Updated MVC Power Rankings - December 28

[bleach]

I'd take the win every day. You guys are the ones who keep saying that WSUs losses haven't been bad since the competition was strong while criticizing other teams wins. Just using the same sound logic. If you are gonna knock a win over the sisters of the poor compared to a loss to Utah then you can't tout a road win over Drake and knock a road loss to Evansville.

[mvcfan]

I'd take the win every day. You guys are the ones who (to a loss to Utah then you can't tout a road win over Drake and knock a road loss to Evansville.

I never said that. First of all, I don't think that the Shockers are playing well but we have a very good RPI and we've had some nice wins. From the first week in the league, it looks like none of us are playing very well. I haven't been critical of wins or losses but I've been critical of bad schedules. Good non-con schedules are vital and winning your games is very important in order for the MVC to gain respect. I just listened to Luke Winn from SI and he was sold on WSU and UNI (largely because of their difficult schedule and because they won some of the critical games and even played VCU close in OT on national television). When asked about how many teams would get NCAA Tournament invitations, he said that Evansville had some talent but didn't do anything in their non-conference schedule. He didn't mention any other teams. If Evansville had won all of their non-con games, or scheduled tougher, they may have been mentioned too.

[PantherSigEp]

I'd take the win. WSU is 1st. Don't have a complaint about any order of 2-4. After that its irrelevant until ISUr shows they deserve consideration at the top

[mvcfan]

I'd take the win. WSU is 1st. Don't have a complaint about any order of 2-4. After that its irrelevant until ISUr shows they deserve consideration at the top

I'll take any win too. I feel pretty good about the home game against ISUR on Sunday, but not 100% confident. We are quite good and deserving of a Top 20 ranking but we are in a "slump" right now (all teams go through them sometime during a year-except for the Shockers last year). Last year's team was in my opinion a Top 5 team, capable of winning a National Championship, had we got by UK. My prediction is that we still win the league but this is a new year, and the league has better teams, and we are a different team. Good Luck to all. I hope we get multiple teams into the Big Dance.

[Wufan]

Entering league play two teams have put themselves in a position for an at large. Three teams require monumental effort to be in position at the end of the year. Five teams have basically eliminated themselves from at large contention. That doesn't mean that those teams or fans should roll over and die, but it means that for the good of the league that they need to lose to the other five as much as possible. Therefore, I will root against those teams whenever they play a top level team.

Those teams can still improve and build towards next year, and I hope they do! I just hope they don't impact wins/losses of the top two or three teams in the process.

[BradleyFan71]

Entering league play two teams have put themselves in a position for an at large. Three teams require monumental effort to be in position at the end of the year. Five teams have basically eliminated themselves from at large contention. That doesn't mean that those teams or fans should roll over and die, but it means that for the good of the league that they need to lose to the other five as much as possible. Therefore, I will root against those teams whenever they play a top level team.

You mean for the good of the league the top five need to win their games against the bottom five. Why is the ultimatum always on the bottom teams to lose? If the top five are that good, then they shouldn't have a problem winning against the miserable bottom five. As I said about Bradley before, if any Valley team loses to Bradley, then that team probably doesn't deserve whatever that Bradley loss may have cost them. I guess the same can be said about losing a home game against Indiana State!

[rlh04d]

Entering league play two teams have put themselves in a position for an at large. Three teams require monumental effort to be in position at the end of the year. Five teams have basically eliminated themselves from at large contention. That doesn't mean that those teams or fans should roll over and die, but it means that for the good of the league that they need to lose to the other five as much as possible. Therefore, I will root against those teams whenever they play a top level team.

You mean for the good of the league the top five need to win their games against the bottom five. Why is the ultimatum always on the bottom teams to lose? If the top five are that good, then they shouldn't have a problem winning against the miserable bottom five. As I said about Bradley before, if any Valley team loses to Bradley, then that team probably doesn't deserve whatever that Bradley loss may have cost them. I guess the same can be said about losing a home game against Indiana State!

I think the problem comes with the feeling that many Valley teams just don't seem to care in the nonconference schedule, and then begin playing harder in conference games.

Or, like I expect Bradley to this year, get their act together later in the season.

This is a constant theme with this conference and one that routinely cripples it. Obviously the impetus is on the top teams to win. It should also be on the bottom teams to do better out of conference in the first place. Going into the conference with 40% of the conference with worse than a 260 RPI is absolutely pathetic.

[BradleyFan71]

Entering league play two teams have put themselves in a position for an at large. Three teams require monumental effort to be in position at the end of the year. Five teams have basically eliminated themselves from at large contention. That doesn't mean that those teams or fans should roll over and die, but it means that for the good of the league that they need to lose to the other five as much as possible. Therefore, I will root against those teams whenever they play a top level team.

You mean for the good of the league the top five need to win their games against the bottom five. Why is the ultimatum always on the bottom teams to lose? If the top five are that good, then they shouldn't have a problem winning against the miserable bottom five. As I said about Bradley before, if any Valley team loses to Bradley, then that team probably doesn't deserve whatever that Bradley loss may have cost them. I guess the same can be said about losing a home game against Indiana State!

I think the problem comes with the feeling that many Valley teams just don't seem to care in the nonconference schedule, and then begin playing harder in conference games.

Or, like I expect Bradley to this year, get their act together later in the season.

This is a constant theme with this conference and one that routinely cripples it. Obviously the impetus is on the top teams to win. It should also be on the bottom teams to do better out of conference in the first place. Going into the conference with 40% of the conference with worse than a 260 RPI is absolutely pathetic.

Bradley has yet to play a game with all players healthy. When that includes your starting point guard and your leading scorer not on the floor together during the entire non conference season, I have a hard time expecting outstanding results from a team expected to finish at the bottom of the conference.

[Wufan]

Entering league play two teams have put themselves in a position for an at large. Three teams require monumental effort to be in position at the end of the year. Five teams have basically eliminated themselves from at large contention. That doesn't mean that those teams or fans should roll over and die, but it means that for the good of the league that they need to lose to the other five as much as possible. Therefore, I will root against those teams whenever they play a top level team.

You mean for the good of the league the top five need to win their games against the bottom five. Why is the ultimatum always on the bottom teams to lose? If the top five are that good, then they shouldn't have a problem winning against the miserable bottom five. As I said about Bradley before, if any Valley team loses to Bradley, then that team probably doesn't deserve whatever that Bradley loss may have cost them. I guess the same can be said about losing a home game against Indiana State!

I think the problem comes with the feeling that many Valley teams just don't seem to care in the nonconference schedule, and then begin playing harder in conference games.

Or, like I expect Bradley to this year, get their act together later in the season.

This is a constant theme with this conference and one that routinely cripples it. Obviously the impetus is on the top teams to win. It should also be on the bottom teams to do better out of conference in the first place. Going into the conference with 40% of the conference with worse than a 260 RPI is absolutely pathetic.

It's about rooting interest in the top teams and non-con disappointment in the bottom teams. If the lower level team beats a higher level team, I'm disappointed in both teams. The top team for losing when they shouldn't and the bottom team for losing in the non-con. Why would I root for Indiana State to be good now?

[rlh04d]

Bradley has yet to play a game with all players healthy. When that includes your starting point guard and your leading scorer not on the floor together during the entire non conference season, I have a hard time expecting outstanding results from a team expected to finish at the bottom of the conference.

My point was that I expected Bradley to be better in the conference season. I wasn't really singling them out, except to remove them from the group of teams that I thought just weren't trying as hard in the noncon.

Indiana State should probably be taken out of that, too. They're doing more or less what I expected -- lot of inexperience lead to a bad noncon and now they're coming back into being a decent team, just in time to screw the conference.