Andy Katz registers his early picks for the Missouri Valley

[tornado]

It's not meant as a preseason preview of the Missouri Valley, but Andy Katz DOES
give an idea of who he thinks are the favorites in the Valley.
Scroll to the near bottom in this column to the segment where he's talking about Chris Lowery.....

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4331592&name=katz_andy

"The Salukis had one of the youngest teams in the Missouri Valley last
season, but still managed to finish tied for fifth with Evansville and Wichita
State at 8-10. The Salukis lose guard Bryan Mullins but return the core of
their team with rising junior Carlton Fay and rising sophomores Kevin Dillard,
Anthony Booker, Ryan Hare and Nick Evans. Iowa transfer Tony Freeman is
eligible after sitting out the year and Lowery expects him to be a big-time
talent for the Salukis, who will also welcome stud JC transfer scoring wing
Jack Crowder. Crowder was a JC All-American and wasn't picked up by SIU
until June 10. The 6-4 wing led Cowley College in Kansas with 21 points a
game.

With the majority of its team returning,
Northern Iowa will still be picked to win the Valley.
Creighton, Illinois State and Wichita State should be in the mix for the title as well. But the
Salukis shouldn't be far behind."

So, it would appear that his picks for the MVC would go like this...
1- Northern Iowa
2- Creighton
3- Illinois State
4- Wichita State
5- SIU
6 through 10- everyone else, including Bradley


let's hope he's overlooking the Braves!

[tornado]

The guy who writes for the Illinois State Examiner has a new column on King O...
and he gives us his veiled predictions with "bated breath"...
which I think means baited breath...

he seems to suggest OE will ignore the preseason hype of being honorable mention on Dick Vitale's All Rolls Royce team
(there were 1st through 7th teams, then 20 more guys on the Hon. Mention, so the lists included more than 50 guys)
and will lead the Redbirds dancing...
"all the awards and recognition he receives will play second fiddle to a pair of dance shoes"

http://www.examiner.com/x-15208-Illinois-State-Redbirds-Examiner~y2009m7d17-Being-Osiris-Eldridge

[BostonBird]

just a vocab fyi - "bated" is the correct word.

[tornado]

wow- who'da thunk it??
although it depends on who you read...seems both forms may be considered proper..

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bated-breath.html

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm

but getting to the actual concept of the thread.....are we all going to just fight for 2nd place
and concede the Valley title to UNI???
Seems to me like the games I saw UNI play, they were beatable in every one of them...
nine of their last 11 wins were single digit wins, and 7 of them were 5 pt or less.
I am not yet sold that they are the head-and-shoulders favorite....

[SFP]

What does Katz really know about the Valley anyways? Any games played west of the Appalachians are 2nd rate to him and especially if they, are not playing specifically in the Northeast. By him picking us with everyone else just speaks volume. Even the guys in the Redbird forum would pick us better then that.

BTW...OE should have a stellar year and that is an easy right up that any reporter could write.

[houstontxbrave]

I sincerely hope everyone keeps ignoring Bradley this season.

[tornado]

not everyone...I want about 11,000 to be there for every game!

[squirrelgotdead]

What does Katz really know about the Valley anyways? Any games played west of the Appalachians are 2nd rate to him and especially if they, are not playing specifically in the Northeast. By him picking us with everyone else just speaks volume. Even the guys in the Redbird forum would pick us better then that.

BTW...OE should have a stellar year and that is an easy right up that any reporter could write.

Unlike most national pundits, Katz gives the little guy the benefit of every doubt and has been a voice of reason for Valley members where necessary.

[SFP]

Unlike most national pundits, Katz gives the little guy the benefit of every doubt and has been a voice of reason for Valley members where necessary.

That's your opinion not mine! Mind you I do not mind Katz but voice of reason is a stretch. His NCAA picks are BCS heavy year in and year out.

[Braves4Life]

Seems to me like the games I saw UNI play, they were beatable in every one of them...
nine of their last 11 wins were single digit wins, and 7 of them were 5 pt or less.
I am not yet sold that they are the head-and-shoulders favorite....

UNI will be this year what Drake was last year, IMO.

[DUBulldog]

UNI will be this year what Drake was last year, IMO.

Two big differences.....Drake lost 3 starters, including the conference POY and a 2nd-team all-conference player. UNI returns all five starters. And, UNI will be playing under the same coach as the previous season, unlike last season's Drake team.

So, I really don't see UNI dropping down nearly as far in one season as Drake did.

[real fan]

UNI has a good solid team but they won a lot of close games last season and no one will be taking them for granted , they will have a much tougher time on the road .

[tornado]

UNI has a good solid team but they won a lot of close games last season and no one will be taking them for granted ,
they will have a much tougher time on the road .

well, the rest of the Valley teams might as well start recruiting for 2010-2011 and forget the 2009-2010 season...
because the Cedar Rapids Gazette has declared the Valley season all but officially OVER...

"UNI men can??™t dodge role of favorite"

"Unfortunately.. UNI??™s stat sheet is too full and eye-popping.."
"We definitely have a good unit..UNI has a chance to become historically good..."

"We??™ll kind of have a target on our backs ...
there??™s no sneaking up on anybody anymore......UNI??™s goals begin ??” not end ??” at the NCAA tournament."

and this one...
"Two statistics often determine the outcome in NCAA tournament games: free throw shooting and turnovers.
Last year, UNI hit 75.3 percent of its free throws, 14th best nationally.
The Panthers turned the ball over only 11.7 times a game, 22nd in the country."

http://gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090715/SPORTS/707159908/1008

so they must have really gone far in the NCAA, right??

[PTTB]

After that article was picked about there, let's take a look at some of the real quotes (and no, no one from UNI ever said that they could be historically good, that was the author of the piece...from the #2, if not #3 paper that covers UNI in the state).

Northern Iowa men??™s basketball player Ali Farokhmanesh doesn??™t want to anger the basketball gods.

Farokhmanesh and his teammates are trying to slide by and play the underdog role in the Missouri Valley Conference and among its regional competitors.

???We definitely have a good unit, but it??™s going to be a lot tougher this year,??? Farokhmanesh said. ???The Valley is getting better. There??™s going to be a lot of good players in the Valley.???

UNI??™s intangibles are veteran leadership, a cohesive unit and poise down the stretch. Farokhmanesh realizes it??™s pointless to fight off favorite status.

???We??™ll kind of have a target on our backs this year,??? he said. ???We kind of snuck up on some people in the Valley toward the beginning of the year but there??™s no sneaking up on anybody anymore. But I think you have to be that much better also.???

Especially if UNI??™s goals begin ??” not end ??” at the NCAA tournament.

It seems as though the UNI student-athletes quoted were trying to deflect any type of pub regarding the team. No bloated team egos...this was an author trying to talk about a program who won the MVC last year, returns 9 of their top 10, and has some nice chemistry. My favorite quote that you posted, tornado, was this one:

"We definitely have a good unit..UNI has a chance to become historically good..."

Those two statements aren't even in the same paragraph, and by the average joe reader, you would think it was the same person saying the same thing, since it's all part of one quotation. But it's not. One is the beginning of a sentence ("We definitely have a good unit), which is actually followed by (but it??™s going to be a lot tougher this year,??? Farokhmanesh said. ???The Valley is getting better. There??™s going to be a lot of good players in the Valley.???). Then, there is the author's thoughts in the following paragraph (Digging a little deeper, UNI has a chance to become historically good. The 23 wins last year tied a school record. The Panthers won 11 games in a row, the best streak in team history. Nine of the team??™s top 10 scorers return. Topping it off, the team only started clicking midway through the conference season last year.)

That just seemed like someone was trying to rile up people, but when you actually read the article, I think most would agree that the UNI players were deflecting the praise and trying to be humble, yet honest. As for the last sentence or two in the article on UNI and the NCAA tournament, I definitely hope UNI gets back to the NCAA's, and can make some noise, but I hope UNI isn't the only MVC team this year to make it (or do some damage). This needs to be a stepping stone year for the conference to get back to that multi-bid status.

[tornado]

PTTB -- you know I have a great respect for UNI and I fully declare they ARE the favorites and should have a fine chance of winning the Valley..
that said... note the little "",
meaning I was trying to be a little silly with the article and put the extra emphasis
on sarcasm so as to downplay any chances the rest of the Valley teams have... I am hoping to boost the Panthers' confidence and over-confidence to "historically" high levels, so they don't feel as hungry as the other Valley teams....
again........