The Next Great Valley Rivalry

[CBB_Fan]

If it involves Wichita State, it probably is bad news for the Valley. Our rivalries have a tendency to flare strongly for a while and culminate in a good team leaving the Valley. Illinois State, this could be your chance.

[jwa123]

If it involves Wichita State, it probably is bad news for the Valley. Our rivalries have a tendency to flare strongly for a while and culminate in a good team leaving the Valley. Illinois State, this could be your chance.

Geography dictates that Bradley will always be our biggest rival.

[isuredbirds92]

There is no doubt that rivalries change year to year with whoever is on top of the league for a few years, but my point is that CU and WSU have the 1st and 3rd most NCAA appearances of anyone in the valley. They also have two of the largest and most dedicated fanbases in the country, which adds a lot to the rivalry aspect. When you have two programs with such consistent historical success, it makes for a great rivalry when they are both doing well. I guess the next time we could see a rivalry of this magnitude would be if SIU returns to its usual form, or if ISUr continues its improvement and can actually make it out of the valley tourney once or twice and if Geno can build on what he has now at BU.

[jackwagon]

There is no doubt that rivalries change year to year with whoever is on top of the league for a few years, but my point is that CU and WSU have the 1st and 3rd most NCAA appearances of anyone in the valley. They also have two of the largest and most dedicated fanbases in the country, which adds a lot to the rivalry aspect. When you have two programs with such consistent historical success, it makes for a great rivalry when they are both doing well. I guess the next time we could see a rivalry of this magnitude would be if SIU returns to its usual form, or if ISUr continues its improvement and can actually make it out of the valley tourney once or twice and if Geno can build on what he has now at BU.

alright mr. Illinois guy. I assume no Iowa or Indiana team can take that spot?? SIU and ISUR have a long way to go to get to WSU level and BU has a nice coach but talent wise they need more help. Give me UNI or ISUB over any of the illinois teams.

[isuredbirds92]

What I'm saying, jackwagon, is that based on the tradition that SIU has (2nd most NCAA appearances in the valley), if they could get back to the level of competing for the conference title every year, they and WSU would be a good replacement for CU and WSU. What I was saying about ISUr and BU is that they are the closest geographically and already have a pretty intense rivalry regardless of if the teams are competitive or not. So, if they were both competing for conference titles consistently, that would be a VERY good rivalry for the league IMO.

[BEARZ77]

I wouldn't worry; the WSU/CU rivalry never approached that of Creighton/SIU because they weren't good together for a long enough stretch. Any two teams that dominate the top of the standings for more than 2-3 years consecutively will have a good chance to be the next great thing. Numbers tend to follow success as the crowds SIU brought to St. Louis were very impressive during their run of 6 years also. Look at what's happened in just 4 years between St. Mary's and Gonzaga. Rivalries are part of sports and they tend to develope quite rapidly and easily when two teams are consistently good and share a league/division/conference.

[uniftw]

IF...and I mean IF....Drake could ever get out of being a perennial 10th place contender the UNI/Drake game could be extremely intense.

The games already are a near sell out for both school every single time, regardless of records. UNI fans tend to make up about 40% of the crowd when the game is in Des Monies due to the number of alumns down there. Tend to recruit same players (though that changed the last year or two under Phelps), just 2 hours apart, etc...


If we could both get to top half teams year after year it would be crazy and may require Des Moines game to be played in Wells Fargo as there could be over 10K for that game, and maybe moving the CF game to the dome....maybe

[unipanther99]

IF...and I mean IF....Drake could ever get out of being a perennial 10th place contender the UNI/Drake game could be extremely intense.

The games already are a near sell out for both school every single time, regardless of records. UNI fans tend to make up about 40% of the crowd when the game is in Des Monies due to the number of alumns down there. Tend to recruit same players (though that changed the last year or two under Phelps), just 2 hours apart, etc...


If we could both get to top half teams year after year it would be crazy and may require Des Moines game to be played in Wells Fargo as there could be over 10K for that game, and maybe moving the CF game to the dome....maybe

I agree that Drake/UNI is a rivalry that could be improving over the next decade, but come on, we're not playing in the Dome again for anything short of a home and home with Kansas.

[DoubleJayAlum]

If we could both get to top half teams year after year it would be crazy and may require Des Moines game to be played in Wells Fargo as there could be over 10K for that game, and maybe moving the CF game to the dome....maybe

UNI probably needs to worry about averaging at least five thousand people a game before talking about going back to the dome....

[Western4Life]

I've seen several rival types. Geography based, coaches, and ocassionally player based.

War on 74 Oh and Geno landed some nice talent this weekend so keep you head on a swivel.

Drake UNI should be. WSU & CU has been fun to watch.

SIU & MO State was a good one that should try to rebuild.

Since nobody else cares EU & In State can mix it up to avoid being rivalry wallflowers.

It'll be easier to pin the next good one when we hear of CU's replacement.