2/9/13 Valley Standings

[shaunguth]

__________________Valley___Home___Away_____All___
Creighton__________9-4______6-1____3-3____20-5___
Wichita State______9-4______6-1____3-3____20-5___
Indiana State______9-4______7-0____2-4____16-8___
Bradley____________6-6______5-1____1-5____14-10__
Evansville_________6-6______5-0____1-6____13-11__
Northern Iowa______6-6______5-2____1-4____13-11__
illinois state_____6-7______3-3____3-4____15-10__
Drake______________5-7______3-3____2-4____11-12__
Missouri State_____5-8______4-2____1-6_____7-18__
Southern Illinois__2-11_____2-4____0-7_____9-15__

Sunday, February 10
Northern Iowa @ Bradley, 2:00pm CT (ESPN3, WMBD Radio)
Drake @ Evansville, 7:00pm CT (ESPNU)

[tornado]

some elsewhere said they listened to an ESPN commentary by Andy Katz yesterday saying the MVC was going to get 3, maybe four bids if someone other than CU, WSU, or InSU wins the tourney.
Lunardi also supposedly has three Valley teams in...

I really doubt that since the other BIG conferences are also going have upsets in their tourneys and all the at large bids will go to teams like Duke, Kentucky, Florida, and UCLA...

[Old Coach]

some elsewhere said they listened to an ESPN commentary by Andy Katz yesterday saying the MVC was going to get 3, maybe four bids if someone other than CU, WSU, or InSU wins the tourney.
Lunardi also supposedly has three Valley teams in...

I really doubt that since the other BIG conferences are also going have upsets in their tourneys and all the at large bids will go to teams like Duke, Kentucky, Florida, and UCLA...

At this point, I'd argue that an 8-10 Illinois team would get in ahead of a 12-6 3rd place Missouri Valley team.

[Da Coach]

Absolutely. It has happened before.

[Tulsa Brave]

Illinois has 4 wins against the RPI top 20, and an RPI higher than any MVC team. As of now, of course they will be in ahead of any MVC team. But if the season were over now, it's almost certain that 3 MVC teams would also be in. There simply aren't enough teams to fill all the spots in the field as of now. It seems the bubble gets softer each season, and that is certainly holding true again this year.

[Bravesfan]

Illinois has 4 wins against the RPI top 20, and an RPI higher than any MVC team. As of now, of course they will be in ahead of any MVC team. But if the season were over now, it's almost certain that 3 MVC teams would also be in. There simply aren't enough teams to fill all the spots in the field as of now. It seems the bubble gets softer each season, and that is certainly holding true again this year.

The three Valley teams in at-large contention certainly all have done enough to deserve to be in the tournament. They are all have good records against the RPI top 50, and they all are RPI top 50 teams themselves. However, those RPI top 50 records are all contigent on all three of them staying in the top 50 themselves. If one or more fall out of the top 50, all of the sudden their top 50 records don't look so good. So my advice to the three Valley contenders is this. Win every winnable game remaining, and win your Bracketbuster games. That's the only way to assure them all making the tournament. If this does not happen, teams like Bradley, Illinois State and Northern Iowa may actually win the Valley tournament and steal at least two at-large bids away from the conference.