MISSOURI VALLEY MOUNTAIN WEST CHALLENGE

[Kyle@MOState]

How do you like your team's matchup? Predictions of results?

I am not really thrilled about Missouri State going to Air Force again. We were just there year before last. Lusk came up short in a disappointing performance on a very winnable game, par for the course I guess. Hopefully Coach Dana Ford will bring home a W for the conference this year.

Nevada at Loyola- Loyola- The first and marquis game. It could go either way, but Loyola has the talent.
Boise State at Drake- Boise State beats a rebuilding Drake team
Southern Illinois at Colorado State- SIU gets revenge against Niko for leaving the conference.
Valpo at UNLV- UNLV, I don't really know here.
UNI at Utah State- UNI picks up a non-conference win, because that's what they do.
Indiana State at San Jose State- ISUb, San Jose State has been terrible. The Trees take another road win.
Missouri State at Air Force- MSU- Homer pick, I have faith in CDF.
Wyoming at Evansville- Wyoming defeats a rebuilding Evansville
New Mexico at Bradley- Gonna give Bradley the home court win
San Diego State at Illinois State- Same here.

I have it a 7-3 Valley tilt. I know most of these games can go either way. Should be fun to watch.

[underdawg]

Whoever picks these things should have switched us and let Valpo play Col. State and us UNLV--no offense to Valpo fans

[Kyle@MOState]

Whoever picks these things should have switched us and let Valpo play Col. State and us UNLV--no offense to Valpo fans

I agree, but with home and away alternating year to year, I guess this is the best competitive balance they could come up with. Seems like a couple games are going to be one sided. You never know how things will shake out once the season starts though.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Broncos > Bulldogs
Salukis > Rams
Runnin’ Rebels > Crusaders
Panthers > Aggies
Sycamores > Spartans
Falcons > Bears
Cowboys > Aces
Braves > Lobos
Redbirds > Aztecs

5-4 MVC with the Wolfpack/Ramblers opener deciding the winner. Loyola really needs to upgrade their bench to beat Nevada imo. Skokno as 6th man won’t cut it.

[BCPanther]

The 4 best Mountain West teams (Nevada, Boise, San Diego St, New Mexico) are road teams. This thing is so out of balance. Needs to be reshuffled if they renew the contract.

That said--
Pack > Ramblers
Broncos > Bulldogs
Salukis > Rams
Runnin’ Rebels > Crusaders
Panthers > Aggies
Sycamores > Spartans
Falcons > Bears
Cowboys > Aces
Lobos > Braves
Redbirds > Aztecs

6-4 Mountain West

[underdawg]

Whoever picks these things should have switched us and let Valpo play Col. State and us UNLV--no offense to Valpo fans

I agree, but with home and away alternating year to year, I guess this is the best competitive balance they could come up with. Seems like a couple games are going to be one sided. You never know how things will shake out once the season starts though.

You're right we could disappoint and CSU could have a good team--they've not been too bad the last decade really--also Coach Medved (Last year's Drake Coach) will have us game planned that's for sure

[VUGrad1314]

Those of you all set to hand Wyoming a road win over Evansville need to pump the brakes. They're at the start of a rebuild just like the Aces and are only returning one player who averaged more than 5PPG. Evansville has a great chance to win that game especially at home.

As for whether it's better for SIU to play UNLV or Colorado State, a quick glance at last year's metrics supports the claim that they screwed up; but a deeper dive into the present state of both teams shows that they probably made the right call.(of course the announcement of the games came before news that UNLV had landed a prized recruit that was also considering Gonzaga and St John's).

Yes, Colorado State experienced a lot of turmoil last yearlosing their coach and subsequently their leading scorer who transferred to Iowa State but they recovered about as well as you could with Medved who managed not only to keep the majority of the CSU players threatening to transfer in Fort Collins (including the MWC's leading rebounder and another player who some observers think could be a major breakout candidate) but also brought at least one of his old commits at Drake with him. Despite all the adversity they faced and the losses they suffered Colorado State should be in line for a solid season and is definitely on the way up. Factor in Medved's familiarity with the MVC and this is a solid matchup for what SIU is expected to be this year.

In contrast UNLV has lost 3 of their top 4 scorers. They return 3 more who averaged at least 5PPG but only one of the four players left that fit into these categories averaged more than 8PPG. They do have the makings of a solid recruiting class. The cupboard isn't entirely bare but the Runnin Rebels make a much better matchup for Valpo, a team still a bit on the young side and still transitioning to\finding its way in the MVC. That said I do think you'll be impressed by the growth Valpo shows this year.

[underdawg]

Nice analysis---you may be right--too bad there will be a ton of fans still PO'ed about Hinson, blaming him for wanting what appears to be a poorer quality team in these match-ups Opps it's already happened

[sixth ace]

Loyola >Nevada
Boise State>>Drake
SIU>Csu
UNLV>Valpo
InSU>SJS
MSU>AFA
UE>Wyoming
BU >NM
IlSU>SDS

[VUGrad1314]

Justin James (Wyoming) 18.9PPG Jaylen McDaniels (San Diego State) and everyone from Nevada (Jordan Caroline Martin twins) will be returning to school which is bad news for the MVC.