Games 11/25

[SHOXMVC]

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.

OK, I will bite...what evidence prior to the season, or a couple of weeks into it, tells you there are realistically more than two MVC teams capable of participating in the NCAA dance?

[TheAsianSensation]

Bradley played kind of awful against TAMU-CC and got away with it.

Good news - in the last 3 days, BU beats TAMU-CC and NC A&T handidly. For reference, these same two teams played St Louis. TAMU-CC beat them and A&T took them down to the wire tonight. So by the transitive property, BU >>>>>> St Louis. Man, St Louis is awful, whoever loses to them this year is not good. /troll

[mvcfan]

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.

Now you are being disingenuous. UNI is holding up their end of the bargain. It used to be that most, if not all of the teams in our league usually (maybe most of the time) beat teams they should beat, sometimes beat teams that they were not favored to beat, and sometimes lost to good teams. There are too many losses to teams that are not good. With the number of schedules that are not strong to begin with, these are not good signs. Just quit whining, win the games you should, and the criticism will die down.

[Championz]

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.

That's good. Continue to ignore the questions asked of you but instead talk to yourself to make you feel better.

Typical, illiterate Redbird fan.

[glm38]

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).

I find it amusing that this is the post that caused such a stir. It's a factual post. It's early in the season but this part of the season is crucial to at large bids for mid major teams like us. The fact is that barring a miracle like winning out the conference schedule - no one outside of those 2 teams has a shot on selection Sunday.

For the rest of us it doesn't mean the rest of the season is meaningless unless you think that making the big dance is the only meaningful thing in your teams season. I don't think that way. Making the big tournament is always the ultimate goal but there's a lot of other things to look forward to.

[Wufan]

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.

good couple of days for the MVC! Win. Improve. Repeat. The MVC needs to continue to get better and hope for the best. Only three programs put their team in position for an at large with scheduling, while everyone else is hoping for a miracle or a win in St Louis. Those that did not schedule tough May have excellent seasons, but won't be at-large worthy.

[Rollbird5]

Unless someone not named Wichita st or northern iowa win archmadness those are the only two I see realistically making the big dance. I just want my birds to keep improving and to reach our potential at the right time to make a run at archmadness

[ACECARD]

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.

By George, I think you've got it.

[Cdizzle]

Unless someone not named Wichita st or northern iowa win archmadness those are the only two I see realistically making the big dance. I just want my birds to keep improving and to reach our potential at the right time to make a run at archmadness

Exactly. No one is saying that the season is over for any of these teams. Teams can still work to improve throughout the non-con so they can be ready for the grind of the Valley season. They can grind through the Valley schedule to try to get as good a seed as possible at Arch Madness. No one even said that WSU and UNI are the only teams that could go to the tourney. But at this point, WSU and UNI ARE the only teams with the realistic potential to earn an at-large bid. Certainly not a statement that everyone else should cancel their seasons.

It would be great if the rest of the Valley kept improving and racking up wins during the non-con. It will have a positive impact on WSU and UNI's pursuit of an at-large bid. And it will help those programs continue to improve to be ready both for the MVC tourney, and to put themselves in a better position next year, where maybe we can add on another team with at-large potential. The Valley sucked baaaad last year. Rebuilding is going to take some time, if it's going to happen at all.

[Cdizzle]

Is Evansville going to fire Simmons yet? I know Giddy had some foul trouble last night, but you have a guy shooting 74% for the year, and 63% for his career, and he got up 2 shots in 16 minutes. Having not seen the game, I can only come up with a couple of guesses as to why. One would be that he was triple-teamed all night. The other would be that the gameplan was f#&^ing horrible. Is there a backup plan if Balentine continues to shoot 38% on 16 FGAs per game?

I can't express how pissed I'm going to be when Giddy averages 3 FGAs per game during the non-con and then they decide to get him 14 shots against WSU.