MVC Coach of the Year

[tornado]

I know the only two coaches anyone will mention for Vallery Coach of the Year are McDermott and Marshall.....and I wish Bradley was involved somewhere in this discussion but let's try to keep a straight face....

...but weren't those two guys (Marshall & McDermott) the overwhelming and runaway picks in the preseason to have the two best teams in the Valley?
Seriously - they are merely coaching their teams to about where everyone expected them to - so how can a coach who does NOT exceed expectations be the COY??


My pick is Chris Lowery - not to put any pressure on him tonight...
and I know SIU isn't exactly tearing uo the Valley...

BUT - seriously - everyone said he had the worst talent (or none at all), and against all logic - he benches his top returning, 5th year starter Bocot and the team is playing better....
They have 3 Valley wins, and almost beat Drake on the road - losing in OT....
and now if SIU wins tonight in Carbondale - they will actually be ONLY ONE win out of 3rd place in the Valley.
Some of that has more to do with everyone beyond 2nd place playing poorly at times, but let's give Lowery a little credit -- he knows he's likely gone after the season regardless and yet he's getting some wins in the Valley where people did not expect him to...
I will probably be the only person giving him any consideration for Coach of the Year...but say they win a couple in a row and make it back to 6-6, they will be battling for 3rd place in the Valley ...I am marginally envious, but we can also start our streak tonight if we play well.

[LittleBrave]

I know the only two coaches anyone will mention for Vallery Coach of the Year are McDermott and Marshall.....and I wish Bradley was involved somewhere in this discussion but let's try to keep a straight face....

...but weren't those two guys (Marshall & McDermott) the overwhelming and runaway picks in the preseason to have the two best teams in the Valley?
Seriously - they are merely coaching their teams to about where everyone expected them to - so how can a coach who does NOT exceed expectations be the COY??


My pick is Chris Lowery - not to put any pressure on him tonight...
and I know SIU isn't exactly tearing uo the Valley...

BUT - seriously - everyone said he had the worst talent (or none at all), and against all logic - he benches his top returning, 5th year starter Bocot and the team is playing better....
They have 3 Valley wins, and almost beat Drake on the road - losing in OT....
and now if SIU wins tonight in Carbondale - they will actually be ONLY ONE win out of 3rd place in the Valley.
Some of that has more to do with everyone beyond 2nd place playing poorly at times, but let's give Lowery a little credit -- he knows he's likely gone after the season regardless and yet he's getting some wins in the Valley where people did not expect him to...
I will probably be the only person giving him any consideration for Coach of the Year...but say they win a couple in a row and make it back to 6-6, they will be battling for 3rd place in the Valley ...I am marginally envious, but we can also start our streak tonight if we play well.

I'm not sure many people thought Creighton would be a Top 25 team going into the season, and they're rolling right along.

WSU has done a really nice job too after the turnover due to player graduation. At best, I thought they'd be a bubble team by the end of the season, but they're in good shape for an At-Large currently.

As for Coach Lo - ???
Maybe if SIU were .500 now, you could give him consideration, but they were quite capable of winning 6 or 7 total games even looking at them going into the Valley season. Just because the Valley picked them 9th doesn't hold much water.

[LittleBrave]

Still a lot of games to play. Only halfway through!

I think the team that finishes 3rd (unless it's UNI) should get very high consideration for COY (though it won't happen).

So far Evansville has done a great job in the league, and their 5-4 record is a bit misleading since they lost 3 games in a row by 2 points.

You can't overlook Phelps from Drake, though the DU fans seem fed up with him, and doesn't seem to be much liked in the Valley. Losing 2 key players for the season (not quite like SM & TB) should have had a bigger impact, but still they find themselves at 5-4.

And 1st year coach Paul Lusk has done a really nice job with his Bears, though some could argue that the cupboard was not "bear" when he took over.

[tornado]

I'm not sure many people thought Creighton would be a Top 25 team ....

it all depends on what's your definition of "not many"..because Creighton got plenty of votes in the PRE-SEASON Top 25...

In the AP vote they got 12 and finished 9th among teams also recieving votes, and in the Coaches Poll they got 19 votes, finishing 8th among the teams also receiving votes.

Most of those voting NEVER give much consideration to the mid-majors - so for Creighton to have been picked even this high means a lot of people knew they'd be good.
Again -- there's nothing here against Creighton -- I agree they're good and even better than some thoughts - but they were still picked by many to be the top Valley team and that's right where they sit...

Sporting News had Creighton at #35

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/feed/2011-09/top-50/story/fully-stocked-creighton-could-soar-behind-doug-mcdermott

CollegeHoopsNet also raved about Creighton in their preseason preview and virtually everyone has had Creighton as the #1 mid-major since the beginning of the season...

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/can-mvc-return-multi-bid-status-169294

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=243896&postcount=1

CHN - which changes to Collegesportsmadness.com had Creighton at #32

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/2363

[TheAsianSensation]

My #1 vote goes to McDermott (they're peaking quite high) but if Lowery stays at .500 that's a very compelling argument. They were just garbage in the non-con. Garbage.

[Da Coach]

My #1 vote goes to McDermott (they're peaking quite high) but if Lowery stays at .500 that's a very compelling argument. They were just garbage in the non-con. Garbage.

A serious question- If Wichita State wins the conference, would you still say McDermott?

[TheAsianSensation]

A serious question- If Wichita State wins the conference, would you still say McDermott?

Probably not (as WSU winning the Valley will probably entail them beating Creighton and/or CU dropping a game or two they have no business dropping). But as always...it depends

[LittleBrave]

A serious question- If Wichita State wins the conference, would you still say McDermott?

I'd say Marshall for sure. True that he had a solid Junior class from last year, but making up for their seniors who graduated who were a huge part of the NIT run and overall success last year was a tall order.

But maybe it's because I wasn't sold on Wichita being the 2nd best team heading into the season. I thought UNI would be right with them, along with maybe Evansville.

[Bravesfan]

I know the only two coaches anyone will mention for Vallery Coach of the Year are McDermott and Marshall.....and I wish Bradley was involved somewhere in this discussion but let's try to keep a straight face....

...but weren't those two guys (Marshall & McDermott) the overwhelming and runaway picks in the preseason to have the two best teams in the Valley?
Seriously - they are merely coaching their teams to about where everyone expected them to - so how can a coach who does NOT exceed expectations be the COY??


My pick is Chris Lowery - not to put any pressure on him tonight...
and I know SIU isn't exactly tearing uo the Valley...

BUT - seriously - everyone said he had the worst talent (or none at all), and against all logic - he benches his top returning, 5th year starter Bocot and the team is playing better....
They have 3 Valley wins, and almost beat Drake on the road - losing in OT....
and now if SIU wins tonight in Carbondale - they will actually be ONLY ONE win out of 3rd place in the Valley.
Some of that has more to do with everyone beyond 2nd place playing poorly at times, but let's give Lowery a little credit -- he knows he's likely gone after the season regardless and yet he's getting some wins in the Valley where people did not expect him to...
I will probably be the only person giving him any consideration for Coach of the Year...but say they win a couple in a row and make it back to 6-6, they will be battling for 3rd place in the Valley ...I am marginally envious, but we can also start our streak tonight if we play well.

I think Lowery would be a good choice before SIU lost 3 in a row. But if they play their way back into a top 3 or 4 finish, he would be as good a choice as anyone.

For me, Paul Lusk would be the top candidate if MSU can finish in the top 4 or so. Mark Phelps would be the top candidate right now, but Drake fell back to earth a bit the other night. If they split against the top 2 this week at home, Phelps would be right back in the discussion.

I will also suggest Ben Jacobson if UNI goes on a run and finishes third like many thought they would. If UNI comes back from their dreadful losses to Bradley and Indiana St. and work their way back into at-large territory winning say 8 of their last 10 games, then Jacobson wins by a slam dunk.

Agreed that I can't name Marshall or McDermott as their teams are doing what everyone expected them to do. Though I suppose if either of them runs the table from here on out and wins the Valley tournament, you can make a good case for them exceeding even their lofty expectations.

[wily coyote]

I know the only two coaches anyone will mention for Vallery Coach of the Year are McDermott and Marshall.....and I wish Bradley was involved somewhere in this discussion but let's try to keep a straight face....


"T" you keep posting like this your going to get banned. LOL