Halfway through the Valley race

[tornado]

after the first nine games, I think we'd all concede the #1 seed in St. Louis will be the Wichita State Shockers


MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
SCHOOL CONF
Wichita St. 9-0
Indiana St.7-2
No Iowa 5-4
Missouri St 4-5
Illinois St. 4-5
Bradley 4-5
Drake 3-6
Evansville 3-6
Loyola 3-6
SIU...........3-6



I think every other spot from 2 thru 10 is still in play - and only ONE game separates 4-10th seed.

Obviously everyone wants to stay out of Thursday (seeds #7-10) but honestly, I'd like to stay out of the 4-5 game as well knowing that whoever wins would be Wichita's next opponent.

We may have one of the more favorable schedules remaining since we've already played at Wichita, Indiana State, & UNI - and we might catch both ISU & MSU on the road with recent injury issues.
Plus, by the time we play Wichita in Peoria they will have clinched the Valley and just maybe they psychologically "take their foot off the gas".
The only other remaining road games we have (Drake, SIU, and Loyola) are all winnable if we can find a way to play well on the road as only Loyola has a winning home record in league play and they are 3-2 but are the only league team to lose at home to SIU.

It's a little discouraging to be rooting for 3rd or 4th place but it's what we have right now - so GO BRAVES!!!

[Da Coach]

Indiana State had done what they needed to do so far to stay in consideration for an at-large bid, though their RPI of 47 before last night's game probably was not good enough. I do not believe any MVC team has ever gotten an at-large bid with an RPI that high.
But last night's loss to SIU is the really bad loss that will spoil their resume when the NCAA selection committee looks at it. Their RPI dropped from 47 down to 56, and with as weak as the MVC is this year, they likely will not be able to improve on that enough to get back into the at-large discussion.
So unless there is an upset in the MVC tournament, it's looking far less likely we'll see 2 teams in the NCAA tournament.

[BU212121]

For the purpose of going to STL the 6th seed and the last game of the night would be nice..

From a performance standpoint as bad as the league is anything less than 4th is a major let down.

[Rick LeHew]

What is really sad is 3 or 4 BAD teams will get a bye from playing on Thursday night. They should change the rules this year. 8 teams (3 vs 10 / 4 vs 9 / 5 vs 8 / 6 vs 7 ) should play Thursday. Winners play Friday for the opportunity to play WSU and ISU-B on Saturday.

We are seeing a really bad MVC this year.

[tornado]

More injury news for ISU...
Tuesday it was revealed that one of their post players, John Jones was injured and had undergone surgery to fix a fractured 5th metatarsal in his right foot and was thus likely done of the season.

Now word of more concerns. When Reggie Lynch came out of the game last night - it was first thought he just had a bloody nose.
Referee review of the video showed Lynch was inadvertently caught in the face by the forearm as a shooter followed through.

However - he felt woozy, and after the game was taken for xrays and further examination and I am hearing he has a fractured nose and possibly a slight concussion. He will be held out of practice and games accordingly but it is not known how long.
The only remaining "big man" that ISU has, Jamaal Samuel, is inexperienced, undersized, and will be hard pressed to carry the load placed upon him if Lynch sits out a while.
ISU previously lost Michael Middlebrooks to academics, and Deontae Hawkins to initial eligibility deficiencies - thus four of their five "big men" are possibly unavailable, and the biggest guy they might have besides Samuel are guards Wills, Zeisloft, & Lofton.

Zach Lofton however - was pretty highly touted but has been a huge disappointment lately...he suddenly went from averaging 14-15 ppg to
scoreless last night and only four ppg over the past four games. He didn't even play at all in the 2nd half last night and Coach Muller hinted that he was held our due to knee problems.

[Rick LeHew]

Looking at the second half of the valley schedule - I predict BU goes 3-6 for an overall valley record of 7-11 and on the bubble for Thursday play.