Race for 3rd

[uniftw]

At this point in the season wanting UNI or WSU is preference only. Both teams are 20-3 against a good SOS. Both teams only have one loss to an opponent (road). It's about match-ups.

UNI is 21-2, not 20-3, FWIW

The rest I agree with

[isuredbirds92]

Obviously the redbirds want third to avoid northern iowa as long as possible.

So they want WSU?

Hmm. Ok.

I mean UNI did beat Wichita by 16. And even WSU fans seem to acknowledge the slight dip in performance as of late. Wouldn't like to see either team, but imo UNI is more dangerous. Again, I wouldn't want to see either of them in St. Louis. But if I had to choose one, I think I'd rather see WSU. We'll see how the meeting in Normal goes, that may change my opinion.

[Redbird Recon]

I don't really have a preference. Both teams are really, really good. I'm not damning the Shockers after a couple rough road games.

3rd place would mean we played well down the stretch. I'd much rather do that, and let the chips fall where they may.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but no player in The Valley has won Arch Madness outside of WSU. They're still the team to beat IMO.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

I don't really have a preference. Both teams are really, really good. I'm not damning the Shockers after a couple rough road games.

3rd place would mean we played well down the stretch. I'd much rather do that, and let the chips fall where they may.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but no player in The Valley has won Arch Madness outside of WSU. They're still the team to beat IMO.

Last year was Wichita's first Arch Madness triumph since the tourney inhabited St Louis, IIRC.

I'll always believe that '09 Shockers team had a shot even as a Thursday Night team if it wasn't for the Booker Woodfox clock fiasco.

[Play Angry]

The Shockers and Panthers are both 10-1 in the MVC.

UNI is playing really, really well right now. Before WSU came to town, they sandwiched ugly and uninspired close wins against SIU and Indiana State around the road squeaker in Normal. They looked vulnerable but have since turned on the jets these last two games. They also had an impressive five games stretch immediately preceding the three game lull described above.

Before traveling to Cedar Falls, WSU had won their prior 6 MVC games by an average spread of 16.3 points per contest. They were rolling. The last two games, they have played poorly.

Be careful with applying short term trends to extended periods. Seasons have variance, but the body of work for these two teams is very similar at the moment (WSU 13, UNI 19 in RPI; UNI 15, WSU 16 in KenPom; UNI 14, WSU 16 in AP Poll).

I don't think I'd be excited to play either team if I were a league foe.

[rlh04d]

I mean UNI did beat Wichita by 16.

UNI beat WSU by 16 ... at home.

They also lost @Evansville, a game WSU won by 20.

UNI might very well be the best team in the Valley and unquestionably the team to beat, but I'd wait until their game @WSU to make a firm opinion on that. We all know that road games create high variance situations in this conference.

[hot nuts]

Maybe the real question is, what team does the 2 seed (be it UNI our WSU) want to avoid playing on Saturday?

[Rambler63]

After Illinois State knocked Loyola's Christian Thomas out of the game with a concussion last week, they did it again to Evansville's Mockevicius in their last game.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150206/ ... um=twitter

Two consecutive games, two second-half concussions issued to the opposition's best inside players, both late in the season, both against teams they have to play again... I guess that's one way to gain an advantage in the race for third place.

[Redbird Recon]

Two consecutive games, two second-half concussions issued to the opposition's best inside players, both late in the season, both against teams they have to play again... I guess that's one way to gain an advantage in the race for third place.

Did you find either incident to be malicious?

[sixth ace]

Two consecutive games, two second-half concussions issued to the opposition's best inside players, both late in the season, both against teams they have to play again... I guess that's one way to gain an advantage in the race for third place.

Did you find either incident to be malicious?

It should have been review in Normal last Saturday It look on the espn3 feed to be intentional. He even spoke proudly of it after the game. But if winning is that important ....