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Originally posted by lefty
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Similar to what Lemon did this year. But he and these two will all be very good players next year. The rest of the Valley will need to play their best against them. -
but Lemon had no other viable options than TB when he wasnt hurt (it seemed)Originally posted by Bravesfan View PostComment
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Regardless, Lemon played at his worst when he tried to do too much. Similar to what Brown and Moore were doing in the 2nd half and overtime today. Obviously though ISU is a much better team than we are at this time, so that's a big difference.Originally posted by Future Walk-On View PostComment
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Don't get it. This guys schedules like crap, but gets his team to three MVC Title games in as many years. I'd rather lose a chance to go to the NCAA than to never have the opportunity.
Aside from the Drake drubbing two of the contests have even gone to OT, which means they're retooling and competing. Yet, people here still find a way to criticize ISUr?
If you were a college basketball fan you loved that game and the fact that both schools brought their A game for national TV.
But instead lets just hate while their MBB and WBB programs play blackjack against BU. Twenty-One in a row, seven by the Men & 14 by their women.Comment
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One of the announcers today said John Wilkens father, Jeff, was an All American at ISU. Right! I think the basket floor at Horton Fieldhouse is named in his honor.Comment
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That's actually exactly what we're complaining about! If you keep going that deep, you can't sabotage your at-large resume. If you get that deep that often, you know you're close to the NCAAs, so act like it when you make a schedule.Originally posted by NSBF View PostComment
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but what it looks like to me s that the proof is in the pudding...Originally posted by NSBF View Post
ISU is actually a good team with really good players - so then what the hey...how does Jank underperform game after game all year long against woeful opponents, ending with an RPI well over 100, a .500 record - no better than the 8th place team in the Valley...
I agree with what KW said in his column - these guys with Brown, Carmichael, etc...they are good - they should have 25 wins!
It shows the vast majority of time he under-achieves......Comment
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I heard that. I didn't recall he was an All American, so I did some checking.
Jeff Wilkins played for ISU from 1974-1977 when ISU was a D1 independent. They joined the MVC in 1981. He also was drafted in the 1977 NBA draft, but was waived and didn't play in the NBA until 1980. He played 6 seasons in the NBA.
Here is a bio page from the redbird website for Jeff Wilkins-
"tabbed an All-American by the Citizen Savings Athletic Foundation following the 1976-77 campaign"
If anyone knows what this means, please inform us.
And here is a post on the ISU fan forum that claims Jeff Wilkins was an All American in both 1976 as a junior, and in 1977 as a senior.
This is the only place I could find a reference to him being an All American his junior year.
And here is a page from Flash Flanagan's webpage that cites "Jeff Wilkins was a Parade Magazine All-American selection his senior year at Elgin H.S. and led his team to the IHSA Class AA state finals."
He also states- "Wilkins than went on to lead Illinois State University to the “Big Apple” and a great performance at Madison Square Garden in the NIT as an All-American his senior year!"
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they are what they are....whether they decided to sacrifice one or two wins for one or two losses at 18-15, they are no more attractive than they are at 20-13. But playing on Thursday and winning one game doesn't get you to the title game. So what if they put all their eggs in one basket, the Valley ain't the ACC or Big 12 or Big Ten. Its a bunch of schools out for themselves. A Hodge Podge affiliate league where anyone and everyone is a member in one sport or another.Originally posted by TheAsianSensation View Post
Why should Jank care about his teams SOS if his belief is win 3 and take care of your own team, not The Valley. Amazing how everyone spouts all this "good for the Valley" crap when most people don't respect or even like most of the other schools. Otherwise, they're would be more appreciation for the showing the Valley put on today, rival or not. just saying.Comment
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I for one am glad John Wilkins never came to Bradley. Yeah, he has some ability but I don't like watching the guy one bit. Would be hard to root for.
If Geno could get a guy like Tyler Brown that would help ALOT.Comment
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Because they didn't have a backup plan in case they failed to win the conference tourney like Wichita St. did. I'm not saying scheduling up would automatically get them an at-large bid since they would have to win some games against tougher opponents. But perhaps a few close losses in the non-conference portion of the season against higher caliber opponents would have toughened them up a little more so that they could finish better than 9-9 in the Valley. I don't think it takes a lot to see this.Originally posted by NSBF View Post
And yes, we do appreciate other teams in the Valley tournament. When we play each other during the regular season, that's a different story. But I think a lot of us were rooting for ISU today for the benefit of the Valley. And those who don't think a soft SOS is damaging to the rest of the Valley are not seeing the big picture here. ISU has a good record but a horrible RPI, which means every other school playing them during the conference season will have two fewer opportunities to pick up a quality win that would help their resume. And that ultimately hurts the Valley's chances of qualifying an additional team or two into the Big Dance.
For the record, I'm very happy that the Valley will get two teams into the NCAA Tournament this year. But if ISU had played the type of non-conference schedule that Wichita St. and Creighton played this year, then perhaps ISU would not have needed to win the Valley tournament to make the NCAA Tournament themselves.Comment
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I think that is exactly what Jank was trying to do by putting 5 guards out there and removing Carmichael. I think he was thinking "let's win or lose it here rather than going to overtime with a team that is worn out". Creighton screwed that idea up by fouling Moore for 2 free throws.Originally posted by Bravesfan View Post
In the end I am afraid the outcome was preordained before the tourney started. Jordan Threloft broke his thumb and was done for the rest of the year before they got to St.Louis. He had turned in some very effective minutes against both WSU and CU in earlier Valley play.
Good luck to Bradley on the recruiting trail...Comment
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I went to Black Hawk East Jr College in 74...I'm pretty sure Wilkins played there in 73 and then went to ISU. He played for John Parker who was an assistant to Will Robinson at ISU previously....I was just on a flight with a guy who played with Jeff at Black Hawk that that year and still stays in touch with himOriginally posted by Da Coach View PostI heard that. I didn't recall he was an All American, so I did some checking.
Jeff Wilkins played for ISU from 1974-1977 when ISU was a D1 independent. They joined the MVC in 1981. He also was drafted in the 1977 NBA draft, but was waived and didn't play in the NBA until 1980. He played 6 seasons in the NBA.
Here is a bio page from the redbird website for Jeff Wilkins-
"tabbed an All-American by the Citizen Savings Athletic Foundation following the 1976-77 campaign"
If anyone knows what this means, please inform us.
And here is a post on the ISU fan forum that claims Jeff Wilkins was an All American in both 1976 as a junior, and in 1977 as a senior.
This is the only place I could find a reference to him being an All American his junior year.
And here is a page from Flash Flanagan's webpage that cites "Jeff Wilkins was a Parade Magazine All-American selection his senior year at Elgin H.S. and led his team to the IHSA Class AA state finals."
He also states- "Wilkins than went on to lead Illinois State University to the ???Big Apple??? and a great performance at Madison Square Garden in the NIT as an All-American his senior year!"
http://www.flashshoops.com/about_flash.htmComment
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Yeah, you're probably right. If that's the case, then there wasn't much ISU could do in that situation except go for the tie and take their chances in overtime. I don't think they could have done any better today short of winning. Win or lose today, ISU is going to be a BIG pain for most Valley teams to deal with next year!Originally posted by imnemt2 View PostComment
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Originally posted by Da Coach View PostDoes ISU have a chance? Apparently some people think they do-
Kirk sounds pretty certain about his prediction that ISU will win today-
Do not be surprised on Sunday afternoon if Illinois State assures the Missouri Valley Conference of putting three teams in the NCAA tournament.
The young Redbirds still haven??™t cracked the RPI top 100. The only bubbles they??™re close to are the ones they might pop. You won??™t see their season resume displayed on national television, and no commentators will debate their Big Dance chances because they have only one. That is to beat Creighton in the MVC championship game and claim the league??™s automatic spot in America??™s favorite bracket....
And it can happen. In fact, I predict it will.
But ISU is good enough right now to make it three for the first time since 2006. And if the Redbirds get that far, they??™re good enough to win a game.
No doubt about it.
Or will the game be more like the 2008 Final- when upstart Illinois State made it to the final game of the tournament against league favorite Drake, lead by Adam Emmenecker and Bucky Cox- The result was a 79-49 blowout win by Drake-
What are the predictions? I think Creighton will win, but ISU deserves serious postseason consideration.
Excellent prediction by Kirk. ISU was right there all game. They definitely could have won the game. I gotta admit, this was a very entertaining game. For the people around the United States who watched the game, I am sure it held their attention. A quality showing of the Valley between two good teams.
One thing I didn't understand is that even though Kirk picked ISU to win in his story, the "prediction" in the game notes (that listed likely starting lineups) showed the score Creighton 85 ISU 79.
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