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I know there is a thread on the FOXSports.com article about the top-10 conferences, but I'd like your thoughts on my article for Examiner.com that I emailed to Josh Herwitt.
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Don't putt until the cup stops movin' -
I think you summed it up pretty well. The MVCV hasn't missed being among the Top 10 conferences since 2003-2004 when it barely missed, finishing 11th.
I would also note that the 3 bottom dwellers of the MVC last year (Missouri State, Indiana State, and Drake) will all be greatly improved this year. And so will the 5-7 teams from last year, SIU, Evansville, and Wichita State. And I don't see any of the top 4 teams UNI, Creighton, Illinois State, and Bradley dropping off any, does anyone disagree? So it's hard to find a single MVC team that won't be as good or better this year than last year on paper. The games still need to be played, and we have to hope every team avoids injuries to key players, because the MVC teams don't have a stockpile of All-American players to bring off the benches. But I would be shocked if the MVC is not one of the Top 8 or 9 conferences again as it has been for the past 5 years.
Season.......Conference RPI rank for MVC
2008-2009.......9th
2007-2008.......8th
2006-2007.......6th
2005-2006.......6th
2004-2005.......8th -
and has any other mid-major conference sent as many teams to the Sweet Sixteen since '06? (and I am not counting Memphis).
In the past 4 Sweet Sixteens,
the A-10 sent two (Xavier twice)
the MVC sent 3 teams (BU, WSU, and SIU)
the WCC sent one (Gonzaga)
the MWC sent one (UNLV)
the Horizon sent one (Butler)
the Sun Belt sent one (WKU)
the Southern Conference sent one (Davidson
the CAA sent one (George Mason)Comment
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Who needs respect? Just fly under the radar.What part of illegal don't you understand?Comment
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Here's a perfect example why the people who cover the BCS conferences never get anything right when it comes to smaller conferences.
This is a MAJOR Rivals network story covering Illinois basketball schedule for this season.
It is loaded with errors about each of their non-BCS opponents they talk about... but they really don't get into trouble with their description of BU since they really don't say anything except this..
"Bradley could give a matchup of former Illinois Wolves point guards Sam Maniscalco and Demetri McCamey"
but here's some of the errors...
SIUE- "local central Illinois products like Mark Yelovich ( Mt. Zion), Aaron Garriot (Bloomington Central Ctaholic), and Brandon Dunson (Bloomington Central Catholic) will be out to prove"
------could be, but the guy clearly doesn't know that BOTH Garriott and Dunson left SIUE a long time ago and he doesn't know how to spell Garriott's name
NIU- "A wildcard is the eligibility of Colorado transfer Xavier Silas, who played for Ricardo Patton there and averaged 12 points per game in the Big 12 before shifting to NIU with the coach."
------"shifting"??, well in reality Silas was kicked off the Colorado team in Feb. of 2008 and hasn't played basketball since.
he was NOT averaging 12 ppg, he was avg. 9.7 ppg.
Presbyterian- "Center 6'7 Al'Lonzo Coleman (15.0 PPG, 8.4 RPG) who was near the top of many WAC conference categories last season as a sophomore"
------really?? That's odd, because Presbyterian does NOT play in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference)
Presbyterian plays in the Big South.Comment
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Yahoo! Sports shows Kaylon Williams as one of the top returners for Evansville this season. Oops!Don't putt until the cup stops movin'Comment
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Are you surprised? Yahoo Sports doesn't really dig for new stories. They just recirculate old stories without knowing, or caring, that they're factually wrong or out-dated.Originally posted by electricmayhem View PostComment
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I'm certainly not saying this to tout my own site, but there just aren't any sites out there that cover the Valley accurately. Another blog I just read said that Creighton will struggle without P'Allen Stinnett this year, but they return Booker Woodfox. The same blog stated that we lost our three bigs from last year, Wilson, Singh and Collins.Originally posted by Braves4Life View Post
Yuck.Don't putt until the cup stops movin'Comment
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yup, I agree....a few errors like thinking Sam Singh graduated can be expected...but thinking Stinnett is gone or not knowing Kaylon Williams and Brandon Dunson moved on is really not paying attention.Last edited by tornado; 08-24-2009, 11:06 AM.Comment
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It's simple...the Valley just doesn't have a marque, nationally-recognized program. The Valley ranks high in RPI because the strength is evenly distributed. Even the last place Valley teams can pull of some nice non-conference wins.
However, the Valley just doesn't have a Gonzaga or Memphis. Creighton is a nice program, but nobody will be picking them for a possible Final-Four run any time soon.
10 mediocre teams might do well from an RPI standpoint, but the conference needs to be more top-heavy to really garner any national attention.Comment
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Even more evidence of total lack of respect for the Valley or BU in particular.
A blog in the Sun Times lists the best assistant coaches at recruiting Illinois, and mentions guys as obscure as Isaac Chew of Murray State (they don't have a single kid from the entire state of IL!) & Rodell Davis of Providence (there's not a single IL kid on the Providence roster that was landed by this guy...so what gives here??)...
but not a mention of any Bradley assistant and few Valley assistants at all mentioned..............
BU has had some pretty good players from Illinois (Cellus, Tony Bennett, Sam Maniscalco, Crouch, Ruff, etc...) and so have a few other Valley teams....but the Chicago people must have missed all this and instead mention the Murray State guy??
The mention of a couple ISU coaches ...not one of their Chicago recruits has done much to contribute yet...and the ones who have (OE) were recruited by Porter Moser and guys who are long gone!
one note....the Cleveland folks think their guys...the MAC (Mid-American Conference) gets no respect....regardless of the fact that their conference has a whole lot of pretty bad teams...
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