Under/Over-achieving Valley teams (early Dec.)

[LittleBrave]

Which teams have been disappointing to start the season?


Which teams have exceeded your expectations?


Feel free to give certain teams a letter grade according to either how you thought they would perform or vs. the Pre-season Valley picks.

[LittleBrave]

I'll just focus on the Illinois MVC teams for now:

ISU (red): C+
Have played pretty well away from Redbird arena. They certainly have shown they can stay out of the Thursday Play-in game if they are consistent.

BU: C-
No very well played games so far IMO, but have squeaked out a few ugly home wins. A plus is that you don't hear as much - "We didn't come ready to play tonight." If the 4 main guys (TB, JP, DSE, WL) are able to have a solid game at the same time, we might be tough to beat at home. So far, that hasn't happened - the norm has been 2 guys play well, and 2 guys have off-nights.

SIU: F
Don't even remember their single win, but their losses have been pretty shameful. It seems I was completely wrong in picking SIU as a surprise team alongside the Braves.

[Da Coach]

UNI overachieved
SIU and UE underachiever

So far. Little of this really matters yet, since, other than Creighton and WSU, and possibly UNI, I do not believe there is any other team with a non-conference resume that will get them an at-large bid.

[PTownHawkeye]

UNI, WSU and ISUred have overachieved in my mind. I didn't think WSU was going to be this good and predicted a down year. Whoops.

I also didn't think ISUred would win many games at all. Brown and Moore seem like they will be players we will learn to hate, Cousin is turning into a deceng PG, and Ekey has showcased an pretty solid offensive game...I hate to say it, but they may surprise some people this year.

Creighton has been very impressive, but they are where I thought they'd be at this point, so I can say they have overachieved.

BU and SIU are also where I thought they'd be, so I can't say they've underachieved (the only game BU lost that I thought they wouldn't was Wofford).

Evansville is the only team that has underachieved IMO. Their win vs Butler is looking less impressive, and they lost 2 games against inferior teams.

[tornado]

on a scale of how disappointing 0-10...
I have strong expectations....only a couple Valley teams look good enough to have avoided disappointing me a bit...

BU - 5 - moderately disappointing to me although everyone else picked us last
CU - 0 - have exceeded expectations
DU - 7 - 44 pt loss to Boise and a squeaker 2-pt win over Air Force?
UE - 6 - and some had Evansville picked 4th?
ISU - 6 - very inconsistent - home loss to Wilmington?
InSU - 2 or 3 ..some very good games really right about where I thought they'd be
MSU - 7 - Weems has been very ineffective
UNI - 1 or 2
SIU - 10 - I had them picked last but they're imploding - see this post - LINK
WSU - 3 - only minimal disappointment -

[45otseoj]

I also didn't think ISUred would win many games at all. Brown and Moore seem like they will be players we will learn to hate, Cousin is turning into a deceng PG, and Ekey has showcased an pretty solid offensive game...I hate to say it, but they may surprise some people this year.

Gotta give alot of credit to Coach Jank. We've already concluded his recruiting tactics left him a bad hand to play.

[tornado]

good thought - but Jank really did hit the jackpot when he landed the little recruited backup post player (Carmichael) for Kellen Thornton & Ty Modupe

[KillerB]

So how are SIU fans responding to the rousing start of their season?

http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36779

[PTownHawkeye]

Gotta give alot of credit to Coach Jank. We've already concluded his recruiting tactics left him a bad hand to play.

His class of 2011 recruits is impressive thus far, and if Johnny Hill can turn it on, will be even moreso. There is a thread on the Iowa Rivals board about Tyler Brown...a lot of people in Iowa City are wishing Iowa would have made a stronger push for Brown.

I still stand by my thread from last year about ISU recruiting. Jank's 2007-2010 classes are the reason ISU has gotten worse year after year. However, I think last year was probably rock bottom and things seem to be moving up. Well done.

[lefty]

on a scale of how disappointing 0-10...
I have strong expectations....only a couple Valley teams look good enough to have avoided disappointing me a bit...

BU - 5 - moderately disappointing to me although everyone else picked us last
CU - 0 - have exceeded expectations
DU - 7 - 44 pt loss to Boise and a squeaker 2-pt win over Air Force?
UE - 6 - and some had Evansville picked 4th?
ISU - 6 - very inconsistent - home loss to Wilmington?
InSU - 2 or 3 ..some very good games really right about where I thought they'd be
MSU - 7 - Weems has been very ineffective
UNI - 1 or 2
SIU - 10 - I had them picked last but they're imploding - see this post - LINK
WSU - 3 - only minimal disappointment -

Weems has only had a couple of good games so far but I still like him alot...24 and 12 last night....but for the most part he's not shooting well...

[45otseoj]

His class of 2011 recruits is impressive thus far, and if Johnny Hill can turn it on, will be even moreso. There is a thread on the Iowa Rivals board about Tyler Brown...a lot of people in Iowa City are wishing Iowa would have made a stronger push for Brown.

I still stand by my thread from last year about ISU recruiting. Jank's 2007-2010 classes are the reason ISU has gotten worse year after year. However, I think last year was probably rock bottom and things seem to be moving up. Well done.

07 and 08 left big holes
09 and 10 looking solid right now
11's guards helping 09-10 bigs prosper

Loooong way to go though

[Da Coach]

Tyler Brown would have helped Bradley, and from what I have heard, he was planning on coming here and waiting on a planned scholarship opening in the spring, but the events of March 6th changed all that and thus he ended up at ISU.

[Air Petey]

Tyler Brown would have helped Bradley, and from what I have heard, he was planning on coming here and waiting on a planned scholarship opening in the spring, but the events of March 6th changed all that and thus he ended up at ISU.

Sammy, Sean Harris and Remy Abell would have helped Bradley, but the events of March 6th changed all that!!

[LittleBrave]

My Grades for Valley teams: (based on my pre-season expectations)

Overachieving:
(A) Creighton (undefeated team reminds me of thriving 'Jays teams in early 2000's)
(B+) UNI (thought they would contest for #2 or #3 spot, but still better than I expected)
(B-) Missouri St. (though they have played like I thought they'd be the last 3 games)
(B-) Drake (aside from the Boise St. massacre, have played decent)

Underachieving:
(D-) Evansville - don't look like a Top 4 or 5 team at this point, and they really have disappointed after beating Butler to open season
(F) SIU - Call me crazy, but expected them to have won 3 at this point.

Overall, the Valley has exceeded my expectations, as I thought we'd only be a 1-bid league, but we have a shot at possibly 3 (will be tough to do though).

Drake and Missouri St. look like teams that might avoid Thurs. night game, but I picked them to fight for last place in the league. My bad!

[lefty]

Sammy, Sean Harris and Remy Abell would have helped Bradley, but the events of March 6th changed all that!!

and your point is?............