BU to host Utah in MVC-MWC Challenge Dec. 4, 2010

[Da Coach]

SIU beat writer seems to think the Saluki's didn't get any favors from the MVC by getting MWC champion New Mexico-

http://www.thesouthern.com/sports/article_dd3f31ee-4781-11df-97e3-001cc4c002e0.html

Note that the article states that "SIU could return 14 of 15 players this winter, including four starters and seven players that started at least one game."

I am not sure what he's referring to, since a couple of the players who were on the roster this season (Ryan Hare and Nick Evans) have already left the team, along with losing one senior Tony Freeman. And he seems to be intentionally ignoring the strong rumors that several other key players are leaving.

[tornado]

"pairings didn't do the rebuilding Southern Illinois University men's basketball team any favors Tuesday"

what? would they be better to get the 9th best team in the MWC? how's that gonna help your team get better or how's it help in any way?
It seems this guy just wants to whine....
..and I agree....to say they return 4 starters is a stretch, since their starters most of the year were Dillard, Fay, Freeman, Bocot, & Evans...
two of whom are already gone, and strong rumors of Dillard leaving, too.

[tornado]

This has been known for a while, but the news was just made official this morning.
Bradley will host Utah as this year's Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge matchup on December 4, 2010.

Just an update on Utah - the Mountain West team that Bradley plays this comnig season....
....since I have seen Utah mentioned several times in discussions of conference change and most recently have been mentioned as possible addition to the Pac-10...
--so I did a little digging as to how their basketball team should look next year....

They lost Marshall Henderson and a lot of other good talent to graduation and players leaving...and as these stories disclose, some think the program is "in shambles" with all the dissatisfaction and player dissent...

http://www.examiner.com/x-2306-Utah-Sports-Examiner~y2010m4d7-Utah-basketball-in-downward-spiral-as-guard-Marshall-Henderson-parts-ways-with-team

http://www.examiner.com/x-2306-Utah-Sports-Examiner~y2010m3d4-Utah-basketball-coach-Jim-Boylen-postgame-press-conference-tirade-draws-national-attention--Video

but they just landed a couple of late juco signees...to bring their recruiting class to EIGHT new guys - although not all are signed and fully guaranteed to be in uniform next fall!!

The two latest...
Will Clyburn 6-6 guard

http://utah.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1076666

Chris Kupets - who is 5-11 but said to be capable of playing the 1, 2, or 3!!

http://utah.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1080001

and also Dominique Lee, Antonio DiMaria, Preston Guiot, Josh Watkins, and JJ O'Brien..
FIVE are jucos, and oddly not ONE of the seven is rated even a 1-Star...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/utah/basketball/recruiting/commitments/2010

Their returning roster includes these players, a few of which are walk-ons...

Name Pos. Yr. Exp. Ht./Wt. Hometown (last school)
1 Jay Watkins F Jr. TR 6-7/210 Memphis, TN (College of Southern Idaho)
2 Jace Tavita G So. 1V 6-4/205 Brighton, UT (Brighton HS)
10 Tre Smith G So. 1V 5-10/170 Magna, UT (Cyprus HS)
25 Austin Robison F Jr. TR 6-6/230 Sandy, UT (Salt Lake Community College)
30 Ricky Shoff G Jr. TR 6-2/195 Amercian Fork, UT (Salt Lake Community College)
32 Shawn Glover G Fr. HS 6-6/190 Cedar Hill, TX (Cedar Hill HS)
41 Jeremy Olsen F Fr. HS 6-10/235 Lawrenceville, GA (Collins Hill HS)
42 Jason Washburn C Fr. RS 7-0/220 Battle Creek, MI (Battle Creek Central HS)
51 David Foster C So. 1V 7-3/255 Lake Forest, CA (El Toro HS)


The only players among their entire roster who return with even a modicum of experience are--
Watkins (often injured 6-7 PF) at 9.2 ppg, Foster (skinny 7-foot center who blocks a lot of shots) at 3.5 ppg, Glover (one time BU recruit, 6-6 G/F) at 4.7 ppg, and Washburn (even skinnier 7-ft center with amazingly low rebounding numbers for his size) at 5.0 ppg....
and of their 6250 total minutes from last season, they return less than 2000 of them, only about 30% of their minutes and only 25% of their scoring.

[Future Walk-On]

Just an update on Utah - the Mountain West team that Bradley plays this comnig season....
....since I have seen Utah mentioned several times in discussions of conference change and most recently have been mentioned as possible addition to the Pac-10...
--so I did a little digging as to how their basketball team should look next year....

They lost Marshall Henderson and a lot of other good talent to graduation and players leaving...and as these stories disclose, some think the program is "in shambles" with all the dissatisfaction and player dissent...

http://www.examiner.com/x-2306-Utah-Sports-Examiner~y2010m4d7-Utah-basketball-in-downward-spiral-as-guard-Marshall-Henderson-parts-ways-with-team

http://www.examiner.com/x-2306-Utah-Sports-Examiner~y2010m3d4-Utah-basketball-coach-Jim-Boylen-postgame-press-conference-tirade-draws-national-attention--Video

but they just landed a couple of late juco signees...to bring their recruiting class to EIGHT new guys - although not all are signed and fully guaranteed to be in uniform next fall!!

The two latest...
Will Clyburn 6-6 guard

http://utah.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1076666

Chris Kupets - who is 5-11 but said to be capable of playing the 1, 2, or 3!!

http://utah.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1080001

and also Dominique Lee, Antonio DiMaria, Preston Guiot, Josh Watkins, and JJ O'Brien..
FIVE are jucos, and oddly not ONE of the seven is rated even a 1-Star...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/utah/basketball/recruiting/commitments/2010

Their returning roster includes these players, a few of which are walk-ons...

Name Pos. Yr. Exp. Ht./Wt. Hometown (last school)
1 Jay Watkins F Jr. TR 6-7/210 Memphis, TN (College of Southern Idaho)
2 Jace Tavita G So. 1V 6-4/205 Brighton, UT (Brighton HS)
10 Tre Smith G So. 1V 5-10/170 Magna, UT (Cyprus HS)
25 Austin Robison F Jr. TR 6-6/230 Sandy, UT (Salt Lake Community College)
30 Ricky Shoff G Jr. TR 6-2/195 Amercian Fork, UT (Salt Lake Community College)
32 Shawn Glover G Fr. HS 6-6/190 Cedar Hill, TX (Cedar Hill HS)
41 Jeremy Olsen F Fr. HS 6-10/235 Lawrenceville, GA (Collins Hill HS)
42 Jason Washburn C Fr. RS 7-0/220 Battle Creek, MI (Battle Creek Central HS)
51 David Foster C So. 1V 7-3/255 Lake Forest, CA (El Toro HS)


The only players among their entire roster who return with even a modicum of experience are--
Watkins (often injured 6-7 PF) at 9.2 ppg, Foster (skinny 7-foot center who blocks a lot of shots) at 3.5 ppg, Glover (one time BU recruit, 6-6 G/F) at 4.7 ppg, and Washburn (even skinnier 7-ft center with amazingly low rebounding numbers for his size) at 5.0 ppg....
and of their 6250 total minutes from last season, they return less than 2000 of them, only about 30% of their minutes and only 25% of their scoring.

we should roll them.

[dogsrus]

[QUOTE=BradleyBrave;179038]It's a good point. We're at the mercy of the PCC when it comes to scheduling,

Not anymore....we could hold the new digs over their heads for this game.

[tornado]

BTW -- I didn't see where this was mentioned...

In the NCAA Tournament last season, this was supposed to be THE YEAR for the Mountain West to make a statement,
getting FOUR different teams in the NCAA Tourney - New Mexico, BYU, UNLV, SDSU,
and the Valley was said to be down and was going to get only ONE bid, the automatic bid...

In the end, all four of the MWC guys were gone the first weekend, going 2-4 while the Valley's only representative went to the Sweet Sixteen!

Maybe the fact that the MVC won the Challenge vs. the MWC was the early evidence that despite the gaudy records...
those top teams in the MWC were NOT that good, and their gaudy records were the result of inflated win totals from playing soft non-conference schedules!
(which btw was the reason Wichita State and ISU never got a glance for an at-large bid, but for some reason the NCAA selection committee ignored those lousy non-conference schedules of the MWC!!)

[SFP]

MWC deserved those bids IMO it's just that the MVC deserved at least one more. It was more like the committee over looked us and fairly looked at those others teams body of work.

[TheAsianSensation]

BTW -- I didn't see where this was mentioned...

In the NCAA Tournament last season, this was supposed to be THE YEAR for the Mountain West to make a statement,
getting FOUR different teams in the NCAA Tourney - New Mexico, BYU, UNLV, SDSU,
and the Valley was said to be down and was going to get only ONE bid, the automatic bid...

In the end, all four of the MWC guys were gone the first weekend, going 2-4 while the Valley's only representative went to the Sweet Sixteen!

Maybe the fact that the MVC won the Challenge vs. the MWC was the early evidence that despite the gaudy records...
those top teams in the MWC were NOT that good, and their gaudy records were the result of inflated win totals from playing soft non-conference schedules!
(which btw was the reason Wichita State and ISU never got a glance for an at-large bid, but for some reason the NCAA selection committee ignored those lousy non-conference schedules of the MWC!!)

For full disclosure (via InsideRPI) these are the non-con SoS ranks for the relevant MWC and MVC teams:

NM 56
SDSU 96
BYU 176
UNLV 193

WSU 284
ISU 303



For my money, the top 4 teams in the MWC were still better, IMO, than everyone in the Valley not named Northern Iowa. That Northern Iowa was the clear best team from either conference is true, also.

[tornado]

no need to remind how bad the SOS was for ISU and WSU...
but Pomeroy had the following non-conference SOS'

-SDSU 64
-UNLV 105
-New Mexico 109
-BYU 132