1/30 Valley Standings

[shaunguth]

__________________Valley___Home___Away_____All___
Wichita State______8-2______5-1____3-1____19-3___
Creighton__________8-2______5-0____3-2____19-3___
Indiana State______7-3______5-0____2-3____14-7___
Evansville_________6-4______5-0____1-4____13-9___
Bradley____________5-5______4-1____1-4____13-9___
Missouri State_____4-6______3-2____1-4_____6-16__
Northern Iowa______4-6______3-2____1-4____11-11__
Drake______________4-6______2-2____2-4____10-11__
illinois state_____3-7______2-3____1-4____12-10__
Southern Illinois__1-9______1-4____0-5_____8-13__

Saturday, February 2
Bradley @ (21)Creighton, 2:05pm CT (ESPN3, WMBD Radio)
Evansville @ Missouri State, 2:05pm CT
(15)Wichita State @ Northern Iowa, 3:00pm CT (ESPN2)
Southern Illinois @ illinois state, 3:05pm CT (ESPN3)
Indiana State @ Drake, 6:30pm CT (Fox SportsNet, ESPN3)

[Bravesfan]

How in the heck did SIU lose at home to Drake?! Actually, hard to believe that these two bad teams actually have two of the best Valley wins of the year, at least behind Indiana State's win at Wichita State last night. Drake beats Creighton at home, and SIU beats Indiana State at home. Yet Drake can't beat too many other teams, and SIU hasn't beaten anyone else! That may have been SIU's last great chance for a win this year, though I think they will steal one or two more.

[LittleBrave]

How in the heck did SIU lose at home to Drake?!

This kind of thing has been going on the last 5 seasons for Drake, Bravesfan.
And SIU wasn't as bad a few years back and Drake came out with a win.
Drake is not all that bad talent-wise, but they haven't seemed to put things together as hoped (for them), and their coach has this tendency to win games they shouldn't and lose games they shouldn't. From all the talk going on, it would take a lot to save Phelps from getting canned...maybe a top 5 finish in the league (no ties) and a win in Arch Madness?

It didn't seem like they would get even 5 wins for the whole conference schedule after an 0-4 start, but now they're playing decent and right on our tails! I consider them the pests of the Valley since Phelps starting coaching with Drake.

[LittleBrave]

Lots of key games this weekend for the current Top half of the league...

Wichita St. needs to win to stay ranked and on pace with CU and maybe even ISU-blue!

A win for Evansville would really aid their chances finishing in Top half of league.

Indy St. needs to win for a whole lot of reasons - primarily to continue on their way toward heavy At-Large discussion.

And also the middle-pack teams with 4-6 records (behind BU), as each loss gets the Thursday night monster from St. Louis knocking louder on their campus doors...

UNI
Drake
MSU

[shaunguth]

I will be cheering on every single road team this Saturday!

[tornado]

How in the heck did SIU lose at home to Drake?! ...

well - SIU has been playing really badddd..........

you gotta know that Drake played a bad game - they had a NINE minute drought in the 2nd half...
They made a total of only 6 baskets in the 2nd half...
they didn't score a basket from 13:22 'til 4:04...and only made four FT in that interval.


They had 47 points at 13:22 - and still had just 54 until a minute to go when SIU started fouling on every possession.
So they scored just 7 pts over a 12 & a half minute span...and SIU still couldn't take advantage!

In that 2nd half when SIU needed only a couple scores....they were 1-12 from 3-pt and even tho SIU actually did manage
to pull within one pt at 54-53 with 3:41 - they then had their own severe drought and never made another basket after that...

[LittleBrave]

well - SIU has been playing really badddd..........

you gotta know that Drake played a bad game - they had a NINE minute drought in the 2nd half...
They made a total of only 6 baskets in the 2nd half...
they didn't score a basket from 13:22 'til 4:04...and only made four FT in that interval.


They had 47 points at 13:22 - and still had just 54 until a minute to go when SIU started fouling on every possession.
So they scored just 7 pts over a 12 & a half minute span...and SIU still couldn't take advantage!

In that 2nd half when SIU needed only a couple scores....they were 1-12 from 3-pt and

And these teams are not known for their stellar defense. I would have guessed the score would be in the mid 70s.

SIU looked decent vs. us in Peoria. Since then, they have played awful (judging by scores & stats)

[LittleBrave]

I will be cheering on every single road team this Saturday!

Amen to that!

[Bravesfan]

This kind of thing has been going on the last 5 seasons for Drake, Bravesfan.
And SIU wasn't as bad a few years back and Drake came out with a win.
Drake is not all that bad talent-wise, but they haven't seemed to put things together as hoped (for them), and their coach has this tendency to win games they shouldn't and lose games they shouldn't. From all the talk going on, it would take a lot to save Phelps from getting canned...maybe a top 5 finish in the league (no ties) and a win in Arch Madness?

It didn't seem like they would get even 5 wins for the whole conference schedule after an 0-4 start, but now they're playing decent and right on our tails! I consider them the pests of the Valley since Phelps starting coaching with Drake.

Yeah, but I was referring to this year. As bad as SIU is, you would think that this would be one of their few winnable games this year, BUT yes, we went through this last year. So that defeated my argument really quick!

And Phelps could be referred to as this year's "Snidely Whiplash", which is what the Valley tv announcers referred to Royce Waltman as in 2006 when his otherwise mediocre Indiana State team kept upsetting the top teams as home that year! Drake already greatly changed the race by beating Creighton, and they are capable of upsetting others. Let's see how well Indiana State handles things tomorrow over there.

[Bravesfan]

well - SIU has been playing really badddd..........

you gotta know that Drake played a bad game - they had a NINE minute drought in the 2nd half...
They made a total of only 6 baskets in the 2nd half...
they didn't score a basket from 13:22 'til 4:04...and only made four FT in that interval.


They had 47 points at 13:22 - and still had just 54 until a minute to go when SIU started fouling on every possession.
So they scored just 7 pts over a 12 & a half minute span...and SIU still couldn't take advantage!

In that 2nd half when SIU needed only a couple scores....they were 1-12 from 3-pt and even tho SIU actually did manage
to pull within one pt at 54-53 with 3:41 - they then had their own severe drought and never made another basket after that...

My points exactly. Drake is just as bad on the road, and they still got out of there with a win.

[Bravesfan]

And these teams are not known for their stellar defense. I would have guessed the score would be in the mid 70s.

SIU looked decent vs. us in Peoria. Since then, they have played awful (judging by scores & stats)

Tell that to Indiana State though! It may be SIU's only win this year, but what an outcome that will have on the Valley race and ISU's at-large prospects this year!

[shaunguth]

Saturday, February 2
Bradley @ (21)Creighton, 2:05pm CT (ESPN3, WMBD Radio)
Evansville @ Missouri State, 2:05pm CT
(15)Wichita State @ Northern Iowa, 3:00pm CT (ESPN2)
Southern Illinois @ illinois state, 3:05pm CT (ESPN3)
Indiana State @ Drake, 6:30pm CT (Fox SportsNet, ESPN3)

Predictions:

64 - Bradley
75 - Creighton

66 - Evansville
64 - Missouri State

63 - Wichita State
65 - Northern Iowa

64 - Southern Illinois
70 - illinois state

69 - Indiana State
67 - Drake