MVC games Wed. 2/23

[Da Coach]

Evansville 69
Drake 87

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102230170

Ryan Wedel with 29 points on senior night


Creighton 65
Wichita St 67

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102230648

Durley and Blair with big nights on senior night


Missouri St 76
Southern Ill 58

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102230528

Creekmore with a career night- 26 points, 11 rebounds. Seck (17 & 13) was about the only Saluki to show up.


Standings
SCHOOL.............CONF...OVERALL...
Wichita State......14-3.......23-6
Missouri State.....14-3.......22-7
Indiana State......11-6.......16-13
Northern Iowa.....10-7.......19-11
Creighton.............9-8.......17-13
Evansville.............8-9.......14-14
Drake..................7-10.......13-16
Southern Illinois....5-12.......12-17
Illinois State........4-13.......12-17
Bradley...............3-14.......10-19

[MDCowboy]

As a Bradley fan, both games against ISU red have to make you sick. The difference between playing an SIU team that has been struggling and unmotivated on Thursday OR playing either Drake or Evansville is a big difference. Losing twice to ISU red... wow - just wow.

[tornado]

...The difference between playing an SIU team that has been struggling and unmotivated on Thursday OR playing either Drake or Evansville....

I don't see any difference....we need to beat whoever we face..and if we can't beat a Thursday team then we don't deserve to advance.

[canadian]

I don't see any difference....we need to beat whoever we face..and if we can't beat a Thursday team then we don't deserve to advance.

Agreed. Just play, win, and move on. You don't, you go home. It is sad and bad for the league that the three Illinois schools are in the bottom three of the standings.

[tornado]

I enjoyed watching the two games last night on the Big Ten network...

Wisconsin dodges a bullet again and gets a banked 3-pointer at the buzzer...

But in the Indiana game...it is absolutely appalling how little talent Indiana has...and even worse is how it gets used...
Even the walk on Daniel Moore who's got only about 100 career points, plays ahead of Matt Roth a guy who has the ability to nail shots.

They have Watford & Hulls, and even though the rest were highly rated...
(Pritchard was 4-Star, Elston was 4-Star, Oladipo & Roth & Jones III & Capo & Sheehey & Rivers were all solid 3-Star kids....just as highly rated as NW's Shurna, Crawford, & Cobb or Michigan's Zach Novak & Louisville's Kyle Kuric..)
..nobody can consistently help in the scoring..

but now 3 years into the Crean era -- they are in last place and have a total of only 8 Big Ten wins over THREE SEASONS!

But they play hard and are still fun to watch even if losing.....

I am just bummed that game after game, Indiana cannot find anyone besides Hulls & Watford that can score and YET...
guess who sits the bench geting pine splinters??
One of the best all time shooters in high school history...
Roth's only playing time once again was in the final 3 minutes when Crean was desperate to nail a couple 3-pointers to try to keep the loss within 12 points.

Matt Roth is 3 years onto his college career and his playing time is going down, down...
Pretty much only the walk ons play more than Matt -- he won't even hit 100 points this year, when had he been at "a midmajor" he'd be hitting 400-500 points this season, and he'd be a major player...
Matt -- it's still not too late!

[Da Coach]

Since Matt redshirted one year, does anyone know if he will graduate this spring? If so, he might consider transferring and playing his final year elsewhere.

[TheGuy]

Crean has had 3 years at IU and hasn't really done anything. It also sounds like fans are upset about recruits that he is passing up on in the 3 years he has been there.

How many years did they give him? Could he likely be gone soon?

[tornado]

one other really interesting result from last night...
Arkansas (5-7 coming into the game) beats Kentucky....Kentucky falls to 1-6 on the road in the SEC..
They have only 3 games left and all are potential losses...vs. #13 Florida, #18 Vandy, and at Tennessee.

Kentucky appears to line up as the 5th or 6th best team in the SEC despite everyone in the media and on TV drooling all over them and ranking them in the Top 20

If they do lose those final three and end up with a 7-9 conference record...
will the press and broadcast Calipari lovers and worshippers call a spade a spad and finally drop them out of the rankings and send them to the NIT??

don't count on it...they will get a 3 or 4 seed!

[Da Coach]

Crean is a good coach, and as hard a worker as anyone. He probably made a mistake trying to recruit nationally the last couple years, when these past couple years have been great for outstanding recruits in his own state that he missed on. Instead he went for projects and jucos to fill gaps.
He has Cody Zeller and Austin Etherington committed for 2011-

http://kansas.scout.com/a.z?s=172&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=406&sspid=-1&yr=2011

And he has some high-caliber recruits committed for 2012.-

http://kansas.scout.com/a.z?s=172&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=406&sspid=-1&yr=2012

Will all these future recruits stay and develop? If they do, Indiana could become a contender in 3 or 4 years, but will the fans be patient and wait that much longer?

[tornado]

NATIONAL recruiting guru Justin Young of Rivals says this...he think's Crean might continue to struggle...not so much coaching to win but coaching to save face with critics and keep his job

http://twitter.com/JustinDYoung/status/40675169353596928

[BradleyJD]

Crean is a good coach, and as hard a worker as anyone. He probably made a mistake trying to recruit nationally the last couple years, when these past couple years have been great for outstanding recruits in his own state that he missed on.

I like Crean and his style. I think many underestimated how bad Indiana had gotten.

I am sure if IU lets him go, he will land on his feet. It's tough to do what needed to be done there, but I think he is running low on time too. Although, his track record suggests he could still get it done.

IU is an interesting place. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

[tornado]

I think many underestimated how bad Indiana had gotten....

I can't see this could even be possible since it is repeated over and over a zillion times every time IU is on TV or is even mentioned...
sure they got bad -- but NOT because of NCAA penalties...
they got bad because the players Sampson brought in were all talented but flunkies and druggies -- and it was THIS current Indiana administration and fan base who saw it, knew it, and even knew they risked getting hammered for it -- yet enabled it to happen and cheered it on as long as it gave them wins...
the IU admin & fan base showed NO class, no dignity, no decency, and no respect for following rules and doing things right.

As has been proven plenty -- the NCAA basically GAVE THEM nothing and their own self imposed penalties were virtually non-existent -- just ONE scholarship for ONE year when they weren't going to win anything anyway.

As I have shown, only Ohio State has landed as many or more 4-star or 5-Star kids in the three years since Crean has been there, yet IU is still really bad...
Sure they've had injuries but not nearly as many as even Bradley has had...

they do play hard and have talent -- but their offense is unrecognizable, chaotic, and random...everyone with the ball simply looks to put their head down, drive and/or shoot.

they are DEAD LAST by a mile in the Big Ten in assists & A/T (they are further behind the 10th place team in assists than the 10th place team behind the 4th and than the 7th place team is behind the leader) and last in almost all defensive stats
Unfortunately some fans are beginning to fear that this IS Tom Crean's plan and offense...and if so it does not bode well.

[BradleyJD]

sure they got bad -- but NOT because of NCAA penalties...
they got bad because the players Sampson brought in were all talented but flunkies and druggies -- and it was THIS current Indiana administration and fan base who saw it, knew it, and even knew they risked getting hammered for it -- yet enabled it to happen and cheered it on as long as it gave them wins...

I agree completely with this part. Unfortunately, this is all too common. They discussed this very topic on the SVP show many times on ESPN radio.

They have asked many times, "How many fans or players would take a program or team, have a good or great run of say 3-5 years, maybe win a national title or at least make great runs every year....and then after that have the NCAA come in and penalize the program for something illegal"

Time and time again the fans call in and say, absolutely yes! Why? because they get time at the top. Then years later, people talk about the great team and players. People forget lost scholarships or some lame recruiting limitations.

They talked about it this year in regards to the possible Cam Newton trouble at Auburn. Their fans have the national title now, they got to go the game, party, and celebrate.

If the NCAA ever decided to take the title back, people still have all the memories.

Sad, maybe, but true.

[TheAsianSensation]

one other really interesting result from last night...
Arkansas (5-7 coming into the game) beats Kentucky....Kentucky falls to 1-6 on the road in the SEC..
They have only 3 games left and all are potential losses...vs. #13 Florida, #18 Vandy, and at Tennessee.

Kentucky appears to line up as the 5th or 6th best team in the SEC despite everyone in the media and on TV drooling all over them and ranking them in the Top 20

If they do lose those final three and end up with a 7-9 conference record...
will the press and broadcast Calipari lovers and worshippers call a spade a spad and finally drop them out of the rankings and send them to the NIT??

don't count on it...they will get a 3 or 4 seed!

They won't be a protected seed but saying they'll all the way down to the NIT, even at 7-9, is probably a bit much.

The SEC West may indeed be pathetic, but the SEC East, which they play 10 games against, is beast this year.

[canadian]

I agree completely with this part. Unfortunately, this is all too common. They discussed this very topic on the SVP show many times on ESPN radio.

They have asked many times, "How many fans or players would take a program or team, have a good or great run of say 3-5 years, maybe win a national title or at least make great runs every year....and then after that have the NCAA come in and penalize the program for something illegal"

Time and time again the fans call in and say, absolutely yes! Why? because they get time at the top. Then years later, people talk about the great team and players. People forget lost scholarships or some lame recruiting limitations.

They talked about it this year in regards to the possible Cam Newton trouble at Auburn. Their fans have the national title now, they got to go the game, party, and celebrate.

If the NCAA ever decided to take the title back, people still have all the memories.

Sad, maybe, but true.

Count me in the group. However much money Auburn paid Cam Newton is was certainly worth it. No doubt.