Is Evansville this year's "Drake"?

[tornado]

Drake took nearly everyone by surprise last year....even most of their own fans.
Is Evansville this year's surprise team? Could they finish at the top of a relatively weak MVC this year?
Can they be an NCAA team??
Presently Evansville is 16 RPI and top 40 in SOS, they are 5-1 with their only loss being to (then top RPI) Butler.


Seems like quite possibly some of the bashing we saw aimed at Evansville is perhaps way off base, and they appear to be a good team.
Just as people bashed Platteville and said they weren't on par with a D-I team, yet they still remain undefeated at 9-0 and appear every bit as good as a lot of D-I teams.


Statistically, Evansville is at the top of almost every category in the MVC.
They rank AT the top in FG Defense, Rebounding, and are among the top 3 teams in Scoring Offense, Scoring Defense, Scoring Margin, FG%, Rebounding Margin, Turnover Margin, Offensive Rebounds, & Defensive Rebounds.

Sadly, just like Drake last year, the fans haven't caught on...
Evansville's average home attendance of 5491 is surprisingly low, but at least it's WELL ahead of Illinois State's home attendance (4584).

Evansville's home press is predicting a top half finish...
"You read it here first. Evansville finishes top half or better."

http://www.courierpress.com/blogs/university-evansville-sports/2008/dec/12/121208/

[bluedevils1]

The only legit non-conference teams they play are Butler (loss) and UNC (next game, basically loss). Their record is good, but they are right up there with ISU as teams with deceiving records. Not saying they're bad, but wait til conference season.

[BradleyBrave]

The only legit non-conference teams they play are Butler (loss) and UNC (next game, basically loss). Their record is good, but they are right up there with ISU as teams with deceiving records. Not saying they're bad, but wait til conference season.

Western Kentucky beat SIU and Louisville. They're plenty legit. Evansville just beat them by over 30.

[Grassman]

Western Kentucky beat SIU and Louisville. They're plenty legit. Evansville just beat them by over 30.

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I watched the E-Ville-Wesrern K game. For some reason Western Kentucky could not throw a brick in the Ocean. they shot 19% in the first half.
Maybe E-Villes D had something to do with that but, this was not the same Western K team that beat Louisville and Tulane.
That being said, Evansville has some talented guards Shay ELY and a freshman Kaylon Wlliams played very well.
Jason Holisnger is the leading, returning scorer in the Valley!

[bluedevils1]

Western Kentucky beat SIU and Louisville. They're plenty legit. Evansville just beat them by over 30.

Since WKU beat Louisville by 14 and Evansville beat WKU by 30, this naturally means Evansville would beat Louisville by 44, right?

[MacabreMob]

Since WKU beat Louisville by 14 and Evansville beat WKU by 30, this naturally means Evansville would beat Louisville by 44, right?

Normally, I like this kinda math.

But you and I and everyone else know that doesn't mean squat.

I will say this... Evansville would be "in the game" based on that math.

[cpacmel]

I don't remember anyone saying that Evansville was a bad team. I think most were saying they were quite the opposite. I think what a good number of people were saying (myself included) and what we are still saying is this: While the Aces are a good team, they aren't a top 20 or even a top 30 team. No matter what the RPI puts them at.

Take Purdue for example. I think everyone who has watched their share of basketball would agree that they are a top 20 to top 30 team. Their RPI puts them around 125. There aren't 100 schools better than Purdue.

Another example would be a school like: Presbyterian (RPI 97) They are currently 4-5 with their best win being over 2-3 San Jose State. They have a 31 point loss to Duke and another 31 point loss to Clemson.

So if Purdue were to play Presbyterian according to the RPI at this time, Purdue would be a slight underdog, but really 28 spots in the RPI, would really put them closer to even.

I personally think Purdue would wipe the floor with Presbyterian. Would probably be close to what Duke and Clemson did to them.

Same holds true with Evansville. They are #16 in the RPI and UNC is #17. On paper (according to the RPI) this should be a close game. If anyone wants to bet straight up on this one, I will gladly take the #17 UNC team.

Regardless I will be rooting for the ACES.

[braves12]

I think Marty Simmons is a good coach. It would not surprise me to see them finish higher than most think. They do a lot of the little things right.

[squirrel]

Evansville's efficiency numbers seem to back up that they are a good team.

I wouldn't compare them to Drake, in that Drake's efficiency margin (OE/DE) was +22.5 for last year's non-con.

While Evansville's numbers are good and seem to indicate they truly are a quality team, they aren't as good as Drake's, and while they have played a couple teams as good as anybody Drake played last year, the overall SOS numbers were both relatively weak.

An upper-division finish is likely, because they will take teams completely off their game on defense. Offense weighs a little more towards wins over the regular season.

[Dubl R 1]

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I watched the E-Ville-Wesrern K game. For some reason Western Kentucky could not throw a brick in the Ocean. they shot 19% in the first half.
Maybe E-Villes D had something to do with that but, this was not the same Western K team that beat Louisville and Tulane.
That being said, Evansville has some talented guards Shay ELY and a freshman Kaylon Wlliams played very well.
Jason Holisnger is the leading, returning scorer in the Valley!

I am watching the replay of the Evansville WKU game right now on FCS. A little over mid way thru the 2nd half, and I'm astonished that WKU has beaten anybody this year, let alone Louisville. I mean I don't know if I've ever seen a division 1 team play as poor a game as WKU did in this one. Every shot and offensive trip down the floor for WKU has been a disaster. They rarely pass the ball more than twice, before jacking an ill advised shot. Even the shots they've made were bad shots, passing has been atrocious, and Thier defense has been even worse. If BU were to ever play a game this undisciplined and out of control I would expect to see a 40 plus page thread the following day about. WKU looked as bad as it gets in this one.

[BradleyBrave]

If BU were to ever play a game this undisciplined and out of control I would expect to see a 40 plus page thread the following day about. WKU looked as bad as it gets in this one.

Did you see the game against UMKC?

[Indy_BB]

Granted, I have only saw three MVC games this year with a lot of attention, but, in my "unbiased" opinion, Evansville was the most physically talented of the Bradley-Evansville-Drake set. Personally, I think they'll be a factor in the league this year. I'm pretty surprised at what I've seen for SIU, they are not near where I thought they would/should be.

[Dubl R 1]

Did you see the game against UMKC?

Yeah, I did. We may have played/shot the ball poorly, but we were not nearly as out of control as WKU played this one.

Granted, I have only saw three MVC games this year with a lot of attention, but, in my "unbiased" opinion, Evansville was the most physically talented of the Bradley-Evansville-Drake set. Personally, I think they'll be a factor in the league this year. I'm pretty surprised at what I've seen for SIU, they are not near where I thought they would/should be.

Evansville looked pretty solid. They were definitely playing/defending hard. Holsinger and Ely are very talented. Holsinger always seems to kill Bradley, every time he shoots, I fear it's going in.

[Braves4Life]

We'll find out how good Evansville is Thursday when they play at #1 N. Carolina on ESPN @ 7 pm EST.

[bluedevils1]

We'll find out how good Evansville is Thursday when they play at #1 N. Carolina on ESPN @ 7 pm EST.

It's hard to say how good someone really is against North Carolina. In that case, Michigan State and Notre Dame are having down years and aren't "really" that good. Oral Roberts was closer than them, so Oral Roberts should be ranked...