The Valley Season begins Tomorrow

[collegehoopjunkie]

Saturday bring the very first Valley conference game,
as ISU travels to Evansville.

http://gopurpleaces.com/article.asp?articleid=82678

Evansville has a 4 game home winning streak with victories over Cleveland State, Buffalo, SEMO, and Valpo.
The Redbirds have won 6 straight but are 2-2 away from home.
In their last meeting, Evansville knocked ISU out of the MVC Tournament last March.

[MDCowboy]

Interesting game - we'll get to see how well the Redbirds can play away from home at another MVC school. A game the Redbirds need to win if they want to be top division of the MVC. A game Evansville needs if they want to improve.

Does anyone know why ISU opens their season in MVC so early? Don't they have finals to take? Do they try to free up a date to play a non-conf game in January or possibly late December?

I very much like the way BU scheduled this year - the Thanksgiving tourney is a must (much better than a December tourney right before conference schedule starts). And having a nice break for finals, then having 3 more non-conf games is a good plan.

[cpacmel]

Does anyone know why ISU opens their season in MVC so early? Don't they have finals to take? Do they try to free up a date to play a non-conf game in January or possibly late December?

ISU's finals start Monday.

The MVC sets the conference games, so I am fairly sure neither Evansville nor ISU has any say in it.