Saluki 4 Life wrote:UNI/SIU
Loyola/Bradley
That sounds like more fun to me.
Also, Valpo isn’t make the semis, I’d bet a lot on that.
8/9 ILL ST over Valpo
7/10 Drake over Evansville
8/1 UNI over ILL ST
4/5 SIU over IN ST
2/7 Loyola over Drake
3/6 Bradley over Missouri State
As strange as this sounds, and UNI fans, chime in, of the Thursday teams, is Illinois State the one you don't want to see? The Birds won the conference opener and then played UNI really tough in Cedar Falls. Seems like it is just a tough match up for UNI.
I equate it to the rec sand volleyball league I play in. There are some really good teams in the league that call plays, bump, set, spike and know the intricacies of volleyball. Then you have my team, put together with a group of athletes from other sports never really played VB outside of high school PE, whose goal is to just get the damn ball over the net. Other teams have told us that "style" of play we use is tough to defend because they are used to other teams doing the passing and setting each other up. We've made the final 4 of 16 teams the last 4 seasons.
In this scenario, UNI is the "really good team" and the Redbirds are my team of misfits whose play will just make you scratch your head then you look at the score board and the game is waaaaay closer than it should be.
Don't get me wrong, I would still 100% expect UNI to win that game on Friday at noon, but as a Redbird fan looking for a glimmer of hope to latch on to, this is all I have right now.