Games 11/25

[isumvc1]

Great job Loyola, Bradley, and Drake! Winning is so much better than losing. Valley is 9-2 against D-I over the past three days. I believe that puts us at 20-14 overall!

MVC 26-14 overall now

[isumvc1]

Great job Loyola, Bradley, and Drake! Winning is so much better than losing. Valley is 9-2 against D-I over the past three days. I believe that puts us at 20-14 overall!

MVC 26-14 overall now

21-14 vs D-I teams

[DUBulldog]

Bulldogs win easily....very balanced scoring.

Reed Timmer (Fr) led the way with 12, followed by CJ Rivers (Fr) with 11. Jacob Enevold Jensen (soph) had 10 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. Kory Kuenstling (Fr) added 9 points. I don't think Drake's lead shrunk below double digits in the last 30 minutes of the game.

[mathewson10]

Tough loss for the Aces in a game they badly needed to win.

Keep it up, Panthers. Looks like UNI is now the lone banner bearer for at-large possibilities (other than WSU, of course).

Why the hell do you even post? It's not even Thanksgiving and you've already discounted yourself from any kind of relevant basketball discussion for this season. Do us all a favor and sit your Shocker loving homer ass on your couch and keep your mouth shut.

all is lost for the conference 4 games into the season...

[Play Angry]

You guys are silly.

I guess I should have prefaced with "Outside of rainbowland and the realm of obscure mathematical possibilities, then . . . "

Another way of looking at it is this: a bid is something an MVC team has to earn, not something it is eliminated from. No team other than WSU or UNI has positioned themselves to earn (and therefore, be in a position to thereafter lose) an at large bid based on wins to date.

If you want to argue that Drake, Loyola or Bradley can still get a 3 seed in the Dance if they win their next 28 in a row because anything is possible, then I guess you can have that. The rest of us choose to live in reality.

[Championz]

Thanks for stating what I thought was pretty obvious, Play Angry.

Green Bay was Evansville's best non-con opponent on their schedule, which is sad. They lost.

#8 Illinois State lost at home to Utah State and then laid an egg against an ok Big East team. I suppose they'll be favored in the game against #14 VCU, but they've dug quite a hole.

Are we missing anything?

Again, I implore you, instead of stroking your fingertips on the keyboard, please give all of us meanies a reason why somebody other than WSU and UNI have solid at-large chances/resumes.

[Aargh]

Every team in the valley is going to go to a post-season tournament. Now is everybody happy?

Going to a post-season tournament not named Arch Madness is another matter.

The Valley is still in good shape for getting multiple teams into post-season tournaments that do not begin with the letter "N". For getting into tournaments that begin with the letter "N", it didn't take 4 games into the season to figure out that WSU and UNI were the teams in that territory. That was obvious when schedules were announced.

If a team can finish 3rd in the Valley and create some separation from 4-7, the possibility of an NIT bid is there, but it's a slim possibility. The chances of a 3rd place team breaking out of the 3-7 group is also remote.

The problem with the "C" tournaments is that schools have to pay to get home games. It's either sell enough tickets to break even, subsidize the game, or play on the road. Are there Valley teams with either the $$ to fund the game or the confidence to put butts in seats to take the game?

[Aargh]

Evansville's Achilles heel was exposed tonight. Mock and Balentine are one of the better 1-2 combos in the league. Mock got into foul trouble and Balentine had an off shooting night (5/15, 2/8).

UE could probably survive one of those happening, but both happening the same night is likely to happen again. When it does, UE will struggle to get a W.

[mathewson10]

Let's pack it up guys. It was a good season but it's all over before Thanksgiving. Don't even need to play any of games because it's already all set in stone. Pre-season rankings already decided that WSU will make it to the sweet 16 (just like last year right?) I can't wait for the 15-16 rankings to come out so it can decide the next season for us.

[Rambler63]

Not everybody's going to make a choice tournament appearance, but there are things that every team can do to set up the conference as a whole for better days in the future. Tonight was a good start.

- Loyola broke their 20-game road losing streak dating back to before they joined the MVC, and found a way to beat a much bigger team with a 7' starting center and a 6'8" forward. A 14-point win against a scrub CUSA team on the road is still nice.
- Bradley beat a TAMU-CC team that beat St. Louis, and did it by a convincing margin. Maybe they're turning the corner.
- UNI beat a lower-end ACC team by 19.
- Drake got a convincing win. Maybe it will build confidence for a young team.
- Evansville had a tough loss, but it came by the slimmest of margins against the best the Horizon League has to offer.

We get it: WSU is the class of the conference, and only UNI can even come close. But let's keep an eye on the longer term. Much more than a baby step tonight.