Blue Ribbon Picks Drake To Win

[jturner38]

Not really feeling these picks. I'm thinking more:

Drake
Missouri State
Northern Iowa
Bradley
Murray
Southern Illinois
Belmont
Illinois State
Valparaiso
UIC
Indiana State
Evansville

Let's face it, Drake is consensus #1 and Evansville unanimous bottom-feeder. I think the Blue Ribbon predictions give Belmont a tad too much credit. Valley travel is gonna be a different animal.

I think Dana has some things clicking in the Ozarks.

Southern underwhelms me.

Murray will turn heads.

I wish my man Yak the best as the Flames transition. He will get them higher eventually.

Valpo and Evansville are a waste of time.

ISU will have our growing pains, but if Pedon is all he's cracked up to be, we should be a pain in the rear when it comes to St. Louis time with the scrappy lads he's accumulated.

I’m willing to bet INSU doesn’t finish at the bottom.

[BUFanatic]

Mullins may well be ready with his team this year; one of the interesting questions for the upcoming season. As is the question for Prohm recapturing his mojo and winning ways at Murray St., life at UNI w/o Green, is Ford more than just a great collector of talent , can Wardle do something before March, which of the newer coaches[ UE/UIC/ ISU's] is ready to ascend and so on. Really interesting year coming for the Valley.

This seems like the hardest year ever to predict the standings. I think Mullins gets it done this year. If SIU is playing on Thursday in March, I think several fans (including myself) will have a much different tone about his future here. I’ll take the excuse about year 3 because it was more like a year 2+ given everyone staying that should’ve been gone. But it’s year 4 now. We need a top 3 finish and hopefully a really legitimate shot at a championship next year. We’ve seen some flashes of a good team, but real progress has to be shown now.

What in the…. Oh wait… you’re new to this “new coach will get us immediately back to the glory days” thing. Welcome to my “end of Les->Geno and now looking to be Wardle” world of pain. Oh and also the Majors are really mean and unnecessarily snarky about conveniently forgetting your past.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Mullins may well be ready with his team this year; one of the interesting questions for the upcoming season. As is the question for Prohm recapturing his mojo and winning ways at Murray St., life at UNI w/o Green, is Ford more than just a great collector of talent , can Wardle do something before March, which of the newer coaches[ UE/UIC/ ISU's] is ready to ascend and so on. Really interesting year coming for the Valley.

This seems like the hardest year ever to predict the standings. I think Mullins gets it done this year. If SIU is playing on Thursday in March, I think several fans (including myself) will have a much different tone about his future here. I’ll take the excuse about year 3 because it was more like a year 2+ given everyone staying that should’ve been gone. But it’s year 4 now. We need a top 3 finish and hopefully a really legitimate shot at a championship next year. We’ve seen some flashes of a good team, but real progress has to be shown now.

What in the…. Oh wait… you’re new to this “new coach will get us immediately back to the glory days” thing. Welcome to my “end of Les->Geno and now looking to be Wardle” world of pain. Oh and also the Majors are really mean and unnecessarily snarky about conveniently forgetting your past.

Huh?

[BUFanatic]

Huh?

Sorry, the whole “results in four years” and understanding excuses year 3 and needing a top 3 finish are all very familiar to me. Over the last two coaches your key points are almost like a joke to me (internal, nothing to do with SIU).

[Dawgbit]

Let the games begin.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Huh?

Sorry, the whole “results in four years” and understanding excuses year 3 and needing a top 3 finish are all very familiar to me. Over the last two coaches your key points are almost like a joke to me (internal, nothing to do with SIU).

Eh, sure. I’d bet money SIU finished above Bradley this year. I’d also go as far as saying that I’d bet Mullins has more success long term than Brian Wardle.

[SalukiWorld]

SIU has underachieved 2 straight seasons. Some of that was injuries in year 2 but not sure what the excuse was last year. SIU was expected to finish ahead of Bradley last year and didn't. Until SIU proves they can beat good teams and win consistently, people will continue to be skeptical of them. I know I am.

[tribecalledquest]

Huh?

Sorry, the whole “results in four years” and understanding excuses year 3 and needing a top 3 finish are all very familiar to me. Over the last two coaches your key points are almost like a joke to me (internal, nothing to do with SIU).

Eh, sure. I’d bet money SIU finished above Bradley this year. I’d also go as far as saying that I’d bet Mullins has more success long term than Brian Wardle.

I'll bet both of those.

But define "long term success." Wardle had already won a lot as a head coach before he got to Bradley.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Sorry, the whole “results in four years” and understanding excuses year 3 and needing a top 3 finish are all very familiar to me. Over the last two coaches your key points are almost like a joke to me (internal, nothing to do with SIU).

Eh, sure. I’d bet money SIU finished above Bradley this year. I’d also go as far as saying that I’d bet Mullins has more success long term than Brian Wardle.

I'll bet both of those.

But define "long term success." Wardle had already won a lot as a head coach before he got to Bradley.

His career winning percentage is right around .500. Winning “A lot” depends on the opinion of the person saying it. Looks like he does have a Horizon League Championship under his belt.

I’ll admit I’m not a close follower of Wardle, as I just looked up the information that I listed. If I were to define long term success, it would include both winning percentage as well as championships. Aside from the back to back weekends in St. Louis, there really hasn’t been much success here in the MVC. Does he have a top 3 finish in his 6 years?

[tribecalledquest]

Interestingly enough - heading into this season both Brian Wardle and Bryan Mullins have won 44% of their regular season MVC games.