Missouri State @ Drake 1/5

[glm38]

No one is saying the Bears are a top tier Valley team. But for a team with 6 freshmen in the rotation the early struggles are pretty understandable. And the 2-1 start is pretty good for a team that young.

[TNMSUFAN]

How can a team be better than what their RPI shows? Their RPI is what they are. They lost to Alabama A&M and didn't pick up a Division I win until the end of December. Their two Division I wins are Southern Illinois and Drake. Good for the Bears and their fans that they're winning games, but it's still not against the stiffest competition. And playing close with Evansville isn't something that catches the eyes of many either.

RealtimeRPI had us losing 82-60 @ Drake so in that sense we are better than our RPI. I think Wichita fans have forgotten their struggles when Marchall first got the job....2 play-in teams and an 11 win team until he got some pieces in place. I apologized a long time ago for our non-con but most years we do our part in helping the conference RPI. We have a 2nd year coach with 6 frosh playing minutes and we are just playing better basketball now as the coaches and players figure some things out...hopefully we keep it up.

[BEARZ77]

How can a team be better than what their RPI shows? Their RPI is what they are. They lost to Alabama A&M and didn't pick up a Division I win until the end of December.

Pretty easy concept; you simply keep improving and play better than you were earlier. Your RPI represents how you have played, not necessarily how you are, You're right in that the Bears have not beaten a quality team yet, but it is a bit unusual for a team this young who was playing as poorly as we were, to quickly have put back to back solid conference road games together. I'm not a huge Lusk fan, but he has this team playing solid defense and playing hard nightly right now, and that along with continued development of our young guys is good enough for the moment. Still will be a long year for the Bears , but as the season progresses it might not be a good thing to have to play the Bears late in the year in Springfield.

[getreal4]

This is far and away the worst defensive team at Drake since Bob Ortegal was the Drake coach. Phelps can neither coach defense nor recruit players with any defensive skills. Bears struggle to score before coming to Des Moines, those scoring woes were cured by the almost nonexistent Drake defense.

Drake will have to outscore teams to win. Need a couple of hot shooters to win any Valley games, 4 or 5 conference wins may be a reach for a team that in preseason expected to challenge for a top 5 finish in the Valley.

Thursday Night in St Louis continues to be Drake Night.