The Next Great Valley Rivalry

by **isuredbirds92** » March 16th, 2013, 10:53 am

With Creighton set to leave for the BE, taking with it the most heated and consistently competitive rivalry in conference, can there be another great rivalry that develops? Would it involve current teams or would it have to include a new member? After all the friction between ISUr and WSU this year, maybe that will carry over, but I doubt our ability to stay competitive consistently. I'm just not sure if there will be another rivalry of this magnitude and I think it is bad for the valley.

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by **jackwagon** » March 16th, 2013, 11:31 am

Quick answer is there is no rivalry. It is Wichita and everyone else at this point. A team out of the crop of UNI, BU, ISUB has the best chance to make a push up in the next few years. ISUB has their entire team back next year and a solid head coach. UNI has Jacobson and some nice pieces in Tuttle and Mitchell to build on. I like Ford a lot and Bradley's fan base is probably the best outside of Wichita. When Bradley is a factor they can bring a lot of fans.

by **da_bears** » March 16th, 2013, 11:48 am

MSU and SIU has the potential to become a better rivalry with Barry Hinson now in Carbondale but both teams need to improve. WSU and MSU has been a so-so rivalry for awhile and with MSU on the up and up with all the young talent, we could see the two schools challenging for 1st place the next few seasons.

by **shockem** » March 16th, 2013, 1:12 pm

The shockers lose 4 starters. Will the coaches pick them 4th or 5th again to start next season?

by **DUBulldog** » March 16th, 2013, 1:23 pm

Because they are only 40 miles apart, BU-IlSU has the greatest potential. If both of those teams were contenders at the same time, the rivalry would be extremely intense.

by **Snaggletooth** » March 16th, 2013, 1:57 pm

isuredbirds92 wrote:With Creighton set to leave for the BE, taking with it the most heated and consistently competitive rivalry in conference, can there be another great rivalry that develops? Would it involve current teams or would it have to include a new member? After all the friction between ISUr and WSU this year, maybe that will carry over, but I doubt our ability to stay competitive consistently. I'm just not sure if there will be another rivalry of this magnitude and I think it is bad for the valley.

With recent events I can see ISUR and WSU. There has always been a slight rivalry between WSU/MSU (used to be more on baseball side) - somewhat heated up a little in BBall but have fell off.

Ultimately - these things develop between team who are vying for #1 consistently. So maybe the future rivalry is unforeseeable until we see which team(s) the MVC brings in to replace CU.

by **Snaggletooth** » March 16th, 2013, 1:59 pm

shockem wrote:The shockers lose 4 starters. Will the coaches pick them 4th or 5th again to start next season?

Yes, but they return 3 starters..... :Cheers:

by **3ontheway** » March 16th, 2013, 2:24 pm

shockers and aces

by **Kyle** » March 16th, 2013, 2:30 pm

DUBulldog is right, ISUred and BU have the biggest rivalry in the Valley, but it has not garnered any recent attention because both teams are in the bottom half.

MSU-SIU has some potential, but it's not a rivalry yet.

The regular contenders always have a bit of rivalry because the games cary so much significance. Right now this group includes WSU, ISUblue, UNI, and ISUred. You might throw in MSU simply because they are only two years removed from winning the regular season title, but after this year, I left them out.

by **saluki762** » March 16th, 2013, 3:06 pm

A new rivalry could very easily be established. Creighton/SIU 10 years ago was easily as good as Creighton/WSU of the last couple. Just need 2 teams to consistently be at the top and there you go.