State of the Conference

[Wufan]

I think the middle of the Valley is much better this year, but the top is weaker.

[BUFANATIC79]

I think the middle of the Valley is much better this year, but the top is weaker.

Preseason, I thought Bradley could have a shot at sneaking into a sixth seed, but I have no idea who they can finish ahead of now. Evansville is better than I thought, Loyola looks legit. Personally, I think MO ST is a real sleeper. SIU has underperformed a bit but yes, the middle of the pack will be fun to watch sort itself out. Hopefully, Bradley can just compete in every game this year and give themselves a chance to beat some of these teams in the middle of the pack.

[Wufan]

I think the middle of the Valley is much better this year, but the top is weaker.

Preseason, I thought Bradley could have a shot at sneaking into a sixth seed, but I have no idea who they can finish ahead of now. Evansville is better than I thought, Loyola looks legit. Personally, I think MO ST is a real sleeper. SIU has underperformed a bit but yes, the middle of the pack will be fun to watch sort itself out. Hopefully, Bradley can just compete in every game this year and give themselves a chance to beat some of these teams in the middle of the pack.

We only have three Thursday night teams this year.

[shockalot]

Biers or any other Loyola fan: what is the status of Donte Ingram? Is his injury season ending or is he expected to make it back to play anytime soon?

[Blers]

Biers or any other Loyola fan: what is the status of Donte Ingram? Is his injury season ending or is he expected to make it back to play anytime soon?

Word from the last game was as soon as Saturday against UIC! While he probably won't be at full strength until early-mid January i wouldn't be surprised to see him coming off the bench for the next few games.

It'll be big getting him back; he's our leading rebounder, most versatile defender, and his game looked to be taking the next step averaging just under 10 ppg (numbers were up in literally every category but blocks for the kid). We're lucky it was just an MCL sprain, watching live it looked like another ACL.

With Chastain as our other 6'6'' wing already out this could have been bad. We're already a short team with them both of them healthy.

[pafan]

We only have three Thursday night teams this year.

It is so nice of SWOMO to forfeit their 7/10 game so Drake can finally avoid playing on Drake Night.

[BEARZ77]

It is so nice of SWOMO to forfeit their 7/10 game so Drake can finally avoid playing on Drake Night.

Nah I think the Bulldogs are looking forward to winning that intra state game with NIU on Thursday this year.

[BuBrave2006]

Thankfully none of the pitchfork holder's are in any positions of control over anything. Wardle should not and is not going anywhere in the near future...except to the NCAA tournament.

Don't be so certain that some of most disgruntled may have the ear of the current administration. Let's not forget we went all Hickory in hiring all aww-shucksy alums in the admin to placate many of those who are already vocally expressing their displeasure.

Yeah, obviously there will be people who have the administration's ear. Rich boosters who don't know anything about basketball. My point was that there isn't anyone "in" the administration dumb enough to fire the guy in the middle of season two.

[BEARZ77]

While the quality wins have not been there overall to date this year, I think the future of the conference is on the upswing looking at the next couple years. I don't recall this many quality jucos making their debuts together in one year as this year. These aren't just guys who can contribute, when you look at Jackson, Johnson, Willis, Smith, Rousseau and a few others, these are star level players now and certainly project as quality seniors next year. Add some quality freshmen to that number as well and I think the talent in the MVC next year looks pretty solid. Now some teams just need to parlay that talent into solid records, the Bears probably more than anyone. It will be curious if Lusk isn't able to have a solid year by the end of this conference season what happens as his buyout drops to just 1 year in April 2017. At some point the loss of attendance revenue would seem to offset the buyout burden if he can't start to win against anyone but the obvious scheduled wins. But until that's answered at least he has assembled some fun talent to watch this year.

[shockalot]

[color=#FF4000][color=#BF0000]"Word from the last game was as soon as Saturday against UIC! While he probably won't be at full strength until early-mid January i wouldn't be surprised to see him coming off the bench for the next few games.

It'll be big getting him back; he's our leading rebounder, most versatile defender, and his game looked to be taking the next step averaging just under 10 ppg (numbers were up in literally every category but blocks for the kid). We're lucky it was just an MCL sprain, watching live it looked like another ACL."

Glad to hear it! I saw it happen live on TV and I feared the worse for him. It was cringe worthy for sure.