MVC games Wednesday, Jan. 16

[Da Coach]

There are 3 MVC games Wednesday, Jan. 16-

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/scoreboard?d=2013-01-16&c=mvc&refresh=60

Illinois State (0-5) plays at Wichita State (4-1)- but bad news for ISU- WSU Coach Gregg Marshall says injured center Call Hall will likely play Wednesday against ISU.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/291265060330942464

http://articles.kwch.com/2013-01-14/carl-hall_36337896

BTW- the ISU-WSU game will be available on ESPN3, as will the Missouri State-Indiana game.

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index#type/upcoming/startDate/20130116/

[tornado]

as expected - Wichita State's Carl Hall is cleared and will play Wednesday...
can ISU overcome his added presence - maybe the only kid in the Valley who can physically match Carmichael?

0-6 is how BU started last year and we know how that felt - only one other time did BU even start 0-5 ('78-'79) otherwise - ISU is about to enter uncharted territory..

[Da Coach]

Missouri State leads Indiana State at the half 31-27

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201301160274

[Da Coach]

Indiana State comes back to win at home-
Missouri State 60
Indiana State 68 Final

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201301160274

Illinois State at Wichita State-- both teams started slowly, but then WSU started hitting shots while ISU stayed cold-
Illinois State 20
Wichita State 31 Halftime

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201301160648

Evansville at Drake
UE 38
DU 39 Halftime

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201301160170

[Big Mike]

UE.....69
DU.....83 final

nice win for Drake

[Da Coach]

This was a close game until late when Drake pulled away.
Box score-
Evansville 69
Drake 83

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330162181

Illinois State 62
Wichita State 74 Final
Nice game for Jackie Carmichael- not so good for every other ISU player. Carmichael was 9-16, the rest of the team was 12-48 (25%).

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330162724

[Rusty 54]

This was a close game until late when Drake pulled away.
Box score-
Evansville 69
Drake 83

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330162181

Does anyone have any idea what is going on with the Valley this year?

[shaunguth]

Does anyone have any idea what is going on with the Valley this year?

Yeah.....outside of 2 teams, it's a crappy conference!

[BUBalum05]

Does anyone have any idea what is going on with the Valley this year?

That's why they play the games on the court and not only on the BF pick'em.

[LittleBrave]

Yeah.....outside of 2 teams, it's a crappy conference!

Now that Missouri St. is playing decent and competititive, there is no team that is downright terrible like we normally see in the Valley.
Even with ISU-red starting out 0-6, they are clearly capable of knocking off most league teams on any given night once they get out of their funk.

Looks like the teams from 3-6 are relatively weaker than most years, which is why people are claiming that this is a crappy conference, along with the fact that our preseason #2 team is playing like garbage.

Evansville and UNI are both good teams, but are not playing consistently as hoped.

I didn't see the league being that strong this year, and it's not terribly strong...it's not corrupted with bad teams either.
IMO, it's been a fun race to follow in the middle pack, as BU finds themselves in right now.

[tornado]

in yet another blow to MVC at-large chances...

a couple of the few teams who might have been "quality wins" for the Valley - went down hard last night!

ISU opponent Wyoming managed to score only 16 1st half points and 36 in the entire game against Fresno - they had 4 total assists on 50 shot attempts!

Nebraska, a Creighton victim, got embarrassed again - losing their 5th in a row & 8th in the last 11 - to Purdue

Dayton - one of ISU's supposed "quality" wins - gets negated by Dayton losing for the 5th time in 7 outings since losing to ISU

and Rice - a team Drake knocked off from the CUSA - got hammered again

plus San Diego State - who beat two Valley teams but at least helped their RPI - lost last night as well....as did Boise State - the only team yet to beat Creighton and SMU who had beaten MSU

..all in all - last night was a horrible night for everyone's RPI in the Valley -
when the numbers are added to the RPI tabulations - the Valley could be in danger of falling back to the 10th spot in the conference RPI rankings..

[LittleBrave]

in yet another blow to MVC at-large chances...

a couple of the few teams who might have been "quality wins" for the Valley - went down hard last night!

ISU victim Wyoming managed to score only 16 1st half points and 36 in the entire game against Fresno - they had 4 total assists on 50 shot attempts!

Nebraska, a Creighton victim, got embarrassed again - losing their 5th in a row & 8th in the last 11 - to Purdue

Dayton - one of ISU's supposed "quality" wins - gets negated by Dayton losing for the 5th time in 7 outings since floundering to ISU

and Rice - a team Drake knocked off from the CUSA - got hammered again

plus San Diego State - who beat two Valley teams but at least helped their RPI - lost last night as well....as did Boise State - the ONLY team yet to beat Creighton and SMU who had beaten MSU

..all in all - last night was a horrible night for everyone's RPI in the Valley -
when the numbers are added to the RPI tabulations - the Valley is likely to drop all the way back to the 10th spot in the conference RPI rankings..

All that really matters is CU and WSU taking care of bizness, which they've done up to this point. Once Wichita gets Hall back to full strength, and their other 2 starters back, they may not lose another game.

I see Creighton finishing 17-1 and Wichita St. 15-3. The only other team that may possibly have At-Large chances is Indy-Blue with their 2 impressive non-conf. wins. If they manage to finish 13-5 and beat either Wichita St. or Creighton, AND win the all-important BB game, they will at least get consideration. But finishing with that record is unlikely.

I would say it's critical for Da Trees to win the next 3 to keep pace with the top teams and to get a strong draw in the B'busters.

[Da Coach]

... The only other team that may possibly have At-Large chances is Indy-Blue with their 2 impressive non-conf. wins. If they manage to finish 13-5 and beat either Wichita St. or Creighton, AND win the all-important BB game, they will at least get consideration. But finishing with that record is unlikely.

I do not see Indiana State being an at-large team. Their RPI is now around 50, and they would need to sweep the rest of their MVC schedule (including beating Wichita twice, and Creighton once), which they are not going to come close to doing, to get in into the 20's where IMO it would need to be to merit an at-large bid from the NCAA selection people who have twisted their criteria many times to justify leaving mid-major schools out of the tournament.
Recall that Missouri State did not receive an at-large bid in 2006 with an RPI of 21, and numerous times MVC teams have been left out with RPI's in the 30's. Bradley's RPI in 2007 was 38, and they didn't get any consideration by the selection committee. There have been several other MVC teams that have ended the year with RPI's from 30-39 and been left out.

[LittleBrave]

Recall that Missouri State did not receive an at-large bid in 2006 with an RPI of 21, and numerous times MVC teams have been left out with RPI's in the 30's. Bradley's RPI in 2007 was 38, and they didn't get any consideration by the selection committee. There have been several other MVC teams that have ended the year with RPI's from 30-39 and been left out.

Which is why you can't place too much stock in the RPI when justifying teams worthy of getting in or out.

Not sure it will hold up, but if Ole Miss and Miami continue to play strong and make it to the Big Dance, these 2 neutral court wins will stand out, along with a win vs. Wichita St. or Creighton, and a B'busters win.
Yeah, a 13-5 Valley record will likely not be enough, but will deem consideration. I think that 14-4 with 5 wins vs. Top 50 RPI teams and a good showing in St. Louis (being in championship game) could get them in as one of the last 4. The committee usually puts a lot of emphasis on the tail end of the season too, but I understand that they have also denied us in the past few seasons, though the only year I disagreed with their decision in the past 5-6 years was when Creighton was left out in 2009. But then they didn't even make it past the 2nd round of the NIT, which kind of justified it.

I will say that I generally view the league this year as a 2-bid league and I don't see Indy St. even being on the bubble if the season ended today, but that could certainly change.

Again, I don't see Da Trees finishing with that kind of story I alluded to above, so I'll just leave it with those thoughts...just fun to debate about it!

[tornado]

Which is why you can't place too much stock in the RPI when justifying teams worthy of getting in or out.

WHY THE HEY NOT???
..... isn't that PRECISELY what the "RPI" was created to do and it's creators were the spokespeople for the BCS schools who thought their 4th, 5th, and 6th best teams deserved to get in over the 2nd best in smaller conferences (like MVC)..

so they rammed the RPI down everyone's throat - then the NCAA fully accepted it and used it...
and ONLY when there's a year or two that a few of the Valley schools get great RPI's using THEIR formula - and appear to deserve to get in...
ONLY THEN do all the BCS folks and gurus suddenly change course 180 degrees and claim the RPI isn't a valid tool!!

They suddenly want a whole new set of rules once their last "set of rules" starts to fail their selfish ends - now they are asking for the "eye test"