Did anyone see this coming?

[Bravesfan]

I just read the umpteenth article on how the Valley cannot expect to get more than one team in and how the Valley's scheduling is so weak...
and we have a couple threads going about the weak scheduling and the statements from Doug Elgin urging the Valley members to schedule TOUGHER! Plus it';s the talk of several Valley message boards....

But my question (to Valley teams and to the MVC front offices) is ...
what the heck took so long before anyone says or does anything about this??

This is the 3rd straight year that the Valley will get only ONE team in the NCAA!

-Two years ago Drake was one-and-done while ISU lost any chance of an at-large bid because they scheduled so incredibly poorly..

-last year, UNI had an RPI of 59 but went one-and-done, while two higher RPI teams didn't go (ISU & Creighton) due to terrible scheduling.

-This year, Wichita blew any chance of an at-large bid by scheduling poorly, and ISU one-upped everyone by scheduling worse than any Valley team in memory...the worst since when ISU was "Normal Teachers College"...

So, why has it taken THREE years of some of the Valley teams doing the exact same thing that is killing us,
before someone like Doug Elgin or some of the Valley press steps up and calls teams out for this travesty??
We've been caling out loud here on BradleyFans for THREE years about this issue...I found dozens of threads saying exactly what would happen, we'd lose respect and we'd stop getting any at-large consideration....
so why has nobody else even bothered to recognize it 'til now, and suddenly, the commish is starting to take action like it's a new emergency!!

I have always respected the way Doug Elgin has run this conference, and he deserves all the credit in the world for making the Valley the best non-BCS conference during it's run in the middle of this past decade. He also gets kudos for obtaining better television contracts which have given the Valley well earned exposure. But Elgin has had a brain cramp by thinking their members would continue to adhere to his scheduling requirements on their own. They didn't and you can thank the numerous new coaches and AD's that have taken over the last couple of years (Bradley being the exception), but you can also thank Elgin for just sitting quietly and not doing anything to stem the bleeding.

If I were running the Valley I would not only reestablish the scheduling requirements, but I would also go one step further and ban teams from postseason if they intentionally fill out their schedule with creme puffs. Now I don't mean I would ban a team if their schedule turns out to fall below the 150 RPI requirement since factors beyond their control (opponents not performing as well as thought) would effect their strength of schedule. But I would ban a team like ISU or SIU where it is blatantly obvious from the get-go that their schedule would be garbage!

Sound harsh? Yes, but maybe that would wake teams up out of hibernation.

[Bravesfan]

I am actually quite sick of this arguement. The RPI code was broken a few years ago by the MVC and the MVC benefited from it. Our schedules aren't really any stronger or weaker than years past. We simply are being judged differently than we were three years ago. The mid-majors are not invited to the party. Plain and simple you can talk all you want about scheduling and I don't buy one freaking dollar of it.

This is a young league who is going to make mistakes, when the league gets older we will get more bids. ISU missed their shot and I'm sure there are some people who are questioning the risks they took, but that is basketball.

WSU should be in the tournament this year. They won't because they don't pass the eye test. WSU was smart when they created their schedule. They are a young team, would it be smart to put a young team through a guantlet schedule and let them get ripped game in and game out. No, you got a build a schedule that allows your team to grow, and then when you got Juniors and Seniors you get a schedule that builds the resume. Ask SIU, last years schedule was brutal, and they paid the price with disgruntled players. If you ask several close to the program many believe the difficult schedule last year may have set them back 5 years. Look at Creighton this year, kind of the same issue.

If you don't believe what I'm saying look at the Sweet Sixteen BU schedule - some familiar names. Look at the MSU schedule the years they got left out the dance - beat three ranked teams.

Its all BS. The schedules are the same. We got the same schedules the A10 has, except they won the big games this year. We will win big games when - Taylor Brown, Kyle Weems, Jackie Carmicheal, Toure Murray, etc. become stars instead of potential.

I know there are going to be seven hundred replies with this number and that. I went to the Valley tourney this year and watched every game - we are a young league not ready for Primetime. The BCS mopes aren't going to give us any room until we grow up.

You make some good points Garland, but here's where we differ. I think the schedules have declined overall. I'm not saying we had Gonzaga type schedules in 2006, but they were mostly all much better than ISU's. And in 2006, I don't believe any team in the Valley had non-conference schedules much below 200. This year you have ISU and SIU with schedules near dead last in the Valley! SIU I can excuse with a young team. ISU, absolutely not! They have a senior laden team with a potential pro prospect, and they never even made the Big Dance with him. That's the schedule that did them in! Give them credit for finishing in the top 3 the last couple of years, but without some meat on their schedule, they never even had a prayer of an at-large bid.

We are a young conference, but not as young as we were last year, and not really any younger than the MWC or the A-10. We should be strong enough for a second bid this year, especially with the Pac-10 down, but we didn't take advantage of it. And don't even get me started on the "eye test". I have no clue what that term means, and as I have posted on other threads, I resent it when I hear it used by the college basketball pundits!

I will agree with you on one other point. We had too many teams in the middle and not enough teams separating themselves ahead of the pack like we did in 2006. This year's Big Ten conference is a perfect example of how to establish several at-large teams. Three teams finished 14-4 and one 13-5. They will all make the tournament this year, and if we had that same situation, the Valley would probably get three of those teams into the tournament. And yes, a strong pack of teams at the top would probably offset weak non-conference schedules. But you still need the strong non-conference schedules as an important piece of the entire resume if a particular team is on the bubble. We didn't accomplish any of this this season, but just look at the MWC this year as an example.

They had two teams ranked with 13 conference wins, and another team at 11-5 with several wins over NCAA Tournament teams (UNLV). All three should easily make the tournament because they used both methods to create an at-large pool (several teams finishing ahead of the pack and scheduling strong). The Valley needs to get back to this well proven formula ASAP!

[Chico]

I straight-up disagree, but to each his own.

I disagree also. Our 70's non-conference schedule was a joke.

[Future Walk-On]

How do we know that scheduling harder would have led to all the MVC teams simply losing more...therefore nothing happening because the valley is simply down...

[pfunk880]

How do we know that scheduling harder would have led to all the MVC teams simply losing more...therefore nothing happening because the valley is simply down...

Well then so be it... it's one bid either way. Might as well at least take the risk and see what happens.

[BUBrave28]

Well then so be it... it's one bid either way. Might as well at least take the risk and see what happens.

EXACTLY!!! Remember the commercial for the lotto..gotta play to win??

The reason they don't is to pad their own personal resumes and HOPE they can do enough in conference to overshadow their terrible non-con.