believing they are in a 2nd tier in the Valley all by themselves and not just another name in the hat for 2nd and beyond

While I agree that we havent played a great non conference. To say we havent beaten anyone is not true. Notre Dame which was when they had everybody at the time and was ranked. (Regardless how you feel about Notre Dame) (Tulsa lost in Alaska was unacceptable) Belmont is a good team and they were without their second leading scorer in the Denver and South Dakoa st game. For now I dont think anybody not even us is judging the Sycamores just yet. Drake game will tell us alot bc Sycamores almost never play good there. And to be honest, dont see anybody else better than Indiana state for the 2nd spot as of currently.

by **FearDaTrees** » January 7th, 2014, 12:04 pm

The Sycamores are the 2nd best team in the Valley. Period. Yes, they have had a bad loss in Alaska but we're not comparing them to Wichita St. The body of work last year is enough to say they are the 2nd best team. I think WSU loses 1 conf. game and ISU loses 4. Nobody else gets 10 wins. Book it.