Race for 3rd

[Redbird Recon]

3. Indiana State (7-4)
-Swept Illinois State
-Split with Evansville
-Still play Wichita State twice
-2-3 in their last 5

4. Illinois State (7-4)
-Swept by Indiana State
-Home win over Evansville
-4-1 in their last 5

5. Evansville (6-5)
-Split with Indiana State
-Road loss to Illinois State
-3-2 in their last 5

A seed of maximum importance! (So I only have to take half of a personal day.)

[hot nuts]

Come on Birds...do it for Recon!

[FearDaTrees]

I think this race may be down to 2 teams after seeing the Aces last night.

[unipanther99]

They each have two games left with WSU/UNI. Illinois St. and Indiana St. each have one of those at home, one on the road. Evansville has both on the road (but not until the end of the season, back to back).

Evansville would probably need to upset one of the big two to get back into the race for 3rd at this point, and they have the most difficult road to do that.

[UNIFanSince1983]

They each have two games left with WSU/UNI. Illinois St. and Indiana St. each have one of those at home, one on the road. Evansville has both on the road (but not until the end of the season, back to back).

Evansville would probably need to upset one of the big two to get back into the race for 3rd at this point, and they have the most difficult road to do that.

To be fair Evansville has already beat UNI once this year...

But yes looks to be quite the long shot for the Aces to be the 3.

[jturner38]

Sycamores - Have to win more than Evansville bc they will get the Tiebreaker over us bc of their non-con SOS, at least tie with Redbirds bc we own tie breaker over them bc we won both matchups.

Redbirds - Have to win 1 more than Indiana State, Win the other matchup against UE and you will hold the tie breaker, but if you lose against UE then not sure who has higer non-conference SOS but tiebreaker goes to whoever is higher.

Aces - Right now in backseat, have to at least tie with Indiana State, Depending on non-con SOS bc if higher have to at least tie with Redbirds as well, if not have to win at least 1 more than Redbirds.

[TheAsianSensation]

Illinois State has the SoS tiebreaker in hand over both.

Evansville has a slight lead over Indiana St, but that might still be too close to call.

[ahunte1]

As a Ramblers fan, this thread is painful. With a healthy Doyle, we could easily be 6-4 heading into tonight's game (win at SIU, home vs Evansville, home vs ISUr), and it would be us in the middle of the fight for third with Evansville on the precipice of Thursday. Ugh.

Of the three that remain, Indiana State is playing the best team basketball from what I've seen. They would have to be my pick even though the other two arguably have more talent.

[uniftw]

I don't want to overract too much to last night but I think it plays out this way

3. Illinois State - I know they were swept by Indiana State but I think they have the advantage going forward. They are simply more talented and playing better.

4. Indiana State - I like their chances better than Evansville. They are better than their record, I think, but are starting to fall back to earth after the hot start. I guess we'll see where the happy medium is. Won't be shocked to see them third.

5. Evansville - nothing really to say other than typical Evansville.

[jwa123]

Hard to say where Illinois State is going from here. Like most young teams they have their ups and downs.

When they lost to Indiana State, the Birds were without Hawkins & Purcell. Both are back now and playing and seem to be making progress. Purcell still has two fingers taped together from his broken hand accident and it has to be affecting his shooting but even with that it's getting better since he was able to start playing again. Hawkins looked really good last night.

This team might be interesting to watch going down the stretch.