Selection Sunday

[MissouriValleyUnite]

BracketMatrix has Drake in on 130 of 135 brackets (96.3%)

[VUGrad1314]

Watch that number plummet tomorrow when Georgetown and Oregon State's theivery is factored in... Drake's getting left out and we're a one bid league... I can feel it... We're the hardest one bid league in the nation... I wish there was some way we could get stronger but until programs like Belmont decide they want in or the presidents of the MVC decide to commit to scheduling better again and mids decide to collude together in the same way the power conferences have it's not going to happen...

[Rambler63]

I wish there was some way we could get stronger but until programs like Belmont decide they want in or the presidents of the MVC decide to commit to scheduling better again and mids.

I've mostly ignored you up until now, but now you're just spitting out lunatic phrases completely unrelated to any part of reality.

No MVC president schedules basketball games.

Belmont is a good team in a crappy league that has no record of success beyond reaching the tournament as the only choice in a weak league. They spend 30% less on their basketball program than the cheaper MVC teams, but that's only because they get so buch money for being the NCAA Tournament team in a lousy league every year.
There is no guarantee they'll win playing against better competition day in and day out. If that were the case, MSU and Valpo would be the best teams in the conference and Loyola would be the worst. And without the money from being the best in a lousy league, they're spending half of what the cheapest MVC team spends.

You've never looked at a budget as an administrator, have you? You've just shot your mouth off about how things should work in your fantasy world. You've just imagined that the hard work that it takes to get things done has happened because you thought that was automatically going to happen. You've assumed that because technology exists, it worked exactly the way it should and did everything that was promised.

I feel like taking a shower after engaging your idiocy. There is nothing in your comments that are useful or insightful.

[VUGrad1314]

I deserved that response. My post (and many of my posts on this board and my home board) are wholly irrational and lacking in substance. The reason I talked about Presidents is that I remember the scheduling mandate the MVC used to have and I heard the reason it doesn't exist is because the presidents at the time didn't want to do it anymore. Mostly that comment is directed at Valpo's administration whose commitment to athletics is routinely questioned on our board. I feel we need the mandate back if we're going to compete for at large bids on any consistent basis. I will not spare Valpo from this criticism. I have repeatedly felt (even under the Drews) that our schedules simply haven't been up to par (a sentiment shared by many on our board). I want to see us schedule like UNI does most years. They challenge themselves and aren't afraid to play tough teams for the most part. It's no secret that Valpo has been part of the problem since they've joined and have contributed nothing to this conference of any note and that pains me greatly as a fan. I respect Loyola deeply. They got here and they committed and look at the results. Your team is a finely oiled machine who might end up passing all of us by in short order. I look upon Loyola with envy and I will readily admit that.

But I also believe that about half of the MVC (and Valpo is foremost among this group) maybe isn't trying as hard as they could or should be in order to make the conference better. All I want is to believe that being in a multibid league is still possible. I believe it is but the want to has to be there. I haven't looked at things as an administrator no but I just can't believe that every school in the MVC (including and even especially Valpo) is fully pulling their weight to make this league the best that it could be. And if that's the case, I wish we could find programs who can help us get to that goal. Multiple bids and the knowledge that our entire season's work doesn't come down to 3 games in March should be everyone's goal otherwise what's the point of being a fan?

I get it, okay? I invest too much emotional energy into basketball and that probably says a lot about me that I devote so much energy to A GAME that I didn't even really play growing up I just watched. I have been cautioned both on and off this board about this but I don't know how to stop. I'm just tired of seeing a great conference like this with its rich history and tradition and track record of success get sand kicked into its face repeatedly by national pundits the selection committee and P5 conference fans. I think that maybe just maybe if we could have another stretch like 06 and 07 the years that made me fall in love with this conference, it could finally get the respect it so richly deserves.

As I've said, I'm really passionate and it often goes unchecked and can appear a bit unstable but I care and I just don't know if some of these institutions (especially my own alma mater) do as well and that concerns me greatly. I wanted Valpo to be a credit to this conference and we haven't been at all. And as a fan of both the school and this conference this distresses me greatly. I'm just angry. I'm angry at how hard the system is on mids. I'm angry at my school for sucking and embarrassing the conference and not improving fast enough to be the program the MVC needs it to be. I'm angry at how much disrespect very strong upper tier mid major leagues like ours receive on the national stage and I just wish there was a way to make them listen to us and make them acknowledge us.

I'll readily admit that I don't have any real answers and the best I can do is post even though there's no substance behind it and none of my suggestions are likely even actionable. I have been criticized here and on my home board for the same things and I do not run from your criticism. Every single one of you is right. I'm just some dumba____fan. Yes I am ranting. Yes the emotion comes out and kicks in before the logical side of myself. Yes a good number of my posts aren't substantial and can even perhaps come off as unhinged. But it's all from a place of deep love for the MVC and mid major basketball iin gneral. I just wish these leagues could get a fair shake like they used to get to at least some small degree.

You don't have to engage with me if you don't want to and I understand if you don't because sometimes when I'm feeling upset or like the situation is hopeless my emotions get the better of me and there isn't a lot of substance in my ravings but I care so much about the success of this league (maybe too much) because this has been my favorite conference since I was in middle school and I want to see it prosper. To me a sure sign of that prosperity would be becoming a 2-3 bid league again.

As for Belmont, I single them out because they are probably the best program we could realistically hope to add if we expand outside of Murray State whose budget I don't think is that much either so there's no guarantee of success there as I surely know as a Valpo fan with the lack of success we have enjoyed as an MVC member. I thought Belmont would have like the second or third highest budget in the MVC (at least that was true the last time I looked at the numbers which was about 2-3 years ago Maybe that's changed. I didn't know that perhaps that is no longer true.

I would definitely do well to post less and research more. I really do try to be a reasonable levelheaded knowledgeable rational fan but at times like these when I feel like Drake (who I think richly deserves a bid for how they weathered their injury storm) is going to get snubbed the same way it was rumored Loyola would have been in 17-18 had they not won Arch Madness and UNI almost certainly would have been last year that emotion stirs in me and I post many times before I think. This is a problem for me and I am trying to correct it which is why I have sometimes gone awhile without posting but I couldn't contain it today because I felt like Georgetown and Oregon State had given the committee every excuse to do what it loves to do anyway and leave teams like Drake out of the field. All that sadness about past snubs (including my own school in 15-16 which I'm still not over) came rushing back and I engaged in posting before I even thought about what I was saying.

I'm sorry I upset you or anyone else who read this and thought "What an idiot." I totally own that. I am. Sometimes (most times perhaps) I am not a very good poster. I want to be; and sometimes maybe I can be, but not when my illogical side has a hold of me like it did tonight. It all comes down to my belief that there is no reason why the MVC shouldn't be at least a two bid league and that there's no way that like the 7th best team in a P5 conference is really any better than the 2nd best team in a league like the MVC. I just wish this system was fair because that's what these kids deserve: A fair shot. They very rarely get it and that makes me sad.

[jsaluki080]

Keep posting VUGrad. I enjoy reading emotionally passionate pep rally posts. They can be more interesting than dull logical post at times.

[Old School MVC]

Lunardi has Drake in and Witchita St. out as of Sunday Morning. I would find it very funny if that happens since the Shockers left us to go to a league with a better chance of making the dance.....win the regular season, then miss the tourney and a second place team from the MVC makes it. I still doubt it will happen, but a man can dream!

[glm38]

I wish there was some way we could get stronger but until programs like Belmont decide they want in or the presidents of the MVC decide to commit to scheduling better again and mids.

I've mostly ignored you up until now, but now you're just spitting out lunatic phrases completely unrelated to any part of reality.

No MVC president schedules basketball games.

Belmont is a good team in a crappy league that has no record of success beyond reaching the tournament as the only choice in a weak league. They spend 30% less on their basketball program than the cheaper MVC teams, but that's only because they get so buch money for being the NCAA Tournament team in a lousy league every year.
There is no guarantee they'll win playing against better competition day in and day out. If that were the case, MSU and Valpo would be the best teams in the conference and Loyola would be the worst. And without the money from being the best in a lousy league, they're spending half of what the cheapest MVC team spends.

You've never looked at a budget as an administrator, have you? You've just shot your mouth off about how things should work in your fantasy world. You've just imagined that the hard work that it takes to get things done has happened because you thought that was automatically going to happen. You've assumed that because technology exists, it worked exactly the way it should and did everything that was promised.

I feel like taking a shower after engaging your idiocy. There is nothing in your comments that are useful or insightful.

Geez calm down. You make good points but there's absolutely ZERO reason to turn your counter points into that kind of personal attack.

[MVCfans]

I have a hard time seeing Drake left out. I think it's very reasonable that they will be playing a First Four game, but that just means an additional winnable game and an extra NCAA unit for the league if they advance.

[municup14]

As a die hard Aces fan and as much as I dislike some of the Valley teams.I will always cheer on and hope the Valley gets more than 1 team into the tournament. Make some noise LOYOLA and I'm pulling for Drake to get an at large bid and make some noise also.

[usmcsaluki]

I expect to see Drake dancing today; they're still listed in Lunardi's bracket after the upsets yesterday.