4 MVC games Saturday, Jan. 18

[Da Coach]

There are 4 games today, Sat. 1/18, including 3 afternoon games. 3 of the games are on ESPN channels-

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard?date=20140118&confId=18

Missouri State at UNI 12:00 p.m. on ESPNU
Loyola at Evansville 1:05 p.m.
Indiana State at Wichita State 3:00 p.m. on ESPN2
Illinois State at Drake 7:05 p.m. on ESPN3

[Da Coach]

ESPN writer Jeff Goodman says Wichita State faces their stiffest competition to date at home today against Indiana State-

https://twitter.com/GoodmanESPN/status/424563873925324800

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post?id=2944

I am not sure I agree. The Shockers won at Tulsa, at St. Louis, and at Alabama. They won on neutral courts against DePaul and BYU. And they've won at home against Tennessee. In fact, they are 11-0 at home this season, and 72-8 at home over the past 5 seasons. So although there could be an upset, I don't expect one. I do not think this home game today against Indiana State is close to the toughest game they've played this year.

[tornado]

UNI leads by 3 at half over Missouri State

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400500079

[tornado]

UNI beats Missouri State 94-89
MSU shoots 59% from the floor but....UNI shoots 67% plus 13-21 from the arc!

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400500079

Evansville beats Loyola 53-48
Milton Doyle just 3-11, Balentine 5-13 in a game where they didn't shot as well.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400500080

Nearing halftime Wichita already has a nice lead over Indiana State 29-18 - only two of Indiana State's starters have scored!

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400500078

One other note - ex-BU commit Michael Ochereobia went for 18 pts & 6 rebs, but WIU gets beat by NDSU

[lefty]

ESPN writer Jeff Goodman says Wichita State faces their stiffest competition to date at home today against Indiana State-

https://twitter.com/GoodmanESPN/status/424563873925324800

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post?id=2944

I am not sure I agree. The Shockers won at Tulsa, at St. Louis, and at Alabama. They won on neutral courts against DePaul and BYU. And they've won at home against Tennessee. In fact, they are 11-0 at home this season, and 72-8 at home over the past 5 seasons. So although there could be an upset, I don't expect one. I do not think this home game today against Indiana State is close to the toughest game they've played this year.

This has been a good game to watch??¦.Van Fleet is great??¦he seems to make great plays or shots when they really need them

[Da Coach]

Wichita State blows out Indiana State- 68-48-

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400500078

I think this shows a couple things- WSU is very good, and Bradley isn't the only team that they'll blow out this year. And that Indiana State isn't as good as many people tried to convince us, including the announcers who really exaggerated a lot of things during the broadcast. In fact, the MVC isn't very good from 2-10, and will be a 1 bid league unless something very improbable happens in St. Louis.

Indiana State's non-conference schedule was very poor-230th overall, and one of the worst in the MVC. And their 5-0 MVC start may have had more to do with who they played than how strong they are. They had yet to play a team in the MVC with either a winning record overall, or a winning record in the MVC. They played all teams in the MVC with losing records-Loyola, Evansville, Drake, Bradley, then Mo. State after they lost leading scorer Marcus Marshall and were without leading rebounder Keith Pickens.

[Chico]

Not ISUBlue's fault. That was their conference schedule so far. Wish we had their overall record and we have played a very, very weak schedule.

[Da Coach]

The ISU-Drake game is on Comcast SportsNet. ISU has been hot shooting and have pulled out to a 10 point lead, but it's now 20-13. They're athletic and they play a little wild and out of control, but when their shots are falling, they can be as good as just about anyone in the Valley.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400500081

[jasonpeoria911]

#3 Wisconsin just lost so Wichita State has potential to move up to the #3 or 4 spot Monday morning. When's the last time the MVC has had a team ranked that high? I know SIU was ranked high ages ago and Creighton was in the single digits but don't think the top 5.

Jason

[tornado]

ISU 77 - Drake 63
Drake is who we thought they were and not the contender that the PJS wrote them up to be just before we played them..

The MVC is indeed one really good team then everyone else battling for 2-10...
There will be many who say Indiana State should be considered for an at large bid - but they have to make a good run thru the MVC -
Right now their RPI in the 60's and their SOS of about 180 are shaky at best - and the only Valley teams they've beaten on the road so far are Drake & Evansville.

Creighton just got thumped by Providence
Illini look more like a midmajor every game - Egwu does not match up well at all with any team in the Big Ten - he was held scoreless again tonight

[tornado]

Fred Van Vleet is beginning to get substantial national attention - he is likely the MOST valuable player on an undefeated and TOP-5 ranked team...
It still astounds me how Wichita was able to come into Illinois and pick this kid off - and not a single school inside Illinois seemed to go after Van Vleet.

National POY candidate Doug McDermott also got surprisingly little recruiting interest. In high school his own father was coaching at Iowa State but did not want him there
and instead steered him to UNI to play for his friend Ben Jacobson. He only landed at Creighton when Dana Altman's departure plus a big downturn in Iowa State's basketball fortunes led to Greg McDermott's hiring there at Creighton.

Other examples - Jared Brownridge (had 30 points Saturday) had only a Santa Clara offer, Lawrence Alexander turned out to be a fine PG at NDSU, nobody but Drake offered Richard Carter, yet he's one of the best players in the MVC, Cleanthony Early had few other offers coming out of juco, WIU's Garrett Covington was passed on by almost everyone except Coach Mo yet Covington is one of the best players in the Summit, and Alec Peters was under-recruited.

I guess this says there's still hope of doing the digging and finding the hidden gems in recruiting - I am hoping Tramique is the start...

[SubGod22]

Fred Van Vleet is beginning to get substantial national attention - he is likely the MOST valuable player on an undefeated and TOP-5 ranked team...
It still astounds me how Wichita was able to come into Illinois and pick this kid off - and not a single school inside Illinois seemed to go after Van Vleet.

National POY candidate Doug McDermott also got surprisingly little recruiting interest. In high school his own father was coaching at Iowa State but did not want him there
and instead steered him to UNI to play for his friend Ben Jacobson. He only landed at Creighton when Dana Altman's departure plus a big downturn in Iowa State's basketball fortunes led to Greg McDermott's hiring there at Creighton.

Other examples - Jared Brownridge (had 30 points Saturday) had only a Santa Clara offer, Lawrence Alexander turned out to be a fine PG at NDSU, nobody but Drake offered Richard Carter, yet he's one of the best players in the MVC, Cleanthony Early had few other offers coming out of juco, WIU's Garrett Covington was passed on by almost everyone except Coach Mo yet Covington is one of the best players in the Summit, and Alec Peters was under-recruited.

I guess this says there's still hope of doing the digging and finding the hidden gems in recruiting - I am hoping Tramique is the start...

I agree with what you've said outside of Early. He had offers from Alabama, San Diego State, Washington State and Missouri.

Ron Baker on the other hand I believe only had an offer from one of the Dakota schools. NDSU I think.