Missouri State Wins CIT

[bradleyfan128]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP)??”Caleb Patterson scored 16 points to lead Missouri State to a 78-65 win over Pacific to capture the CollegeInsider.com Tournament championship Tuesday.

Four other Bears scored in double figures as Missouri State (24-12) rallied midway in the second half to overtake Pacific (23-12).

Pacific, champions of the Big West Conference, led 50-44 with 11:08 left before Missouri State went on an 11-0 run to take the lead for good at 55-50 with 9 minutes left.

Pacific got within 57-55 with 7:06 left, but scored just four points over the next 5:13 to fall behind 69-59 with 2:19 to go.

Kyle Weems had 14 points for Missouri State and Nafis Ricks had 13. Will Creekmore and Adam Leonard added 10.

Demetrece Young led Pacific with 17 points and Joe Ford added 16. Sam Willard and Allen Huddleston each had 10.

[Da Coach]

Thanks Bradleyfan128- congratulations to Missouri State.

here is a box score-

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201003300551

[LittleBrave]

MSU doesn't get the credit it deserves for a great season.
13 more wins than last year and so much more competitive.
They had an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers - they seem to get an assist-turnover ratio of 2:1 in a lot of games.
They also have played without starting freshmen PG Pickens (out with knee injury) in their last 3 wins.
Should be a catalyst for them next year to make the Big Dance (if the field expands to 96). Of course, we expect BU, WSU, and another Valley team to make it too!

[Stryker]

I agree, MSU had a pretty good season. They are only going to get better in the next couple of years. Hopefully Bradley can keep up with them, Wichita State, and the rest of the league. There is no doubt that the MVC is starting an upswing IMO. Hopefully the league can keep the coaches for a while!

[SaintLouBrave22]

MSU doesn't get the credit it deserves for a great season.
13 more wins than last year and so much more competitive.
They had an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers - they seem to get an assist-turnover ratio of 2:1 in a lot of games.
They also have played without starting freshmen PG Pickens (out with knee injury) in their last 3 wins.
Should be a catalyst for them next year to make the Big Dance (if the field expands to 96). Of course, we expect BU, WSU, and another Valley team to make it too!

I don't mean to start disagreeing, but when was Pickens a starter?


Fuehrmeyer was their starting PG



Also, I really don't see the field expanding, at least not now...


Missouri State will be decent next year, but as all teams, they need to figure out how to win on the road as I believe 19 of their 24 wins were at home.

[LittleBrave]

I don't mean to start disagreeing, but when was Pickens a starter?

Fuehrmeyer was their starting PG

Also, I really don't see the field expanding, at least not now...

Missouri State will be decent next year, but as all teams, they need to figure out how to win on the road as I believe 19 of their 24 wins were at home.

Pickens started 17 of the 33 games he was not injured. Fuehrmeyer started in 16. I don't believe he even started in the last 3 games, as they started with 3 bigs. Pickens is pretty solid as a freshman (49% FG%) - hopefully he won't fold like McFarland did and was kicked off the team.

The report on Sportscenter this morning was that the field would be expanding to 96 next year. Not sure the validity of this report yet, but it was the opening headline for the show.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Pickens started 17 of the 33 games he was not injured. Fuehrmeyer started in 16. I don't believe he even started in the last 3 games, as they started with 3 bigs. Pickens is pretty solid as a freshman (49% FG%) - hopefully he won't fold like McFarland did and was kicked off the team.

The report on Sportscenter this morning was that the field would be expanding to 96 next year. Not sure the validity of this report yet, but it was the opening headline for the show.

Well, I just recall JF starting the tournament games....


Good pickup...I can and have been wrong too



The SC report I don't know about, but my guess is this is their way of trying to force the hand to dish out some money and get the tournament...as everyone can recall that if they expand the field it goes to the bidding and CBS loses their current contract...

[TNMSUFAN]

Pickens started 17 of the 33 games he was not injured. Fuehrmeyer started in 16. I don't believe he even started in the last 3 games, as they started with 3 bigs. Pickens is pretty solid as a freshman (49% FG%) - hopefully he won't fold like McFarland did and was kicked off the team.

The report on Sportscenter this morning was that the field would be expanding to 96 next year. Not sure the validity of this report yet, but it was the opening headline for the show.

Coach Martin was on a local radio sports show this morning and basically said the 96 team expansion is a done deal in his opinion.

Pickens made strides as the season went on but losing Cardell McFarland who started 19 games last year and Michael Porter actually had a bigger impact on our season. Losing those guys made Leonard and Weems play more minutes which hurt us during stretches especially with both guys being jump shooters.

We will be improved next year but we will have a tougher schedule and still need to figure out the Valley road.

[LittleBrave]

We will be improved next year but we will have a tougher schedule and still need to figure out the Valley road.

You should be excited about the prospects of next season if you're a Bears fan. I think you'll have a little more success on the Valley road too. Not sure what happened in those tight losses, but if a couple swung the other way, MSU would have been an NIT team.

[Bravesfan]

Pickens started 17 of the 33 games he was not injured. Fuehrmeyer started in 16. I don't believe he even started in the last 3 games, as they started with 3 bigs. Pickens is pretty solid as a freshman (49% FG%) - hopefully he won't fold like McFarland did and was kicked off the team.

The report on Sportscenter this morning was that the field would be expanding to 96 next year. Not sure the validity of this report yet, but it was the opening headline for the show.

Oh great! Well, if true, the Valley has NO excuses not to get at least a minimum 3 teams into the Big Dance each year.

[shockerfan13]

Oh great! Well, if true, the Valley has NO excuses not to get at least a minimum 3 teams into the Big Dance each year.

Only if there is enough to go around after the following get into the tournament:

10 Big XII teams
9 Big 10 teams
14 Big East teams
10 ACC teams
8 Pac 10 teams
9 SEC teams

Expanding won't help the mid-majors get into the tourney. They are only going to expand so they can switch to using ESPN for the tourney and put more games on TV. Therefore they will want teams that will get the most viewers so they can make more $$$.

Now I'm being a little extreme about the number of "big boys" in the tourney. But it is definately all about $$$.

[SFP]

Only if there is enough to go around after the following get into the tournament:

10 Big XII teams
9 Big 10 teams
14 Big East teams
10 ACC teams
8 Pac 10 teams
9 SEC teams

Expanding won't help the mid-majors get into the tourney. They are only going to expand so they can switch to using ESPN for the tourney and put more games on TV. Therefore they will want teams that will get the most viewers so they can make more $$$.

Now I'm being a little extreme about the number of "big boys" in the tourney. But it is definately all about $$$.

and do not forget that it will be the mid-majors playing in the play in games. The BCS boys will be all the higher seeds. Look how they did the seeding this year and do you think just because Butler, UNI, St. Mary's and Xavier made the Sweet 16 that they will change their ways. The mid-majors need to somehow force the BCS boys to play them during the season on an even playing field or else there is zero hope of ever getting a fair draw. I predict that there will be a major realignment with the BCS conferences that will lead to the mid-majors having to play catch up and be forced to realign accordingly. There mids will have to form around 3 basketball power conferences to have a chance IMO.

[Bravesfan]

and do not forget that it will be the mid-majors playing in the play in games. The BCS boys will be all the higher seeds. Look how they did the seeding this year and do you think just because Butler, UNI, St. Mary's and Xavier made the Sweet 16 that they will change their ways. The mid-majors need to somehow force the BCS boys to play them during the season on an even playing field or else there is zero hope of ever getting a fair draw. I predict that there will be a major realignment with the BCS conferences that will lead to the mid-majors having to play catch up and be forced to realign accordingly. There mids will have to form around 3 basketball power conferences to have a chance IMO.

I still believe the top 4 or 5 non-BCS conferences will benefit from this new alignment. If we use the teams that made the NIT as a template, and assuming the NCAA will allow automatic bids for all regular season conference winners (a big if on the latter point), the Valley, CAA and the WAC would have three bids, the MAAC would have two, CUSA would have four, and the A-10 would have five. Otherwise, you are correct SFP in saying that the other mid-major conferences would not benefit all that much.

As far as seeding is concerned, you will still get some top 8 seeds from mid-major teams, and once the bottom 16 seeds are done playing each other in the first round, you will end up with much stronger 15 and 16 seeds playing the 1 and 2 seeds in the second round. Which means you will most likely see a 16 seed beat a 1 seed within the next five or six years. This would make the remaining 64 team field even more entertaining to watch, so that would be a good thing.

But it does come back to rewarding mediocre teams, and ultimately a 96 team field, while still comprised of some additional good teams, may ultimately be watered down somewhat. And the small conference teams may end up being seeded 21 through 24 instead of 13 to 16, which would not be a good thing for those smaller teams, and may ultimately lead to a split of Division I teams into two divisions like we see in football. So there are pros and cons, but it will come down to if the pros ultimately outweigh the cons, or if the $$$$ are there.

Something tells me that money wins everytime!